A Little Less than Famous (42 page)

             
"Amanda!"

             
"Oh, whatever," she sighed. "I tried calling when I got no response to the text and it was disconnected."

             
"Perfect," I answered. "It's done, over. He's Jake Kennedy and I...I...it's done."

             
"No," Olivia said, sharply. "No, it's not. It's not done."

             
"Yeah, yeah, Olivia is right," Amanda said, firmly. "We just need to come up with a plan."

             
"A plan?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "A plan? There's not a plan that is going to work."

             
"Okay, Negative Nancy," Amanda shot back.

             
I sighed. "A plan to do what? And did you just call me Negative Nancy?”

             
"Yeah, I did, and honestly, I don’t know," Amanda admitted, sinking into my bed. "What about Corinna? Can you call her?"

             
I hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe. She's still waiting for an answer on the whole acting/modeling thing and I don't really have an answer so I'm a little afraid to call her."

             
"Okay, well that's out..."

             
"And we are definitely talking about the acting thing once we figure out the Jake thing," Olivia scolded, smiling. "But baby steps, I get it."

             
"Wait, I've got it," Amanda squealed. "Oh my god, I am such an idiot. I'm still having trouble separating Jake Kennedy, your ex, and Jake Kennedy,
Crime Scene
actor." She hopped off my bed and headed over to my computer.

             
"What are you talking about?" I turned to Olivia. "What is she talking about?" Olivia shrugged. "Amanda?"

             
"Can you shut up for a moment?" She answered, typing on my computer. "A-ha! Found it!" She waved us over, pointing to something on the screen.

             
I leaned over, and read. It was a Facebook event, for an autograph session in Santa Monica for
Crime Scene.
It was all the younger actors: Jake, Andrea, Frankie and all the others. It was a week away. It already had an insane amount of
yes
R.S.V.P.s.

             
"You have got to be kidding me?" I said. "There are like going to be, like, a million girls there. I probably won't even get anywhere near him."

             
"Okay, we'll make sure you get close, for one thing," Amanda said. "And its you. You're not all those other girls. You're McKinley Evans. Honestly, I’m surprised you weren’t included.”

             
“I was just a guest star,” I said, automatically.

             
"You can totally do this," Olivia said. "I think it would be romantic to show up like that, to find him."

             
I looked back and forth between them. "Are you serious right now? Are you both really telling me to do this?"

             
Amanda sighed. "I know. It's silly and corny and I don't even know how the chances are. All I know is that my best friend is finally in love and can admit it and we need to make sure that he knows it." She and I stared at each other for some long moments.

             
"Oh my, this is so exciting," Olivia burst in, clapping her hands together. I looked over at her, and I couldn't help it. I laughed.

             
Later, as I was dropping her off at the airport, I sat back and really thought about my weekend. I had met my grandmother who ended up being a pretty cool person. I still wasn't sure but I was looking forward to that moment when I would be. I learned about my dad, my sisters, my entire family. And I had finally learned that emotions, emotions were not a bad thing. They were scary as hell but that's part of what made them what they were. And I was scared. I was scared of the relationship I could possibly be starting with my grandmother. I was scared of my mother's intentions and I was scared of talking to my biological father. I was scared of finding Jake and telling him how I felt. But I had never felt any better in my entire life.

*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*

             
"I can't do this."

             
Amanda shook her head, not answering me. She was concentrating on parallel parking. It had been nearly impossible to find a parking spot; it was crowded and I knew exactly why and it was about 6'4 in height and had impossible blue eyes.

             
"I'm serious. I can't do this. I'm going to throw up."

             
"You are not throwing up in my car, McKinley," Amanda said, firmly, putting the car in park and grabbing her purse from the backseat. "You've had a week to change your mind...and the entire hour drive over here. It's too late now. We're doing this." She opened the door, slid out and shut the door behind her. I sat in the car, staring at the dashboard. "Get your ass out of the car."

             
"Fine, fine," I said, getting out of the car. "I'm out." I caught my reflection in the window. "Are you sure this is okay?" I looked down at my outfit. I had put on a black off-the-shoulder blouse that did not leave anything to the imagination, and tight gray pants with high-heeled boots that hit just below the knee. "I mean, it's not too much?"

             
Amanda looked surprised and I didn't blame her. I never acted like this ever. "You look awesome, McKinley, and sexy as hell."

             
I looked back at my reflection. "You're right. You're totally right. I look awesome. Let's do this."

             
I followed her down the sidewalk, trying to concentrate on the sounds of my boots hitting the pavement and trying not to think too hard about what I was about to do. I was nervous as hell and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. There was no backing out now. I had told myself I was going to do and I wasn't going to let myself down. We made our way down the street, walking briskly all the way to the Third Street Promenade. As soon as we turned the corner, I felt my heart drop. "I told you! Damn it, Amanda, look at all those girls!"

             
"Okay there are totally guys too," Amanda pointed out. "Yeah, there are totally guys in this line. Let's get in line." She found the end and we walked over.

             
"Okay, but I'm pretty sure those guys are here for Andrea Tremaine," I hissed at her.

             
"Maybe not all of them," she shrugged. She looked so calm and I wanted to hit her in the face, before I remembered that I was the one here with a purpose and not her. I was the one about to bare myself to a boy, not her. She already had her man; she was already comfortable and happy.

             
I took a deep breath. "I guess you're right about that." I craned my neck to see if I could even tell the direction of the line. "Oh, we are so not making it to the front of the line. We should probably just go."

             
"McKinley Evans, you are staying," Amanda said, tensely. "Stop trying to make excuses to leave."

             
"I'm not," I protested. She shot a look my way. "Okay, maybe I am." I sighed, looking around. "You know, it’s kind of funny."

             
"What's funny?" she asked.

             
"Well, I met Jake because of a long line. And now I'm in a long line again, to tell him that I love him. It's just kind of funny, though that line for Space Mountain seems a lot shorter now." I was babbling. I never babbled and now I couldn’t seem to stop.

             
"We'll get to the front, McKinley, I promise," Amanda said, determinedly but I could see that she looked a little nervous at just how long the line was.

             
"Excuse me, are you McKinley Evans?"

             
I turned around and saw a girl of about fourteen, looking up at me nervously. She seemed to have four or five friends behind her, urging her to go forward. "Oh, um, yeah I am."

             
Her eyes grew wide. "Oh my god, I totally thought so but Jill said it wasn't you because, like, why would McKinley Evans be in line to meet people that she worked with, I guess, so they dared me to come and ask you and I was like, sure fine, whatever, but you have to come with me and oh my god, it’s you!"

             
I looked over at Amanda, who was trying really hard to not laugh. Her hand was over her mouth, barely concealing a smile. I turned back to the girl. "Yeah, it's me." I stuck my hand out to shake hers. "What was your name?"

             
"Lori. Lori McClain," she said, smiling wide. "Can I have an autograph?" She held out the most recent season of
Crime Scene,
the one I had guest starred on,
for me to sign. I stared at it for a long moment and then smiled at her.

             
"Sure, of course." I took the box set and the sharpie from her and scrawled my name out real quick. Next thing I knew, there were DVD box sets, and posters, and magazines being shoved in my face and I was being bombarded for autographs. One guy even found an ad for
Lush
in a magazine he had been reading and had me sign it. Amanda was cracking up behind me, grabbing my arm to guide me as the line started to move. I smiled for people, signed their stuff, and took pictures. Then I heard a very familiar voice.

             
"McKinley, what are you doing here?"

             
I held my smile in place as I took another picture with a sweaty and pimply teen boy who probably had no idea who I was but was intrigued by the small crowd that had gathered around me. I turned away from him and faced Adrienne. "Adrienne, hi."

             
She smiled, thinly, looking at all the people gathered around me. "If this doesn't give you a reason to say yes to me, I don't know what will. I know you've been avoiding me." I opened my mouth to answer but she kept talking. "I heard there was a bit of a commotion back here so I had to come see what it was about. I didn't really expect to see you here. What are you doing here exactly?"

             
"I, um, came to see Jake," I said, quietly, aware that I had an audience in the form of a bunch of teenage girls. One even had a "Team Charlotte" shirt. I didn't even know those had existed. I noticed that we had actually made a lot of progress in the line. I could actually see Jake and Andrea and I hoped they were not in listening distance.

             
Adrienne's eyes grew wide. "That is a really bad idea, McKinley. I think you should leave."

             
I looked at her, surprised. "Wait, what? Why?"

             
Her face softened for a moment. "McKinley, I love you, you know that. I adore you. You seriously need to give me an answer, girl, because I would love to help you with what could be a good career. I care, okay? This is why I'm telling you that you should really leave."

             
"Okay, that is some serious bullshit," Amanda said, her arms folded across her chest, looking down at Adrienne, as if she were something very unpleasant that she had stepped in.

             
I shook my head. "Amanda, it's fine. I can handle this." I addressed Adrienne. "No, no way. I came all the way over here and I've been waiting and I need to see him."

             
She stared at me for a long moment and shook her head. "I hate doing this. I do, really." She turned on her heel and walked up to the front of the line, which was being manned by a big beefy white guy who looked like he could knock anyone out with one punch. She whispered a few words in his ear and then disappeared. I stared after her, feeling let down. What the hell was going on?