A Little Less than Famous (9 page)

“Break a leg. You mean, break a leg,” Jake said, still in shock.

“That too,” I agreed, squeezing his hand. Jake’s smile returned and for a quick moment, I felt a little flustered.

“Come on, Jake,” Andrea snapped, taking his arm away from me and dragging him onto the set.

The next scene was a lot better than the previous. It was a scene where Mikey, played by Jake, and his girlfriend Maggie, played by Andrea, got into an argument over the time Mikey was spending on the current case. Jake’s acting was more genuine, though he could be channeling his real emotion towards Andrea. The only problem that he had while filming the scene
was
that
he couldn’t seem to keep his eye contact on Andrea.
I could’ve been wrong but his eyes darted in my direction several times.

We stayed there for the most of the day, though there was a long break for lunch and other breaks where we went back to the room and played video games. By the time it was time to go, I was ready to pass out. I had been up since four thirty in the morning.

We’d almost reached Brea when Jake pulled off the freeway to get gas. While he pumped gas, I got out of the car and walked into the mini mart to buy a soda. When I came back out, Jake was waiting for me, leaning against his car.

“I was wondering where you had went,” Jake said, as I walked closer.

“Just needed some caffeine,” I said, holding up my Dr. Pepper.

“Oh, okay,’ he said, nodding. He stood there, not getting in the car, just staring at me. I started feeling self conscious, and ran my hand through my long hair. I took a deep breath and looked away, wanting to avoid his unblinking gaze.

“McKinley.” Pause. “McKinley.”

“What?” I asked, meeting his eyes again.

Jake met my eyes and smiled at me. “Thank you for coming today. I had a really good time.”

I smiled back. “Sure. I had a good time too,” I answered, truthfully. We stared at each other for a moment longer. “We should probably go now.” I started walking toward the passenger side of the car.

Jake’s arm reached out to me, seemingly coming out of no
where. He pulled me towards him and then stopped, so our faces were merely inches apart.
We stared at each other and then he grabbed my face and started kissing me.

I didn’t react at first. I was too shocked to even think. Then, as if my body had a mind of its own, I was kissing him back, pushing him back against his car, and pressing myself closer to him. Then, as quickly as it began, it was over.

“Oh shit,” I said, taking a step back.

“Shit,” Jake said, running his hands through his hair. “Shit. You have a boyfriend.”

“Gabriel is not my boyfriend,” I said, automatically. “God, what the hell was that for?” I asked, angrily, shoving him in the shoulder.

“Wait, what?” Jake said, looking at me as if I had grown another pair of arms. “Why did you kiss me back?”

“That…you…I…” I said, stumbling over my words, something that almost never happened. “Maybe you should take me home.”

Jake looked like he was going to argue but decided against it. We both got in the car and he drove me the rest of the way home in complete silence. When he pulled into the diner parking lot and I got out of the car, he finally said something.

“Hey McKinley?”

I paused, my hand on the door handle. “Yeah?”

“You should come back by the set sometime, you know, if you’d like to.”

My body was still reacting to that kiss and I wasn’t quite sure what Jake meant. “Um, sure, Jake. Call me sometime.”

“Perfect,” he said, his face lit up with success. “Good night.”

I got out of the car, and made my way into the diner, my hands fumbling at the key in the lock.

“Well, you were gone all day.”

I spun around and saw Luke sitting at the counter, doing paperwork. “Jesus, Luke, you scared me.” I slid onto the stool next to him and looked over his shoulder. “Ah, doing the order for the next week?”

He nodded. “So…Jake Kennedy, huh?”

My cheeks colored slightly. “Um, yeah, I guess so.”

“What about Gabriel?”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, it’s not like that with Jake. And I’ve told you, Gabriel is not my boyfriend.”

Luke looked at me, a smirk on his face. “Whatever you say, McKinley.”

I stood up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going upstairs to do homework.” I paused and said, “Don’t tell Amanda okay?” You know the way she is about Jake…”

Luke turned to look at me, standing on the stairs. For a moment, I knew that he could see right through me. “Are you going to see him again?” he asked, always ask
ing the question I least expected.

“No, no, I’m not,” I said, turning to walk up the stairs and knowing, deep down, that I was probably lying.

*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*

I was tapping my fingers on my lap nervously, my eyes darting around the counseling office of my community college. It had taken some persuasion from both Luke and Amanda but I had agreed to come and meet with a counselor at the college to discuss my options. At the moment, I wasn’t even sure I had any options.

“McKinley Evans?” The counselor extended her hand toward me. “I’m Sandra Gomez.”

I shook her hand firmly and scooped up my purse from the ground and followed the counselor into the office. She typed a few things into the computer, and turned the screen towards me so I could see the transcript she had pulled up. I winced at the earlier semesters, semesters where I had dropped or failed nearly every class I had taken. I felt a sense of pride at the later ones, where I maintained a consistent B average.

“So, Miss Evans, what can I do for you?” she asked, tilting back in her chair and surveying me over the rims of her glasses.

“Well, “ I said, my palms planted firmly on my thighs, “I’m here to see what my options are. I’ve been going to this school for years, and its time to actually make something of it.”

Sandra leaned forward and took a look at my transcript. “Well, you have nearly have enough units for a transfer to a university and a couple classes more than that would put you at an AA degree. What is it exactly that you were hoping to do in the future, Miss Evans?”

I hesitated. “I don’t…really know,” I admitted to her, feeling ashamed. I felt like the only twenty-two year old in the world
that
had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.

Sandra smiled. “That’s not uncommon. I know you’re probably thinking that everyone has an idea about
his or her
future except you but that’s entirely false. Even folks my age are still figuring it out sometimes.”

I felt like she was lying to make me feel better but I nodded. “I just don’t want to keep wasting my time and money if there isn’t a direction to it. I’ve thought about possibly transferring to a university but I wouldn’t know what to do once I got there. I don’t even have a major and my grades aren’t fantastic. Then I think maybe I’ll just get my associates degree but it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough.”

“Well, your transcript isn’t too bad. The first year or two that you were here weren’t great but you’ve made a lot of those classes up and we can fill out the necessary forms to replace the passing grades over the failing grades. Any Cal State university would be happy to have you, and I’m sure Cal State Fullerton would be a good choice for you.”

“University is expensive though, and I’m not sure that I could afford to go there, especially since I have no real purpose going there,” I explained.

“Well, how about this then?” Sandra said and I flinched some.
How bout this
was one of my mom’s key phrases. She pulled out a sheet of paper and starting writing things down. “Let’s get those bad grades factored out of your GPA and then we’ll set you up with some classes in the spring that’ll help you get closer to a transfer. At the end of this semester, we’ll meet again and we’ll discuss what your options are and what you would like to do with them. As long as you continue to do as well as you have been doing and you keep that GPA up, I think you’re in a good spot for transfer.” She slid the paper across the table.

I picked up the paper and looked at the list she had created for me. “You make it sound so easy.”

Sandra took off her glasses and laid them on the desk. “What about all this scares you?”

I scoffed. “Scares me? Nothing about it scares me.” She raised her eyebrow at me. “It’s not that it scares me, necessarily. It’s more…well, I can’t go on being the assistant manager of a diner forever. I mean, I love my dad and I enjoy the diner but is that all I’m ever going to be good for? Is that all I’ll be known for?”

“Do you feel like you’re obligated to your father, to work in the diner?”

“No!” I said, quickly. “But also, yes. Luke wants the best for me, I know he does but sometimes I think he just expects me to take over the diner once he’s retired. And as much as I want the diner and I would hate for it to be in the hands of anyone else, I feel like it would tie me down.”

“College would give you chances, McKinley, to explore alternatives to that. Sure, maybe you’ll stay at the diner but maybe you’ll find something new that gives you passion and reason and is something that you can see yourself doing in the future.” She paused. “The amount of college dropouts increases every year, McKinley, and most often its because students don’t believe in themselves. There is no rush to get things right, or to finish, McKinley. Even if you go to a university and spend more than two years there, at least you’ll be getting something out of it. Knowledge isn’t measured in a degree.”

I thought about that for a moment. “But the money…”

“I’ve taken a look at your financial status, McKinley, and that of your father’s. You’re a prime candidate for financial aid, especially grants from the government. That wouldn’t be so much a problem.”

She had put me in a tight corner, one that I was having a hard time arguing my way out of. “Well, maybe transferring to a four-year college is an option for me.” I glanced back down at the list. “And you’ve definitely given me something to think about.”

Sandra smiled. “Well, that’s what I’m here for.”

As I was walking to my car, keys in hand, I studied the paper she had given me in the other hand. I had never pegged myself much for a college graduate. Amanda was already at Cal State Fullerton, studying speech therapy. She was the brain of the twosome and I went to school because it just seemed like the right thing to do. I pictured myself leaving the diner and all I could see was a haze in my future. There was nothing in this world that I was passionate about but reading and jazz and you couldn’t really make a career out either of those, unless you wrote and I was a terrible writer. However, the list so far was easy: fix my current GPA, keep my grades up,
and consider
my options. For now, these things were things I could handle.

*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*
             
*

Despite what I had said, despite the promises that I had made, I met up with Jake a few days later. He had an off day on the set and was heading out to Yorba Linda to visit his parents, who he hadn’t seen in a
while. Yorba Linda was just ease
of Brea,
and he wondered if he could stop by and see me.

I must’ve been crazy. Without pausing to think, without even realizing what I was doing, I typed out a yes response to him.