All the Right Things (Love in LA) (14 page)

Annie gasped. “Oh my God, it’s a celebrity. Don’t tell me you hooked up with Charlie Sheen!”

Katie snorted. “Bitch, please. As if.”

Alex snickered and took a sip of his champagne, wisely saying nothing.

Annie’s brow furrowed as she tried to think of what celebrity Katie could have possibly met. Finally, she shrugged and threw up her hands. “Um, okay, you gotta give us a hint.”

“Animal, vegetable, mineral?” Alex offered helpfully. “Or in this town, actor, director, producer?”

Katie nodded. “Okay, category is director. Genre is comedy. And go!”

“Uh, Woody Allen,” Annie guessed first, but Katie shook her head.

“First of all, I would never do Woody Allen, regardless of how brilliant he is,” Katie said with a smirk.

“Mel Brooks,” Alex guessed, making Katie frown and throw a pillow at him.

“Eew, that is disgusting. That guy is like a million years old.”

“Bitch, watch where you’re throwing! You almost made me spill my champagne,” Alex complained. He threw the pillow back at Katie who squealed.

“Hey, now you almost made me spill mine, you jerk!”

“Oi vey,” Annie muttered to herself, then took a long drink of her own champagne. “Oh, I’ve got it, Judd Apatow.”

Rolling her eyes, Katie sighed in exasperation. “You guys suck at guessing. And no, I would never sleep with a married man.”

“Well, I guess we know for sure that you fucked him then,” Annie said, laughing at Katie who was turning a bright shade of red, “but I didn’t even know he was married.”

“Yeah, he’s married to the chick who played Katherine Heigl’s sister in
Knocked Up
. What’s her name?” Katie paused and thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “Oh yeah, Leslie Mann.”

Annie raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Oh wow, learn something new every day.”

“So just tell us who it was already,” Alex said impatiently.

Katie raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. It was—Troy Peterson.”

Alex and Annie both stared at her blankly. “Who?”

“Troy Peterson. You know, the guy who directed all those comedies like
Because I Hate Flying
and
Baby Time
, and then he more recently did the
I’m a Lush
trilogy.”

Alex’s jaw dropped open in shock. “Oh my God,
that
dude? Really. How old is he?”

“Younger than Woody Allen and Mel Brooks,” Annie said, snickering. “I think he’s in his forties, though. Oh hey, you know what? I think he’s one of those directors who likes to do cameos in his own films, like Quentin Tarantino and M. Night Shyamalan. I remember, he was the drug dealer’s boyfriend or something in
Baby Time
.”

Katie nodded. “Yup, and he was in that one scene in the first
I’m a Lush
movie… he was in an elevator with some chick when they’re in Vegas.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Annie said. “Wow, now every time I watch his movies, I’m gonna think about you doing him.” She snickered as Katie flipped her off.

“Hold on, I need to IMDB this shit,” Alex said as he grabbed his cell phone. He punched in the name of the director and waited for the page to load. “That guy? Hmm, alright. He’s not that bad, I guess. And damn, he must be loaded.”

“Right? So this guy just emailed you and told you who he was?” Annie asked with a skeptical look on her face.

Katie laughed and shook her head. “No, I didn’t know who he was when he responded. He just emailed me and sent his picture—didn’t even mention anything about movies. He sounded genuine, and his picture wasn’t that bad, so I responded to him. We exchanged a few emails, and then he asked for my number.”

“So how did you figure out who he was then?” Alex asked.

Katie downed the rest of her champagne, imperiously holding out her glass for more. Annie sighed, but got up to refill her glass. “Well, when he called me, he introduced himself as Troy, and we chatted for maybe half an hour. I told him how I was into modeling and acting, and he mentioned he was also in the industry. I asked him what he does, like if he’s an actor or does something else. He said he was a director, so I asked if he’d done anything I would have heard of.”

Annie and Alex were hanging onto Katie’s every word, so when she stopped to take another sip of champagne, they both groaned. “Okay, and?”

Katie grinned, looking like she was enjoying herself a little too much. “He said that I probably
had
heard of what he’s worked on, but he wanted to meet me first and get to know me before he told me.”

Annie nodded. “That makes sense. So you still didn’t know who he was until you guys met up, and then that’s when he told you?”

Snorting, Katie shook her finger. “Girl, please. As soon as he told me that, I went straight to my computer and typed his first name into the search box on IMDB. He was the second Troy who showed up, and get this—the picture that was listed was the same one he’d emailed me.”

“Seriously? He couldn’t send you a recent candid or something?”

“I know, right? Anyways, so when we met up at The Cat and The Fiddle in Hollywood, I just pretended like I still didn’t know who he was.”

“See? I told you—you girls are shady as fuck.”

“What the hell? I’m not the one who did it,” Annie retorted, throwing the cork from the champagne bottle at Alex.

“Ouch! Again with the violence, Annie?” Alex whined, rubbing the side of his head where the cork had hit him.

“Sorry, but you kinda asked for it,” Annie said, sticking her tongue out at him. Alex just stuck his tongue out at her in return. Annie rolled her eyes. “So what happened at the bar?”

“Well, we got a round of drinks and chatted for a while, and like fifteen minutes later, he asked if I wanted to come up to his house in the Hills.”

Annie whistled. “Wowie! So obviously you went?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t really feeling an attraction. But come on, let’s be real. It’s Troy Peterson! You know I had to hit that, even if just for the chance to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I slept with someone famous once.’”

“Mmm mmm kay?” Annie said, giggling at Katie.

“So how was it?” Alex asked. “Give us all the gory details.”

“Okay, the man is well-hung. Like
really
well-hung.”

“Nice,” Annie said.

“But all I did was give him head for a few minutes, and then he fucked me, and it was over in like five minutes. I was in and out of his place in fifteen minutes. I got a short tour of his house, we fucked, we chatted in his kitchen for a few minutes, and then he walked me to my car. Like a legit wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, and that was it.”

“Ugh, I would feel so robbed,” Annie said, wrinkling her nose.

“Yeah, but the story is kind of worth it,” Katie said.

Alex nodded and then yawned so big that his jaw cracked. “Alright, girls. I need to hit the sack.”

Katie nodded and said she needed to head home as well. After they said their good-byes and left for the night, Annie took the empty bottles and dirty champagne glasses to the kitchen, then headed back to her bedroom and began the arduous task of putting her bedroom and closet back to rights. While she was hanging up another handful of clothes, her phone rang.

“Hey, princess. What are you up to?”

Annie’s cheeks warmed as Casey’s voice swept over her when she answered the phone, making little butterflies flip in her stomach. She was relieved at the sensation. The confusion she’d felt after seeing Gabe the other day had worried her. She wasn’t sure if knowing he wanted her back would change how she felt about Casey.

“Repairing the havoc wreaked on my closet by my dear friends, Alex and Katie.”

“Uh oh. What happened?”

“They were helping me figure out my wardrobe for… wait… I know I told you I got to the final round of auditions, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you about this. Promise not to repeat?”

Casey laughed. “Of course, lips are sealed.”

“Well, when I got the call, the guy told me they want to film a segment of me getting the call from him, and they want to do it at my parents’ house.”

“Nice! Yeah, we got the same request pretty much.”

“Oh cool! Well, my lips are sealed as well.”

“I wasn’t worried,” he said with a chuckle, “but thank you.”

“Sure thing. So how’s everything with you? Is your singer fully recovered, yet?”

“Nearly. Enough that she’s able to perform again anyway. We had a show tonight, and then also on Friday and Saturday night.” Casey yawned into the phone. “Oh man, sorry. It’s been a long day.”

Annie made a sympathetic noise. “Aw, you should get some sleep.” Before she could even finish her sentence, a yawn of her own cracked her jaw.

“Yeah, I’m about to pass out, and it sounds like you need your bed just as much.”

Laughing, Annie nodded and reached out her free arm over her head to stretch, then switched her phone to the other hand so she could stretch that arm out as well. “Yeah, I guess wardrobe decisions can sure take a lot out of ya. Should I just head straight to the hotel when I get in?”

“Yeah, I’m staying at the Westin St. Francis at Union Square. I had your name added to the room reservation so you can just check into the front desk to get a room key.”

“Okay, sounds good. Well, I better let you get some sleep. I’ll text you once I get settled into the hotel room.”

“Can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too. Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams.”

Annie paced nervously around her parents’ living room, twisting the rings on her right hand as she waited to hear a knock on the front door. The film crew would be there soon, and the lump in her throat felt like it was growing by the minute. She’d been up since six that morning, first getting herself showered and ready, then speeding over to her parents’ house to make sure that the place was immaculate. Her mother had hired a housekeeping service to come over and give it a deep cleaning, but she just wanted to make sure everything looked perfect.

She was going to be on national television. It was still hard for her to believe. Pausing in front of the couch, she stooped down to remove a miniscule piece of white fuzz from one of the brown cushions.

“You really think that tiny piece of fuzz would show up on camera, hon?” her father asked with a raised eyebrow. He was seated in his favorite armchair with his reading glasses on, holding a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a copy of
The Wall Street Journal
in the other.

Her mother was still upstairs getting ready. She’d already changed her outfit five times that morning before settling on a pair of black skinny jeans with a sleeveless, turquoise silk shirt. With the way she was fussing over her clothes, you’d think that she was the one who had auditioned or something. Her mother looked fantastic for her age, her skin still smooth with minimal wrinkles, her long blonde hair still thick and gleaming. Both her parents looked young for their age, so she was hopeful that she would look half as good as they did when she was older.

As Lena swept downstairs, Annie couldn’t help smiling at her mother’s beaming face. She knew her mother was as excited that her daughter was having this experience as she was that she herself was soon going to be on national television. Although she was sure Lena was eagerly looking forward to being the center of attention amongst her many friends.

“Hey Mom, you look great!” she said, moving forward to give her mother a hug. “You’re going to put me to shame on camera.”

“Oh shush, no one will be able to take their eyes off my gorgeous daughter with her exotic features,” Lena replied as she warmly embraced her firstborn. “And you do look absolutely gorgeous, darling, if a little nervous. Shall I put some Bailey’s in your coffee?”

Annie laughed but shook her head. “No, that’s okay, but thanks. I’ll be alright. I just want them to get here already and get this over with.”

“How much longer until they get here?”

“It’s almost nine, so they should be here any minute.”

“Okay, Annie, just breathe. Come sit down on the couch with me. I think you’re making your father nervous with your pacing.”

Alexander quirked an eye at his wife, but wisely said nothing, and returned to sipping his coffee and reading the paper.

Annie let her mother lead her to the couch and reluctantly sat down, first leaning back and crossing her legs, then she uncrossed them again and leaned forward, this time only crossing her ankles. Lena reached over and laid a hand on her knee.

“Darling, relax. You’re going to be fine. Please stop fidgeting,” she admonished Annie in a gentle, scolding tone.

Sighing, Annie nodded and smiled ruefully at her mother. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I didn’t feel half this nervous at the auditions.”

Just then, the doorbell rang, making all three of them jump.

“They’re here!” Annie exclaimed in a slightly panicked voice. She smoothed her hair and hurried to the hallway mirror to check her make-up one last time. Alexander disappeared to take his coffee cup into the kitchen while Lena headed to the front door. Swinging her head from left to right, she checked the room one last time before turning to open the door, a welcoming smile on her face.