FanGirl (26 page)

Alexandra:
Why did you do that?

Cole:
To give you something to hold on to.

“Wow,” I say, catching my breath. “Cole’s got game.”

“Told you.”

I fold my script and hand it back to him. “You added that. The kiss, the final lines. That’s not in the novel. If that had been there, maybe I could have seen something other than Wyatt and Alex.”

“It’s a miniseries. Who knows if it will be picked up for more episodes. It needed a little closure, just in case that is all we can give them. Plus, I wanted to give the audiences a teaser for the future, but also a little hope for Alexandra.”

“Okay, I can see that. As a purist, I’m not sure I like it, but I can accept your justification.” My words may be normal, but I can hear the quiver in my voice.

“And,” he says reaching for my hand, “after our argument, I thought about you being so blindsided by Issue 4. Maybe their relationship needed a little more foreshadowing.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

His hand tightens around mine. “No, I still think I’ve explained Alexandra and Cole fairly well. It’s there, but for the show it needs to be a little clearer. People aren’t as willing to wait around for sex and love on TV as they will in a book. We have to give them something other than blood and gore.”

“True.”

“Or, maybe, I’m full of it and I wrote those lines 20 minutes before you got here so I could have an excuse to kiss you.”

Wait. What?

“You did not.”

He shrugs, but doesn’t let me go. Instead, he tugs me closer. “I didn’t. I’ve been working on it for weeks. Our argument gave me the motivation and focus for how I wanted it to end.”

“So just now, you kissing me, that was you playing Cole?”

He leans closer. “That was me playing Cole, as an excuse for me, Gabe, to kiss you, Ruby.”

I laugh. “I’m confused.”

“I’m not,” he says, his mouth inches from mine. I feel the stirring again, the one deep inside, the one that spreads like fire from my belly down my arms and into my fingertips.

“No?”

He kisses me. Slow and sweet.

“No,” he says. “I knew the minute I saw you trapped in a throng of fanboys at FantasyCon that I wanted to kiss you. But then I asked you to try out for the part and you got it and everything steamrolled out of control.”

“Chicken.”

“You started dating Andrew!”

“Don’t even. He’s gay.”

“Right. Figured that out, huh?”

“You knew he was gay?”

“Yeah, I knew. I thought maybe that was the life you wanted. Hollywood and all that. I wasn’t going to get in your way.”

“Thanks a lot. That whole thing went over my head.”

“You’re too trusting.”

“Tell me about it. You said you would be honest with me.”

“I tried, Ruby, but I’m bound by the same contracts you are. And Andrew being gay didn’t mean you didn’t like him, or that you weren’t playing the game with him.”

“Just because I liked him doesn’t mean I can’t like you, too!”

“You like me?” He’s smiling and being silly, but I can tell he wants to know. No matter their age, boys want to know if you like them or not.

“I do. But I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me and you to be doing this right now.”

His smile falters. “Because of Andrew? I hate to tell you Ruby, but he’s cheating on you.”

“Yeah, I know. So does everyone else.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since last night.”

He reaches for his phone. “Crap. I had everything sent to voicemail so I could get this finished. There are a dozen messages here from Nick.”

“Things are bad, and I talked to Andrew and Iris. We think we know who’s behind ZWankHard.”

“Who is it?”

“I’ll tell you, but first I need your help with something else. Andrew and I are cool, but I’m worried about Derek.”

“Derek?”

“Yeah, that sleazeball. He’s going to try to make me take the fall for this thing with Andrew. Which…”

“Doesn’t only hurt you, but will hurt the movie also.”

“Exactly. I need your help.”

He nods and picks up his phone and starts dialing.

g

The following day, I’m
sitting in a squishy booth at the Rocket Diner with my agent. Yes. I now have an agent. The last 24 hours have been busy. I told Gabe what happened, everything that happened. He went into action, calling his agent, who called his lawyer, who contacted another lawyer, who connected with another agent. Now, we’re meeting with Andrew and Derek in this crappy, out-of-the-way diner because no one could agree on a location.

Naomi (my agent) and I met early to discuss my situation. Her goal, as she explained, is to keep me out of the media, save my job and focus on getting the movie completed — on schedule. I lie to Naomi about Reid. Gabe is the only one who knows the truth about his suspected involvement and he agrees this information should to be kept to ourselves until we can figure out the best way to stop him.

I shift in my seat, tired of waiting, disturbed by Derek, who is normally all toothy grins and kisses on the cheek, but today barely made eye contact as I slid in the booth. I press my fingers against the coffee cup on the table. We each have one — but no one has taken a sip. Late July is too hot for coffee, even at 9 a.m. Andrew catches my eye across the table and smiles, which settles my nerves, until Derek leans in and whispers something in his ear that makes the friendly look disappear. I hate him for making this worse than it has to be.

“Are we ready?” Naomi asks.

“Whenever you are,” says Derek. He’s still fake-smiling for Naomi, just not me.

Naomi is calm and business-like. Thank goodness, because I can feel the sweat accumulating under my arms. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Obviously, my interest is in Andrew and how he looks after all of this. Since Ruby chose to exit Gabe Foster’s house in the middle of the night, in her pajamas, things don’t look good for her. Frankly, she looks like a cheating whore.”

“Hey!” I interject. Naomi’s hand clamps down on my arm.

He holds his hand up and shrugs. “You do, sweetheart, and that’s your problem and not mine.”

“Ruby’s entitled to her own life. She’s not bound to Andrew and she hasn’t done anything wrong. Just because your little attempt to keep Andrew’s secret a secret backfired doesn’t mean you need to drag this young woman into the gutter.”

“Oh God,” Andrew says. He looks a little pale. “This is out of control.”

“Andrew, it’s my fault I trusted someone like Ruby. She was too new and too green for this — she didn’t understand what was at stake,” Derek says. He turns to Naomi, “I will do whatever I have to do to keep Andrew’s name and personal life out of the media. Your client destroyed that by sneaking around and getting caught by the paparazzi.”

Naomi leans across the table. “My client did no such thing. She ran into a friend from school and visited a writer from her movie. She had legitimate reasons to see both of them. Your client was caught out with the wrong person. Someone he doesn’t want to be seen with in public. Stop acting like you have the upper hand.”

“A friend from school,” he rolls his eyes, “sure. An ex-boyfriend. And Gabe? Those two have been flirting for months. Anyone on set can attest to that. I’d take bets they’ve been sleeping together this entire time. Ruby has been using Andrew to boost her image and career.”

“Flirting! That is not true.” Is it?

Naomi shoots me a look. “You’re joking, right? Boosting her image? You started this, Derek. You need to own it. Your client’s personal life is a time bomb waiting to explode. You need to figure out a better plan for him. Banking on an 18-year-old, first-time actress to sweep his dirt under the rug was a bad move on your part.”

“Stop.” Andrew holds his hands up, but it’s useless. Derek has a plan for my ultimate celebrity demise.

“A cover story goes out tomorrow in
Celeb Magazine
about Ruby breaking Andrew’s heart, and how he went to his old friend James to talk about his sorrow. James, who happens to be working here on his own project. This will get his movie some extra promo tied to Andrew’s name. There is no way anyone from James’ project will object. Photos will be included of Ruby sneaking in and out of Gabe’s home, plus one of her canoodling her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot of the Mini-Market.”

“What?” I blurt out, trying to figure out how this got so out of control. My parents will kill me. “Canoodling? We were talking! We ran into each other.”

“Derek,” Andrew says.

“It’s a done deal. All they need is my final approval, which I’m making as soon as this meeting is over.”

“Derek, stop,” Andrew says, again, louder this time. “Isn’t there something else we can do?”

Derek looks at Andrew and shakes his head. “This is what you pay me to do. I know you like this girl, but this is business. You can’t let this one stupid moment ruin your career. Think of everything we’ve worked so hard to accomplish. You may be willing to let this little girl take it away, but I’m not. I’ve had people following her for months gathering dirt. It finally paid off.”

Naomi sits up and says, “If you do this, we have no choice but to counter with our own story of Ruby being taken advantage of by an older, more successful male. Are you prepared for that?”

“My client wasn’t the one whoring around town.”

“No, but you’re the one tarting her up like a sorority girl on Halloween! I saw the dress you sent her — the very, very short, inappropriately sexy dress for an 18-year-old girl. Not to mention matching panties.”

“Oh my God.” Andrew pales. I cover my face with my hands. Make. It. Stop.

“No one made her wear that,” Derek scoffs.

“Interesting. You must have forgotten the note attached specifically instructing Ruby to wear the dress and accessories that night.” Naomi stares at him hard. “Not to mention the receipt attached to the package I’m more than sure can be traced back to your credit card.”

“No, Naomi,” I say. “I don’t want that. I don’t care — whatever.”

She looks at me. “Ruby, if you take responsibility for this you can be fined for harming the film. You signed a morality clause — that, yes, protected you from the movie, but also protects the movie from you. If you embarrass
Zocopalypse
publicly, or if they think you risk future profits, they can sue you.”

“But,” I look at Andrew. “Don’t let him do this.”

“At least I gave you fair warning,” Derek says. “How you choose to spin this is your call.”

“Andrew?” I say.

Andrew is hunched across the table, his massive body crammed into this tiny booth, but right now he doesn’t look so big. He looks confused and lost. “I’m sorry. I’ve worked too hard for this.”

“Then you leave us no choice,” Naomi says. She slides out of the booth. “You’re not the only one with contacts, Derek. You may want to think this over before you approve that cover. I’d hate to see what people think about Hollywood’s biggest leading man seducing a young woman and then throwing her to the wolves the minute the movie wraps.”

I scramble out of my seat as fast as I can since my legs are stuck to the vinyl cushion. Once I get out, I stop and say, “I can’t believe you’re willing to ruin this for everyone else because you’re too scared to stand up for yourself. I know I’ll survive this, but you’re hurting the entire cast and crew, not to mention Gabe and Nick.”

Naomi pulls me out of the diner, arm around my shoulder. I barely make it outside before I start to cry.

g

Chapter 18

“
I
don’t understand,” I say. This comment earns me a well-deserved eye roll.

“Let me try,” Gabe says. He picks up the laptop and begins scrolling through pictures. “Iris has downloaded this series of photos from the set. We will send these photos to Reid’s legitimate website, with a message attached that he has 10 minutes to get them posted before any other sites receive them. There will be one photo in the batch that has not and will not be released elsewhere. Ever.”

Iris interrupts. “Since he’ll believe everyone has the same pictures, he won’t worry about posting them.”

I sigh. “I’m still confused.”

Iris groans and walks away from the two of us. Gabe stares at me for a moment and says, “Give me a minute.” We wait as he types into the computer. “Okay, read this.” He turns the screen toward me.

• Iris sends Reid a series of photos
  
• He will receive 26 high-quality, legit photos from the set
  
• Only Reid will receive a 27
  th
  photo
  
• This photo he will hold back from his fan website and post instead on ZWankHard
  
• When he posts this one photo on ZWankHard, we will know it is him because he is the only one who has this picture, except us
  

“Oh! I see!” I smile at Gabe. “I’m still not convinced. Reid’s not an idiot. Why do you think he’ll post it?” I ask.

“And give up his lead time? Remember, we’re only giving him 10 minutes before the series goes to everyone else.” Gabe smiles. “Plus, we plan on giving him something he can’t resist.”

“What? Catching Andrew is about as big as it gets. He has the script already and even if he posts the ending, you and I both know you changed it.”

Iris frowns. “You changed the ending?”

“Our goal here is to catch Reid in the act. It’s too late to save face for Andrew, that’s up to him and his team to repair,” Naomi says, keeping us on task.

Gabe nods in agreement. “The best way to harm someone like Reid, who has taken his fanboy obsession to a dark place, is to embarrass him in front of his followers — making him seem like the one who is the actual sell-out — not you guys. Outing him as ZWankHard will make him enemy number one of the fandom.”

“How do you plan on doing this?”

“Lucky for us, he’s a creature of habit. His prior postings all revolve around a favorite topic.”

I shake my head. “Seriously. For someone who couldn’t wait to break up with me, he sure seems more than a little obsessed with harassing me online.”

“Which is why we want you to be our bait.”

“Me?”

Naomi, Iris and Gabe all nod. Naomi smiles, not the creepy, leery one Derek has, but it’s scary enough. “Yes, you. Between Iris’ computer skills, Gabe’s former life as a fanboy and my penchant for ultimate revenge, we’ve come up with the perfect plan.”