Game On (15 page)

Maya smiled. “Maybe you're just seeing yourself from a different angle.”

Cleo took a second before continuing. “I invited Svetlana to movie night tomorrow. I know that's our thing, but
I was hoping you could be there to, I don't know, check her out. Plus, well, I don't think I'm ready for a one-on-one date.”

“Of course she can come,” Maya said.

The idea of movie night in their room the next day reminded Maya that she had to tell Cleo about the villa. And she had to tell her now.

“So, the office,” Maya said. “Nails took my probationary period away.”

“What? Why?” Cleo asked. “Is it because you've made out with both his kids?”

“No.” Maya glared at her. “He said he liked what he's been seeing from me.”

“Okay …,” Cleo responded.

There was no good way to say it. So she just did. “He also offered to move me into the villa. For free.”

“Wow.” Cleo didn't say anything else.

“I'm torn, like, really torn.” Maya kneaded Cleo's blanket like dough. “I love our place. I love living with you.” She meant every word.

“Maya,” Cleo said, taking the blanket from her, “I would totally understand if you decided to do it. You'd be stupid not to. It's a palace. And to live there for free?”

“If I did it,” Maya said, “you'd be over there so much, you'll think you live there, too.”

“Well, hello?” Cleo said with a smile. “Can you imagine how much better movie night is going to be tomorrow on a one-hundred-and-fifty-two-inch flat screen?”

With Cleo urging her on, the decision was a no-brainer.

Maya was moving into the villa.

Maya traded in her old metal key for a brand-new, fancy key card. She went straight to the villa, where, after a few unanswered knocks, she carefully swiped it in the electronic lock. With a click, the front door opened. It wasn't a dream after all. She carried her stuff inside.

She wasn't just visiting Wonka's factory, she was now living in it. It was a reality she couldn't grab on to.

The place was silent. Still. Even though it was her new home, she was afraid to make a sound. She found an iPad on the counter. Nicole and Renee used it just to leave messages for each other, their thousand-dollar dry-erase board. Typed on it in giant letters: “Welcome, Superstar! xx–Renee.” Next to it was the welcome packet, with cover girl Maya circled with a red lipstick heart. Towering over it all was a giant bouquet of flowers with a card attached. They were from Travis. Maya lit up.

“I thought I heard someone,” a voice said behind her.

Maya turned to find Nicole. She was in a towel, fresh from a shower.

Maya just stood there, unsure of how Nicole was going to react to having her there, in her home. Living with her. Time was at a crawl. Finally, Nicole smiled.

“Welcome, roomie.” From Nicole, it was like a bear hug. And as big a greeting as Maya could've ever hoped for.

“Thanks,” Maya said. “It's great to be here.” It was perhaps the understatement of the century.

“It's a whole new world,” Nicole said. “The only rule is there are no rules.”

“Really?” Maya asked.

“No, not really,” Nicole said. “There are tons of rules. I'll tell you them later.” She smiled again, then headed back to her room to finish getting dressed.

It was a whole new world. A great big, beautiful new world. And Maya was ready.

Maya was in the middle of the most amazing dream. She was dating a crown prince and living in a palace with the queen. She never wanted it to end. And it didn't, really. This was her life now.

Well, almost. Her bedroom still belonged to the girl who had it last. At least everything inside it did. She'd left all her furniture, her bedding—she'd even left her TV. In fact, it seemed like there was even more stuff in this room than when Maya was in it last.

Memories of the last time she was there infiltrated her brain. The darkness. The moonlight. Jake Reed's lips on hers. It had been right there in that corner. She would be sleeping in this same room every day. Reminded of it. Haunted by it.

Just then, there was a knock at her door.

“Rise and shine,” Travis said, poking his head in. He had a
huge grin on his face. Maya smiled, too, both happy to see him and grateful to be wrenched from her memory.

“What are you doing here?” Maya asked, sitting up. Then she saw it, in his hands. A tray with a full-on breakfast spread, topped by a single daisy.

“We've got to start your time here off right,” he said.

Maya just shook her head. “Does the villa come with its own Reed?”

“Just this room,” he said. “Lucky you. Now, where's my tip?”

She kissed him.

“Don't make me get the fire hose.” Renee walked in. She was still in her bathrobe, which was as red as Maya's face. “Well, hello, Travis. Fancy seeing you here.” She gave Maya a look, which only made Maya blush more.

“Just pulling a little breakfast duty before practice,” he said, still holding the tray. “How about we eat outside on the balcony? The view is ridiculous.”

“That'd be great,” Maya said. Of course, she thought, the view will be even more ridiculous with him in it. Travis slid open her balcony door with his free hand and went to set up outside.

Renee sat down beside her. “How did you sleep on your first night here?”

Maya nearly purred. “Can you please tell me what this bed is made out of? I've never slept so well in my life.”

“I forget,” Renee said. “Something endangered.”

Maya laughed. Renee didn't.
Oh
. Maya thought it best to
just move on to another subject before she thought about that too hard.

“I'm going to need a good breakfast,” Maya said. “I have a monster day of packing ahead of me. Could she have left in a bigger hurry?”

“This is all your stuff,” Renee said.

“No, that's all my stuff.” Maya pointed to two dinky suitcases and a tennis bag in the corner.

“I couldn't have you staying in an empty room,” Renee said. “So I bought all this from her. The bed, the dresser, the TV …”

“You … bought all this?” Maya asked. “For me?”

“Well, not so much bought as gave her a bunch of dresses for it. Don't worry, they were all last season. And it's yours just until you post naked pictures of yourself on the Internet. Then it's the next girl's.”

Maya was overwhelmed. What could she say?

“Breakfast is served,” Travis said, returning. Maya got out of bed, but before she could go outside, she saw Nicole at her door.

“Are you guys still in your pajamas?” Nicole asked. She was in full tennis gear.

“The gang's all here!” Renee exclaimed. “Perfect time for our first roomie meal together.”

“No can do,” Nicole said. “I have court time at eight. Maya, I sacked my practice partner because he hit like a girl. You want to hit with me instead? You can keep up.”

Did Nicole think she even had to ask? “Yeah, sure,” Maya said without hesitation.

“Hey,” Travis said. “I slaved hard over this meal. Okay, Butler slaved hard over this, but I had to carry it.”

Maya lingered.

“Like, eight on the dot,” Nicole said, looking at her Rolex. “Ticktock.”

Maya didn't know what to do.

“Go.” Travis sighed. “Renee and I will eat it.”

“That's way too many calories,” Renee said.

“I will eat it,” Travis corrected. He really was something else.

Maya hugged him, grabbed her tennis clothes, and ran to the bathroom. Within three minutes, she and Nicole were out the door.

Maya had never walked a red carpet before, but she imagined it was a lot like walking to the tennis courts by Nicole's side. The adoration she got from passersby was epic.

“It's got to be an amazing feeling,” Maya couldn't help but remark. “Everybody loves you.”

“If I needed this much love and slobbering, I'd get a dog,” Nicole said.

A guy in a suit approached. The amount of grease in his thinning hair was rivaled only by the amount of desperation in his eyes.

“Nicole,” he said, “I'm a big fan. You're such a strong role model, especially for the Latina community. I manufacture my own chili sauce. You'd be a perfect spokesperson. A spicy girl for a spicy sauce, ‘Serving up the
caliente
one bottle at a time!' ”

Maya couldn't tell what was more offensive, the slogan or the fact that it was a middle-aged white guy saying it.

Nicole didn't break her stride. “You know what, I don't make any business decisions. My agent is waiting for me on the court. If you want to run ahead and tell her about this wonderful idea before I get there …”

He just stood there, ever hopeful.

“Run along,” she said. Oh right, his expression seemed to say, that was his cue.

“Thank you, Nicole. It was great talking to you, Nicole.” He started jogging ahead of them. “See you at the court, Nicole.”

“ ‘Serving up the
caliente
one bottle at a time'?” Maya repeated.

“I'm sure I'm in a sombrero somewhere strumming a guitar,” Nicole said. “Or swinging a racket at a piñata.”

Maya laughed. “Your agent is going to kill you for siccing him on her.”

“Oh please, Jordan lives for this,” Nicole said. “Some people need coffee to start their day. Jordan needs to bite the heads off morons and feast on their carcasses.”

Nicole and Maya reached the court, which had its normal Nicole King crowd (including the greasy chili-sauce hawker, who waited on the other side of the fence angling for Jordan's attention). There was, however, a new face at the gate. And it just so happened to belong to the current hottest hip-hop artist in the game. So big that Maya completely blanked on his name.

“That's … isn't that … you know who I'm talking about …,” Maya said.

Security had given him the spot of honor by the gate so he could get a moment with Nicole.

“What up, girl,” he said. “You gonna kill it today or what?” It was half question, half pick-up line.

Nicole smiled. “What do you think?” The words poured out of her slow like honey.

The crowd fed off their chemistry, snapping picture after picture.

“I think you gonna do what you do,” he said, a sly grin spreading across his face.

“Maybe you should stick around and see,” Nicole suggested.

“I think I will.” He took out his phone, then pulled her in for a self-portrait. “This one's for Twitter, so make it hot.”

“I always do.” She smiled.

Nicole and Maya stepped onto the court, shut the gate, and headed to the bench.

“What a hack,” Nicole said. “Plus, he's like, what, fifty? I'm seventeen. Pretty sure that'll get you a court date, dude. And I don't mean the tennis court.”

“I don't get it,” Maya said. “It looked like you were kind of, I don't know, feeling him.”

“You may be good at tennis,” Nicole said, “but you have a lot to learn about the game.”

Maya looked on as Nicole met up with Jordan, who was never not on her cell.

“
Tonight Show
wants you for the eighteenth,” Jordan said. “That's the same night as the Grammys. Nike's opening a store in Manhattan on the twenty-fourth, but you're in Barcelona
for a tournament. And Turkish Airlines wants you for three commercials—they'll shoot wherever you want. Maui's nice this time of year.”

Maya was dizzy just hearing all of it. She could only imagine how Nicole processed it.

“What dresses do we have for the Grammys?” Nicole asked, not missing a beat. “Who else is going to be on the show and at the opening, and do the airlines want print, too? If so, how many zeroes?”

“Balenciaga, Diane von Furstenberg, and Gucci,” Jordan said. “Gyllenhaal, Lil Wayne on the show, Dwayne Wade at the store, no print, high six.”

“Dwayne is dead sexy, hell yes on the store,” Nicole said as she unzipped her bag and got her racket out. “Tell Barcelona I have a right hip flexor injury. No, shoulder, that way I can wear heels for Dwayne. And tell the airline they'll get one commercial, shot in … South Africa. I haven't been there in forever.”

“What about the
Tonight Show
or the Grammys?” Jordan asked.

“Jake Gyllenhaal or Maggie Gyllenhaal?” Nicole asked, swigging water.

“Maggie,” Jordan said.

“The Grammys,” Nicole said. “I'd rather wear that Balenciaga.” She turned to Maya, who was still hanging on
high six
. “Are we going to stand around yammering or are we gonna hit?”

Maya went back out on the court to battle Nicole. She managed to win a few points, but she was stretched even further past her own limit.

And she loved every minute of it.

Afterward, while Maya wiped herself down with a beach towel (once again, Nicole was dry as a bone), Nicole checked her cell phone.

“Good God, Renee,” Nicole said, shaking her head.

“What's wrong?” Maya asked.

“Force of Habit is doing a private show tonight at the Sour. She was supposed to be my plus one for the after-party, but she just wants to hang at home.”

“I love Force of Habit! They're my favorite band!” Maya blurted. She immediately heard what sounded like her begging and backed off. “I mean, who doesn't? Shouldn't be too hard to find someone else to go.”

“Did you want to come?” Nicole asked. “Be my plus one?”

“I would love to,” Maya said, leaping at the chance. And then it hit her. “Wait. I have plans already. My friend Cleo's coming over for a movie night.” Cleo wasn't the only one coming over.

“Oh,” Nicole said. “Too bad.” And that was it.

“Well, I mean …” Maya couldn't let the offer slip away so fast. She needed time to think. Yes, Cleo wanted someone else there with her and Svetlana to keep it casual, but if Renee wasn't going out, she could play the third wheel. Maya wouldn't be stranding Cleo completely. “It'll be fine,” she said finally. “We'll have plenty of movie nights. But Force of Habit is in town for one night only.”