Someone Else's Fairytale (34 page)

“See if he remembers
my
birthday,” said Jen.

The sliding glass door rolled open and Steve and Shannon came in with plates of hamburgers and buns. “Not as nice as what you cook,” he said to Jen.

“Shut up. Anything I don't have to cook is delicious.”

The Vanderholts had invited me over for a barbeque, and to plan out their collective birthday gift to Jason. The snow that had fallen over New Year's was gone as fast as it had come, leaving only chilly days and the occasional gray sky behind.

While everyone else bustled around to arrange a buffet on the counter, Kyra slipped into the seat next to me. I turned to see if she'd say anything, but she just smiled. I didn't know whether to get up and help, or stay with her, and before I could decide, the family had finished their arranging and Doug asked for everyone to bow their heads for grace. We all did, then everyone went up to get food. Kyra and I both got behind everyone else in line. She still didn't say anything. She seemed perfectly happy just to hang out near me. She even sat with me through the meal while she texted someone else on her phone and shot dirty looks at Jen when she tried to intervene.

It was hard to sit still for the flight up to
Vancouver
. On one hand, I was excited to see Jason. On the other, I was nervous. Part of me wanted to just call him and blow the surprise, but his family had seemed so excited about it that I didn't want to let them down.

A long layover in
Seattle
and a mechanical problem meant I didn't get in until past
nine o'clock
at night, so it was dark. I'd taken taxis in
Mexico
, so I tried to tell myself that this would be easier. The driver would speak English. I had Canadian dollars in my wallet, this would be fine.

And it was. I walked up to the taxi stand, gave the driver the name of the hotel, he helped me put my bag in the trunk, and we were off. The drive revealed a skyline of tall buildings and winking lights. It was hard to get a sense of much else other than how foreign the place was, not because it was in
Canada
, but because it was populated. As a New Mexican, I just wasn't used to that.

The taxi pulled up to the gleaming glass and metal doors of the hotel. I got out of the cab, paid, went into the hotel, and tried not to look like I was gawking at the plush lobby. The Hyatt Downtown in
Albuquerque
had nothing on this. The couches and carpets were
white
.
I felt for their cleaning crew, and wondered if anyone would curl their lip at my jeans and casual sweater.

The woman at the front desk didn't bat an eye. She had pale blond hair and gray eyes. “I'm Chloe Winters,” I told her. “I've got a reservation?”

She tapped that into her computer terminal with a set of perfectly lacquered nails. “Oh... right. Okay, I've got your room key and then Mr. ah, Kevin Douglas-” that was the name Jason had checked in under “-says we're to give you one of his room keys.”

“He's not supposed to know that I'm coming.”

She tapped something else into the computer and shrugged. “He set it up when he checked in.”

“Okay.” I was confused. I wondered if this meant that he assumed I'd stay in his room with him when I came up for another visit later. That was moving fast.

“You need a key to get up to his floor.” She pulled out two plastic cards and jammed one into a slot on her computer. A few more key taps and she pulled it out and handed it to me. “That's yours.” She repeated the process. “That's his.”

This way, at least, I could sneak up on him, if he was in. He often was on set until late. I took the elevator, which looked like it had a marble floor, up to my room, dumped my bag, then continued on up to Jason's. His floor had a key reader slot next to it and the button wouldn't light up until I inserted the room key. I'd seen those buttons on elevators before, but never used one. That gave me a little thrill.

The doors opened onto a hallway every bit as plush as the lobby. Rather than the utilitarian buff carpet that was on my floor, this had more white carpet and a chandelier right outside the elevator. I followed the brass signposts to Jason's room and marveled that the space between doors. These were some seriously big rooms.

I could hear Jason's voice coming through the door of his room and I picked up my pace, only to slow down when I heard another, female voice as well..

“It's late, and yes, I think you should go back to your room.” Jason's voice.

“You're sure?” A woman's voice.

I looked at my watch. It was past
ten o'clock
. Part of me wanted to flee, just go back downstairs and hide in my room. But that was never the part of me I listened to. I jammed my key in the lock, and pushed the door open to reveal a plush sitting room.

Jason was sitting on the couch across from a gorgeous woman, Gigi Malone, his costar. “Do you mind?” she said.

“Chloe?” His face lit up and he got to his feet.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

“No-”

“Not at this exact moment,” said Gigi.

Jason shot her an annoyed look as he crossed the room to me.

She laughed. “Oh, does she not know about us?”

“When did you get in?” he asked.

“It's the surprise visits that get you in trouble.” Gigi looked back over her shoulder at me, one arm outstretched on the back of the couch and a mocking smile on her lips.

“Whatever. Gigi, Chloe, Chloe, Gigi, who is a
friend...”

“Mmmm-hmmm.”

“...who cracks some really lame jokes sometimes.”

“Oh, riiiight, we're just joking.” She winked at him.

“C'mon,” he snapped.

“If she'd arrived any later, you couldn't get away with claiming it's all just a joke.”

“Gi, quit it.” He looked a little panicked. His hand, resting on my wrist, trembled slightly.

“What? It could be worse. I could've been like this when she walked in.” She got up on her knees on the couch and, facing me, started to unbutton her blouse.

“Yeah, okay.” Jason dragged me through a door, into the bedroom, out of sight of Gigi. “She's joking, okay? I swear. I
swear.”

“I often undress as a joke,” Gigi chimed in.

“Just quit it, okay? This isn't funny!” Jason turned back to me. “I promise you, I am not a cheat. I've done a lot of really stupid things, but I'd never stoop so low as to-”

“Whee!” A bra flew past the open bedroom door.

“Seriously, Gi. Cut it
out.”

“What, honey? Nothing you haven't seen before.”

 
Jason gazed past me at something on the other side of the room, then shook his head and looked at me. “I promise you, she is joking and just taking it way too far.” He raised his voice. “I'm calling Phil.”

“What?”

Jason patted his pockets, glanced around, then said to me. “Wait right here.” He made a point of looking away from Gigi as he stepped back into the other room, as if a single glance in her direction was lethal.

I turned around and tried to guess what he'd looked at just a moment before. Behind me was the bed, neatly made, and next to it a nightstand. Jason's computer lay on the floor, probably where he'd left it the night before after we'd signed off Skype.

“Give me my phone.”

“Come get it.”

“I am not reaching there. Seriously. Stop it. I can't believe you.”

“What, you ashamed of us, sweetheart?”

On the nightstand was a stack of papers, which turned out to be call sheets. Under them was a spoon, which I picked up. It was my spoon, or one of my spoons, at least.

Jason stormed back into the room and grabbed the hotel phone off the nightstand on the opposite side of the bed. He muttered to himself as he jabbed the buttons, only to freeze when he saw what I was holding.

I dropped the spoon onto the bed and hunched my shoulders with guilt. “Sorry, I shouldn't go through your stuff.”

“Yeah... I stole the ice cream spoon. And go ahead.” He gestured around the room. “Dig all you want. I've got nothing to hide from you, other than a little petty theft. Go through my email if you want.” He pointed at his computer. “Hey, yeah, hi,” he said into the phone. “Gigi's taking a joke waaay too far and, I'm sorry to bother you. Dave's got the night off, my guys are downstairs, and I just want this to end now... Yeah... my girlfriend's here and Gigi thought it'd be funny to take all her clothes off... Thanks.” He hung up and came around the bed to me. “Please believe me. I
swear,
I would never cheat on you, or anyone. Especially not you. I love you.”

There came the sound of a knock.

“Sec,” said Jason. He strode back out to open the door. “Phil, hi.”

“Dangit!” There came a thud, which I assumed was Gigi falling down. “Jason-”

“Need this?” said another male voice. The bra flew the other way past the door.

“I am really sorry to bother you,” said Jason.

“You're not the one being a bother here.”

“I was just kidding around!” protested Gigi. “Come on? Can't you take a joke?”

“It's not funny. Not now, and not with her. I can't believe you.”

“All right. I'm leaving. I'm
leaving,
okay?” Gigi bustled past the door, holding her blouse to the front of her bare chest. She had her jeans on, but that was about it. The door opened and slammed shut.

I poked my head around the corner and saw Jason was conferring with a dark haired guy who had a middle aged paunch sagging over his belt.

“Ah, hi,” the man said to me. “Kelly, is it?”

“Chloe,” said Jason. “Chlo, this is Phil, one of our producers. And he can tell you, there is nothing going on between me and Gigi. She just thought it'd be funny to... did you ever hang around the drama club in school? We're a little uninhibited, sometimes...”

“Everything going to be okay here?” Phil asked. “What do you need to have happen?”

“I need to miraculously not get dumped in the next five minutes.”

“I mean with regards to the shoot.”

“No, I know what you mean. Nothing. Like I said, I'm sorry to bother you.”

Phil clapped him on the shoulder. “It's all right. About tomorrow-”

“I'll be on time. Won't even throw a tantrum. It's all good.”

“All right. Nice to meet you, Chloe.” He turned and left.

Deafening silence descended as the door clicked shut. Jason turned back to me. “Chloe-”

“She admitted it was a joke.”

“Right. Yeah.”

“And Phil knew my name, even though you didn't tell it to him. You just said your girlfriend was here.”

He nodded. “True.”

“He even got it slightly wrong, which would be pure genius if you planned that ahead.”

“And I'm not that smart. Please don't think I'm that smart.” There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes now.

“You didn't panic when I barged in. You seemed happy to see me.”

“I was. I am.”

“And you gave me your room key, which would be pretty stupid if you wanted to hide anything from me.”

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. “So you believe me?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too. Things always this eventful?”

“Not in that way, but yes, unfortunately. Gigi's discovered Vicodin, or is it Valium? I dunno. Something with a V. I think. She's a mess, the shoot's a mess. This whole project's a nightmare.”

“I'm sorry.”

“You hungry? I'm starving, and I'm going to ignore my nutritionist right now.”

“I could eat.”

He strode over to the entertainment center and got a binder out of the drawer. “Room service menu,” he said, as he handed it to me. “Tell me what you want.”