Someone Else's Fairytale (44 page)

“If I'd thrown it out, I'd have to remember what I did to you.”

That earned me a smile. He slipped his arm around my waist and tickled the spoon between my shoulderblades. “You mean how you heartlessly-”

“Don't,” I said. “Please. I'm sorry, okay? Just... yeah...”

“Hey, it's all right. It was my mistake.”

“It wasn't a mistake-”

“Yeah, it was.” He let go of me, rolled onto his back, and rested his head on his arm. “I acted first and thought later.”

“I am sorry.”

He smiled. “Look, once upon a time, what I did was cool. I was a professional actor with my own TV show, and all my friends at La Cueva were jealous. Then I got older and realized that I'm the weird one in my family, not the cool one. My siblings grew up and got jobs and lives while I still play make believe for a living and the media writes stories about what restaurants I go to and whom with. Some days I think it's all downhill from there. Once you make a certain amount of money, everyone around you is on your payroll, and they'll do whatever they have to do to keep in your good graces.” He looked at the spoon. “So sometimes I wonder if I'll get weirder and weirder until I'm posting incoherent rants on Youtube or having my bathwater flown in from
Greenland
or-”

“That's not you.”

“I hope it isn't. But-” he looked me in the eye “-neither is some of the other stuff I've done.” He focused on the spoon again. “About a year ago I had Dave escort a woman to my trailer and she let me know in no uncertain terms that it was out of line.”

“I misread the situation. I was stupid and oversensitive and-”

“You were normal. Being summoned? It's not normal, and your reaction was a wake up call. If I wanted to talk to a normal person about normal stuff, I had to be normal, so I went to your work... with a security detail in tow.”

I shrugged.

“Also not normal,” he said, “but you were polite about it, at least. When I invited you out to my house in LA to dinner without a caterer or a chef or anything like that, Don tried to put the moves on you.” He rolled his eyes. “You were polite about that too, but that was not at all normal. Then breakfast on Sandia-”

“Was really nice.”

“But still weird. Not the kind of thing you'd ever done before.”

“True.”

“I hadn't realized how Hollywood I was until I tried not to be. It was like you and I were from different planets, and I thought I hadn't let the industry change me. But, dinner with my family? That worked. The date that most couples have to work up to and is usually all uncomfortable? Things went fine, even though we barely knew each other.”

“Your family's nice.”

“Yeah.” He spun the spoon between his fingers, making the reflection of the light in the room slide over its surface like liquid. “Then after I dropped you off at home, the paparazzi showed up. So much for normal that time.”

“It's okay.”

“But you let me talk to you on Skype.” He flicked his gaze in my direction. “Sometimes.”

“Every other day, almost.”

“And then you found out about my past. It was like, no matter what I did to bridge the gap between us, there it was again.”

“Hey, non famous people do that kind of stuff too.”

“But I'd like to think I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't famous. You don't see anyone else in my family behaving like that. I'm just glad we were able to talk about it... after I crashed your restraining order thing.”

“That was okay. More than okay, and that was my weird life, not yours.”

“My dad told me off over that. He sat me down and said, 'Look, I don't know what your intentions are, son, but let's be clear. If you ever hurt Chloe, you and I can't be friends anymore.'”

“That's harsh.”

“He was stressed out after that hearing, and feels protective of you. Not everyone can face down an attempted murderer and laugh about it. I think he just wanted to do something to make your life better.”

“He did. He got me a restraining order.”

Jason stopped spinning the spoon and held it in front of his face. “I thought we were getting along pretty well by then, only when I showed up at your place with ice cream and tried to kiss you that night-”

“Like I said, don't remind me. I'm sorry, okay? I had all of this other stuff going on.”

“I screwed up. Normal people don't fly out in private jets just to share a carton of ice cream. You summed it up when you said it was someone else's fairytale. Extravagance puts you off, and you never daydreamed about Gladius feeding you ice cream.”

“I hadn't seen the
New Light
movies before then.”

Amusement lit his eyes for a moment. “I went to Jen's after you shut me down and she laid it out for me. She said she could tell that you liked me as a friend, but if the spark wasn't there, it wasn't there and I should be grateful that you weren't into my fame or money. I should respect your honesty, and know that you honestly weren't interested. Of all the things she's ever said to me, that's one of the most hurtful.”

“She was wrong.”

“She's never wrong – but don't tell her that. I spent a month trying to get over you and move on but that didn't happen. I met a lot of people who claim they don't care that I'm rich or famous, but that's never entirely true, and there are a lot of strong women in the world, but few people have to face their brother in court after he's tried to kill them. That requires something rare.”

“Yes,” I said, “really bad luck.”

He chuckled. “Okay, the fact that you can be sarcastic about it?” He traced the spoon across my forehead and looked me in the eye. “The fact that you could say no to me meant that if you ever did say yes, it would mean something. I mean... it wouldn't just be because I'd charmed you, but Jen told me it was friends or nothing, so I tried nothing, and I hated it, so I called you up on New Year's to try friends, and I hated that even more. Watching Don hit on you
again
,
and Rick.”

“They weren't hitting on me, and even if they were, who cares?”

“Yes they were.”

“No-”

“Yes, Chloe. They both asked me afterward if you were seeing anyone.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. You looked more gorgeous than ever.”

“It's not that nice of a dress.”

“What dress? I don't remember what you wore.
I'd thought I'd gotten a little bit over you, but I hadn't. I was still in love with you. That whole evening I felt like you were cutting my heart to pieces with kitchen shears.”

“It wasn't fun for me either.”

“And then Jen suggested that maybe you'd changed your mind, not that I get how that works. All of the sudden the rules change? I drove to your house, certain that you'd shut me down again, but if there was any chance...”

I kissed him. As always, he kissed back, as if he'd been waiting for me to make the first move.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “So that happened.” He kissed me again. “
And
you told me you loved me.”

“I do.”

He shifted onto his side so that we faced each other. His arm was around my waist again. “When you fell asleep that night-”

“In the middle of our conversation. Real romantic.”

“It was. Gave me a chance to hold you and just... be in that moment. I told myself that maybe you'd kept the ice cream because you liked me enough to be okay with my weird lifestyle, with the private jet and all that. Then the next morning when I flew up to Vancouver, I panicked. Remember when I called you?”

I didn't. “Um...”

“Left you a message, something stupid like, 'Hi it's me, call me if you want to,' or... I don't remember. Dave asked me if I was okay, and I just said something nonsensical. I don't even know what. And then you texted me back. You said you were in class, but you'd call me after, and that you loved me. You hadn't woken up the next morning and regretted it all.”

I ran the tips of my nails across the back of his neck. “Of course not.”

He half closed his eyes, like a cat having its ears scratched. “Dave asked me who it was, and when I showed him, he told me he'd beat me up if I wasn't due to start work the next day. You know, he couldn't leave a mark on me just before I started a shoot.”

“Beat you up?”

“He thinks my karma's got to be way out of balance, and I agree. It is. He was just trying to even things out.”

I didn't know whether to shake my head in disbelief or laugh, so I did both.

Jason kissed me again, and again. His hands worked their way down my back. I slipped my arm around his waist as he moved to kiss my neck. It was easier to relax now. Things are fine, I thought. My worries were baseless. I let myself melt in his arms and he shifted half his weight onto me. I ran my fingertips down his spine, returned his kisses as fervently as he gave them, and whispered, “I love you.” I felt completely secure, able to let go and just be with him.

As spontaneously as his kisses had started, they stopped. He put a hand on my shoulder and pressed me away. “Love you too,” he said as he extricated himself from my embrace.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to push things-”

He shook his head, levered himself up to hunt around on the bed for the ice cream spoon. Once he found it, he dropped it back into his nightstand with a metallic thud. Then he lay back down, but kept his distance and took my hand in his. Right then, I really wanted to be held. This time it wasn't him and his life putting the distance between us.

Friday night, I sat in the apartment, reading a book, when Kyra burst in through the door.

“Kyra,” Jason called after her.

“You aren't
listening,”
she snapped.

“Hey, please.” He rounded the corner and came into the apartment.

She looked over at me.

“Hi,” I said.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

I vaulted up out of my seat and went to hug her. “What's wrong?”

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“If Jason does something really,
really
stupid, you'll forgive him.”

“Kyra.” There was a warning note in his voice.

“Like what?” I said.

“Like unimaginably, unbelievably-”

“That's enough!” he snapped.

She just cried harder, let go of me, and ran into her room. Jason rested both hands on the counter and hung his head a moment.

“Um... rough day on the job?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“Dare I ask-”

“Please don't.”

I nodded. “You're not cheating on me, are you?”

“What?
No.
Absolutely not.”

“You didn't get someone else pregnant?”

“Huh?”

“You aren't planning to hurt yourself?”

“What?
Chloe.”

“I think I forgive you then.”

I expected him to laugh. He usually found me funny, but this time he just ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “Don't speak too soon. I've gotta... I've gotta get home. They want us in early tomorrow.”

“But you just got off work.” It was eleven o'clock. “You get twelve hours off, right? Guild rules?”

“Um, usually, but they're... it's a site rental issue and... so... I get not this Monday, but next Monday off. You, um, you able to take next Monday off work?”

“Sure. I'll arrange that. Care to tell me-”

He cut me off with a kiss. A long one that made spots swim in my vision. “I love you,” he said. Then he ran out the door like he couldn't escape fast enough.