Tidal (20 page)

“Stop saying sorry—” Cooper started,

but then he paused. His fingertips were

gentle as he swept my hair away from my

left shoulder. Then, carefully, so as not to

press too much of his body weight down

on top of me, he bent over to examine me.

“It’s amazing what you find when the

lights are on,” he said in a low voice

before tracing the tip of his tongue along

the small tattoo that ran across the soft

skin behind my left ear.

I trembled and curled my hands into

the sheets.

“Five, nine, ten,” he whispered,

reading the numbers aloud. “What’s it

mean?”

I twisted my head to glance over my

shoulder into his eyes. “It’s a date. When I

lost someone that I loved.” I was

surprised I was being so honest with him.

I’d gotten the tattoo when I was high,

and my mom had flipped out about it.

“You can’t have both, Willow. You

can’t keep a secret and then go and get a

goddamn
prison
tattoo advertising his

birthday,” she’d hissed.

“It’s not a prison tattoo,” I’d retorted.

“And nobody knows what it means.”

“We went through so much trouble

making sure this didn’t get out.” She’d

said, reminding me of how she and Dad

had sent me away from Los Angeles for

months to live with her step-mother in

Bumfuck, Oregon. “Please be a bit more

grateful.”

“Grateful? You let me sign a screwed

up agreement and I don’t even know what

happened.”

After that, I hadn’t talked to her for

nearly a month, and I’d spent the majority

of those thirty days forgetting that I even

got the tattoo in the first place.

Cooper pulled me away from the bitter

memory. “What are you thinking about?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

“You’re going to rip my sheets,”

Cooper said in a soothing voice, taking his

mouth, and then his hands, away from my

flesh. I focused down at the cotton

clenched in each of my hands and released

it. “I’m not going to push you to talk,

Wills. I’m not going to push you to do

anything. But at the risk of sounding like a

total pussy, I’ll listen to anything that

comes out of your mouth.”

Burying my face into the sheets, I

nodded. When I lifted my head a moment

later, there was a tiny smile curving the

corners of my lips. “Your sheets smell

like your girly ass shampoo.”

“Smart ass,” he said, rolling me over.

Our tongues and lips tangled together and

that ache crept from my stomach, in

between my legs. I wanted to get lost in

him again.

And again.

We stayed in his bed until I could no

longer ignore the sound of my cell phone

vibrating inside of my bag. There were a

couple missed calls from Kevin, but the

newest was a text from Jessica.

10:39 a.m.
: I’ve got to tell you what I
did last night, you busy?

Apparently, she’d forgotten about how

she’d told me to suck my fears about

filming the movie the fuck up the night

before.

Cooper rolled out of the bed, giving

me a knee-weakening smile over his

shoulder as he disappeared naked in the

tiny bathroom attached to the bedroom. I

heard the whistle of water running from

the pipes a moment later. Exhaling, I

cocooned myself in the sheet and

messaged Jessica back as I waited for him

to finish up so I could shower.
Will call

you later, okay?

She texted back with a winking

smiley, and I flushed all over.

Half an hour later after we had both

taken our showers, Cooper offered to

make me breakfast.

“I’m not a very good cook,” he

explained as he prepared a feast of

Toaster Strudels and fresh fruit. “And Eric

is probably going to bitch about me

touching his strawberry strudel stash.” He

tossed the empty box into the trashcan

before handing me my plate.

“I basically live on a diet of organic

waffles and grilled chicken and fish. I’d

say this was pretty fucking awesome.” I

sat down across from him at the table and

he gave me a smile. “By the way, where
is

Eric?” The house had been quiet all

morning, and I was half-expecting Eric to

pop around the corner with a video

camera attached to his hand.

I shuddered at the thought.

Cooper took a drink of his orange

juice. “Staying with Paige at her

apartment. He, um, wanted to give me the

house to myself for the weekend.”

Luckily my phone buzzed right then

and interrupted us before I could start

freaking out about what the implications

behind Cooper’s words. I picked up the

phone and stared down at the screen,

groaning when I saw a text from Kevin

asking me to call him ASAP to iron out the

details for tomorrow. I sent him a message

back telling him that I was working out

and that I’d call him as soon as I was

finished.

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

Cooper and I finished breakfast

quickly, and though I wanted to climb

back into his bed, I asked him to take me

home to my rental. When we reached the

house, a thought hit me as I was stepping

out the Jeep, and before I could stop

myself, I asked, “Cooper?”

“Mmm?”

“Why’d your dad do it?”

He leaned his head back to the

headrest and gave me a hard look.

“Because mum loved me and everything I

represented more than him.” I didn’t know

what that meant and he chose not to

elaborate because he said, “Willow?

Tomorrow, when you’re that girl again,

will I just be the surfer bum from

Hawaii?”

Though his words were teasing, there

was a serious edge to his voice that made

my throat go dry. I slid back down in my

seat and gazed straight ahead until the sun

turned the kids playing basketball at the

end of the street into a dusty blur. No, I

couldn’t imagine Cooper being a just

anything
after last night.

And after this morning.

“I’m not good with relationships,” I

said, and I heard his breath catch. “And

from what you’ve told me, neither are you.

But that doesn’t stop me from wanting

more of you.”

He moved closer, despite the center

console separating us, and stroked my

cheek. Every nerve in my body tingled as

his blue eyes connected with mine. God,

when had this happened?

When had I started wanting him like

this?

When had I started caring whether he

wanted me back?

My voice was heavy when I spoke. “I

. . . know you hate Hollywood. You’ll be

ripped apart if we make this public, so—”

He shook his head, moving his hand

from my jawline to hold my chin. “I’m not

hiding. And I’m not fucking afraid of some

douchebag with a camera.”

“You’ve got no clue.”

Tilting his head to one side, he rolled

his lips together. “I can handle whatever

they do to me. It’s you I’m worried

about.”

“It doesn’t bother me anymore,” I

said.

Liar.

If it didn’t bother you, why haven’t

you Googled your name since coming to

Hawaii?

I took a deep breath to ground myself.

“Let’s just get through the first week of

shooting, okay?” Reaching up, I touched

his face with the back of my hand. “And

just enjoy this?”

For a moment he looked like he was

about to argue with me, like he was going

to laugh at me and tell me to piss off, but

then he nodded slowly.

He kissed me again before walking me

to my front door, and as I watched him go,

I realized that this was another first for

me:

My first normal relationship in my

adult life.

***

toward the middle of the afternoon, I

found out that I was expected to attend a

press conference tomorrow morning with

some of the key members of the cast. This

was the second time in my entire career

that I’d never met any of the people I’d be

working with. Usually, I was sick of the

rest of the cast by now after multiple

screen tests for chemistry and meet and

greets.

Apparently, James Dickson had a shit

load of confidence in me.

My mother called me shortly after I

spoke to Kevin. I was in the middle of

studying my script, with the original

version of the movie playing quietly in the

background for inspiration, when I

answered.

“Have you checked the homepage of

Leah Dishes Hollywood
today?” her

voice was brimming with excitement

when she referred to the infamous

celebrity blog that hated me.

I rolled my eyes. “Nice to hear from

you too, Mom.”

“I’m guessing you haven’t looked.” I

could see her face fall just by the way her

voice had dropped.

“I’m not in the habit of reading about

myself being mocked.” But for some

reason, I’d already pulled my MacBook

off the coffee table and was trying to find

the website she was talking about. When it

loaded, I saw myself, standing next to

Tyler at the premier of
Into the Dark

almost four years ago. Same dark brown

hair, same green eyes, same pouty lips, but

the look on my face was so alive, so in

love with the guy on my right side, that it

made my chest burn.

Avery Surfs into Hilary Norton Role

Directly below the caption, there was

a film still of the gorgeous actress who’d

starred in Tidal in the late 80s, grinning at

the camera and gripping a brown

surfboard as her blonde hair blew around

her shoulders.

I skimmed the page as my mom

chattered on about how thrilled she was

about the film. Certain words in the blog

post jumped out at me like rehab and

lawsuit and then of course there were the

comparisons between Hilary and me.

Overdose.

The article ended on what my mother

claimed was a positive note—the writer

mentioned how excited she was to see the

movie since she’d been such a fan of the

original. Then she’d added that she hoped

to every higher power that existed that

Avery didn’t “dumb down” such a classic.

“Nice,” I said, closing the MacBook’s

screen before curiosity got the best of me

and I scrolled down to look at the

comments. They were never pretty, and

the last thing I wanted was to let them get

to me and tear up the high I’d gotten with

Cooper.

“People are talking about you again in

a good way,” Mom said.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said. There was a

knock at the front door, and I peeked up to

see Miller standing on the other side of the

screen. I motioned him in and pressed my

finger over my lips. “Hey Mom, sorry,

someone from wardrobe just showed up to

—”

She gasped. “They’re sending them to

your house now?”

“That’s what happens when you’re

washed up,” I replied sarcastically.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re

nineteen.”

“Twenty in two weeks,” I pointed out.

I wasn’t sure if she remembered so maybe

this would serve as a reminder for her not

to miss out on my birthday. When we

disconnected seconds later, I pushed my

hair out of my face and gave Miller an

apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. My

mom is . . .”

Scratching the center of his close-

cropped hair, he chuckled. “You don’t

have to tell me, I’ve got one too.” We sat

there for nearly a minute, in one of those

awkward silences, and then Miller said,

“So you’re ready to go?”

“What?”

He frowned for a moment, checked his

phone’s screen, and then answered. “You

said you were doing community service

this afternoon, right?”

Fuck.

Of course I’d told him that yesterday

afternoon, before I’d changed my mind

about going to Cooper’s party. “I’ve got

shit for brains today,” explained.

He flushed and looked down, and then

I groaned, because he knew exactly where

I’d gone last night.

“I’m just going to go die now,” I

murmured before skulking back to my

bedroom to throw on some old clothes.

Miller was good enough not to say

anything about Cooper, but when we

arrived at the shelter he took a deep

breath. “I know that I’m just the guy hired

to watch out for you.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you give me that

you suck at your job thing, I’ll cut you.”

He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry; I’m on

high alert when it comes to you right

now.” I lifted an eyebrow, and he added,

“I like to think you won’t need me, but

people are . . . crazy.”

I buried my face into my hands. “Don’t