Chapter Seventeen

To explain the events that took place at the Coco Club would involve telling Dad that I had used a fake ID to get into a club and that I’d left my little brother at home with his bong pipe. Just a few months away from my senior year exams. So Jack and I decided it was probably a better idea to keep that little adventure on the down low.

We had only just managed to run through the doors before Dad and Kenny arrived home. I managed to squeeze in a second to rip the wig off my hair, wincing as the pins dug into my scalp. But I was still all dressed up in my dress and heels, and Jack was in a suit, which raised some questions when Dad walked in. My brilliant excuse had been a complex game of charades, to which Jack, Chris, and Mike all agreed profusely with. Luckily for us, Dad was too tired from complaining about great movie opportunities to delve too deep into the matter.

That night I slept with the napkin Dr. D had left for me under my pillow, as if I would wake up in the morning and the tooth fairy would have left me a ten dollar bill in its place. A clue as to who Dr. D was and what he wanted would have been more helpful, but seeing as I got neither the ten dollars nor the information I needed, I took the napkin with me to Miss Golden Globe rehearsals at the start of the week.

It was just over two weeks to go ‘til the big day, and Carol was driving me insane. I just couldn’t please the woman. The way I walked was “all wrong,” I always missed my cues and I always had a “nervous look on my face. Kind of like a beaver.” There was zero appreciation for the effort I was making, including strutting around the house daily, and practicing my award-winning smile. Jack was just about ready to throw me through a window from all my tedious practice of handing pepper mills to him, pretending it was a trophy and he was Ben Affleck. But nothing seemed good enough for Carol. She just kept sighing deeply and rubbing her temples every time she saw me.

As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, Milo still hadn’t called. What, was he in a coma or something? Because other than that, there is NO good excuse for giving a girl a life-changing kiss, offering to buy her frozen yogurt, and then disappearing! Even being abducted by aliens wouldn’t cut it; they have lots of communication devices in their little spaceships. I had tried to move onto a new strategy of coping, which mostly involved playing “Independent Woman” really loud while I was getting ready in the morning. As it turns out that was not a great idea, because grooving to Destiny’s Child is actually very dangerous in a slippery shower. The fierce finger snapping alone almost cost me my life.

When Carol announced that we should take a ten-minute break before we had our practice with Billy Crystal, I was just about ready to run away with my maxi dress and four-inch heels on and never look back. I mean, what were the chances I’d actually come into contact with George Clooney anyway? If my dad hadn’t gotten me that opportunity yet, I doubted Carol Beaufort would.

“Take me home,” I groaned as I sunk into the chair next to Jack.

“You’re not nearly done with rehearsals yet,” Jack reminded me, eyes glued to his phone as usual. “Carol’s forehead vein still looks like it’s a decent size. You haven’t infuriated her enough.”

I frowned and picked up my English essay that was lying on Jack’s lap. I had asked him to make himself useful and proofread my homework while I was getting yelled at, so I’d have one less thing to worry about when I got home.

“What did you think?” I asked him, hopeful that I had managed to get at least one thing right in my life.

Jack turned to me with a less than reassuring look on his face. “It’s not . . . bad.”

I gave him a knowing look. “That doesn’t mean it’s good.”

“Yeah, it’s not good.”

“Jack!”

“Gia,” Jack’s voice softened, as if he was about to deliver me the news that my cat had died. “It didn’t make any sense. You were supposed to be writing about the themes in the Lord of the Flies. But it was all over the place.”

“It was not!” I cried defensively.

“You spent way too much time on the characters.”

“The characters are the important part!”

“Yeah, but the essay is about the themes.”

I pouted with disappointment, crossing my arms across my chest like a stubborn five year old. I had woken up early just to write that stupid thing before we left for rehearsals, all for Jack to say it sucked. What a waste of my sleeping time. Now I was going to have dark circles under my eyes and it was going to be all his fault.

“I hate that stupid book. It’s so boring!” I exclaimed, watching Dylan talk to a man with a headset on. “And I hate being Miss Golden Globe! Dylan gets everything right, and I’m the massive screw up.”

“Boys have it easier,” Jack said sympathetically. “They don’t have to wear heels.”

“Exactly! I’m going crazy here. My mom messages me a photo of a new gown every five minutes. And every time I tell her I like one, she declares that she hates it! Plus, we still haven’t figured out what the napkin says, Milo still hasn’t called me to declare his love, and I’m going to fail English because apparently the characters don’t count as a theme!”

Jack watched me silently as I did some heavy breathing and mentally forced myself not to cry. We hadn’t informed the police about the Coco Club yet, mainly because we had broken a few laws getting in. But I had no idea if I even wanted to tell the police anymore. Maybe Jack was right. Maybe they were wasting our time and we could figure it all out ourselves.

“Have you calmed down yet?” Jack said, turning so that he was facing me.

“I think so.”

“Good.”

I blew out another sigh and tipped my head back to look up at the ceiling. “I’m dying under all this pressure! My life is so unfair.”

“Seriously?” Jack asked incredulously. “Michael Bublé wrote a song for you on your seventeenth birthday, and you’re complaining that your life is unfair?”

I blinked up at the ceiling, nodding sadly. “I tried to get John Mayer, but he was busy. Wait.” I cocked my head up and look at Jack quizzically. “How do you know about my birthday song?”

“I Googled you.”

“You what?”

“I had to do some research before the job! Make sure you weren’t completely nuts.”

“And?”

“And you’re completely nuts.”

I whacked him on the arm, which of course, was a waste of energy because he barely felt it. I groaned and said, “Yeah, well now all I have is tons of stress and a paranoid father.”

“Oh come on,” Jack said. “Give the guy a break! He’s just trying to look out for you.”

“He’s suffocating me with all his rules.”

“Gia,” Jack said seriously. “If my dad cared about me half as much as your dad does, I’d never complain.”

I watched him silently as he picked up my essay again and began scanning through it. Jack didn’t talk about his life much. Or ever, really. Sure, he mentioned New York a lot, and Scarlett was always coming up in conversations. But I had never once heard about his parents.

“You don’t get along with your dad?” I asked casually.

“Nope,” Jack replied simply, never taking his eyes off the paper.

I considered asking the next question, thought against it, then finally gave in. “Well, why not?”

Jack looked up at me, expressionless. For a moment I thought he was going to get mad, or just walk away. But then his jaw relaxed a little and he shrugged. “We have different ideas about how to run my life. That’s all.”

I nodded at him, wanting to ask more, but deciding that I had gone far enough for one sitting. Besides, it wasn’t like Jack was going to disappear in the next five minutes. There was plenty of time to grill him with personal questions later.

“Miss Winters.” I heard a familiar voice call from behind me, and Jack and I turned to look at the entrance of the grand hall.

Jack and I rose to our feet as Detective Reynolds and Milo walked toward us, past the chairs and tables that would be occupied by celebrities’ perfectly toned butts in a matter of weeks. I kept reminding myself to act snooty and flippant. Who the hell did Milo think he was? I mean, you can’t just kiss the heck out of someone and then pretend it never happened. That’s just bad social etiquette. But my heart didn’t share those thoughts. It was doing its break dancing thing that’s usually followed by a British accent. Milo and his stupid uniform never failed to floor me, even when I was standing next to someone who looked like Jack.

“Miss Winters, Jack.” Detective Reynolds greeted us simply, extending his arm so that we could shake his hand. “We stopped by your house but your dad informed us you’d be here. We thought we’d fill you in on the latest developments in person.”

“Is everything okay?” Jack asked.

“It’s going as well as it can, considering you have a stalker.” Detective Reynolds told us, and I stared at the ground so my eyes wouldn’t accidently linger on Milo. “We visited Mr. Kai’s girlfriend this morning, following up on a lead.”

My head snapped up from the ground and turned to face Jack. He gave me a look that told me to be cool, but I always did have a hard time with being subtle.

“What did you find?” Jack said, glancing at me.

I was concentrating so hard on avoiding Milo’s gaze, I was practically glaring at Detective Reynolds with squinty eyes as if I was plotting his murder.

“Well,” Detective Reynolds began. “She told us that they had recently separated because she suspected he’d been involved in some illegal activity. She informed us that Ao Jie Kai’s employer might have had something to do with large amounts of money he was suddenly receiving.”

“Drugs?” I asked, throwing my hair over my shoulder with my best I have no prior knowledge about this topic look on my face. I could practically feel Milo’s eyes burning into my skin, but I kept my eyes away from him.

“It could be anything, really. It needs further investigation.”

“Ah,” I said unintelligently, with a fierce nod. “Well, thanks for stopping by, we really appreciate it! Okay, see you then.”

I spun on my heel, grabbing onto Jack’s elbow in an attempt to lead him away before I started blabbing about our own encounter with Claudia.

“Uh, just a second, Miss Winters,” Detective Reynolds said, and I sucked in some air.

I considered running, or falling to the floor and faking a broken ankle. But I didn’t have the acting abilities or speed for either one of those, so facing the police officers was really the only option I had.

I whirled around slowly, forcing a smile. “Yes?” I asked, hoping I looked innocent.

“Miss Finch did mention to us that there were two people who came into the bar yesterday. She said a young blonde woman asked her about her boyfriend and shortly after disappeared to the bathroom, re-emerging with a blonde man whom at first she portrayed as a stranger.”

“Really?” Jack asked pensively. “That’s interesting.”

Detective Reynolds’ gaze moved from Jack’s blonde hair to my brunette waves. He nodded to himself slightly before continuing. “She said a tall man came up to her while the blonde woman was in the bathroom and paid for her drink. He also left her a napkin to pass onto the blonde woman.”

“Did she say what the man looked like?” I asked, flicking my eyes to Milo, who was staring at Jack with a tightened jaw.

“Brown leather jacket, green eyes, salt and pepper hair.” Detective Reynolds replied. “Looked to be in his late forties, fairly handsome.”

I racked my brains, struggling to place someone with that description. At this rate, Dr. D could have been any forty-year-old average Joe walking down the street. I also recalled Claudia saying, “could have been hot back in the day.” I doubted she had used the word handsome.

“So where do we go from here?” Jack asked, maintaining his composure while I tried not to give myself a panic attack.

“We’ve requested that the bar hand over their security footage from last night. Hopefully the cameras caught him, and the two mysterious patrons poking around for information. We’re also going to pay Ao Jie Kai a visit today, maybe tomorrow. We’re hoping to get a lot of answers from him.”

I looked at Jack from the corners of my eyes, gripping onto my maxi dress with such intensity that I was scared my nails would rip through the fabric. If the police got their hands on that footage, they would easily be able to recognize Jack. Considering I barely recognized myself, I doubted anyone would be able to suspect me in that blonde wig. As convenient as that was, it didn’t help the case Milo was probably mentally building against Jack, who would be unable to explain his presence at the Coco Club without looking like he was working with an accomplice for Dr. D.

“Well, that’s just fantastic!” Carol’s voice came from behind me. She marched down the stairs of the stage, eyes narrowed, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Carol, thi—” I began to explain, but she ignored me.

“Officer,” she said, approaching Detective Reynolds. “If you’re going to arrest Gia for whatever she seems to have done, please do it after two weeks. I’m desperate here, and Gia was already our last choice.”

“Hey!” I cried, giving her an offended look. “Why would you automatically assume I did something wrong?”

“Let me guess,” she said, shaking her head with an unimpressed look on her face. “Parking tickets?”

“Miss, I assure you Gia is in no trouble. We were just updating her on her . . .” Detective Reynolds looked at me and I shrugged. “Parking tickets. We’re just leaving, actually.”

Carol’s eyes squinted as if she couldn’t believe for one second that I hadn’t done something wrong, before finally blowing out a sigh.

“Fine. Thank you for your time officers. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have a lo—”

“How do they get the curtains up that high?” Detective Reynolds asked, gazing up at the stage, where busy workers were carrying curtains to weave onto rods.

“Uh,” Carol replied, following his gaze to her minions. “They have ladders. Very high and sturdy ladders.”

“Is that Billy Crystal?” Detective Reynolds suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the stage. His voice had become shrill with excitement, as though he were a teen waiting in line at a Backstreet Boys concert.

“Yes it is,” she said, giving him a strange look.

“I’m a big fan” he replied, his eyes widening. “Huge fan. If it’s not too much trouble, do you think maybe I could introduce myself? Maybe get an autograph for the wife?”

Carol looked at me and I responded with the toothiest smile I had ever flashed in my life. Personally, I thought it was hilarious that Detective Reynolds had turned into a completely different person within a matter of seconds. Carol clearly wasn’t as mad as I had first expected, because she actually agreed to introduce him and put our rehearsal on hold. Maybe her forehead vein had finally relaxed, or maybe she was scared to get on the bad side of a cop, but I sent a mental thank you to Baby J for delaying my failures by five more minutes. I wasn’t however, thankful for the awkward position I was left in.

“So,” Milo said. I could no longer avoid his gaze. “Who knew Billy Crystal had that effect on fully grown men?”

For the first time since I had met him, I actually felt a little relief being around Milo. For once, I wasn’t the only nervous one. He was too. He kept lightly slapping his thigh with his hand, looking at the floor and then back at me.

“Jack can you give us a minute?” I asked, and Jack’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Gia, I—”

“Please, Jack.”

Jack looked at me like I had just told him I was having his baby. I gave him a pleading look, puppy dog eyes and all, and he shook his head in disbelief.

“I’m right behind you,” he told me, backing away hesitantly. “Right behind you.”

Evidently that was Jack’s favorite thing to say. I turned back to Milo, my momentary burst of confidence wearing off.

“Bodyguards,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Whadya’ gonna do?”

“Look Gia, I know you’re probably really mad at me,” Milo began, running his hand through his hair. “I kissed you and then didn’t call you for a week. I get it. I’d be mad too.”

Of course I had every right to be mad at him! How could he just look that amazing and lead a girl on like that? Only, I wasn’t really angry.

“I’m not mad you. I’m just confused. If you thought it was a mistake then—”

“It wasn’t a mistake!” he exclaimed. “I just don’t know if it was the best decision.”

“Okay, you lost me again.”

“I probably shouldn’t have made a move,” Milo said slowly. “It was crazy inappropriate, considering I’m working your case. I’m barely an officer. If I screw this up, I’ll never live it down! Detective Reynolds didn’t mention anything about us being at the party together, but I doubt he’d encourage it.”

“So that’s why you didn’t call?”

Milo sighed. “Okay, maybe I was using some other work as an excuse to keep myself busy and not call you, which was cowardly. But I felt really bad about leading you on.”

My eyes locked with his and everything fell into place. Everything suddenly made sense.

“You’re married,” I declared.

“What?” Milo said, eyes widening. “No!”

“Single father?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Gia—”

“Serial killer?”

“No! Gia, I—”

“Gay?”

“Gia, I’m moving to New York!” he cried, probably a little louder than he had wanted because I heard Jack snort with laughter behind me.

I turned to look at him with a steely glare. He really wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to be right behind me. Jack clapped a hand over his mouth and held his hand up as an apology, taking two steps further away from Milo and I, struggling to contain his evident happiness.

“What?” I asked, shifting my attention back to Milo. “Say that again, because I’m struggling here.”

“I applied for a transfer to the NYPD months ago, long before your case,” Milo explained. “I got the call a few days before the frat party saying my application had been accepted and that I should finish whatever major cases I was working on. I graduate from the academy in just under a month, and I’ll be out of the city not long after.”

“So where do I fit into this?”

“You came along and I couldn’t help but feel something. I told myself not to act on those feelings but I kind of had a weak moment at the party. I guess I let myself like you a little more than I should have.”

I was so happy on the inside, I could have just died. Officer Milo Fells was standing less than three feet away from me, declaring that he couldn’t help but fall for me! It was definitely the bail pun that had done it. You can’t fight the romantic power of a good pun.

“So right before you, you know . . .” I said, finding myself unable to actually to say the word kiss out loud. “You said you were going to ‘regret this.’ What does that mean?”

“I don’t at all regret kissing you, Gia. If I could go back in time and take it back, I wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean it was smart, considering our situation. I only meant that I would regret having to explain this all to you later, after acting like a complete idiot and deciding to ignore you instead of facing up to it.”

Alright, so he had been an idiot. A whole week had gone by and not one word. He had even resorted to communicating with Jack instead of me! But he was sorry. And he was hot. And he said he didn’t regret kissing me. And he was hot.

“So,” I began, dreading the inevitable question that hung in the air around us. “Where does this leave us now?”

“It leaves you in New York,” Jack’s voice said. He came up from behind me, looking at Milo with a smile. “And Gia in L.A.”

“Nice of you to join us,” Milo said sarcastically, and I bit my nails nervously.

I could barely manage to be around Milo or Jack when I was alone with them. I had no hope when they were both in the same room.

“Sorry,” Jack said, with the most unapologetic grin plastered on his annoyingly perfect face. “But I couldn’t help but overhear the tragic tale you two were reciting to each other.”

“Jack!” I hissed, but he ignored me.

“I don’t really see how this is your business, man.” Milo told him in a strained voice.

“Gia is my business. And the fact that you’re going to be in my city in a matter of months is also my business.”

“Oh, my mistake,” Milo replied with a glare. “I wasn’t aware you owned New York.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know yet.”

“Jack, stop,” I said warningly, but he didn’t even look at me.

“Oh, we’ll get there soon. Don’t worry,” Milo replied, his smile unable to mask the challenging tone in his voice.

Shitty shit shit! This was not going well.

“You know what else is my business?” Jack continued, taking a step closer to Milo. “The fact that you’re too busy twiddling your thumbs and writing in your journal about lost love to actually focus on the lunatic harassing Gia.”

An image suddenly popped into my head of Milo lying on his bed; tongue out with concentration and furiously writing in a secret diary with a feathery pink pen. I had no clue why my brain had decided to form such a pointless thought and at such an inappropriate time too, but I couldn’t stop a light laugh from escaping.

“Journal . . .” I whispered, my laughter strengthening.

Both Milo and Jack were looking at me like I was delusional, which only made me laugh harder. I wanted to slap myself for acting like such an idiot, but even that image was funny to me.

“I’ll be in touch,” Milo said, watching me laugh with a concerned look on his face.

I slapped a hand over my mouth in an attempt to stop the completely uncalled for laughter, but it was no use. Now it just looked like I was having a seizure. Milo raised his eyebrows, shook his head ever so slightly and walked over to Detective Reynolds and Carol, ignoring Jack completely.

“Oh my gosh,” I said, wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes. I had just managed to get my laughter under control and my abs hurt. Thanks a lot, brain.

“That was so embarrassing!”

“Can you believe that guy?” Jack asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

We watched Milo approach a beaming Detective Reynolds and introduce himself to the celebrities with a handshake and a strained smile.

“I can’t believe you! Now I’ll never be Mrs. Gia Fells! Especially not after what you just pulled.”

Jack rolled his eyes in frustration and turned to me. “Are you an idiot? He made out with you, and now he’s conveniently moving to another city?”

“Hey!” I cried, giving him an offended look. “He’s not moving to another city to get away from me! We sorted the whole kiss thing out. You should know that, considering you were eavesdropping!”

“It’s not my fault you two were talking so loudly!”

“Oh, please.”

Jack gave me a pitying look, and I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. “Just wait, Gia,” he said. “You’re going to figure out that this guy isn’t right for you.”

I glared at Jack through narrowed eyes. It was just like him to say something discouraging like that. What did he know about Milo, anyway? I was getting really sick of Jack caring about me one minute, and then changing his mind the next. The hot and cold act was getting a little old.

“We’re taking off,” Detective Reynolds told me, making his way down the stage steps with Milo close behind.

Apparently he had gotten all he needed from Carol and Billy. Milo and Detective Reynolds walked up the perfectly plush carpeted floor to where Jack and I were standing, and I thanked them both for the update, being extra careful to avoid eye contact with Milo again. I shook both their hands, tried not to faint when Milo’s hand lingered in mine, and watched with a pout as they walked toward the entrance of the hall. Detective Reynolds’ phone rang and he answered with a gruff hello, autographs in hand.

“Gia,” Milo said, turning around suddenly, as if he had done it on impulse. Detective Reynolds was yelling into his phone so loudly, I doubted he noticed. “I’m really sorry. For what it’s worth, I really do like you. And I’m sorry this got so complicated.”

I watched him walk away, my heart sinking as Detective Reynolds and Milo disappeared out of the hall. What kind of injustice was this? I had finally found a guy that I genuinely liked (sorry, Brendan), who actually liked me back, and nothing could even happen! For one, he was almost a police officer working my case. And two, he was freaking moving states! One reason would have been enough! I didn’t need to be smacked in the face twice.

I had three bodyguards, two parents, great friends, a puppy, a dozen housekeepers, and occasionally a pool boy. I even had a stalker, for cryin’ out loud. Yet somehow I still managed to feel completely alone. I’m pretty sure this is not exactly what Kelly, Michelle, and my girl Beyoncé had in mind.

All the women who are independent, throw your hands up at me.