7
There’s a faint knock on my door and I set my phone down on the bed. I’m sure it’s Gina, she always knocks softly. I open my bedroom door and smile at Gina.
“Miss Amy, I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Baldwin will be home in ten minutes or so and he would like you to join him for dinner.”
I try not to frown, but I’m not sure it works because I can see in her face that’s she’s confused. She smiles at me and walks away.
Gina has no idea what Dex did to my family and what he did to me by showing me the film of Greenville. I get the impression that she has a great deal of respect for him. I have a feeling that she might be naive enough to not be upset by the way Hollywood people act. It’s actually a little surprising considering what she does for a living. Maybe she sees it and doesn’t mind.
I sit back down on my bed and pick up my phone. There’s a message waiting for me, from Logan.
I should probably get going, I have a team dinner and then we have a late film study session.
It’s really amazing how much time he’s putting into football, considering the season hasn’t even started yet.
OK, thanks for listening. Have a good night, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
I wait for a minute, but don’t get a reply. He must already be at his team dinner.
My mind drifts back to Dex. I wonder why he wants me to join him for dinner. After last night, I’m surprised that he even wants to talk to me… unless he wants to remind me again how he ruined my family. I hope that’s not the case, because if that’s what he has in mind I’m not sticking around.
I look at my phone and wonder why I haven’t heard from Jess today. She must be busy or maybe she had to work all day. Hopefully, she’ll text me when she gets home from work.
While I wait for Dex to get home, I scroll through my phone and eventually open up my voicemails. There are three messages from my dad that I just can’t bring myself to listen to, again. I know the sound of his voice, even though he was pissed at me in the voicemails, will instantly make me cry and hate my current situation even more.
I keep wondering if Dex is to blame for all of this. If he hadn’t come to make his movie, then my mom wouldn’t have left; my dad would have never started drinking so heavily and I would have never left home. He would never have had to come see me in Salem and would still be alive today.
I know it’s a lot of what if’s, but there’s a part of me that can’t stop from feeling that way.
I sigh, sensing that close to ten minutes has gone by since Gina knocked on my door. I get up and head downstairs. The sooner I get down there and dinner starts, the sooner I don’t have to look at his face.
When I walk into the kitchen Gina is standing over the stove. I sit down at the table, at my same spot, and notice that it’s set for three. I groan. The spot between Dex and me is set. It can only mean that my mom is going to be here, which I’m definitely not looking forward to.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pull it out. A smile crosses my face as I see the text from Jess.
Hey, girly, I just got home from work. How’s it going today? Did you tell your mom off yet?
Lol. No, I actually haven’t seen her yet. I guess I will in a second though, Dex asked for me to have dinner with him and I’m sitting at the table waiting for him right now and there’s a third spot set. Here goes nothing.
Don’t hold back. Tell them what they did to you.
That would be nice. I would love to tell Dex he ruined my family and that he’s an awful person for it. I want to tell my mom that I never want to see or speak to her again, I just don’t know if I have it in me. If they push me, though, I’m sure that I’ll let them know exactly how much I hate them.
I hear laughing and I set my phone down on the table and look up. Dex walks through the door and sits down. My mouth drops open when I see the other person with him. It’s not my mother, but instead a strikingly handsome guy who looks to be in his early twenties.
He looks so familiar. He must just have one of those faces.
“This is Amy,” Dex says, as they sit down.
“Nice to meet you, Amy, I’m Spencer.”
Holy crap. That’s why I recognize him.
“As in Spencer Thomas?” I say.
He smiles and nods.
“I cast him in my next movie,” Dex says.
I still can’t believe it. He’s a genuine movie star, a heartthrob… one of those boys that all the girls in high school had a picture of in their locker. I never thought he was that good looking, but sitting just a few feet away from him right now... I can see why he has that image. Even though he’s good looking, when I look at him I don’t feel the same way I feel when I look at Logan.
“Amy.”
“Huh?”
I blink and look at Dex. I guess I was lost in my own world.
“I told Spencer that you’re going to school in Salem this fall.”
I nod. That’s the plan, so long as you don’t ruin that for me, too.
“Are you a football fan?”
I shrug. I guess? How do I answer that?
“Oh… well, my dad went to State so I grew up a Cougar fan,” Spencer says.
“I didn’t know that,” Dex says.
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to this season, they have a good shot at winning their conference if their quarterback comes back from his knee injury.”
Knee injury? Is Logan the starting quarterback? I hadn’t even considered it. Is that why the guy in the restaurant, when I went out with Logan the day I met him, recognized him?
“What’s his name?” I say.
“Logan Reynolds.”
I can’t believe it. That must be why Mitch was so suspicious of me and Logan. He thought that I was going after the quarterback of the team. Suddenly things start to make sense. That’s why Logan is always going to meetings and football is such an important part of his life. I feel bad about complaining about my problems all the time when he has the weight of a football team on his shoulders.
“You alright, Amy? You look… surprised,” Dex says.
I nod my head. He’s right, I’m surprised. How come Logan never mentioned it before?
“You know him, don’t you?” Spencer says.
I turn my head toward him and look him in the eyes. I think about not saying anything, it’s the smart thing to do. I don’t want my mom or Dex to have anything they can hold over my head. They don’t need to know anything about me or my life. At the same time, Spencer has a sheer look of joy on his face.
“Yeah… I know him.”
“Eeee!”
I smile at Spencer. I’ve never heard a guy squeal like that before. It’s endearing and it makes him seem more… normal.
“Do you…. Oh, never mind. I’m sure it’s not possible.”
“What is it?”
“Do you think you could get me an autograph? Do you know him well enough to ask for one?”
“You could say that.”
He has a huge smile on his face. Spencer Thomas, famous actor, looks like a kid in a candy store. How could I say no?
“Thank you, so much!”
“No problem.”
I grab my phone to text Logan. I know he’s probably busy, but I want to do it before I forget.
Spencer Thomas, the actor, is at the house right now. He’s a huge fan, his dad is an alumni of State. He was wondering if you could sign an autograph for him.
I hit send and put my phone back down.
“Wait… did you just text him?” Spencer says.
“Yeah… why?”
“You have his phone number?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s amazing. How did you meet him?”
I almost blurt out that I walked in on him in the bathroom, with just a towel wrapped around him. I’m glad that I don’t. That’s not a story I really want to be telling people. I try to think of a way that I can say we met that doesn’t involve a bathroom or Mitch.
“We met… at my old job. I worked at a place called Burgers-R-Us.”
It’s a little bit of a white lie, but Logan did come into my work and that was a link in the chain of events that led to us being together.
“Crazy… you never know.”
I look over at Dex, who has been silent the whole time. He has a smile on his face and I can tell he’s getting a kick out of this.
“Are you and Logan….” Spencer says.
“That’s enough, Spencer,” Dex says. “Let the poor girl be.”
Gina sets a plate down in front of me and I’m thankful for her, and Dex’s interruption. I don’t mind talking to Spencer, but I don’t really know much about Logan when it comes to football, obviously, so it was starting to go in a direction I didn’t feel comfortable talking about. Not to mention Logan and I are still getting to know each other.
“Sorry,” Spencer says.
“It’s fine, no worries. I’ll let you know when I hear back from him.”
He looks up from his plate and smiles at me. I wonder how many girls would give anything in the world to be sitting at a table with Spencer Thomas smiling at them. Granted it’s because I know Logan, but still.
My phone vibrates. It surprises me as I figure Logan is going to be busy all night. When I pick it up there isn’t a message from Logan, but instead a message from my provider.
Dear Customer, your service has been terminated for non-payment. Please call or make a payment online to have your service turned back on. Thanks.
“Is that from Logan?” Spencer says.
I shake my head and read the message again. What the heck?
Then it comes to me. I’m sure my dad was the one paying the cell phone bill. I guess I should have known that this would happen at some point, just not this soon. Now… now I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“Is everything OK?” Dex says.
“I guess so… my phone just got shut off.”
A thousand thoughts go through my head. How am I going to afford a phone without a job? How will jobs I apply for get ahold of me? I guess I can’t text Logan or Jess.
Ugh. This sucks. I need to figure something out, fast.
“I can get you a phone, that’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it,” Dex says.
The last thing I want is for him to help me.
“That’s alright, I’ll figure it out.”
A surprised look crosses his face. Dex turns his attention to the burger in front of him. I look down at my food for the first time. There’s a burger on my plate, in a sesame seed bun with lettuce, tomato and onion. There are fries on the side and Gina has also put a glass of water in front of me. I feel bad, I was so absorbed by everything that I didn’t get a chance to thank her.
I pick up my burger and take a bite. It’s amazing. Everything tastes so fresh and clean. I set it down and eat two of the fries. They are salty and delicious. Hands down the best fries I’ve ever had.
Gina walks over to the table and scans it to make sure that everyone has what they need. I catch her gaze and I smile at her.
“Is everything OK?” Gina says.
“Yeah, it’s wonderful,” I say.
“It’s good, thanks Gina.” Dex says.
Spencer says something through a mouthful of burger, but I don’t think any of us were able to decipher it.
Dex laughs at Spencer. It’s something that I would probably laugh at usually, but tonight… I just don’t feel like laughing. I don’t like that I’m sad, but I know that once I’m back in Salem with Logan things will be better and I’ll be back to my old self… back to how I was before Dex showed up in Greenville.
I feel sick. Not from the food, but from having to be here.
“Excuse me, I’m not feeling well.”
I stand up from the table and walk out. I head upstairs to my room and plop down on the bed. I look at my phone, expecting the No Service text to disappear from the top left of the screen by some magic. I wish.
There is a knock on my door, harder than Gina’s but still not very hard. I groan. It’s probably my mom. The last thing I need after the day I’ve had is a confrontation with her.
I walk over to the door, take a deep breath and pull it open. Standing in front of me with a worried look on his face is Dex.
“Are you alright?” he says.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What do you need?”
“Can I talk to you?”
“We are talking.”
He takes a deep breath. He looks worried. What could someone like him, a rich wife stealer, ever be worried about? Rich people don’t have problems. Not problems like I have anyway. If anything, they cause them.
“No, I want to sit down with you and have a conversation, like adults.”
I don’t know what he could possibly have to say to me that I would want to hear. I have nothing to say to him. I close the door in his face. I don’t owe him a damn thing.
I sit down on my bed and put my head in my hands and start to cry. I think I hear a soft knock on the door, but I don’t even bother checking to see who it is or what they want.