When Spencer pulls his car out the parking spot he makes no effort to turn around.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“I told Gina that I would be back to have dinner with them… it’s getting to be about that time.”
“It’s fine, I texted Dex while you were trying on clothes to let him know that you weren’t going to be there for dinner.”
“What?”
Spencer is silent for the next couple of minutes, probably because he could sense the irritation in my voice. I get that he’s trying to be nice… but whisking me away without my permission is not making me a happy girl.
He pulls the car over and turns off the engine.
“I’m sorry, I should have asked you first. I just… I figured that since you’re new here it would be nice for you to be able to get out of the house and just have a little fun. I don’t know why you’re here, but you don’t seem happy to be living with Dex. I can see it in your face and in your eyes. I was just trying to be a good friend.”
He starts the car and turns it around and we start back toward the house. Now I just feel like an ass. Is it possible that he was just doing that? Trying to be a friend since he knew I wasn’t happy here?
“I’m sorry. Now I just feel bad.”
“It’s alright, I get it.”
I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head that it’s hard to make sense of any of them. I do want a friend, but at the same time I’m leaving in a couple of weeks and I don’t know how Logan would feel about me hanging out with Spencer. It’s a mess.
“It’s not that simple.”
“What is it then?”
“I….”
I drop my head into my hands as I start to cry. I just want things to be easy, I never asked for any of this. Is all of this some kind of punishment? How am I supposed to feel good about anything in life after what’s happened?
Spencer pulls the car over and puts his hand on my shoulder.
“You can tell me anything.”
He says that, but I doubt someone like him wants to hear about my stupid problems. There’s no way I’m going to lay all that on him.
“I want to know what’s going on. Sometimes it helps to talk about it.”
I take a deep breath and force myself to stop crying. I dry the last of my tears with the sleeve of my shirt and look over at Spencer. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s telling the truth and really does care what’s happening in my life. He smiles at me and runs his hand over my shoulder.
“Well,” I say. “If I’m going to talk to you about me, and I still don’t understand why you would waste your time on that, I think we should talk somewhere that’s not your car on the side of this busy road.”
He cracks a knowing smile and pulls out of the parking spot. He takes a series of turns, which leaves me hopelessly lost again. Spencer drives in silence, which is fine with me since I’ll soon be talking his ear off and telling him my problems.
Spencer pulls the car up in front of a restaurant and someone opens my door for me. I get out and so does Spencer. He hands the valet his keys, opens the door for me and we head inside. The hostess smiles when she sees him and grabs two menus.
“Right this way, Mr. Thomas.”
I guess he must be a regular here. I look around as we follow her to the table and I can’t figure out what kind of restaurant we are in… nothing seems to give it away which is strange.
She seats us at a booth in the back of the restaurant, far away from the bar. It’s fairly quiet which is nice considering our intentions. Hopefully the hostess doesn’t get the wrong impression about why we are here.
“Are you hungry?”
“Somewhat,” I say.
“Everything here is good.”
I browse the menu, which seems to be a combination of every kind of European food. It’s kind of strange, but most everything sounds good.
“So,” Spencer says, setting down his menu. “What’s going on?”
I set my menu down, still not sure what I’m getting and look him in the eyes. There’s a softness there, a gentleness almost, that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s as if his persona, the Hollywood heartthrob, had blinded me to the real Spencer and I was seeing him now for the first time.
It must be a strange feeling, always being looked at as an object of desire—I can’t even imagine that.
I spend the next hour filling Spencer in on everything that has happened since the day I got the mistaken rejection letter from State. He stops me every so often to ask a question or to clarify something I’ve said. It surprises me that he doesn’t defend the actions of Dex and he doesn’t judge me for any of the choices I made along the way. I tell him everything… except for some reason I leave out the parts that would imply I have sort of romantic relationship with Logan. I don’t know why either, it just seemed awkward and I didn’t want him to perceive me as a stupid girl who doesn’t know the first thing about boys.
“Well… that is quite the story. It almost sounds like something that could be a movie.”
“Why do you say that?”
I never thought anything about my life would be interesting to other people.
“It has drama, some romantic elements and loss. It would make a good movie. I would go see it.”
He smiles at me and I can tell he’s joking, trying to make me feel better. Not to mention I have no idea where he got the notion about romantic elements, especially after I left out the bits about Logan… and there wasn’t much to say about Mitch.
I stifle a yawn with my napkin. I’m actually feeling pretty tired, it was a long day after getting up so early. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow being another early day.
“Sorry,” I say.
He smiles at me and motions for our server to come over to the table.
“Yes, sir?”
“Can we get the check?”
He nods and hurries off to one of the service stations.
“It’s fine,” Spencer says, turning back to me. “It was a long day and tomorrow is going to be even longer.”
I have a feeling he’s right. I got the impression from Dex that tomorrow they have to find someone for the movie or it’s going to start costing him a lot of money, not to mention drive his stress level through the roof. I don’t envy him, that’s for sure.
“Yeah.”
Even though I’m exhausted, I’m not in a hurry to get back to the house because I know that I’m going to have to talk to my mom. The conversation I wish I could never have. I’m still furious at her and talking to Spencer tonight has brought all of my feelings back to the surface.
“Are you going to talk to your mom?”
“I don’t have a choice. She’s there now and I’m sure she’ll want to know what I’ve been doing, so that she can criticize me for something.”
“That’s what moms are for.”
Our waiter drops the check off at the table.
“I seriously doubt your mom was anything like that,” I say.
“Like that? She’s still that way.”
“Really?”
He slides his credit card into the check presenter and stands it up so that our waiter notices.
“Yes. I get a call from her every time there’s something about me on the news or on the Internet. I guess she’s worried that I’ll get caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle and never have a chance to meet a good woman, settle down and have kids.”
I would have never imagined that someone so successful, so famous, would have the same kinds of problems in their life as a normal person. It’s actually kind of funny and for the first time since we sat down I smile at Spencer.
“That’s better.”
“What do you mean?”
“You look so pretty when you smile.”
I lift my water glass to my lips in an attempt to hide the fact that my face is turning bright red.
The waiter grabs the credit card and pulls a mobile credit card machine out of his apron. He swipes the card, returns it to Spencer and sets the receipt and a pen down on the table.
“Thank you for coming in tonight, Mr. Thomas. We look forward to seeing you again.”
“Thanks.”
I smile as I watch him happily sign for a dinner that cost what my family would spend on groceries for a week or two. It must be nice not to have to worry about money. Maybe someday that will be me, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
“You ready?”
I nod and smile at Spencer. I’m very grateful that he took me out to dinner and he was right, it did make me feel a little better to talk about the whole thing. It didn’t alleviate the stress of talking to my mom, though, which is a little worrisome.
By the time we leave the restaurant and reach the sidewalk, the car is already waiting for us and the valet hands Spencer the keys.
“Thanks,” Spencer says, slipping him a tip.
We get in the car and he hangs a U-turn so that we can head back to the house.
“I hope that Dex finds his actress tomorrow,” I say.
“I know that he will.”
“Yeah? How so?”
“I just know who’s coming in for an audition tomorrow and she’s perfect for the part.”
“Who is it? Anyone I would know of?”
“Yeah, but I want it to be a surprise… not even Dex knows she auditioning.”
I wonder who it could be. I decide not to press Spencer anymore, not after everything he’s done for me today. It’s not like I won’t find out tomorrow.
When we get back to the house I get out and Spencer reaches into the back seat to get my bag of clothes and hands it to me.
“Thanks again, you really didn’t have to buy me all this stuff.”
“No problem. Just don’t forget… wear your new outfit tomorrow.”
“I won’t forget.”
It’s kind of a little dressy for an assistant, especially since Dex is usually dressed down, but who am I to argue with Spencer seeing as how he bought it for me.
“Take care,” he says.
“You too.”
I walk up to the front door and take a deep breath. You can do this, Amy, just try to be calm and don’t let her upset you.
I open the door and walk inside, pausing to listen for voices, but the house seems quiet. I head upstairs, not wanting to linger just in case my mom is down here. As I walk by the hallway to the master suite, I hear voices. I stop and listen… I can’t tell what they’re saying, but they sound upset.
I know that I should just go to my room, it’s the smart thing to do, but I can’t help myself. I slowly walk down the hall, trying not to make any noise. As I get closer I can start to pick up words from the conversation, but it’s not until I’m a foot away from the door that I can hear exactly what they are saying.
“I just can’t believe it!” Mom says.
“Why?”
“Why? I’ll tell you why. She doesn’t deserve it… that’s why, she’s so ungrateful to be here!”
“She’ll come around… but not if we don’t help her.”
“Ugh!”
“Come on,” Dex says. “It’s just a job… she needs the money and I needed an assistant.”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you realize how lazy and incompetent she is.”
“She’s an assistant, not a brain surgeon.”
“Whatever… I’m going to get a drink.”
I turn around and sprint toward my room, opening the door just as I hear the door to their room open. I close my door as silently as possible and press my ear against it. I can hear her footsteps as she walks by my room and toward the stairs. When the sound disappears, I finally take a deep breath and retreat into my room.
I put away the bag of clothes that Spencer bought for me and sit down on my bed. I take my phone out of my purse and I’m greeted with a text message from Logan.
How was your first day as a big shot?
It brings a smile to my face to hear from him after today.
It was good, I watched a bunch of girls audition. How was your day?
I don’t get a response from Logan, but I’m not that surprised. He could be at a meeting right now, so I get ready for bed. I check my phone after brushing my teeth and changing into my pajamas, but there’s still no message from him. I was hoping to talk to him tonight and I probably could have if I hadn’t gone out shopping and to dinner with Spencer. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk to Logan on the phone tomorrow, I miss the sound of his voice.
I get under the covers and stare at my phone, expecting it to light up with a text from Logan at any moment. I resist the pull of sleep, but I eventually can’t keep my eyes open any longer and give in.