“I think Classic Khaki was a good choice,” I said as I shook a paint roller over the plastic tray.
“I don’t know. It’s so unoriginal,” Nicholas said, stepping back to study his work.
“But at least your landlord will like it.”
Nicholas glanced over his shoulder at me and grinned teasingly. “I like you in it.”
I blushed—guess the streak of paint I’d managed to swipe across my chin was actually a good thing. Working alone with Nicholas in his room was also a good thing. I felt like we were in our own little world on the third floor, secluded from everything else. Just me and him. The way I liked it.
The floor of Nicholas’s bedroom was covered with tarps and old sheets—including a Star Wars set from who knows where—and all his furniture had been moved to the center of the room. He was working on the biggest wall, while I took the one by the door. I was just about to reach the trim when we both heard a shriek and a giggle from downstairs.
“Stop! Todd! Aah!”
It was my sister. Clearly having a fabulous time “working.” Nicholas and I looked at each other.
“Your sister seems like a cool girl,” he said.
My good mood fell away, and I became very absorbed with applying paint. Now that I knew how it felt to be Becca—having the spotlight on me for once—sharing it didn’t feel all that wonderful. I had spent so much time in Becca’s shadow, and I wasn’t ready to go back yet.
“Yeah?” I said, sounding dubious.
“Yeah. Why? You don’t think she’s cool?” he said.
Suddenly an idea occurred to me. And even as I realized how lame it was, I heard myself saying it.
“No. I mean. Yeah, I think she’s cool,” I said, my body temperature rising with each false word out of my mouth. “But back home she’s kind of shy.”
I’m horrible.
“Really?”
Nicholas, unshockingly, seemed surprised.
I scoffed, as if it was so obvious, but wondered how I’d get away with this. “Totally.” I placed my roller down in its tray and swiped my hands on my shorts, then picked my way across the Star Wars sheets toward him. “It’s like she was born without the fun gene. She has no idea how to have a good time.” I looked Nicholas in the eye and reveled in the fact that he was completely riveted. “Not like me.”
Then I stood on tiptoe and gave him a firm, very sexy kiss. I felt a thrill at my brazen behavior. I thought having Becca here would turn me back into a wallflower, but instead I was becoming the exact opposite. I broke off and smiled at Nicholas.
Slowly he smiled back. “Very unlike you,” he said.
Then he grabbed me around the waist, and I screeched with glee as he tackled me onto his tarp-covered bed. As he touched my face and ran his index finger along my chin-streak, every inch of my body responded. Then he kissed me, and my sister’s laughter faded into the background. Nicholas had forgotten she existed. All thanks to the new me.
Becca stretched her arms above her head in her pajamas, briefly exposing her flat, tan tummy, then dropped onto Sun’s bed. She yawned hugely and fluffed the pillows.
“Long day,” she said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out somewhere?” I asked, hoping she would turn me down again. I was totally exhausted from a day of painting, hammering, and making out.
“No. It’s cool. I think I’m a little jet-lagged,” Becca said, yawning again. “I had fun today, though. You were right. Those guys are pretty cool.”
“Yeah,” I said happily. “They are.”
“But tomorrow we find some time to hit the beach.”
I smiled and reached for my desk lamp. “You got it.”
I turned off the light and settled down into my covers. My body completely relaxed, loving the release. It had been a good day. We had gotten a lot done, had a few laughs, and Becca seemed totally smitten with Todd. Everything was working out perfectly.
“Nicholas is amazing, Jenna,” Becca said in the darkness.
My eyes popped open.
“It’s so weird to think of you with a boyfriend,” she added.
“Gee, thanks,” I replied.
“No! Not like that. You were with this guy and I didn’t even know him until today. It’s weird.”
I knew what she meant. If she’d been dating some guy back home that I didn’t know, I’d feel weird and detached, too. We always shared everything.
“Jenna has a boyfriend,” she said wondrously.
“Well, he’s not technically my boyfriend,” I said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Just that, you know, we haven’t said boyfriend and girlfriend, that’s all,” I told her. “So you didn’t completely miss my first boyfriend thing, because he’s not technically my boyfriend,” I added, wanting to make her feel better.
“Oh. Huh. For some reason I thought you guys were.”
Something about the way she said that put my senses on alert, but I brushed it aside.
“Well, whatever he is, you’re beyond lucky. He is so hot, Jenna. I mean, seriously, he could be a movie star,” she said, sounding awed.
My hands gripped the ends of my sheets as if they were the only thing keeping me from falling off a cliff. If Becca wanted a guy, she got him. It was a proven fact. Please tell me she did not want my guy. Please, please, please. Couldn’t I have just one guy?
“You think?” I heard myself squeak.
“I could definitely see him walking the red carpet, chatting with Nancy O’Dell or whoever,” Becca said.
She was daydreaming about him. I could hear the sigh in her voice.
“Has he ever modeled or anything?” she asked. “Cuz he totally could.”
“Nicholas?” I said. “He’s not all that, Becca. I mean, everyone out here is hot.”
What was with me today?
“In L.A. guys like Nicholas are a dime a dozen.”
I was such a huge liar.
“I mean, take Todd for instance,” I said, turning onto my side. I could just see my sister’s outline in the dim light coming in from the courtyard below. “Now, he could model.”
Of course, he was the only guy in the house who never had, but Becca didn’t need to know that. And Todd was still really cute.
“I guess,” Becca said dubiously. “He is pretty cool. And he’s pre-law. He says he wants to be an entertainment lawyer. Do you realize how many celebrities he’s going to meet?”
Just like that Becca was distracted, and I was able to relax again. I leaned back on my pillow and looked up at the ceiling, feeling as if I’d just dodged an oncoming train.
When we took a break for lunch the next day, the sun was high in the sky, and a cool breeze was coming in off the ocean. We all gathered on the patio, splattered with paint and dust, and grabbed whatever chairs we could find. Todd came back from his food run and dumped two buckets of chicken and three bags of sides in the center of the table. The guys converged on the food like rabid wolves.
“Guys! Guys! Hold on!” Nicholas said, hands up. They all stopped, and he looked at me and Becca. “Ladies first.”
He was such the gentleman. I grinned and was about to thank him, but Becca beat me to it.
“Thanks, Nicholas,” Becca said, lifting her hair over her shoulders as she stood up. “You’re such a gentleman.”
Sometimes we thought so alike it was scary. Becca and Nicholas exchanged a smile that made my fingers curl. I grabbed a plate and took a chicken leg and some fries, then sat down at the table next to her. Becca placed a piece of chicken on her own plate, then licked the tips of her fingers slowly. I swear, every last one of those guys drooled. I slumped in my seat.
No, Jenna. Come on! Fight fire with fire!
Taking a deep breath, I sat up straight and cleared my throat to get Nicholas’s attention, all ready to say something flirty. But I couldn’t think of a thing.
“So, how long are you here, Becca?” Nicholas asked as he heaped his plate with food.
“She goes home first thing Monday morning,” I blurted.
“Want to get rid of me already?” Becca joked.
“Not at all!” I replied with the sweetest smile I could conjure.
“It’s too bad,” Nicholas said as he dropped into his chair. “You two should really think about staying out here and getting an agent. Everyone loves twins.”
The guys, their mouths full, enthusiastically muttered their agreement.
“I could hook you up with my agent, if you want,” Nicholas said, causing my stomach to drop to my toes. “She only reps guys, but I’m sure she could set up a meeting for you with someone else at my agency.”
Becca’s eyes met mine. She wore a knowing smirk that made me want to slowly slink off. I hated getting caught in a lie.
“Oh, so you do model,” Becca said with great interest.
Please don’t tell him I told you he was a dime a dozen, I begged silently. Take pity on your sister!
“Yeah, here and there,” Nicholas said, wiping his fingers on a napkin.
“We all do,” Paul said, grabbing a napkin. “Except Todd over here. He just reaps the benefits of our work.”
“Benefits?” Becca asked.
“You know. Parties, freebies, ladies…” Red teased, and they all laughed.
My face burned as if I’d been in the sun all day with no sunblock. For some reason that comment made me uncomfortable. Becca, however, didn’t seem to notice.
“Have you ever done anything I might have seen?” she asked Nicholas. Only Nicholas, I noticed.
“Nah. Nothing too big. But even for small jobs the pay is pretty amazing,” he said, trying to sell her on getting into the biz. “You get an hourly rate, and the best part is, half the time you’re just sitting around waiting for them to fix the lighting or deal with someone’s makeup.”
“Really? So you get paid just to hang out?” Becca leaned an elbow on the table and set her chin in her hand, scooting closer to Nicholas. I saw him glance toward her cleavage and wanted to die. How could he miss it? Thanks to her second tight tank top in two days, it was right there. She was practically shoving it into his face.
Nicholas apparently realized what he was doing and turned his attention to his meal. “Plus they sometimes give you free clothes or products, and you meet some interesting people,” he said, popping a French fry into his mouth.
Becca had stars in her eyes. She looked as if she had already met the only interesting person she cared to meet. I stared at my chicken, feeling as if I would never eat again.
“Plus I’ve gotten to do some traveling. Last year I did a shoot in Cabo, which was unbelievable,” Nicholas continued. “Best two days of my life.”
He did a shoot in Cabo? He’d never told me about that.
“Sounds amazing,” Becca told him. “But Jenna would never go for it. She hates being in the spotlight.”
Nicholas glanced at me, surprised. Okay. So much for the good posture. Now I was definitely sinking in my seat.
“Really? That’s exactly what she said about you yesterday,” he told Becca. “For twins you don’t seem to know each other that well.”
Becca stared at me.
Can you blame me? I asked her with my eyes.
Then her eyes narrowed. “You said that?” she asked.
Suddenly I felt an intense wave of anger. How dare she come in here and judge me for trying to hold on to my man? We both knew what our lives were like back home. She was the one who was always trying to convince me to be different, to be more outgoing, to date more. And I had! So I had told a couple of little white lies to protect my new image and my new man. She so would have done the same thing. But now she was looking at me as if I had done something wrong. Meanwhile she was the one flirting with my guy! This was so unfair.
“You know, I’m not really hungry,” I said, scraping my chair back on the patio. “I think I’m going to go finish that trim in the living room.”
I stalked off, fuming, expecting either Becca or Nicholas to follow me. Either one would have been fine by me. I was more than ready to have it out with Becca. And if Nicholas came after me, that would mean that he cared.
I paused at the back door and glanced over my shoulder just to see what kind of effect my sudden exit had caused. My heart sank. Everyone was chowing down as Becca and Nicholas continued to chat, practically on top of each other. It was as if they hadn’t even noticed I was gone.