The taxi driver jumps out of the car and pops the trunk as I grab my purse and get out. He sets my bags on the curb and I hand him fifty dollars. The ride from the airport was forty and I don’t have any small bills left from what Dex gave me.
“Thanks, Miss.”
I smile at him and lift my bags. I walk up to the front door and set them down so I can ring the bell. I stand and wait as I hear the chime ring through the house. As the door opens Jess lunges forward and throws her arms around me.
“Amy!”
“Hey.”
She squeezes me tightly and I put my arms around her. It’s hard to describe how good it is to see her and I know she missed me, too.
“Come in.”
She grabs one of my bags and I get the other.
“How was your flight?”
“Fine,” I say. “Dex paid for me to fly first class… so it wasn’t as nice as the private jet, but still nice.”
“Lucky.”
We set my bags down on my bed and head back toward the living room. Jess sits on one end of the couch and I sit on the other. We both turn toward each other and smile.
“So,” she says, “I saw the segment on Late with Lucas… that was freaking crazy. I can’t believe Logan was there.”
I nod. It was crazy.
“What happened after that?”
“Not much really. We celebrated that night and then Dex took me shopping, for school clothes the next day, and then I caught my flight back here. Not that exciting really.”
“Clothes shopping? Did you get anything fun?”
“Some jeans, a few tops and a pair of flats… nothing crazy. It was for my birthday.”
She smiles and shifts on the couch as she tries to get comfy.
“That’s still nice of him.”
I nod. It was nice of him, he really didn’t have to buy me anything. It’s crazy, I’ve only known Dex for such a short time, but he’s become almost like a parent to me. He’s not replacing my dad or my mom… he’s just like another parent, one who actually cares about my well-being. I’m actually going to miss him… which is not what I would have ever expected after the first few days I spent at his house when I was so mad at him. It’s amazing how life changes.
“Yeah.”
“So,” Jess says, “how does it feel to be famous?”
“I… I’m not famous.”
She raises her eyebrow and looks at me. I can tell she’s trying to decide if I’m being funny or if that’s what I really think. I was being honest, but I get why she might think that.
“Well, you might be in for a little bit of a surprise when classes start.”
“What… what do you mean?”
“I got a couple of texts, one from a co-worker and one from a girl that I met at work, and they both were asking me if my roommate Amy was the same girl as was on Late with Lucas. A lot of people have seen that, either live or on YouTube.”
I wrinkle my brow. I didn’t think people really watched that show.
“Why do you look so surprised?” she says.
“Was it really that big of a deal?”
Jess laughs and reaches for a bottle of water on the coffee table.
“Think about it, Amy. You were on TV with Spencer and Logan showed up. He’s a star quarterback… everyone knows who he is and people talk.”
“But YouTube?”
Jess holds her hand up as she takes a drink of water and stands up.
“Let me grab my laptop.”
She heads into her room and I feel panic starting to set in. What are people going to think? Will they hear about what happened between me and Logan? Ugh.
Jess sits down on the couch next to me and flips open her laptop. She opens her browser and pulls up the video. My heart skips a beat when I see the number of views. Over twenty-seven million… holy crap.
She hits play on the video, which starts with the second half of the interview.
“Jess, I really don’t need to see that.”
“Right,” she says, closing the laptop. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine… I… I just can’t believe how many views it has already.”
I stand up and start to pace. I’m not sure what this is going to mean. I never fathomed what it would be like to be like Spencer, where everywhere he goes people recognize him, and now I have a sick feeling deep in my stomach. Is that what it’s going to be like for me? I take a deep breath and sit back down.
“So… like I said, how does it feel to be famous?”
“Awful.”
I feel like I’m going to throw up. It’s awful to have my personal life become a public spectacle, but I guess I should’ve expected this. I had some vision in my mind that I was going to shoot the movie and head back to Salem and no one would know I had even done it. I know it’s silly, but I thought I was going to live out the rest of my life as a regular person. Now… because of Late with Lucas, that’s never going to happen.
“Don’t look so worried… it’s going to be fine.”
Jess puts her arm around my shoulder. I just want to cry.
“I don’t know what to do, Jess. I’m going to be the laughing stock of school… or the world.”
“Whatever. People will have forgotten about it in no time. Don’t let it get to you… and I promise it will go away.”
I nod. I know she’s right. There’s really nothing I can do about it now other than to ride the wave that’s swelling before me. I need to be more like Spencer—he would remind me that this is all a great opportunity to promote the movie and that it’ll just mean that I’ll make more money for myself.
“You’re right.”
“I know, that’s why you like hanging out with me.”
I roll my eyes in jest and she smiles.
“Do you have any plans for tonight?”
“Work,” Jess says, her smile turning to a frown. “I tried to get it off when you texted me and said you’d be here today, but no one could cover. It’s been busy this week, since school is starting and everyone that went home for the summer is back.”
“It’s fine… I totally get it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes… I’m pretty tired from this week anyway. I could stand to catch up on some sleep and rest up for the start of school.”
She hops off the couch and heads toward her bedroom.
“Don’t forget, next weekend is the first weekend of the year… biggest parties and I’m expecting you to be ready.”
My head spins at the thought… I don’t think I’m ready, but I’m not going to let her down.
“Yeah… we’ll see.”
Jess shakes her head and smiles.
“You’ve got plenty of time to get in a party mood.”
“You know me.”
She laughs and heads into her bedroom. I take my phone out of my pocket and check the time. It’s late, almost eight. She probably has to get ready for work. I stand up from the couch and head into my bedroom as Jess heads for the bathroom.
“I’ve gotta get ready, but if you’re awake when I get home from work we can catch up some more.”
“Sure.”
I know I won’t be. I’m already thinking about how nice it’ll be to sleep. My phone vibrates as I sit down on the bed and I look down to read it. I smile when I see it’s from Dex.
Hey, hope your flight was good. You should be there by now. I just wanted to thank you again for doing such an amazing job on the film… I’ll forever be in your debt. Speaking of debt, if you text me your address I can send out your check tomorrow. I want to make sure you have the money I owe you so that you can buy books and pay for school and whatever else you need.
Dex already told me that he’s thinking to release the film in theaters next month. He made it sound as if things went well, the film might be paid off by the theatrical release and that Spencer and I would get royalties once it went to streaming video and DVD sometime early next year. I’m not really that worried about it, the sixty thousand he promised me for the film is more than enough to take care of my bills for a long while if I’m cautious about what I buy.
I did… just got here. Thank you, so much… you were amazing. I’ll be forever grateful for everything you’ve done for me, Dex.
I send the text and then send a second one with the address. He gave me two hundred dollars before my flight today for the taxi and whatever else I needed to buy before he sent my check. It was unnecessary, and I told him that, but he insisted and I definitely was glad for it when it came time to pay for my taxi ride.
I flip through my phone for a couple of minutes while I wait to see if Dex is going to text back, but he doesn’t. I’m sure he’s already back to his hectic L.A. life.
Jess pokes her head into my room as I’m setting my phone down on my nightstand.
“I’m off to work… you good?”
“I’m good.”
“I’m glad you’re back,” she says, smiling at me.
“Me too.”
She smiles and turns to leave. I’m glad she saved my room for me… I can’t imagine if she had rented it to anyone else and I had to find a new place to live. It was sweet of her to do it in the beginning and I plan on paying her for when I wasn’t here, once I get my money from Dex.
I hear the front door close and I close my eyes. I would like to stay awake and unpack… and maybe even try to stay awake until Jess gets home, but I know it’s a lost cause. I give in and let sleep fill my body.