HDU (24 page)

“So,” Ian dropped his voice to a hush.
 
“
Do
you know if he’s been sleeping with anyone since you came to New York?”

Amanda snorted.
 
“I don’t know, probably,” she said, tossing her spoon into her soup bowl
and pushing it aside.
 
“He wouldn’t
be able to last two weeks without some… you know.”

“Poon.”

“Sure, whatever.”

Ian laughed.
 
“Are you
jealous
?”

“Are you kidding?”

“Then why do you look all sad right now?” he asked.
 
“Or angry? I can’t tell.”

“I don’t know.
 
Because
,” Amanda griped.
 
“Because he gets to have sex with other
girls on the low while we’re ‘dating,’ but I’m not allowed to, to…” she trailed
off, unsure of how to finish her sentence.

“To spank Dylan Hardy’s famous arse.”

“
Shh
!” she
hissed, nearly choking on her drink.
 
“And that’s not it, I don’t want to… spank him, ew, I just want to… talk
to him more.
 
It really felt like
there was a…” she exhaled sheepishly.
 
“A connection.”

“Then talk to him.
 
You’ll see him at the premiere on Monday and Liam won’t be
there to cockblock,” Ian pointed out.
 
“You can plant the seeds with Dylan now and once your contract is over… you
can harvest.”

“Wow, okay.
 
Interesting metaphor.”
 

“It’s true.”

Amanda quietly considered it.
 

“You know I’m right.
 
And I know you’re lying,” Ian smirked.
 
“Because if given the chance, you would
spank that British arse till the end of days.”

A HISTORY
OF CASEY MULREED (AND WHY AMERICA LOVES HER)

Posted by FilmFreak

HDU via The Pop Source

January 24th 1:01:PM

We first saw her walk the red carpet at the age of four,
bright-eyed with chubby cheeks as she accompanied her famous grandfather to the
Academy Awards.
 
We then watched
her grow up on the big screen and nab an Oscar nomination at the mere age of
sixteen.
 
Already, young Casey was pegged
as the next Mulreed to become a Hollywood legend.

But her life was no dream – as a child, Casey
dealt with her parents’ ugly public divorce, which ended in split custody and a
split family, with her younger brother opting to reside in Missouri with their
mother.
 
After moving back to New
York from Missouri, Casey spent her youth living with various guardians as her
father and aunt were constantly in and out of rehab.
 
While famous for their many Oscars, the Mulreeds were also
notorious for alcoholism and drug use – problems that America feared
young and bright-eyed Casey would no doubt inherit.

But she was determined to relieve us of our worries.
 
Over time, Casey has shown us
incredible grace, poise and maturity beyond her years.
 
She has rejected her family’s Hollywood
lifestyle and steered clear of rehab, scandal and celebrity cliques.
 
She has shown us that she can go out
and have fun but stay in control of her life.
 
Once upon a time, Americans heard the name “Mulreed” and
thought of fame but dysfunction.
 
Now, thanks to Casey, they think of fame, pride and beating the odds.

But tomorrow, as her latest film
What Was
Left
premieres in New York, America will
get a chance to see what would have happened had Casey let the pressures of Hollywood
get to her.
 
In the movie, we
follow Casey as Lucy Holt, a former addict in her first twenty-four hours post-rehab.
 
Knowing Casey, it will be a phenomenal
performance, an Oscar-worthy show – a fine act that we, as longtime fans,
will be happy to know is
just
an act.

TOP
COMMENTS

J_SH_L7

tl;dr. what’s the name of the guy she’s supposedly
dating? that hipster that’s always hanging out with amanda nathan? or is that
rumor already dead?

FilmFreak
(Moderator)

Ian Marsh, he’s a filmmaker.
 
And how is he a hipster?

mrstylerchase

casey is the definition of flawless and it was so
sweet of her to take amanda nathan under her wing. i love that they’re all bff it
warms my heart.

ROX1E

so annoying that I can never think of anything bad to
say about her.

- Chapter 8 -

Since Saturday, Amanda had been scouring the city for
an outfit to wear to Casey’s premiere.
 
So far, her search had come up empty.
 
Her standards were a little higher now, and it had mostly to
do with Dylan Hardy.
 
Gone were the
days where she bought the first decent-looking dress priced below fifty dollars.
 
Now, she was out to actually
look
good.
 
She could still be Liam’s Plain Jane, just a more
put-together one – as long as the New York prices didn’t get in her way.

“Why is it that everything cute is so crazy
expensive?” she groaned while sifting through the rack of dresses at a Lower
East Side boutique.

“Because life is unfair.
 
But I
told
you it
doesn’t matter when I’ll buy you whatever you want,” Ian said, helping her look
around as he drank his Starbucks.
 
The
salesgirl had told him that beverages were strictly prohibited inside, but he
had managed to sweet talk her into letting him keep it.
 
Lately, he seemed to be getting away
with most things – Amanda suspected because people were thrown off by the
anomaly of his boyish cuteness but surprising suaveness.
 
His new act, she decided, was useful
but only a little more impressive than it was annoying.
 

“And
I
told
you that that’s very sweet, but no,” she said.
 
“I’m my own woman, I’ll buy my own stuff.”

“But you can’t afford the nice things.”

“I
know
,
you turd, but I’m working on it,” Amanda frowned.
 
Her second blog entry, being much more structured,
deliberate and candid, had been another hit.
 
Dozens of blogs linked to it and Wendy at June Magazine even
sent her a personal message about how much she’d loved it.
 
Her Twitter followers increased hourly
and her site was still seeing a good amount of traffic as well as a steady stream
of comments.
 
Unfortunately, it still
wasn’t enough to attract any ads or sponsors.
 
Despite her continued popularity, she was earning no money
outside of her contract with Liam.

“Hey, you’d look good in this,” Ian said, plucking a
dress off the rack.
 
Amanda turned
around, preparing to hate the choice considering his somewhat peculiar taste –
he had an affinity for strange colors and bold patterns, and it was only
growing as the paparazzi cameras followed him – but Amanda raised her
eyebrows and smiled, pleasantly surprised when she set her eyes on his pick.

“That is
pretty
,”
she breathed, reaching for the ivory silk dress printed with different shades
of blue petals.
 
Belted at the
middle, it had sheer butterfly sleeves and an asymmetrical hemline ending
mid-calf in the back and at the knee in the front.
 
But before she could get too attached, Amanda turned over
the price tag.
 
Her smile faltered.
 
“Uh, yeah, it’s two hundred
dollars.
 
That’s not going to
happen.”

“Just do it.
 
You raised your budget to a hundred-fifty, didn’t you?” Ian asked.
 
“I think you’ve been penny-pinching for
long enough to splurge just once.”

“But this dress is still over budget and I haven’t
bought makeup yet,” Amanda reasoned as her phone began to ring.
 
She jumped, practically dropping the
dress to rummage through her purse for it.
 
“Hold on, it might be Liam.
 
His audition was today.”

Ian raised his eyebrows at her eagerness.
 
“Wow, you’re being such a girlfriend,”
he snorted.

Amanda eyed the eavesdropping salesgirls.
 
“Well, I
am
one,” she said, though she had surprised even herself with how
much she was hoping to hear from Liam.
 
She hadn’t realized how nervous she had been for his audition until
waking up that morning, vaguely stressed out from a dream in which he hadn’t
landed the part.
 
After all,
whether or not he was casted depended at least partially on her.

“Oh, it’s just Casey,” she said upon locating her
phone.

“It’s ‘
just
Casey,’” Ian repeated with a snort.

“You know what I meant,” Amanda mouthed to him as she
answered the call.
 
“Hey, Case!”

“Hi, doll.
 
What are you up to?”

“Shopping for your premiere with Ian,” she answered, tickled
by her unintentionally glamorous words.
 
“He’s trying to convince me to buy a dress that’s out of my budget.”

“Buy it.
 
I’ll reimburse you.”

“No!”

Casey gave a little chuckle.
 
“Well then how about this? Buy the
dress and come get your hair and makeup done at my apartment so you can save
money and feel better about splurging.
 
And then we can ride to the premiere together.”

Amanda froze, stunned.
 
“You… want me to get ready for the premiere with you? At
your apartment?” she repeated.
 
Ian’s
eyes widened as he listened.
 
He
nodded and adamantly mouthed “yes” while also gesturing madly to himself.
 
She laughed.
 
“Oh, but I was supposed to go with Ian...”

“Bring him too,” Casey said without hesitation.
 
“I just need company tonight,” she
explained, her voice sounding a little odd and strained.
 
Amanda paused, certain she had also
heard the slightest sniffle.
 

“Alright,” she responded before lowering her
voice.
 
“Is everything okay?” There
was a three or four second silence.

“Mm-hm!” Casey finally responded unconvincingly.
 
“Just get your butts over here as soon
as you can.”

~

After being let up by a doorman, Amanda and Ian rode
up to the fourth floor of the Lafayette Street building in which Casey
lived.
 
They had swung by Ian’s
apartment beforehand so he could pick up his camera and a change of
clothes.
 
Amanda had been quite
skeptical of the slim-fit maroon suit he had chosen, but once he tried it on,
she had to admit that he looked quite daringly dapper.
 
Paired with his newfound jadedness, he
appeared every bit the celebrity.
 

When the elevator arrived at Casey’s floor, Amanda
heard just the hum of fifties music.
 
She had expected an entourage of voices and conversation, but there was
none.
 
The doors finally opened to
an eerily empty, white room.
 

“Hello?” she called over the Connie Francis tunes
blaring on the speakers.
 
“Casey?”

It took a few seconds for Casey to appear at the top
of the steps, wrapped in a silk robe, her blonde hair freshly curled.
 
“Hi, dolls,” she said placidly, her
dainty frame gliding like a feather down the stairs.
 
She greeted Amanda with a kiss on the cheek and Ian with an even
longer one.

They followed her up the stairs and down a hallway to
the master bedroom.
 
Having
expected every celebrity to get ready for premieres with an army of stylists, Amanda
was surprised to see just two people at the dresser littered with makeup and
hair tools.
 
As if reading her
mind, Casey gave a little laugh.
 
“I’m
keeping it simple today,” she said.
 
“I need to be surrounded by good vibes only.”

“Of course,” Amanda nodded, though she had no idea
what that meant.
 
She was quickly
distracted though, as a stylist seated her in a chair and promptly went to work
over her, clucking and making “tsk” noises as if her face were a truly tough assignment.
 
But in just a few efficient minutes, Amanda’s
eyebrows were plucked and her skin prepped for the first professional makeup
session of her life.
 

“This is so much fun,” she giggled, closing her eyes
so false lashes could be applied.
 
“Feel free to make me look as different as possible,” she joked to the
stylist.
 
Casey heaved a sigh
through her lips.
 

“Me too.
 
Make me look nothing like Lucy Holt, please, thanks.”