HDU (9 page)

“What?
What
?”

“His flight is tomorrow morning.
 
He lands at 1:35PM,” Amanda murmured,
staring in awe at the information.
 
She sucked in a deep breath just to let it out in the form of a long,
victorious “
yessssssss
.”
 
She could barely tend to Ian, who was
still spewing questions on the other end.
 

“What? What? So it’s all happening? Are we leaving
tomorrow?”

Amanda did her best to compose herself so she could
answer.
 
“Yes,” she smiled broadly.
 
“After me and Liam crash Megan’s
party.”

~

Amidst Amanda’s closet full of sweatshirts and blue jeans
was one outfit that she felt she looked fairly decent in.
 
The long-sleeved, cross-front dress was
a turquoise color that complemented her auburn hair nicely, and the opaque
black tights she wore underneath always flattered her legs.
 
The ensemble was also the only one in
her wardrobe that probably wouldn’t bore Liam to death.
 
Amanda disliked him and all, but she
still wanted to look moderately attractive upon first meeting him.
 
Plus, he was gaining points with her
for being so responsibly communicative.
 
Earlier that morning, he had sent her a text message about having just
boarded his flight.
 
It was
unreal.
 
A Hollywood actor was
reporting to
her
.
 
He was Golden Globe nominated for
goodness sake.
 

Amanda had texted him the address of Ian’s hotel, where
they were set to meet in the lobby.
 
He would notify her upon his landing and she would drive from her own
house to Ian’s hotel.
 
There, they
would all officially meet and get their first encounter over with before
heading back to Megan’s party, which by then would be in full swing.
 
Perhaps not so strangely, that was the part
that Amanda anticipated the most.

“Well, well, well.
 
Look who it is!” Megan’s mother clapped her hands as Amanda
made her way to the kitchen, where her own mother was preparing chili.

“Hi, Alice,” she said, wondering how happy Alice Mayer
really could be to see her.
 
Rumors
aside, her own daughter had to have told her a few lies about what had happened
in St. Louis.
 
Megan certainly
wouldn’t have admitted to stealing her own best friend’s boyfriend.

“Nice of you to dress up for the occasion,” Alice
smiled, plucking at the fabric of Amanda’s dress.
 
Her smile faltered as if she had expected to feel a nicer
material.
 
“You gonna help us set
up the food?”

“Sure.
 
But,” Amanda paused, realizing that she was about to utter the first
word of her epic, sensational, and glamorous lie.
 
Her lips curled upward.
 
“I have to pick up a friend soon.
 
He’s arriving at the airport in thirty minutes.”

Both her mother and Alice halted, staring at her with
confusion.

“Who?” Her mother squinted.

“Is it that boy that you were with at L.J’s?” Alice
asked.

“No, it’s not Ian,” Amanda said, reveling in each of
her own words.
 
“It’s my… good
friend.”
 
She knew her coy wording
would invite assumptions.

    
“Oh
my gosh, it’s a new
boyfriend
!” Alice
exclaimed boisterously, hands on her hips.
 
“Young lady,
spill
.”
 
Amanda bit her lips back and grinned shyly,
prompting Alice to point and gasp.
 
“Look at the girl,” she clucked.
 
“She’s head over heels.”

She wasn’t quite, but the excitement on her face was
real.
 
Amanda had never encountered
a celebrity face-to-face, and it was about to happen in less than an hour.
 
She had also never been involved in
such an enormous charade, and the idea of pretending so much made her stomach
turn, but with anticipation.
 
It
would be like being an actress, but in her every day life.

After twenty minutes of dodging questions from both
her mother and Alice, Amanda’s phone vibrated, making everybody jump.

“It’s him!” Alice gasped as Amanda snatched her phone
before her mother could.
 
The
message was indeed from Liam.

Landed.
 
Heading to Marriott now.

Amanda’s stomach promptly turned.
 
“Okay, I gotta go,” she said quietly,
trying to suppress the toast that she had consumed for breakfast.
 
It was threatening to rise from
digestion in her queasy stomach.

“Is this why you’ve been acting like a complete loon
the past few days?” her mother asked.

Amanda ignored her as she put on her coat by the door,
trying to concentrate on not vomiting.
 
Her excitement had quickly transformed to nerves, but it was coming off
as being tight-lipped.
 
Her mother
crossed her arms, miffed.
 
“Amanda
Bree, I swear to God, you need to tell me
one
thing about this boy before you leave.”

Amanda obliged before opening the door, glancing back
towards the kitchen just to catch their reactions.
 
“He’s a famous actor,” she said.
 
“He’s asked me to move to New York with him.”

~

“You nervous?” Ian asked upon her arrival.
 
Amanda narrowed her eyes at him.
 
She had texted him about six times
between parking her car and walking to the lobby, so she found it mostly pointless
to answer.
 
“Well, you look nice,”
he offered.

“Thanks.”
 
She let out a deep breath, breathing steadily through her puckered mouth.
 

“Do you want to sit?”

“Definitely.”
 
Amanda took a seat on the thin couch, drying her hands on its grainy red
fabric.
 
Ian took the seat beside
her, his eyes fixed on the front doors.
 

“When did he say that he was heading over? It took me
twenty minutes to get here from the airport.”

“He texted me… ” Amanda checked her phone.
 
“Almost thirty minutes ago.”
 
Saying it made the knot in her stomach
tighten.
 
Liam Brody would be
arriving at any second now.
 
Knowing that, she decided to join Ian in watching the entrance.
 
She imagined that Liam Brody would be
somewhat incognito, though she knew that realistically, he would still stand out
due to superior styling and generally outstanding genes.
 
Perhaps she should watch out for
cameramen.
 
Could paparazzi have
followed him all the way to Missouri?

“He’s here,” Ian said.

Amanda blinked, her brief calm shattered.
 
“What? Which one? Where?”

“There.
 
In the black baseball cap.”

Amanda’s eyes followed the direction of Ian’s casual nod.
 
She successfully located the man in the
low-worn black cap.
 
All she could
see was that he was tall, around Ian’s height.
 
However upon closer inspection, she realized that it was in
fact Liam Brody with his square chin, perfect jaw and always-smirking lips.
 
She held her breath when she also
realized that he was looking straight at her.

“Oh my God, Ian, what do I do?” she whispered
stiffly, trying not to move her lips.
 
She didn’t want it to look obvious that she was consulting for advice.

“I don’t know.
 
Try acting the opposite of how you’re acting now.”

“Oh cool, thanks.”
 

Amanda attempted to regulate her breathing as she watched
Liam approach in his black zip-up hoodie and blue jeans.
 
His facial hair had grown out more
since she had seen his video, nicely framing his perfect smile.
 
He’s
smiling
.

Seeing that Amanda was nowhere ready to speak by the
time Liam reached them, Ian held his hand out.
 
“Hi, Mr. Brody.
 
It’s a pleasure to meet you.
 
I’m Ian.”
 

“Hi,” Liam said, lukewarm as he shook Ian’s hand.
 
He quickly turned to Amanda, directing
his amusement at her.
 
“Are you the
ballsy girl I’ve been talking to?”

Amanda managed a weak smile of confirmation.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.
 
You seem too nice to be her.”

“I’m starstruck,” Amanda said flatly.
 
“It happens in Missouri.”

“Well, hey, now it sounds more like you,” Liam said
amiably.
 
Then to Amanda’s alarm,
he placed his hands on her shoulders and ran them up and down her arms.
 
“Loosen up,” he said.
 
“You’re supposed to like me if we’re
dating.”

“That’s right,” Ian interjected.
 
He reached for the contract that Amanda
had printed out, handing it over with a pen.
 
“Well, it is once you sign this.”

Liam eyed him before looking at Amanda.
 
“This the friend?”

“Yes,” Amanda answered.

He took the paper and pen.
 
“Why do I know his name and not yours?”

Amanda allowed a brief laugh.
 
“My name’s Amanda.
 
Nathan.”

Liam raised his eyebrows, nodding.
 
“Amanda Nathan,” he repeated, signing
the contract and handing it back.
 
To
her mortification, his eyes then scanned her body from head to toe.
 
“I’m pleasantly surprised.”

Her eyes widened, his words snapping her out of her woozy
state.
 
“Excuse me?”

“Uh,” Ian tried to intervene but came up empty.

“It’s a compliment,” Liam said simply, though his
mischievous eyes suggested that he was enjoying her reaction.
 
The ice in her veins quickly melted and
turned to fire.

“Not as ugly as you anticipated?” she asked, trying but
failing to sound unruffled.
 

“Much less ugly than I anticipated,” Liam
answered.
 
Amanda’s cheeks burned
with fury.
 
She opened her mouth to
speak, but Ian interrupted her.

“So, why don’t we get going?” he asked, subtly wrestling
the car keys out of her hand.
 
“You
guys can continue talking in the car.”
 
Liam gave Ian a dull look but said nothing more and headed on out.
 
As they walked behind him, Ian leaned
into Amanda’s ear.
 
“At least
try
to make it work,” he hissed.
 
Jaws clenched, Amanda nodded.
 
It was business.
 
There was no sense in taking Liam’s
words personally.
 
She should have
expected them anyway, considering his vile reputation.

“Alright,” she started brusquely as they reached her
car.
 
“We’re going to my house so we
need to get our back story straight, like we really know each other.”

“Let’s do it,” Liam said, opening the backseat door
of her car and gesturing for her to go inside.
 
She obliged, surprised when he joined her.
 

“You can sit up front,” she offered.

“What, you don’t want to sit next to me?” he asked,
feigning hurt.
 
When she remained
unamused, he relented with a smile.
 
“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings before, Amanda.”

“You didn’t hurt my feelings.
 
I’m not five.”

He sighed.
 
“Alright,” he said, removing his cap and running his hands up his face, through
his straight brown hair.
 
Perhaps
being in her used Saturn Outlook was sobering him, reminding him too that this
was business and certainly not pleasure.
 
Despite herself, Amanda watched his serious face with awe, matching it to
how he looked in movies.
 
She had
to actively remind herself to focus.
 
But it was difficult as he readjusted his position to face her, leaning
his back against the window, his eyes looking straight into hers with earnest observation.
 
She watched them go from their starting
point to her button nose before trailing down to her lips.
 
Remembering that they were dry, she wet
them, prompting Liam to laugh and look back up at her.
 
Amanda blushed furiously.
 
Ugh,
why did I do that?
Liam averted his eyes, as if deciding to give her a
break.

“So, how long have we been dating?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Amanda realized.
 
She actually hadn’t thought much about
their back story besides the fact that they met through Ian, whom she’d decided
was a friend of Liam’s back in New York.
 
Before Liam could give another one of those sighs, Ian answered with
confidence.

“Just a month, officially.
 
But Amanda has always wanted to move to a big city and now
that she’s dating you, Liam, she has an excuse to.
 
Especially since you guys are in your honeymoon stage.
 
It’s not like you’ll be moving too fast
either, because you’ll be living separately.”