A Little Bit of Truth (Little Bits) (18 page)

“What’s going on?” Maya asks, totally oblivious to the conversation.

“MOORMON!”

I duck my head and exit my apartment, leaving my brother to face their wrath.

“Did she just say…?” I close the door and run to my car before Maya finishes her sentence.

******

“Tell me again why you’re here?” Lucas asks as I raid his fridge. “And why my phone is in your bra.”

“I’m here because your brother is going to kill me and I have your phone because I don’t trust you not to betray me,” I hold out a bowl full of peeled and sliced fruit. “Want some?”

“I’ll pass,” he clears his throat. I tuck in
to the fruit, I’m starving. James and Maya showed up with the kid at ten and didn’t bring breakfast. There was no reason for their visit other than to visit. I bet they wish they hadn’t bothered.

Snort.

Moron. That’s wicked cool.

Loryn walks in with Amelia close to her side. My hand shoots out, “Phone please.”

She eyes me suspiciously but hands me her cell. I tuck it into my right bra cup.

Her eyes blink slowly as she takes in my actions
with no little amount of confusion.

“Did she just…?”

“Don’t ask,” Lucas mutters and picks up Amelia. “
Hungry?”

“No.”
Wow, attitude.

“Are you suddenly a teenager?” I ask Amelia with my arms folded over my chest and my brows raised.

Her large green eyes stare blankly at me. Okay then.

“What’s up kid?”

“Daddy and Loryn want to have a baby,” she snaps, I glance at Lucas and notice him wince and then sigh.

“So?” I’m failing to see the issue here. Babies seem to be the rage in our group at the moment. What with
Summer wanting one, Maya having one and Loryn trying for one. Unfortunately due to her having only one ovary left, conception might be a little difficult. “You love Evelyn she’s pretty neat right? This will be your little brother or sister. Eve neater.”

“But then nobody will pay
nentention to me,” she stomps her little foot with her whine.

“Attention.”

“That’s what I said!”

Yep. Teen before her time. “Loryn and Daddy will love you exactly the same as they do now.”

“Auntie Maya doesn’t have me like she used to. And Uncle James always makes scuses.”

I look to the others for help, Loryn shrugs but looks guilty and Lucas just rolls his shoulders to relieve the obvious tension. He’s clearly exasperated by this conversation. Not that I can blame him, it doesn’t look like it’s a new conversation.

“Excuses,” I correct her. She opens her mouth, “That’s what…”

“I said,” I interrupt. “I know, I know.”

“I don’t want a brother or sister.”

“Me neither but I got one and he’s a pain in my…”

“Marie,” Loryn warns.

Sigh, “Neck. You have no faith in me Loryn.”

“You taught Evelyn how to say moron.” How the hell does she know that? “She called me on my way home.”

“Whatever, so Amelia, looks like you need to make a choice. Act like a spoilt little monster and then you won’t get nice things or
you can love your baby brother and sister when they get here and get nice things,” I shrug and stifle a laugh when her eyes narrow on me. “I’m just saying, you don’t want a brother or sister then fine, that’s your choice, but you’re getting one eventually. Deal with it or suffer.”

“I don’t know what that means,” she bites back. “I’m going to play on my DS.” And then she stomps out of the room.

I smile at Loryn, “Yep, definitely not having kids.” Then I call, “Come on Amelia, we’ll call Ja…” fuck. I’m not talking to Jacob. “We’ll go out for a bit.”

“We’ve just been out,” Loryn grumbles.

“You two go get baby making, I’ll take her to mi…” Shit, can’t go home either, Maya might be waiting. “To the park or something. Maybe we’ll go annoy Sylvia and spoil her dry cleaning for laughs.”

Lucas stares at the hall as Amelia rushes past while tugging on her coat. When she’s out of ear shot he says something he should never say, “Maybe we shouldn’t…”

And that starts a whole new argument I want no part of. So I grab the kid’s hand and we go for pancakes, then I push her on the swing until my arms ache and she feels sick from the swaying, then I take her to mine and teach her how to apply eyeliner after getting a call from my brother telling me the house is empty, and finally we watch movies until we fall asleep in my bed. When I wake up in the morning my tits ache from forgetting about the phones pressed against them all night.

And then Amelia calls me a dork while squirting cream into her mouth. Then I join her.

Moving On

“Want to go for lunch?” Landon
who yawns loudly after his words is one of the cast members that I met upon arriving. He’s a nice enough guy, only a few years older than me and playing the villain stalker dude with a wicked Mohawk and a bad taste for leathers. In reality he has spikey brown hair and a good taste in designer denim.

I shrug, “Sure.” Then Beth sidles up to me and wraps her arm around my waist. I barely stifle a grunt of annoyance, sure we’re pulling off this
‘new and in love’ charade and she’s being nice enough, she’s also being a rash. Meaning she clings to me without reciprocation. Between every scene, even when she’s not on set she meets me and it’s really fucking irritating. I feel like shit for thinking badly of her, because she is a nice girl. Wish she would just lay off a little though.

“Awesome, where are we going?” Beth asks and plants a kiss on the side of my jaw. For fuck sake.

“Nowhere,” I say at the same time Landon says, “To the food court. Not like we can just nip to a fast food place and hope for the best.”

Right now I’m thinking about it, I also have Beth’s image flying out of the car into a horde of screaming fans, but I stamp that down because that’s just borderline psycho thinking. Can’t deny that it’s tempting though.

“Why are you laughing?” Landon starts laughing just for the fact that I am.

I didn’t even realize I was, “Don’t ask.”

“Does it involve pushing your woman out of a car?”

Blink. What the fuck? “Dude… that’s just fucking freaky.”

“Hey,” Beth whines with a pout.

Oops, forgot she was there. My bad.

******

“Whatever you’re waiting for clearly isn’t there since you last checked two seconds ago,” Beth hisses as I thumb my phone in one hand and eat a burger with the other. Not a very nice burger either. I don’t respond. I do however, check my phone again.

Then I realize she’s right. Whatever I’m waiting for clearly hasn’t come. But what am I waiting for?

Well that’s a fucking simple question to answer. One name lights up in my mind like the ending fireworks of the Olympics. Marie.

I called her today, she didn’t an
swer. It’s weird. I miss her. That part isn’t the weird part, the weird part is…

“Shit, boss is calling,” Landon sighs and waves to the doors across the way. “On in five guys!”

My thoughts trail off as I get my head focused on reality and shove my chair back as I stand. Beth follows suit. I don’t wait for her, I need some quiet before we work.

******

Twenty four hours later.

“Right, we need you to answer these questions like this. Don’t stray from the script,” my publicist snaps at me like I haven’t done this a million fucking times before.

Another interview with god knows who. Should be fun. Not.

Just another day of pretending to be the perfect little Hollywood star without a personality of my own. I’m not even sure I remember who I am anymore
, but I don’t dwell on this because it’s a topic that fucks with my head. So I get on with it instead of grumbling. No point making a fuss over something I can’t change and probably never will.

My phone rings while I walk to the studio, it’s Maya. “Hey pretty lady.”

“Marie taught Evelyn how to say moron.” And then I hear a child squeal, “MOOORMOOON” In the background and I burst out laughing. “Stop it!”

“I’d say I feel bad for you but I don’t,” I stop in my tracks, clearly annoying the guy who’s showing us to the place I’ve got to
be, like I actually give a damn. “How is she?”

“She’s fine,” pause. “Oh, you mean Marie. Right. I don’t know. She ran before I could kill her.”

I bark out another laugh.

“It’s not funny, I’m going to look like a terrible mother if my daughter’s first words consist of Mama, Dada and Moron.”

“Nope, I’d say the kid hit the nail on the head with those three words in the same sentence.”

“You’re such a tool.”

“OOL!” Comes from the back ground.

“Out of every word in that sentence that’s the one she hears?” Maya whines incredulously.

“Relax, she’ll forget it by tomorrow,” my publicist shoves me forward, or attempts to. “Look, I’ve got an interview in two seconds. Can I call you later?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Call Marie, not me.”

Eye roll. “She won’t answer, I’ve tried.”

“Then think of something, if I have to deal with her impassive yet scowling moods for one more day I’m going to lay an egg on your face.”

“Umm… yuck?”

“Whatever, just try harder. Don’
t put a gap in our group, I like us all getting on. Love you, bye.”

“Y
ou…” the line goes dead. “Too.”

Sigh, time for my interview.

“Over here!” Beth cries and pats the seat beside her, I sit, throw my arm around her shoulder and place my lips to her temple as flashes disturb the darkness around us. It reminds me of when Marie took my photo, best photo shoot of my life, especially when she wrapped her hand around my dick. That woman knows how to work a man up good and proper.
“Somebody’s pleased to see me.” Beth’s hand falls to my thigh to cover my clear bulge from the cameras view.

“Fuck,” I say through the side of my smile. “We need to get out of here.”

“Yeah,” her voice is husky and her grip tightens on my thigh. “We do.” I didn’t mean that but I don’t correct her, if it gets us out of here faster then I’ll pretend for now. What’s another lie among a sea of lies?

We manage to escape the photo shoot half an hour earlier than scheduled and now (much to Beth’s delight and my aggravation) we have a free evening.

“Piccadilly Circus,” I announce to the driver as we
climb into the car. “I fancy seeing the sights. How about you?” Because I don’t like the look she’s giving me and I don’t fancy fighting her off and hurting her feelings. Shit, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. A year ago I would have been sinking into her body faster than you can say condom. Which is fast. She’s sexy, no doubt about it, so again I repeat, what the fuck is wrong with me?

Beth stares at me like I’m crazy, that is until I pull out hats and scarves and put mine on so only my nose and
mouth are concealed. Then her face lights up and I help her tuck her hair into the scarf pretending not to notice when she shivers as my fingers touch the skin of her neck.

“Trafalgar S
quare, I’ve always wanted my photo taken there, just a crappy photo on a cheap two megapixel camera,” Beth says wistfully and I smile at her. “What?”

“Nothing, it
just seems like an odd dream to have.”

“I can’t just do it, I think we all want what we can’t have.”

“As the saying goes, the grass is greener on the other side.”

She nods her agreement, “Definitely. I wouldn’t give up my life for the world but sometimes I wish I could just mute it for a while and act like a normal person.”

I completely agree with her. This makes me feel bad for how I’ve treated her. She’s such a nice person, albeit a little bit high maintenance but she’s not all bad.

“It’s hard, in every aspect. That’s why I always thought I’d fall in love with someone who’s just like me,” she glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “I mean, it’s not like we’ll be able to be with someone from the real world. Most people can’t handle it, the whole love scenes that have to be done and being away for months on end. Lord knows I’ve tried and failed at a normal relationship.”

“I haven’t had the time,” I admit on a sigh. “It would be nice, but we’re at the most important time of our lives, time that’s spent on building our careers.”

She nods slowly this time but remains silent.

She’s right, there aren’t many people from the real world who could handle waiting at home for me. Then my brain asks me a new question, one I hadn’t considered until now. Could Marie handle it? Could I handle being away from Marie if we ever did get to that point? She’d never give up her job and travel with me and at present I’m spending eleven months out of a year travelling and filming.