Forcing Gravity (10 page)

“Honestly?”

He nodded.

“No, I don’t. Please don’t take offense to this, bu
t quite honestly, kissing you i
s a little like kissing my brother. I mean, not that I know what that’s like because I don’t have a brother, and even if I did, I wouldn’t make out with him, but–”

Garrett was shaking his head, so I stopped talking. “I get it, and I don’t take offense, because I feel the same way.”

“You do?”

He nodded. “As cute and sexy as you are, Lo, I don’t think I can do this.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Me neither.
”

Garrett laughed.

“Um, but could you maybe move your hand?”
I asked as politely as I could.

Garrett looked down. “Oh, shit. Sorry.”

He jerked his hand away from my skin and rolled off of me and onto his back. We lay side-by-side, staring at the ceiling for a good ten minutes before either of us spoke.

“Pleas
e don’t tell Ethan,” I said
, in an effort to break the tension. I looked over at him.

Garrett rotated his head so he could return my gaze. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said
, eyeing me speculatively and smiling a small smile.

I knew he could tell how much I needed to not feel embarrassed about what we’d just done
, and I appreciated how kind he was being
.

“So I’m cute and sexy?” I asked, quirking a small smile
at him in
the hopes of pushing away the awkward feelings hovering over us.
They were threatening to cut off my oxygen supply.

“The cutest,” he said, as he leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Those guys at USC aren’t going to know what to do with
themselves
when they meet you.”

“Thanks.”
I smiled and yawned loudly. “I guess I should go to my room,” I offered then, knowing Garrett probably wanted to be alone.

“Just stay here,” he said, propping himself up on his elbow and turning to face me. “I feel bad sending you off to your own room after I just took advantage of you.”

Only sweet Garrett Lewis would consider what had just happened between us as him taking advantage of me. I just knew the girl he settled down with was going to be extremely fortunate. He was an amazing guy.

“Okay,” I said, moving up to
one of the
pillow
s
at the top of the bed. “But for the record, you didn’t take advantage of me.”

“I hope not,” he said, and that was the last thing I remember before I closed my eyes.

When I awoke early the next morning, Garrett was asleep. A rush of embarrassment flooded me as the night’s events came back in full sober clarity. I knew I’d promised him breakfast, but
that had been before his hand had been on my breast an
d I’d asked him to take my virginity
. In the light of
a new
day, I didn’t want to face him.

So I did what any self-respecting girl in my situation would do – I left him a note, apologizing for the way I’d behaved and did the walk of shame out of his hotel. And then when he called the next day, and the day after that, and they day after that, I didn’t answer the phone.

In fact, I hadn’t talked to Garrett since that night in Miami, but it seemed like all that was about to change.

“Earth to Logan,” Lauren said, waving her hand in front of my face.
I hadn’t realized I’d zoned out.

I snapped back to reality and realized everyone was staring at me.

“Where did you go?” Ethan asked, looking at me with concern.

I shook my head a few times.
“Nowhere.
Let’s go inside, okay?”

I heard Lauren’s girlfriend mutter something about me being crazy, so I turned and glared at her. She just put her arm around Lauren and pulled her close
, eyeing me haughtily
. I rolled my eyes and turned back around, so not in the mood
for possessive girlfriends. I wanted to shout at her that I wasn’t interested in
Lauren
, but
I
thought better of it
. She could probably kick my ass. Instead, I
steeled myself for seeing Garrett for the first time since I’d run out on him.

“E, what’s up, man?” Garrett asked, as soon as we entered the house
, and my heart jumped
right
into my throat
.

Instead of looking at him, I looked beyond the foyer to the rest of the house where throngs of people mingled throughout the sprawling open floor plan. F
rom the front entrance you could see all the way to the
back of the house, which was a
lmost totally glass. Since it was dark, the uncovered windows and glass doors were reflecting the party,
but I knew that beyond the reflection
was t
he Pacific Ocean
.
I
was sur
e
the view was amazing during the day.

“Hey
Gare
,” Ethan said, giving his brother one of those handshake/hug things guys do. “Nice turnout.”

I could see Ethan eyeing the girls milling about the house. He was making mental notes of who to seek out later to talk to, I just knew it.
Hopefully
,
he would remember he was my ride home and not disappear for too long with any of them.

“Hey Logan,” Garrett said quietly. I offered him a
meek
smile in return.

“I’ll go get us some drinks,” Ethan offered, paying little attention to the awkward situation happening right in front of him
or his best friend pleading with him with her eyes not to leave her alone with his brother
.

Of course he didn’t see me trying to silently communicate any of this.
His eyes were trained on the
two
leggy blond
s
posted up by the bar
in the kitchen
.
Two for the price of one
, was all I could think.
Lauren and Phoebe
followed him
, probably thinking the same thing
.

When
they were
gone, I turned back to Garrett. Before I could move, he enveloped
me in a hug, pulling me tight
against his chest. “I’m
so
sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I know you’re mad at me, but I’m sorry, Logan.
I’m so
, so
sorry.
”

I pulled back and looked at him. “I’m not mad. What are you sorry for?”

His eyes were intense as they met mine.
“For what I did.
I feel like such a shithead. Wait, you’re not mad?”

I shook my head.

His eyebrows knitted together.
“But you
just
left, and you didn’t return my calls.”

I sighed. “I was embarrassed. I still am
. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. I just
– I just
couldn’t talk to you after the way I threw myself at you.”

Once again I felt my face flush.

“Garrett,” someone whined from behind him.

Her voice was gravely like she’d smoked for a number of years, and her face held a distasteful expression, but it could have been due to the fact that her magenta dress looked painted on. I would be wearing a similar expression if my dress w
as that tight. Her spiked snake
skin platform heels made her almost as tall as Garrett.

Garrett
turned around but only part of the way.
“Hey Sophie.”

I recogniz
ed her as Sophie
Grant,
the girl
he’d said was co-starring with him in the indie film
he was shooting. She played the
girl he fell in love with who helped him eventual
ly reconnect with his parents at
the end of the movie.

“Who’s she?” Sophie demanded, and I wondered if something had happened between the two of them in Vancouver.

“Sophie, this is Logan, one of my closest friends,” he said, putting his arm around me.
I tried not to stiffen in his grip.

“She’s not the girl you dated in Miami?” Sophie accused, and I
just
knew there was something going on with them.

Although
,
I knew Sophie was the kind of girl who wouldn’t show any outward affection toward Garrett at this stage in the game. She knew as well as I did that
it was better to keep budding relationships under wraps in Hollywood unless you wanted to end up on the front page of
the major tabloids
. She kept her distance, but I could tell her claws would come out if any girl dared to encroach on her territory.

“We’re just friends,” I interjected. “I’ve known him since we were kids. In fact we’re more like brother and sister. We’re definitely not dating.”

Garrett laughed at our inside joke. “Just like brother and sister,
Soph
,” he said calmly, almost soothingly.
“Nothing to worry about.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, her demeanor toward me suddenly changing.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Logan is Alana Davis’s daughter,” Garrett said then, and Sophie’s eyes got wide.

I glared at him. Why did he have to do that? He knew I hated being introduced that way. Desperate actors and actresses begged me for an opportunity to meet my mother once they knew who she was. It was annoying.

“I’m so excited to meet your mother,” Sophie gushed, and I gritted my teeth in an attempt to hold it together.
I was not about to set up a meeting for her, so she’d better not ask.

“Sophie just got cast to play the daughter of your mom’s character in her next mov
ie,” Garrett explained, and I
forgave him a little since he actually
had a legitimate reason for sharing my heritage with this girl.

I also studied Sophie a little closer, realizing how much she looked like someone who could play my mother’s daughter – more so than me. She was rail thin, tall,
tan
and had
honey colored
straight
blond hair
. She also wore a pound of make-up and had that Hollywood eagerness
and freshness
about her that my mother
had
possessed as a young actress
and had recently tried to recreate through Botox and light plastic surgery after she realized she was aging
.

Sophie flashed me a winning smile that I knew I’d only earned because of who my mother was. I’d met girls like her who were
fake
through and through. What was Garrett doing with her
? She wasn’t his type at all. I might just have to pull him aside later and ask him.

“Here you go,” Ethan said then, sidling up to me with a drink in his
hand. The ice was slightly melted, so I knew he’d gotten it before stopping to flirt with the
Doublemint
Twins. “Hi, I’m Ethan Lewis.”

I rolled my eyes as he actually took Sophie’s hand and kissed it. He was such a freaking
cheeseball
sometimes, but Sophie ate it up. She actually giggled
and squirmed as Ethan let go of
her hand. Garrett flashed his younger brother a mur
derous glare that said, ‘back-the-fuck-off
before I kick your
ass’
.

“Okay,” I said, stepping between the two boys. “Ethan, let’s go walk around.” I grabbed his hand and
started
to yank him forward.

“I want to stay here,” he protested, eyeing S
ophie eagerly.

“You can’t,” I stressed, pulling him
away
. “Garrett and Sophie are talking. You’ll have to find someone else to talk to.”

Suddenly Ethan got it. “Fine,” he muttered. “For the record, I liked it better when I was the one the girls went after.”

“
You’re brothers!” I said, exasperated by his petty behavior. “And in case you didn’t notice, the girls like you too, E. Now let’s go find you one that you can flirt with, okay?”

I felt like a mother talking to her toddler.

“Fine,” he mumbled, and I just shook my head. He was really being immature.

As we started to walk away, Garrett grabbed my hand. He pulled me back to him and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “For the record, you didn’t throw yourself at me, okay?”

I met his eyes, and he nodded encouragingly, telling me I needed to believe him. I nodded, and he smiled at me before he pulled me back in for another hug.

“I missed you, kid,” he said. “Do me a favor. Next time I call, call me back, okay?”