Forcing Gravity (13 page)

“You don’t have to call me,” I said, knowing it was a ridiculous notion to think that
someone
like him would be interested in me. I was pretty sure he was just having an insecure night and would be
back
to his normal, confident, celebrity self in no time. He’d forget all about me.

“No, I want to,” he insisted.

“Okay,” I sa
id, still not believing him, as I
started to make my way inside.

“Logan,” he called after me.

“Yeah?”

I turned around to see him smiling that secret smile of his, and his dimple popped just enough to be adorable.

“It was really nice meeting you.”

I returned his smile.
“You too, Jase.”

-
6
-

“So, tomorrow is the big day,” my mother said from across the table at
Spago
where we were celebrating the fact that I was going off to college the next day.

“Yup,” I said, stirring my after dinner cappuccino as my phone vibrated next to my cup.

I smiled when I saw I had a text
from Jase. I hadn’t heard from him all day, so it was nice to see he was still doing okay. We’d been texting and talking on the phone for the past few weeks while he’d been in New York, then in
Cabo
with his family, and then in New Orleans.

He was being
courted
by a studio who wanted to sign him to do a three movie deal based on a book series I’d heard a decent amount of buzz about but hadn’t read. It would be filmed in New Orleans, so they’d spent the week showing him the locales they wanted to use and wooing him into signing on.

He’d been vacillating back and forth about whether he wanted to do the films since they were a bit racy, but I knew he was planning to tell the studio his answer that night. We’d talked
until
late
the night before
after he’
d told me his decision
and wanted to know my thoughts. I wasn’t sure I was even qualified to add my input – we hadn’t really known each o
ther that long, and this
seemed like a big decision – but he insisted that he wanted my opinion. In the end, he’d decided to take the risk and do the movies, and he seemed good with his decision, so I was happy for him.

I clicked on the text message icon on my phone to read what he’d said.

I told them, and they’re thrilled, but now they won’t stop
telling me how amazing I am.
I’m hiding out in the bathroom for a few minutes of quiet in an attempt to calm my ego down.

Lucky you,
I texted back
, grinning at the image of him hiding out in the men’s room
.

Tell me something mean
, he responded.

What?

Tell me something cruel. Bring me back down to earth.

You have bad breath,
I wrote back, smiling to myself.

His response came back almost immediately.
WHAT?! Please tell me you’re not serious!

I smiled again and didn’t text back right away.

“Who are you texting with?” my mother asked.
“Ethan again?”

“No, it’s not Ethan,” I said, turning my phone over on the table. It vibrated again, but I ignored it.

“Is it a boy?!” Skylar asked excitedly, sitting up straighter in her chair.

“Maybe,” I said, reaching over and swiping a bite of her dessert.

“Who is it?!” she asked eagerly
,
as she swatted my spoon away but not before I could load a heaping scoop of ice cream and chocolate onto it.

“
Just
a
boy,” I said, as I stuffed the decadent bite into my mouth.

A boy I’m slightly crazy about.

My phone vibrated again, so I lo
oked down at it. There were six
texts – all from Jase.

Please tell me you’re joking!

Logan?

Logan! Don’t leave me hanging after saying something like that.

Please . . .

Okay, so I’ve just chugged half a bottle of mouthwash after bribing the restroom attendant to sell it to me. I think I’m good.

I grinned and finally responded to him.
Just kidding!

Really?!!

Yes, Jase, your breath was fine the night we met.

Actually, it was better than fine, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
Although w
e’d been talking and tex
ting for the past few weeks,
it was more just friendly banter and conversations about what we’d been doing. He hadn’t brought up our kiss and neither had I.

Are you sure?

Minty fresh.
I promise. I was just messing with you.

So, I guess I didn’t need to spend $100 on a bottle of Listerine?

I laughed out loud.
No, probably not.

Damn.

Well, are you sufficiently back on solid ground?

It was a few seconds before he responded, but then he said,
The
ground is solid. I have been
appropriately
humbled.

You’re welcome.

I’ll call you later. My public
awaits
.

Ooh, better run quick. I’d hate for your head to swell up again and you couldn’t get out of the restroom.

Cute,
he responded.
Just like you.

And suddenly I was floating on a cloud.

“Logan!” my mother said sharply.

“Yes,” I responded, looking up at her, a smile still on my face.

“Put the phone away please,” she said, folding her hands in front of her.

“Fine,” I grumbled, but I knew it would be a while before I heard from Jase again. He’d be tied up with his admirers for
a few more hours
.

“Who is this boy who has you grinning from ear to ear?” she asked, her fork poised over her cup of fruit. I was surprised she was even letting herself eat something with sugar in it. Usually she abstained
completely
.

“Just a boy, M
om.
We’re just friends.”

“It’s not Garrett Lewis, is it?” she asked, her eyes starting to sparkle with the thought that I might be dating someone famous. If she
only
knew the guy who
’d
had me perpetually grinning
over the past few weeks was Jason Brady, she’d go nuts.

“No, Mom. I’m not seeing Garrett. I’ve told you this before. Garrett and I are just friends.”

“So are you seeing anyone?”

I shook my head and stole another bite of my sister’s dessert, wishing I would have ordered something, bu
t I’d been full from dinner when
the wa
iter came by asking us what we
wanted. Skylar attempted to pull the plate away before I could grab a bite, but she was too slow.

“Not really,” I responded, being vague on purpose.

“So, you’re available,” she deduced.

“For what?”

“Dating,” she said, r
olling her eyes at my complete
lack of cognizance.

“Dating who?”

She leaned back in her chair and got this look in her eye that told me she was going to be conniving.

“Well, Bryan Heller just broke up with the girl he was seeing, and he was asking about you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Bryan Heller?
Really, Mom?!”

Bryan Heller was an actor my mother knew through
Luiz
. He was a complete and total douchebag and loved himself more than anyone else on the planet.
He was also twenty-four, a little too old for me, in my opinion.

“I think Bryan is handso
me and charming, not to mention,
rich, and he just starred in that new
superhero
movie that broke
box office records last month.”

Well, since he just put out a new movie, why not?

“I don’t date actors, Mom. You know that.”

Yeah, that
had sort of been an unspoken ru
le for me for years, mainly because my mother always
had some young actor
she’d worked with or met who she wanted to set me up with, and I
simply
didn’t want her to set me up, but also because I didn’t want to date someone in the business.
I’d grown up around it and knew that it wasn’t a life I wanted – especially after experiencing my fifteen minutes of fame/shame over the summer. No thanks.

And that was my mantra –
until I met Jase and realized he basically shot down all my preconceived notions about actors
and made my toes curl and made me forget that he was an actor because he was so down to earth
. Not that we were dating or that he even wanted to date me, but if he asked, I might not say no.

Oh, who I am kidding. I’d say yes in
under
two seconds.

But I
wouldn’t tell my mother, because that would not onl
y succeed in making her day,
it would also mean fifty other people would find out
,
because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
The last things I wanted were for her to feel like she got her way and to have my personal life splashed all over the tabloids.

“What is wrong with dating an actor?” my mother asked, clearly offended by my blanket statement.

Skylar just smirked at me and shook her head.
We both knew better than to insult my mother’s craft or anyone who worked in the business. It was an unspoken rule in our house.

“Nothing, Mom,” I said, wishing I’d never brought up the subject.
“Nothing at all.”

***

“So I’ll be back in L.A. next week,” Jase told me when he called me late that night. I realized it was two
in the morning in New Orleans
.

“
Oh, r
eally?”
I asked, surprised to hear that
.
He’d told me the first night he’d called me that he would be traveling for the next few weeks, and I’d sort of memorized the date he’d be back
– in two days. That date seemed to have changed.

“Yeah
,” he said, sighing loudly. “
I have to go back to New York for a charity event
and some interviews
, so it’s
partially
for a good cause, but
I’m tired of traveling. I want to sleep in my own bed.”

“And where exactly is this bed?” I asked, stretching out on my own bed and tucking myself under the covers.

I’d spent the night finishing up last minute packing. Ethan was picking me up the next day so we could move
everything
into my dorm. I’d helped him and Gar
rett
move
his stuff into their
house a few days earlier, so he owed me.

“The Hollywood Hills,” Jase responded. “Why? Do you want to come visit me?”

Yes, please.

“No,” I said, putting a teasing tone in my voice. “I was just curious where you lived.”

“Well that sucks,” he said
, teasing me back
. “I was planning on asking you out, but it sounds like you’re not interested.”

“I don’t date actors,” I deadpanned.

“Well that’s fine,” he replied. “I’m not actually an actor. I just play one on TV sometimes.”

I laughed. H
e was so
stinkin
’ cute
.

“Do you really not date actors?” he asked
, and I could hear a hint of cautious
concern
in his voice.

“That’s what I tell my mother. She’d love nothing more for me to date someone famous, and for years I wanted anything but that.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I was under the impression that with celebrity
came
a
certain
level of arrogance that I wouldn’t be okay with.”

Jase was silent for a few seconds, and I thought I’d maybe overstepped my bounds. Sometimes my penchant for saying what was on my mind got me in trouble.

“Do you think
I’m
arrogant?” he asked, and I could tell he truly wanted me to answer him honestly.

“No, Jase, I don’t
think you’re arrogant
,” I said seriously. “I think you are sweet and unassuming and kind and funny and all sorts of other great adjectives. You’re definitely not arrogant.”