Forcing Gravity (8 page)

“Huh?” he
said
,
finally pulling his attention back to me. He looked confused
in
that
typical zoned-out
way guys get when pretty girls enter a room
.

“If you want to go talk to one, or several, of those girls, don’t let me stop you. It’s not like we’re on a date
or anything
.”

Ethan gave me a funny look that said he didn’t understand what I was insinuating.

“Those girls,” I said, gesturing back to the group of women
,
who were
mingling and laughing at the front of the restaurant, waiting to be seated.
“Feel free to go
chat
them up if you want. I’m good here with my edamame and this delicious watermelon cucumber mojito.”

I took a big sip of the drink Ethan insisted I order, savoring the crisp,
delicious flavor. Even though we were
n’t even close to twenty-one, Ethan
and I had fantastic
fake ID
s that he
had made for us by some friend of his, using our yearbook photos
.
It was a lovely gift he’d presented me with when I’d announced I was going to USC with him.

Ethan just waved me off like I was crazy. “I’m not leaving you, Lo,” he said, as he grabbed
a piece of edamame and sucked the soy beans out
between his teeth. “They’re just girls.”

He did, however, glance back once more before a disgusted look came over his face. He turned back to me, shaking his head.

“What?” I asked
,
following his gaze.
It was then that
I recognized o
ne of the guys who
had e
ntered soon after the girls. He
was chatting with the hostess, and it was n
o wonder everyone was staring.
“Oh, that’s Jason Brady.”

I suddenly understood why there were so many hot, half-dressed women lingering at the front entrance. They were part of Jason Brady’s entourage. He was
known as one of the
Y
oung Hollywood
e
lite
;
an
even bigger
celebrity
than Garrett or
Donovan Collins. Jason had been
acting for years and
had
h
ad several major roles locked down
before he turned eighteen. He’d been a fixture in the gossip magazines for years, and was probably one of the hottest guys on the planet. I realized then that he was actually even better looking in person.

And then it was me who couldn’t look away from the front of the restaurant.

Jason
had dark brown hair that hung past his ears and was messy in that s
e
xy, bed-head way
,
and
eyes
so green they
had to be contacts. He also had a body
that
was better than any I’d seen up close and personal
– he’d been featured shirtless in the tabloids more times than once
– but even in the fitted navy t-shirt and distressed jeans
he wore
, his
rockin
’ physique was no secret
.
It made you
want
to reach out to touch his bicep or run your hand over his abs
just to see how firm they actually were
.

He was seriously yummy, and that wasn’t something I usually said about people, but now, being in the same room as
a god like
Jason Brady, I really couldn’t think of an adjective that described him any better.
I realized my mouth was partially open when Ethan dragged me back out of my fantasy.

“I fucking hate that guy,”
he grum
bled.

“Why?” I asked, appalled by Ethan’s sudden aggression. Jason had seem
ed so friendly chatting up the host
ess
, smiling and flirting and leaning in close.
Lucky girl
.

Of course, I knew first-hand how deceiving actors could be. I’d met more than a few in my life, and nice guys like Garrett were definitely in the minority. Most of them were arrogant pricks or giant phonies like my mom. It always made me laugh when someone found out who my mom was and told me how funny and sweet she seemed. My mom could turn on the charm when she wanted to, and she really was a fantastic actress. She had everyone fooled – well, everyone that didn’t know the real her, that is.

I looked
back to catch one more glance as Jason and his group were led
in
to a priva
te room. He was a little breath
taking to say the least, and I couldn’t help but stare.
And fantasize.

“Why do you hate him?” I asked Ethan again
,
once Jason and his entourage had disappeared.

I sucked on a piece of edamame while I waited for Ethan to re
s
pond.

“He’s just a
douchbag
,”
he
said, taking a
large, aggravated
sip of his drink which was called ‘The Dragon’
– a
very masculine name for a drink, in my opinion.

“How do you know him?”

“We went to school together for a few years. He was two grades ahead of me, but then he d
ropped out when he was a junior
because he was making
too many
movies or some shit like that. He was always a jackass, though.”

“Alright, noted,” I said, wondering if Ethan was jealous that Jason Brady had
an
entourage of hot women
or if he truly was a jerk
.
Either way, I didn’t need Etha
n to be in a bad mood, so I figured I’d change his attitude
.
“So
,
let’s talk about something else.”

“Sure,” he grumbled, and I wondered if the ever-optimistic Ethan was a thing of the past. H
e’d certainly seemed to be irritated
a lot lately.

***

“So, where is this party we’re going to?”

“Santa Monica,” Ethan said, as
he switched
seat
s with the valet in
his new silver Infiniti G37, a
sweet
g
raduation gift from his parents.

“You sure you’re good to drive?” I asked, cautiously. I wa
s a little buzzed
, so I hoped he wasn’t feeling the same way. Of course, he had at least seventy pounds on me, so it was possible that the one drink he had didn’t go to his he
ad like the two I’d had
had gone to mine.

“Totally sober,” he said, grinning at me
, and h
is grin didn’t go away.
I was glad to see
cheerful Ethan
was
back.

“What?” I asked, liking the feeling of the alcohol swimming around in my brain. Maybe the party would be more fun if I was buzzed.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said, smirking at me.

“I love surprises,” I gushed, instantly excited.
Ethan loved surprising me. He’d been doing it our whole lives.
“What is it?”

“Sorry, it’s
a
surprise,” he said with fake disappointment
in his voice but glee in his eyes
. “I can’t tell you.”

“Asshole,” I muttered, as I crossed my arms in front of my chest and
fake
pouted out the window.

Ethan just laughed at me.

Twenty minutes later we pulled up in front of a modest two-story beach house that was already crawling with people. The driveway was blocked by a security guard, but Ethan drove right up like he owned the place.

“Ethan Lewis,” he said, showing the beefy guy his ID.

“Go ahead,” the guy said, after he checked that Ethan was who he said he was.

“Wow,” I said, looking over at Ethan in awe. “You’ve got some pull around here.”

He just shrugged. “I know the guy who owns the place.”

As we got out of the car, I regretted what I was wearing for the second time that night. Every single female
I saw
was dressed in some version of a dress and heels. I looked incredibly out of place, once again.
Maybe I needed to tap into the wardrobe my mom had bought me. I had yet to wear any of it, and as pissed off as it made me that she felt the need to dress me, she was pretty spot-on with what she’d picked out.

“I look okay, right?” I asked Ethan, grabbing his arm to hold him back from walking to the front door.

A warm breeze rus
tled his hair, blowing his
blond
locks across his
cheek
.
“You look great,” he said, without even looking at me.

I sighed. “You didn’t even look.”

“That’s because I know you look great,” he said,
as he tucked his hair behind his ear and locked
his eyes on mine. “You always do, Lo.”

I rolled my eyes. “You just know me too well. I look ridiculous in this outfit.”

His shoulders sagged. “Don’t,” he cautioned.

“What?”

“Don’t be one of those insecure girls who can’t see how cute she is. You’ve never been that girl before, so don’t start now.
”

I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I hadn’t ever been insecure, even w
hen I’d attended Ethan’s friend
s
’
parties before. I’d never once cared what anyone else thought, but suddenly I felt different, and I didn’t like it.

I fingered one of my
shoulder-length, l
oose curls, twisting it around my finger
as I looked down at my feet
.
Suddenly, Ethan’s hand reached out and pulled my finger out of my hair, breaking my nervous habit.

“
You look hot, okay,
”
he said, pointedly. “I’m honestly not looking forward to the fact that I’ll have to kick some of my friends’ asses because they’re going to say really inappropriate thing about you.”

“Like what?” I asked, just a little intrigued.

He laughed. “You don’t want to know, but trust
me,
the ass-
kickings
will be warranted.”

“Fine,” I
sighed, not sure I’d be able to s
hrug
off my newly developed insecurities
as
easily as I hoped.
L.A. seemed to be getting to me.

“Logan!” I heard from behind me, and I spun around to see Lauren walking toward me holding hands with a statuesque caramel skinned girl who was at least a foot taller than her
and had a headful of short dark spiral curls. She looked like a model and probably was.

“Hey, Lauren,” I said, hugging her when they reached us.
I noticed even
she was w
earing heels
with her leather pants
. Maybe I needed to invest in some L.A. footwear
, I thought
,
as she
introd
uced us to her girlfriend, Phoebe
, and punched Ethan in the arm
by way of greeting
.

“Nice house, E,” she said, grinning at him.

“Thanks,” he said,
returning her grin,
and I looked at him in confusion. He smirked back
at me
.

Suddenly it clicked. “That’s how you got
to park in the driveway.”

“Yeah, it’s cool to do that when it’s your house.”

My jaw dropped. “Ethan! Are you serious?
”

“You didn’t tell her?” Lauren asked.

No, he didn’t.
I’
d known Ethan
had
planned to live off-campus, having opted to forgo the dorm experience when he took a tour of the campus and saw how
small and utilitarian the rooms were
, but I didn’t know he’d found a place – espe
cially since I figured he’d pick
some small apartment near
campus
. I didn’t expect him to be renting a place on the beach in Santa Monica that was big enough for a family of four to live
in
comfortably.

He grinned again.
“Home sweet home.
Actually, it’s Garrett’s home sweet home, since he bought the place, but he’s going to let me live here once school starts.”