Love Match (11 page)

“Hello?”

“Congratulations,” Jordan said by way of greeting. “You booked the campaign.”

Maya wasn't sure she'd heard her right. “I'm sorry?”

“You got the job! You're the new face of Esteban's line!”

“Seriously?” Of all the things that had happened to Maya since she got to the Academy, this was the single most impossible to believe.

“It was unanimous. They e-mailed your photos over to Esteban and he agreed immediately. They're going to send me the contract tomorrow.”

“Contract?”

“I can look over it for you if you'd like, but I'm going to need a commitment if we're going to go forward on any other jobs. I don't offer freebies to all future clients, but I like you, Maya. If the terms are acceptable, I'll messenger it over along with a formal agreement for us to work together. You can sign
the Esteban contract and take some time to look over mine. I'll be in touch.”

Jordan ended the call before Maya could even say “Thank you.” This seemed to be standard operating procedure with the agent. Get in. Get out. Don't leave time for questions. Maya wasn't crazy about that method, but she couldn't argue with the results. She booked her first ad campaign!

The sudden pounding on her door was much more intense than Renee's had been the night before. “Who is it?”

“Your costar in the Esteban ad campaign!”

Maya flung open the door and threw herself at Travis. They hooted and hollered as they embraced, drawing girls out from their rooms and into the hall. Cell phones came out as people snapped up the moment for posterity, and future postings on the Wall.

“We better get inside.” Maya pulled Travis into her room and shut the door before realizing that probably looked a whole lot worse. But she didn't care. She booked her first job. She was going to get paid!

“Jordan called you, too?” Maya asked. Neither of them could sit down. They both had too much energy.

“No. My dad. He's handling my deals until I get an agent. But he told me you got an offer, too. I turned the car around and came right back to celebrate together.”

Maya felt horrible. She didn't even think to ask Jordan about Travis. Then again, it wasn't like there had been time to get a word in. “Did you get any details? Jordan hardly told me anything.”

“Not at all,” Travis said, still beaming. “Those will come with the contract. Maya! We're getting contracts!”

Maya loved to see his reaction to the news. Travis grew up in this world and he was still as excited as she was about it. That made it even better.

“Maya, we're going to be in print ads! Web banners! Billboards!”

In that moment the full scope of this campaign fully hit her. Their pictures would be everywhere. Her friends back home would see them. Nicole would have to look at her face anytime she went to Esteban's boutique.

And Jake would have to see her with Travis everywhere he went.

“I'm going to get you back, Maya! I'm going to get you back!”

Jake's voice echoed through Maya's sleep-hazy mind as she woke. It wasn't so much a dream as a memory. Jake had sworn that it wasn't over between them. That he wouldn't let it end. But he had.

Jake had completely avoided Maya since the day she almost dropped out of the Academy. If that was how he defined “getting someone back,” he had a few things to learn about the English language.

It was what she'd wanted, of course. She'd used that alone time to focus on her game, and the results had been impressive. But Travis ultimately ignored her wishes and moved past the dark time. Jake had sworn he was going to do the opposite of what she'd wanted and then he failed to even do that. There really was no second-guessing him.

Jake stayed on her mind as she got up and ready for her
day. She worried about how he'd react once word got out about the ad campaign. There was no doubt he'd hear about it. That's how things worked in the Reed household. Nails would brag to anyone within the sound of his voice about Travis's new campaign. Maya had to make sure Jake got the news from her.

Finding Jake would be a problem. He wasn't big on sticking to schedules. He was rarely where he was supposed to be. That's why Maya was surprised to find him in the weight room by the football field during his regular time for weight training.

Jake had his back down on the weight bench with arms up, pushing against a barbell. His chest rose and fell with each rep, muscles straining against the pressure.

Maya smiled a greeting at the guy standing over the bench, spotting Jake. He smiled back, but didn't say anything. They both knew better than to distract a person lifting what looked to be Maya's body weight at least.

Once Jake reached the final rep, his spotter helped him guide the barbell onto the hooks above him. With the heavy weapon finally out of his hand, Maya felt it was safe to speak. “Hi,” she said.

“Travis isn't here,” he replied. His spotter raised his eyebrows and slipped off without saying a word.

“I was looking for you,” she said.

“You were?” The smile on Jake's face crushed her a little. It was like nothing had happened between them. Her emotions went right back to when they'd been together.

“Is it that big of a surprise?” she asked.

“A pleasant one,” he said as he stood. “I mean … to come all the way across campus to search me out…. It must be important.”

“It is,” she said as he moved closer. She could feel the heat rising off his body.

“Is it about … us?”

There was hope in his eyes. It killed her to see it there. It made what she'd come to say all that much harder. It also snapped her out of the moment.

Maya took a step back. “It is, but it isn't. It's actually about Travis.”

She now felt a different kind of heat coming from him. “Go on.”

“Have you heard about the Esteban campaign?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “It's all Dad's been talking about. ‘Travis is going places.' ‘This is only the beginning for Travis.' So?”

“Did he mention anyone else?”

“No,” Jake said. “But he doesn't usually talk about other people when the subject is Travis.”

Maya took a deep breath. “I'm in the ad, too. We're both in the ad together.”

Jake didn't say anything, but his eyes did.

“I mean … not
together,
together. It's not like we went in as a team. It just sort of … happened.”

Jake shook off the anger in his eyes. He replaced it with a smile like he didn't take any of it seriously. “Yeah, that's how Travis works, isn't it? Things just kind of happen around him.”

“You don't really believe your brother set this up, do you?”
Maya asked. Somehow she didn't think they were talking about the ad campaign.

“I don't know anymore,” Jake said with a shrug. “Travis used to be my best friend; he had my back even when we were competing against each other. I have no clue who he is now. Not so sure about you either.”

Jake sat back on the bench, turning away from Maya. He pulled the pin out of the barbell so he could add some weight. “But, hey, I'm fine if you're dating. I don't get why you'd be with someone you can't trust, but that's your thing.”

“We're not dating,” she said. “And Travis apologized.”

“Not to me.” Jake walked away from her, going through the rows of additional weights stacked along the wall. “But it's okay. He doesn't usually apologize when he gets his way these days. I'm used to it.”

The thing that bothered Maya most wasn't that Jake was twisting everything; it was that he was so blasé about it. He could have been talking about his class schedule for next semester. He was usually much more emotional about things that mattered to him. Complete apathy was a long way from screaming that he was going to get her back.

“Well, I just wanted to tell you that Travis and I would be working together,” Maya said. “Now that you know, I guess there's nothing more to say.”

“Thanks for coming by,” Jake said, pleasantly enough that it landed like a proverbial punch to the gut. He selected a pair of medium-size weights and brought them back to the bench, making it clear that the conversation wasn't going to distract him from his workout.

Maya turned to leave. Either she'd hurt him so badly that he could barely look at her or he simply didn't care about her anymore.
How could that be true? You don't just forget feelings that intense
. But if Jake didn't want to be friends, she was open to see what her friendship with Travis could become

Of course, there was another option. She was in a school with some of the finest specimens of physical perfection in the world. She didn't need to contain her options to one family. Maybe she could have her friendship with Travis while she played the field. The Academy did have a lot of fields to play on. There were plenty of guys hanging around outside the weight room alone.

Someone grabbed Maya before she could fully explore that idea. She was face-to-frantic-face with Renee. “Maya! Quick, we're in the middle of a conversation. Laugh.”

“What?”

“Laugh!”

They both laughed with the most fake-sounding giggles that Maya had ever heard. She was seriously afraid that someone would think they were on drugs.

“What's so funny?” Diego asked.

Suddenly, the insane laughter made sense. At least, as much sense as anything in Renee's boy-crazy world did.

“Oh, it would be too hard to explain,” Renee said.

She's right about that
, Maya thought.

“So … tonight … ?” Diego said.

Renee jumped right on it. “I was just talking to Maya about it! She loves the idea.”

That didn't sound good.

“You sure?” he asked. “Because we could—”

“I'm sure!” Renee had an edge of panic in her voice. “It's going to be great.”

“Okay, then,” Diego said. “I've got to get to practice, but I can't wait!”

“Me neither!” Renee said.

The girls watched him run off.

“What's going to be great?” Maya asked.

“You, me, Diego, and Travis,” Renee said. “A double date.”

“I'm not dating Travis.”

“It doesn't have to be a
real
date,” Renee said. “Just a group of friends going out together. I mean, it would be a date for me and Diego, but you guys would just be pretending.”

“You really think it's a good idea to begin a relationship with a lie?” Maya asked.

“We had such a great time the other night at 360,” Renee said. “Everything was so easy. But when it was just the two of us, it was … well, I told you how it was. I need you, Maya. Can't you please do this for me?” Renee's eyes pleaded with Maya.

“Okay,” Maya said. “But you owe me.”

“Oh, Maya!” Renee pulled her friend into a hug. “And I know just how to repay you. I have the most awesome outfit in the world for you to wear. You are going to look hot tonight!”

That wasn't the kind of repayment Maya had in mind. Then again, she liked the idea of looking hot for Travis. Even though they were just friends.

But were they really? Part of her was looking forward to the fake date.

So much for Maya's plan to play the field.

“I felt like a taste of home,” Diego said as they stood in front of the Brazilian buffet. Maya had always wanted to try Brazilian food. Her family didn't go out to eat much. When they did, it was usually to a chain restaurant that offered coupons.

“This time, it's on me.” Diego turned to Maya and Travis as he opened the door. “I mean, Renee's on me. You two are on your own.”

“No problem,” Maya said as the scents of the food pleasantly assaulted her senses. “Now that I've got a job, I can afford to eat out once in a while.” She didn't actually have the money yet, but that would come soon enough. Her pay for the ad campaign would be more than enough to cover dinners for the month, buy a new wardrobe, and leave her enough extra cash to send some back home. Even after the Academy took its contractually obligated percentage.

The hostess showed them to a table and started handing out menus, but Diego stopped her. “Nope. We're not ordering off the menu. We're doing the buffet. Start bringing out the courses.”

The restaurant wasn't like buffets Maya was used to where she and her parents waited in line at serving stations ladling out lukewarm, undercooked food. Diego warned them that this was going to be a different experience entirely.

It started with a gigantic platter with a colorful assortment
of veggies covering some lettuce. They called it a salad, but it was so much more.

Maya allowed for a couple of tongs full of vegetables before cutting off the waiter. It looked so delicious, but she wanted to save room for later.

“Don't fill yourselves up too much on the salad,” Diego said. “There's plenty more food in the back.”

Renee quickly stopped the server after one small serving reached her plate. “Thanks.”

“This is delicious,” Maya said after her first bite. “It's like an explosion of flavor.” She quickly scooped up another, glad that she'd worn her own outfit instead of the one Renee had offered. There was no room for a big meal in anything her friend owned.

“Wait till you get to the meats,” Diego said. “The spices they use … I hope no one here is a vegetarian.”

“If I were, I'd quit for the night,” Travis said. “That kitchen smells delicious.”

Renee smiled as she took a small bite of her salad. Her face scrunched up noticeably.

“You don't like it?” Diego asked.

Her eyes went wide. “Oh, no. It's delicious! But you said you didn't want us to fill up. It's going to be hard to stop.”

But Renee did stop. Maya noticed that she didn't take another bite of the salad. It wasn't unusual. In the time that they'd been friends, Maya never saw Renee once clean her plate.