Perfect Summer (5 page)

“I’m
saying that I’m through trying to win you, Summer. I have to move on, stop
wishing things were different between us, and finding that someone who can
appreciate me for who I am, not what I could be.”

“I
always did appreciate you for who you are now, Drew…”

“I
know, Summer, and it’s one of the many things I love about you. But like I
said, I can’t stay around waiting forever, and I certainly can’t stand seeing
you and Nat together ever again, without wanting to rip off his head and
claiming you on the spot like a caveman marking his woman.”

“So
until you realize who you really want to be with, Summer, all I am going to be
is a friend. Nothing else. Not even with benefits. Is that clear?”

I
nodded, not liking what I was hearing, but unable to give him what he wanted.

“Good,”
he said, walking on stage with me in his arms to face an entire class of acting
students. “I’m glad that’s clear, because if we were more than friends, I’d be
out of my mind jealous and suspicious with what I’m seeing right now.”

Drew
set me down in a folding chair right when a tall, muscular, and strikingly
handsome blonde young man walked over to us, a look of concern clouding his
perfect features.

“Summer!”
Astor exclaimed. “Summer,” he lifted me from the chair to put his arms around
me, crushing me to his chest. “I missed you so much, I couldn’t wait to come
back into town.”

“Ouch,”
I winced, feeling my arm hang limply at my side.

Astor
stepped back. “Hey, I’m sorry. Your arm…you’ve hurt it.” He looked over at
Drew. “What happened?”

Drew
stared stonily at Astor, as though he couldn’t stand the sight of him. Astor
ignored him and looked back at me. “You need to get that looked at, Summer.”

“Astor,”
I said, truly happy to see him again. He had a way with him that always made me
feel beautiful and special. “It’s good to see you, but I can’t right now. I
have to work on the budget and the summer class set ups today. If I don’t, then
it won’t be ready in time for summer. I’ll have missed the window to advertise
for it.”

Astor’s
grin was gone, and he placed both hands on my shoulders. “No, Summer. Taking
care of yourself is more important than all of this.”

“But…”
I began. “When I start college, I know I’m going to be buried with school work,
and catching up with the semester. It won’t be easy…but I think I can handle
it, as long as I’m organized about it.”

“Did
Rachel tell you I wanted to talk to you about the Academy?” Astor asked.

I
nodded, looking into his eyes, trying to read into it, but couldn’t. “I’ll
explain later what I have in mind, but in the meantime, you have a class
waiting to learn all about characterization. Mind if I teach it today? It’s something
I wanted to hone up on too so teaching it will only help me re-learn it.”

“No,
I don’t mind,” I said, easily charmed out of my pants by Astor.

“Good
because I want you to concentrate on taking care of you. I’d tell Drew to take
you to the doctor’s, but from that look on his face, if I even look his way,
we’d be in a fist fight. What happened to you, and why is he here?”

“Well,
I was attacked just now in the office.”

Astor’s
face filled with concern and then anger. “Who was it?”

“I
don’t know, it was dark, and I couldn’t see his face.”

“Do
you think it’s a stalker?” Astor crossed his arms. “The same people who broke
your windshield and tried to burn down the school?”

“Could
be related,” I said. “I don’t know. I don’t even know how he could’ve gotten
into the building and Aunt Sookie’s office. I normally have those doors
locked.”

Astor
looked down. “I was here yesterday in the afternoon, helping Rachel with a
class. She had to leave early to head back to the Pad. She didn’t say why, so I
told her I’ll close up the school.” He looked horrified for a second. “Could I
have forgotten to lock the doors?” He ran his hands through is hair and started
pacing. “I can’t remember if I did, but I could have so they could easily have
gotten in…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Summer. I must’ve forgotten. I’m so
used to everyone doing things for me, that I’d forget to do something as simple
and basic like locking doors when I leave.”

The
forlorn look on Astor’s face made me want to comfort him instead of him comforting
me. “It’s okay, Astor. I’m alive and fine.”

Astor
hugged me close. “No, Summer, it’s not fine. My actions caused you to get hurt.
And God knows what he was doing in the office.”

I
frowned. ‘I don’t even want to know…”

“Well,
I’m going to go check it out when I get the chance after this class, if this
class gets started,” Astor said.

I
glanced over to the stage and my mouth fell opened. While Astor and I were
talking, Drew had stepped up to the front of the class, and was leading them in
warm up exercises.

“That’s
great!” he said. “Everyone’s doing great! Now everyone gather together up close
to the stage. I want to talk about characterization.” He pointed at one of the
students in class, a girl who was about fifteen, who blushed when Drew called
her name. “Emma, what do you think characterization is?”

“Bringing
qualities to a character in a story that makes him or her unique,” she said,
looking embarrassed.

Drew
clapped. “Good description. That’s part of it.”

A
bunch of hands went up, and Drew pointed at another student, a red-haired boy
with glasses, about fourteen years old.

“It’s
making a character human,” he said.

“Yes!”
Drew said, “Give that guy a hand everyone!”

The
class clapped, and Drew pointed at another student while Astor tugged at my
hand. “Come on, Summer. Looks like Drew’s got class covered. Let’s see the
damage this attacker did, and get a police report filed. So he’s got battery,
assault, trespassing…let’s hope he doesn’t add theft to that list, too.”

I
stared at Astor, “So when did you become good at all this crime terms?”

Astor
laughed. “My next film in Vegas. Very stylish. I play a James Bond type of
character who is a smooth Fader in the future, based on the dystopian book
series, Fade, so I had to be familiar with what I was saying in the film. Have
you heard of Sebastian Sorensen?”

“I’ve
seen his name on the credits of some major films. Doesn’t he compose music
scores for the films?”

Astor
nodded. “Yes, but he’s also a producer. He’s got a good eye for flair. The
music score he composed for this film was amazing. He’s producing this film,
too. But…”

“What?”
I asked. “Why are you grinning?”

“I
heard he’ll be guest teaching a drama class at USC this semester. I’m not a
student, but I’d like to sit in on it, Summer. Would you like to take that
class with me?”

“And
be your bodyguard trying to keep all the girl students in class away from you?”

“No,
they’ll be too busy trying to get Professor Sorensen’s attention. He was voted
one of the Top Ten Sexiest Man in Hollywood.”

I
laughed. “So you’re not threatened by that? I’m sure you made that list, too.”

Astor
smiled at me. “No, I can appreciate it, and it’s something nice to be known as,
but no, I’m not threatened by another man’s looks. It’s there, but men compare
themselves in other ways besides looks. Unlike women.”

“Exactly,”
I said. “It’s too bad, it still boils down to that.”

We
had reached the door to the office, and I held my breath, prepared for the
worst.

“Stay
outside, Summer,” he said. “I’ll check it out first. Remember, they vandalized
the place before and even attempted arson.”

He
walked in, and I heard him visibly cursed. That made me cringed.

“What?”
I asked. “I’m coming in. Whatever it is…I can handle it.”

Astor
said, “No. You don’t want to see this. It’s disgusting.”

“It
can’t be that bad…”

“No,
Summer, You shouldn’t come in here. Trust me…”

“Astor,
it’s my responsibility to take care of the Academy…”

“Summer…”
Astor reached me right when I walked in and my jaw fell to the ground.

Astor
tried frantically to erase the screen of the office computer, but it wouldn’t
shut off.

Besides
seeing that all the files on the computer was wiped out, another pop up screen displayed
a collage of photos…photos I didn’t even know existed.

My
life was displayed on screen. Even the most intimate photos, which I have no
idea how and where it could have been taken. Clearly someone was obsessed.
There were pictures of me running along the beach with Drew, photos of me at
school, playing volleyball with my team, out at restaurants with Astor, one of
me changing, one of me at the Academy walking to my car, one of me showering in
the girl’s locker room at high school, me on the beach passionately kissing
Nat, me swimming in the pool at the Pad, then photos that made me want to
vomit.

“Don’t
look, Summer,” Astor said, pulling the plug on the computer.

The
screen froze with the collage stuck onscreen, while the rest of the computer
slowly shut down. The collage flashed on and off like a neon sign, as though it
was there to taunt me. Too late, photos taken from the hospital where Aunt
Sookie was cut open for her surgery was splashed across in the collage.

“What
does this all mean?” I asked Astor.

“Come
on, Summer,” he said, grabbing me and dragging me away from the collage. “I
don’t know what it means, except this is no joke. I need to provide you with
more security.”

“Nat’s
already providing security,” I said.

Astor
looked angry. “Well, it’s not enough, and…”

“No,
I’m fine,” I said. “I don’t need a bodyguard with me all the time like you do.”

“She’s
going to be fine,” Drew’s voice said firmly from behind us.

Astor
scowled at Drew. “Look what happened to her today.”

“That’s
because someone forgot to lock the doors,” Drew said. He walked over to me and
took my good hand. “Class just ended, Summer. I’ll take you to the doctor’s to
get your arm checked.”

“What
about the budget and scheduling I have to do…” I said. Then I remembered how
all the files were wiped out. “Oh, no…” I shook my head, realizing I have to
start over from scratch.

Between
the attack, seeing the collage, worrying about Drew, and now losing years of
data from Aunt Sookie’s computer; I finally broke down and cried.

Astor
and Drew looked at each other, and I thought I saw a moment of understanding
pass between them. “Look, Summer,” Astor said, “Don’t worry.” He leaned over
and kissed my forehead. “I’ll take care of everything here. Go with Drew to the
doctor’s, and I’ll call you with an update.”

“Thanks,”
I said looking at Astor.

He
brushed a strand of hair off my face, and looked like he wanted to kiss me, if
it wasn’t for Drew standing close by. “No need to thank me,” he said. “I owe
Aunt Sookie for all my success, Summer. I’m just trying to do what I can,
especially if it means helping her gorgeous niece out.”

There
was a cough and a “please” heard from Drew’s direction, and I hurriedly gave
Astor a quick hug before turning to Drew.

We
walked out of the Academy, and into the bright sunny daylight. I was about to
take my SUV when Drew said, “You can’t drive with your arm like that, Summer.
How about I drive you to the doctor’s. We’ll take my car.”

I
was about to protest, but when we walked towards the midnight blue Lexus in the
parking lot, I kept my mouth shut. This was one ride I didn’t want to miss.
Drew’s car looked very familiar, although I swear I’ve never seen it before. As
we got closer to the car, it finally dawn on me why it looked familiar. I had
seen it before. Just last night. It was the one peeling away from the Pad’s
driveway last night after the passionate visit from my so-called phantom lover.

So
Drew denied being at the Pad last night?

I
wanted to prove he was wrong.

Chapter
5

I
t didn’t take long to take x-rays of my arm
and to determine I had fractured my elbow. The doctor, who happened to have
been the Donovans’ personal physician when they were living in Los Angeles, was
a no-nonsense grandpa-like doctor who immediately put me at ease. We were in
and out of his office within an hour with a wrapped elbow in a sling and two
heated pads pressed against my bruised hips.

“Best
doctor in town,” Drew said driving me back to the Academy to get my car, “I
missed him when we moved up to San Fran. Now it looks as though he’ll be my
physician again since I’m back.”

I
couldn’t hide my smile. “Drew,” I said. “I’m so happy you’re back.” I reached
over to take his hand, but he seemed reluctant to take it at first until I
traced my thumb on it affectionately. “Summer,” he said, barely a whisper, “I
wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“What?”
I asked genuinely confused.

“Touch
me,” Drew said.

“I’m
just trying to hold your hand,” I said. “That’s all. Nothing else.”

Drew
took a deep breath in and said, “Even that makes me want to jump you and make
love to you from the time the sun rises to the time it sets.”

“I’m
sorry,” I said, taking my hand away from his, but feeling more aroused than
before.

Drew
looked over at me, his blue eyes dark with desire. “It’s okay, Summer. You
can’t help it. You can’t help being such a loving person. That’s your nature,
just like I can’t help being driven by a strong sex drive.”

“Maybe
that’s why I like touching you,” I said innocently.

Drew’s
eyes grew darker as his tongue darted out to lick the corners of his lips. It
was a simple gesture, but so sexy I wanted to unbuckle my seatbelt, climb over
to him, and ride his lap while kissing his luscious lips. “Summer, you don’t
realize how incredibly enticing that sounds,” Drew said.