Secrets of My Hollywood Life #5: Broadway Lights (12 page)

"
Who
is this?" Sky drapes herself over my shoulder. "K, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"And me?" Liz grabs Dylan's hand. "Hi. I'm Kaitlin's best friend, Liz. We'll be seeing each other a lot this summer, seeing as how I'm in town for a writing and directing workshop at NYU."

"A university girl." Dylan's eyes twinkle. "Cool."

"I'll be in town too for various things as well," Sky coos.

For two girls who have boyfriends, they sure are worked up over Dylan. They're all over him! Not that I can blame them. He's a dish. A very, very hot dish.

I make the introductions. "Sky, Liz, meet Dylan. Dylan, meet Liz and Sky. Sky was my costar on
Family Affair
. Dylan is my colleague in
Meeting of the Minds
."

"Lucky you." Sky runs her big brown eyes over Dylan and shakes his hand. "Are you here for a kiss?"

Dylan looks at where he's standing--at the front of the line--and laughs. "I guess so, since I'm queuing. Which one of you wants to go first?"

"Queuing?" Sky asks.

"Oh, you Americans say
in line
, right?" Dylan asks.

Sky and Liz can only manage nods. They've turned into mush.

"
Queue
,
line
, who cares." Sky is massaging his shoulder, and Dylan looks a little uncomfortable. "Do you want a kiss? I'm ready!"

I can't help but blush. I feel strange kissing Dylan. We share one kiss in the play, near the end of the second act, but we haven't rehearsed it yet, and I feel weirdly glad about that. I don't want to get practice in now.

"There you are," Riley says as she pushes her way to the front of the line. "Oh, hi, Kaitlin." She sees me and smiles coldly, which goes well with the ice-blue halter top she's wearing with skinny black trousers. I wouldn't expect the blue to look good with her pale coloring, but it works for Riley, not that I would tell her that. "What are you doing here?" she asks. "I thought Forest might have had you make a go of the show for practice tonight. All the second-string players are performing. I guess he didn't think you were ready."

"This must be Riley." Liz looks at her sharply.

"You think?" Sky seconds. "What gave it away? The bony butt or the frigid attitude?"

"Excuse me?" Riley asks. "These two are cheeky. Are they your friends?"

"Yes," I tell her, raising my chin proudly.

"Were you referring to both of us?" Liz asks, pointing to Sky. I shoot her a look.

Riley nods. "It's so nice to have friends in town. Mine are across the pond. I can't be distracted. Theater is a lot of work and I like to concentrate fully on my character development."

"I'm sure Kaitlin does too, Riley," Dylan says gently and winks at me.

"Absolutely," Riley agrees. "She's devoted so much of her time to studies," she tells Liz and Sky. "And she'll get it, I'm sure, eventually. Right, Kaitlin, dear? Like the lingo." Riley starts to chuckle. "Sorry, Kaitlin, I don't mean to laugh. It was just so charming that time you thought the ABTT was an ABBA Theater fan club!"

I color slightly. How was I supposed to know that the ABTT was the Association of British Theatre Technicians? This is all new to me, and quite frankly, I don't see what any of it has to do with whether or not I can actually act. And yet, I've never been so unsure of my acting.

"EWW. " Sky crosses her arms over her bustier top, crushing the silk and making me cringe, and stares rudely at Riley.

"Excuse me?" Riley asks, trying to smile, but not succeeding. "Was I talking to you?"

"Thank God, no, but I'm talking to you," Sky says. "Just for a sec, of course. I don't really like you. And I don't like you picking on K for not knowing some stupid tech term. Like, who cares? Let me ask you something: Do you know what a honeywagon is? Or what dress to camera means?"

Riley looks flustered. "No..."

"Those are movie set terms," Sky says smoothly and starts whipping her hair around again like a sword. It hits Riley in the mouth, and she practically chokes. "Something you'd know nothing about since you've never actually been on a movie set, have you?" Riley shakes her head slowly. "I figured as much. Must be tough living on theater wages too, from the look of that Marc Jacobs knockoff top."

HOLLYWOOD SECRET NUMBER FIVE: Riley may have her theater terms, but we movie actors have our terms too. A honeywagon is a discreet term for the crew's portable toilet truck. And dressing to camera means placing an object or a person in the best spot to be seen on camera. There are tons of other terms that would take all year for me to tell you, but some of my favorite are: Doris Day Parking (the best parking spot on the lot), Perrier meeting (a meeting that only lasts till a person's Perrier is gone), twin Ts (or twin peaks--a shot that is framed from the chest up), and shower curtain (a large, clear sheet used to soften lights). Take that, Riley!

"I'm tired, Dylan," Riley says stiffly as she stares down Sky. Sky doesn't even blink. "Doing eight shows a week and giving it your all takes a lot out of people who are serious about their commitments."

Liz is staring at me, her eyes drilling into mine. She's telepathically telling me to come back at this girl, but I can't. I'm not sure I'll ever feel less awkward around Riley, even after my (hopefully) positive theater reviews come in.

"Dylan can't yet," Sky tells her, and pulls Dylan toward her by the collar of his white shirt. "First he has some kissing to do."

Before Dylan can protest, and without her wax lips as a buffer, Sky plants one on my stunned costar. The kiss seems to go on forever and Riley stands by, looking flustered. I watch the kiss in awe. Finally Sky releases him. "K, your turn."

I look at Dylan's green eyes and feel a flutter in my stomach.

"I think you gave Dylan a long enough kiss for both of us," I say nervously.

"I agree. " Riley seconds. "Dylan, let's go."

I lock eyes with Sky. She can sense the same thing that I'm feeling now. Riley has a crush on Dylan. And letting Sky know that is Riley's worst nightmare. Sky holds on to a stunned Dylan and plays with his collar while he blushes. "Not until he kisses K! Don't you want to, Dylan? It's for charity."

"Don't bully him, Sky," I tell her.

Liz stares at Riley crossly. "Kates, you can't skip Dylan. He's a paying customer."

While everyone argues over us, Dylan and I make eye contact. He actually doesn't look uncomfortable--he's smiling at me a little, and I can feel my ears flush red. I look away.

Is Liz crazy? Kissing babies is one thing, but kissing Dylan is another. Austin would freak. Then again, kissing Chace Crawford wasn't much better. I'm already doomed. I look up again. Dylan looks amazing tonight. My breath catches in my throat.

Riley stares at my friends in horror. "Dylan, we're holding up the queue. Let's go."

"I, um," Dylan looks at me still with that lopsided, good-natured smirk. "I guess it's good practice for the show, right? And it's for charity."

"Right," I say, sounding professional. Riley glares.

Sky pushes me forward. "Kiss him," she demands.

The
People
photographer has caught on to the chaos and moves in for a close shot. Great. Just great.

"Hurry up, K, we have a line waiting!" Sky insists, her voice growing louder and more impatient. "It's just a kiss! Do you think Trevor cares who I kiss?" Her face goes blank. "I
mean
, do you think Trevor cares that I kiss someone for charity? No."

Sky is right. This is for charity. One kiss can't hurt, right? I grab my wax lips and stand on my tiptoes. All I can see are Dylan's eyes. I close my own and feel my wax lips ripped out of my hands.

"What are you, two? You have to kiss him onstage anyway!" Sky insists. She grabs me by the arm and steers me around the table, which was the only barrier between me and Dylan. She shoves me toward Dylan, and he catches me. His arms linger around my bare shoulders, and I can barely breathe. "No wax lips."

"But--" I protest. My skin is starting to feel prickly.

"I'm not sure about that," Liz says worriedly. "The photographer--"

"It's okay, Kaitlin," Dylan looks down at me. Wow, he is tall. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's not that," I start to explain.

I am momentarily blinded by the first flash and then another and then another. Sky is yelling in my ear, Liz is pulling on my arm, and Riley swears under her breath (a British term I shouldn't repeat), but I'm mesmerized by Dylan's eyes. They're really nice and his dimpled grin is so cute. I don't think, I just act. I grab Dylan's vest lapel, pull him in close, and lay one on him. And...

Wow. Really wow.

His lips are softer than I imagined and feel different. Different from Austin's is all I can think, but my heart's racing anyway. Dylan leans into the kiss and doesn't pull away.

This is nice. Really nice. My shoulders relax and... OH MY GOD! WHAT AM I DOING?

I let Dylan go, but the camera flashes continue to pop. My face is beet red. I hope you can't tell in the photos. Actually, I take that back. I hope you can, for once, so Austin will know I didn't like it.

Even if I did.

Sky looks satisfied. "There! Was that so hard?"

Dylan smiles at me and I try to smile back, but inside I feel all weird and squishy, like I do if I eat ice cream too fast or eat too many Oreos.

I feel... guilty.

"Next!" Sky says. "Bye-bye, RI-LEE! Bye, Dyl!"

"See you Monday?" Dylan asks, his face totally calm and relaxed, as if he kisses other people's significant others every day of the week. Oh yeah. I guess we both do. We're actors. "At rehearsal? Then maybe Monkey Bar?"

"Rehearsal, yes," I tell him, and stop myself there. "See you then."

"K, snap out of it," Sky says, as I watch him walk off. "We have paying customers waiting."

"Right, right," I agree. I wipe my lips with a baby wipe and quickly apply more ChapStick. And then apply ChapStick again. I rub it on my lips harder and harder.

"Are you okay, Kates?" Liz asks worriedly.

"I ine," I mumble as I continue to rub my lips with ointment. And that's when I realize what I'm trying to do--erase Dylan's kiss from my lips, as if that were possible. And even if it were, there would still be proof--in the
People
photos. I've got to call Austin and explain. He already thinks Dylan has a crush on me. He's going to
freak out
. I'm kissing Dylan and I'm not at work! What if the photos, like, show how into the kiss I was? For just a second, of course, but what if?

What if Austin can tell I enjoyed that kiss?

"K! Come on!" Sky insists and throws my wax lips at me. "Get back to work and start kissing!"

"Sorry!" I smile at the next payee apologetically. I pick up my wax lips and prepare to plant a kiss on the nervous-looking guy, but all I can think about is Austin.

Saturday, June 13th

NOTE TO SELF:

Call Austin ASAP.

MEETING OF THE MINDS

SCENE 6

In line in the cafeteria.

JENNY:

Amy! Amy! HELL-O? Amy!

ANDIE:

(turns around)
Are you talking to me?

JENNY:

(impatiently)
Yes!

ANDIE:

I'm
Andie
.

JENNY:

Whatever. Listen,
Andie
, whatever it was you were trying to say to my boyfriend back there, you can save your breath. Leo isn't interested.

ANDIE:

I didn't think he was, Jenny. This is more about me than it is him. I don't want to start the rest of my life having regrets. Sort of a
carpe diem
on my last day as a minor, you know?

JENNY:

Carpe
what? Leo didn't even know you breathed the same air until today. Even if he did, you don't belong with our crowd and you know it.

Don't embarrass yourself.

ANDIE:

(lowering her voice)
You're the one who should be embarrassed. I saw you. Last weekend. With Thomas Lopez at the Bait Shack, and I don't think he's part of your crowd either. Unless you started accepting members from the Spanish Honor Society all of a sudden.

JENNY:

You... you... I would never hang out with Thomas Lopez. And if I were you, I wouldn't dare say another word about something you know nothing about. Got it?
(gets bumped in the back)
OW!

JORDAN:

Oops. Didn't realize I was standing so close to you. Hey! That shade of Jell-O looks really good against your orange tan.

JENNY:

(shrieking)
It's Golden Summer! And you just got Jell-O all over my new shirt! I was going to wear this to Leo's graduation party.

JORDAN:

Guess you'll be wearing something else then, won't you?

(
Jenny stalks off and Jordan and Andie burst out laughing.
)

ANDIE:

What was that about? I've never heard you open your mouth to their crowd before.

JORDAN:

Maybe you've inspired me. We do only have twenty-four hours left here, you know. How bad could Jenny make things for me?

LEO:

Andie?

ANDIE:

Leo! Hey.

LEO:

Do you have a minute?

JORDAN:

She actually has eleven till next period.
(Andie nudges her.)
I think I'll take my Jell-O to go.

ANDIE:

(smiling)
I have eleven minutes.

LEO:

So I heard. Then maybe we should start talking. But first, this conversation is going to need ice cream. I'm getting the fudge pop. What can I get you? My treat.

ANDIE:

Okay. The strawberry fruit bar, please.

LEO:

You got it.
(hands bar to Andie)
So... you wanted to tell me something?

ANDIE:

Yes, and here it goes...

SIX: It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings

"Amy! Amy! HELLO? AMY!" Riley takes her cue and bounds out onstage in a violet tank top and khaki cargo shorts. Her tone is impatient with me, just like the one she uses in real life.