The Secret Life of a Dream Girl (Creative HeArts) (8 page)

“Yeah, I could do that,” I tell him after thinking it over. “And I can work on the lyrics on the plane, see if getting out of Austin maybe jogs something loose.”

“Cool. We can do the whole L.A. thing.” Finn’s voice gets louder as his enthusiasm grows. “I’ll get us a suite at the Redbury. We can do Venice Beach in the morning, and I’ll take you to La Poubelle for lunch. We can stop by the Ivy for chocolate chip cookies. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah. And maybe we can do a hike at Runyon Canyon Sunday.”

He groans. “Maybe we can have brunch at the Polo Club instead.”

“Maybe we can do both.” I start to get excited. It’s not that I miss being a celebrity, exactly, because it’s kind of nice not being swamped when news gets out that I’m shopping or eating somewhere, and it’s
really
nice not to have to worry about how I look if I’m going to the gym. But still, there’s something to be said for all those things he mentioned. Plus, being seen out and about in L.A. will finally help put to rest all the crazy tabloid rumors about me being kidnapped in South America or abducted by aliens or a member of some love cult in Colorado. And yes, just to clarify, those are all real stories about my disappearance that have run in the last two months.

“It’ll be fun. Let’s do it.”

Finn grins as he pulls me in for a hug. “Cool. I’ll get the tickets tonight.”

The bell rings as he’s letting me go, and we gather our stuff up quickly. As we do, Finn talks to me about the lyrics a little more, gets me thinking about what part of her story Lizzie Borden would want the world to know.

As we leave, I look around for Keegan but realize he’s already gone. It seems strange that he wouldn’t even wave good-bye, but then again, maybe he struck up a conversation with Dream Girl. Or maybe he and Himesh were so into their website/social media discussion that he didn’t think about it. Either way, it’s no use getting upset about it. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll institute part two of the plan, and then we can get him moving on part three.

Suddenly, I’m in a big hurry to get this plan going. The sooner he gets Dream Girl, the sooner I can stop thinking about him as anything more than a friend. Because while part of me talking to Keegan the other night was because Finn was right when he said that I need to experience real life with real people, the absolute last part of real life I want to experience is getting my heart broken because I fell for a boy I can’t have.

A boy I don’t deserve.

Chapter Ten

Shit. Shit, shit,
shit
. Finn was taking Dahlia to L.A. next weekend? Getting a suite at the Redbury? Taking her for cookies at the freaking Ivy?

What the hell was going on here? And how the hell was Keegan supposed to compete with a romantic weekend among Hollywood’s elite when he couldn’t even get up the nerve to ask Dahlia on a date?

How exactly was Finn’s whole whisking her away thing going to work anyway? He could see how Finn’s mom wouldn’t care if he jet-setted out to L.A. for a couple of days, but was Dahlia’s dad seriously not going to be concerned with his underage daughter hitting the West Coast with Mia McCain’s bad-boy son? In what world was that even a possibility?

The whole thing made no sense at all. Especially considering she didn’t even bat an eye when Finn had asked her to go with him to Matt Bingham’s birthday party. Matt freaking Bingham, who was one of the most popular stars in Hollywood today. Every girl who had overheard the conversation—which was half the girls in class as they didn’t bother to keep their voices down—had been drooling at the mere mention of the guy’s name. And Dahlia was all,
oh sure, that sounds fun
.
Let’s go
. Like it was nothing. Like she and Finn had been dating for years, and she was used to him introducing her to famous people.

And the weirdest thing was, who even knew they were dating? Sure, they’d hung out at the dance, but they’d gone and left separately. Plus, when he’d asked around yesterday, nobody seemed to think there was anything between them. And now Finn was all,
let me sweep you off to L.A. where I can awe you with my amazing connections
?

It made no freaking sense.

Well, no sense beyond the whole two really attractive people going on a trip together
and
staying in the same hotel room together.

It made him want to hit someone, and he
never
wanted to hit someone.

He slammed into the Black Box for his extra period drama class with a scowl on his face. He hoped Mrs. Steele let them work on their scenes today. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the final class of the day taking notes when all he could think about was Dahlia and Finn on a plane together. In a
hotel suite
together.

WTF? Seriously. What. The. Eff.

Thankfully, Mrs. Steele was feeling merciful today—or lazy, depending on how you looked at it. Either way, she didn’t even bother standing up from her spot in the front row of the theater when she waved a hand and told them to go outside and work on blocking for the one-acts they would be performing next month.

He grabbed his backpack and thought about just taking off, but he didn’t want to deal with the crap that would come down if his mom found out. Plus, he didn’t want to give her anything else to worry about. She was already stressed enough over the doctor’s appointment his dad had Thursday afternoon. They all were, since it was when they were going to talk about the results of a bunch of tests they’d run last Friday—and what his next couple of months of treatment were going to look like.

Jacen caught up to him as soon as he hit the outdoor quad that was situated between all the buildings. The drama classes regularly used it for rehearsal, and the art classes came out pretty often to draw. Who knows how many pictures there were hanging around the school of the weird, Pokémon-like sculpture that sat in the middle of the lawn. Too many to count, that was for sure.

He and Jacen were doing Edward Albee’s
The Zoo Story
, and had totally switched up the casting so that Jacen was businessman Peter, just minding his own business and trying to eat his lunch on his park bench, while he was the desperate and suicidal Jerry who would make Peter fight for that bench before the play was through.

It was a great play, and Keegan loved playing Jerry—especially since he was doing it opposite his best friend. But he just wasn’t in the mood for it today.

Which was okay, it turned out, because Jacen obviously wasn’t, either. They started working on the blocking for the knife fight scene that would leave Jerry’s character dead, but they’d barely gotten into position before Jacen asked, “What exactly was going on in seminar today?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His assertion might have been more believable if he hadn’t stumbled over his own feet as he said it.

Jacen just gave him a look before he continued. “I call bull. Don’t tell me you didn’t hear Finn listing off all the places he plans to take your girl—”

“She’s not my girl.”

“Obviously, or she wouldn’t be planning to run off to Hollywood with Prince Finn.” He says the last with an obvious sneer.

The nickname cut through his bad mood just enough that he had to laugh. “When exactly did you come up with that name? It seemed like the two of you were getting along great at the after-party.”

“That was before I realized he was going to steal my best friend’s girl.” He lunged in like they were really in a fight and Keegan jumped back at the last second, barely avoiding getting nicked with the capped pen Jacen wielded like a knife.

“Again,
not
my girl.”

“Yet. Not your girl
yet
,” he reiterated. “And she never will be if you let her go to L.A. with Mr. Movie Star. So what are you going to do about it?”

“What can I do about it? She agreed to go with him, didn’t she?”

“Of course she did! He offered her an all-expenses-paid trip to a fancy Hollywood party with a bunch of movie stars. Hell, I would have jumped at it, too. Wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, well, he’s not exactly my type.”

“Finn McCain is everybody’s type.”

Keegan glared at him. “
So
not helping here.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Jacen held up his hands in mock surrender. “I got carried away thinking about those eyes and that body and—”

“Still not my type,” Keegan grumbled. “And still not helping.” Then, for the hell of it, he lunged forward and stabbed Jacen hard in the stomach with his pen.

“Ow!” Jacen stepped back, rubbing his stomach as he did. “I’m supposed to kill you, remember?”

“Sorry,” Keegan answered, tongue firmly in cheek. “I got carried away.”

“Ha-ha. This is the last time I’m going to try to help you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still waiting for the help, so I’m not sure it’s that big a loss. From where I’m standing, all you’re doing is making me freak out more.”

“Don’t freak out,” Jacen told him as they started to circle again. “We can still fix this.”

“And how exactly are
we
going to fix it?”

“Easy. You need to make sure she doesn’t get on that plane with Prince Finn. Otherwise you’re not the only one who’s going to get screwed. ”

Like he didn’t already know that? And like the thought of Dahlia with Finn didn’t turn him crazy? “You make it sound so easy. Just stop her from getting on a plane.”

“It is easy.”

“Oh, yeah? What am I supposed to do?”

Jacen looked at him like he was an idiot. “Seduce her, obviously.”

“Seriously? That’s your big plan? For me to seduce her?” Which was like wooing, right? Just with more sex.

“Why do you look so shocked? It’s simple, elegant, and it’s not like she’ll be the first girl you’ve gotten into bed.”

“No, but—”

“But what?”

But she would be the first who made him feel this way. Not that there had been that many—only three since he lost his virginity freshman year. And he’d been in relationships with all three of them. But he’d never lain awake at night staring at his ceiling and going over every word they’d said to him. He’d never freaked out at the thought of blowing his shot with any of them. And he sure as hell had never lost his confidence with any of them so badly that he was getting advice from not one, but two people on how to win her over.

The fact that one of the people he was getting advice from was also the girl he wanted to win was an irony he had no interest in discussing.

“Nothing,” he told Jacen after a minute. “I’m just being an idiot.”

“Yeah, you are.”

They didn’t say anything else about Dahlia as they finished working through the blocking. But right before the bell rang, Keegan asked, “So you think I should just suck it up and ask her out?”

Jacen gave him a no-shit stare. “Yeah. Obviously.”

“Okay. I’m going to do it.”

“You’re going to do it?”

“You don’t have to sound so skeptical, you know.”

“Sorry, but you’ve been kind of a wimp about this whole thing. I think I can be forgiven for doubting you.” But he clapped Keegan on the back anyway. “So when are you going to ask her out?”

“Right now.”

“Right now? Like right now?”

“Yeah. I figure I’ll catch her near her car in the parking lot, and I’ll do it then.”

“Do you even know what she drives?”

“Of course I do. She drives a sapphire-blue BMW.” He only knew because she parked next to him once, but still. It counted.

“Wow.” Jacen whistled. “Nice car. And, by the way, stalk much?”

Keegan flipped him off. “Like you have room to talk? I’m pretty sure you knew Himesh’s underwear size before you ever got up the nerve to make a play for him.”

“Maybe, but look how well that worked out.” Jacen preened. “Fortune favors the bold, man. So be bold.”

“I’m going to try.”

“Don’t try, do.” The bell rang just as he finished speaking. “And do fast, otherwise you’re going to lose your shot.”

He gave Keegan a shove toward the parking lot at the front of the school.

Because he was already outside, he made it to Dahlia’s car before she did. Of course, it helped that he’d spotted it when they’d been walking to his car at lunch. Not that he’d been actively looking for it or anything. He wasn’t a stalker, no matter what Jacen thought.

Thankfully, he had to wait only a couple of minutes before Dahlia showed up—otherwise he might have lost his nerve. Plus, she smiled as soon as she saw him, which was also a good sign. Or so he told himself.

“So, how’d the rest of your day go?” she asked as she pulled her keys out of her backpack. “Did you decide what present you’re going to get Dream Girl?”

“I did.” He forced a grin despite the way his stomach was churning. Seriously, who knew asking a girl out could be this freaking nerve-racking? “But actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

He really, really wished he could see her eyes so he had a clue what she was thinking. But she had her sunglasses on and he was flying blind here. So he decided to just go for it. If worse came to worse, he could move to Siberia. Or be homeschooled. Either one could be a viable option. “So, I heard you talking to Finn in class today. About how you’re struggling with the lyrics for the Lizzie Borden songs.”

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “Yes. It’s like actual torture. Why? Are you here to offer your services, because the answer is yes, yes, yes!”

“Umm, I would be more than happy to help, but I don’t actually have a musical bone in my body. I’m pretty sure I would only make whatever issues you’re having worse.”

“I don’t believe that. If nothing else, you’ve got great taste in music, so you know what works and what doesn’t.”

“Yeah, well.” He lifted his hand to the back of his neck, scrubbed it back and forth. “I’m not going to lie. I do appreciate a good rendition of ‘The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.’”

She laughed, a tinkling little sound that reminded him of bells. And yeah, he realized exactly how ridiculous that sounded. But just because it was ridiculous didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

“So, I was thinking, do you like slam poetry?”

“Yeah. I mean, to be honest, I haven’t heard much of it. But what I have heard I’ve liked a lot.”

“Cool.” Her head was tilted and she had a puzzled look on her face, like she was trying to put all the pieces together. Finally he decided, screw it, he was just going to say it. “You know, every Tuesday night Austin’s local slam poets get together at the Spider House Ballroom and do their thing. And I thought you might like to go and listen to them. Hear what they have to say. Most of their stuff is pretty powerful. A lot of it deals with personal issues and social injustice, but it’s really lyrical, you know? It’s got great rhythm and I thought, maybe it would inspire you or something.”

“That’s actually a really good idea. I’ve never seen any slam poetry live, and I’d love to hear what they have to say—and how they say it. I think so much of writing lyrics is just taking what you know about emotion and life and just saying it in a new way, you know?”

“I do, yeah. Like have you ever heard Suzanne Vega? I mean, she’s really old school, but the way she puts things together. It’s like—”

“Magic.” Her whole face lit up. “You know that song ‘Gypsy’? Oh my God, I love it so much. I mean, it’s just a love ’em and leave ’em kind of song, but the images she creates… They’re insane.”

“Exactly. Hozier does the same thing. And Ed Sheeran.”

“Van Morrison. Lou Reed.”

“Janis Joplin.”

“Bruce Springsteen.”

“Lucinda Williams.” He couldn’t stop smiling. Trading names with her, talking music with her…it was one of the best feelings in the world.

“James Bay.” She must have felt the same way because she was grinning back.

“Sharon Van Etten.”

She laughed. “It seems like you know your music, after all.
And
you like the girls.”

“I like good music.” He shrugged, then grinned as he admitted, “Yeah. I like the girls.”

“I think that’s totally cool. I mean, being a girl singer/songwriter myself.”

“I’d love to hear your stuff sometime. I bet it’s really good.”

Her smile dimmed. “It’s…something, I guess. I’m still looking for my sound.”

“It takes time. You’ll find it.”

“Yeah. I will.” She sounded confident, and he liked that. Then again, he hadn’t found anything about her that he didn’t like yet. Except for her strange friendship/relationship/whatever it was with Finn McCain.

“So. Do you want to go with me tonight? To the poetry slam?”

“Yeah, I really would.”