Every Pearl Has Its Oyster (12 page)

Another juicy tidbit? An assistant on set tells us that Tyler and Madison have been spending a good deal of one-on-one time in each other’s trailers! Hm… what could be going on there? Just talking? We think not!

Ugh, this was a mistake.

As she sat between Andro and James at Smythe, Gemma stewed. She was still jolted from what she had witnessed on set earlier that afternoon, so it was probably a mistake to follow Tyler and the cast of Carbine to a nightclub after shooting wrapped early for the day. Posing for pictures with Madison and Liam at the demand of the film’s PR team, Tyler couldn’t even sit with Gemma let alone have the talk that she’d been hoping for all day. To keep sane, she texted furiously with Zoe, abandoning whatever care she had for looking grouchy and anti-social.

Seriously, no need to freak out, Bee. Speaking as an amazing, world class actor, I can assure you that what you saw was definitely just really good acting and nothing more, Zoe’s text read.

Gemma hoped so, because the sex scene she had witnessed on set just hours ago had been so convincing that even the crewmembers buzzed and whispered to each other, some of them stealing glances at her and grimacing awkwardly when she caught them. She knew what they were thinking: She made her high school bully famous, and now the girl is stealing her boyfriend. Poor, stupid Queen Bee.

Well, that’s what she figured they were thinking, at least, because how could they not? Tyler and Madison had just shot their fight-turned-sex scene in one take – a scene that production had allotted ten takes and almost two hours to complete. They had finished it in fifteen minutes. Gemma had watched in awe as Madison went wild, her lustrous hair falling out of it’s messy bun as she flung all the props in her character’s bedroom at Tyler, whipping everything in sight at him while he dodged the flying books and shoes and beer cans with ease. Then, of course, their fiery arguing turned into fiery making up that felt too reminiscent of Gemma’s actual life with Tyler. It looked so real – the angry way that Madison had surrendered into Tyler’s kiss, the way he’d pushed up her shirt with such agitated impatience. Gemma had tried chalking it up to fantastic choreography, but then Sidney did something strange – he stopped himself as he stood up to cut the scene, opting to sit back down and let Tyler and Madison continue with their too-convincing sex scene, which Gemma figured had run out of its choreography at that point and moved onto improvisation. Never had good improv offended Gemma so much in her life.

She stared out into space, angry again. The blaring house music at Smythe didn’t help to ease her temper either. Nor did the person approaching her to hold something in her face. Gemma blinked, her vision focusing and identifying the thing as a champagne flute and the someone as Liam Brody. Ugh, this guy.

“Take it so I can go away. Your guys are mad dogging me,” he said, referring to Andro and James.

Gemma stared up at him before taking the flute from his hands and setting it down on the table. He stayed planted before her. “You’re not going away,” she said.

“You’re not drinking it,” Liam countered. Her look of exasperation made him laugh. “If you’re going to sit here and wait like a puppy dog for your boyfriend, you might as well do it without the edge that’s making you do that.” He nodded at her bare knee, which bounced as she anxiously jiggled her foot. She stopped jiggling but Liam let his eyes linger on her legs for a bit longer anyway. “I’m taking it you’re not happy about the sex scene today,” he said.

“No.” Gemma glared. “I’m thrilled about it,” she said dryly.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t think I’d say this about Tyler Chase, but it’s just good acting.”

Yeah, if dry-humping could win Oscars they’d have two, Gemma thought bitterly, picking up the flute of champagne and bringing it to her lips. “Yeah, I know. It’s all choreographed, or so I’m told,” she grumbled into her drink.

“I’ll show you how it’s done if you don’t believe me.”

Gemma paused mid-sip. She looked up to see Liam dropping his lewd gaze back down to her thighs. She wasn’t even sure if she’d heard him right until Andro stood up and got in his face. Revolted, Gemma got up too, running past Andro and Liam and making for the first exit door she saw. It was just time to go home. All she wanted was to be in bed, asleep and deep in her dreams. Unfortunately, somehow, she ended up on the closed roof of the building, James right behind her and a confused Tyler not far behind.

“Gemma? What happened?”

She spun around right away, fists balled. “I should ask you that! What was going on between you and Madison today? What did I walk in on?” she demanded.

Tyler almost laughed. “Are you serious? I don’t even talk to that girl unless it’s professional,” he scoffed. “You walked in on two co-stars running lines. What did you think it was?”

“I don’t know. But I had your assistants trying to keep me from finding you guys and I heard you laughing before you opened the door. You seemed to be having a whole lot of fun for running lines.”

Tyler threw his hands in the air. “What, you’d rather me not do my job well?” When Gemma didn’t answer, he stood still in the middle of the roof. “What is this really about?”

“How about you ignoring me for a week? Even though I apologized for what I said in the interview, the stupid thing about ‘forever’ – I said I was sorry. But you still wouldn’t talk to me and you left for work early to avoid me and then suddenly, things are incredible between you and Madison and everyone’s wondering about your amazing chemistry! Do you get how that looks weird to me?” she demanded, her chest heaving. A pathetic hiccup surfaced from the bottom of her throat. Tyler shook his head at the floor before turning his to look at her, his eyes surprisingly scornful.

“Christ, Gemma, you really don’t get it. At all. How you feel? Right now?” he laughed tartly, running his hand over his mouth. “Imagine that a hundred times worse and you’ve got how I feel. What I did to you for a week is what you’ve been doing to me for a year.” He paused to take in her bewildered reaction but continued before she could interrupt. “Just because you’re next to me, Gemma, and talking to me doesn’t mean that you’re not ignoring me. You never once opened up about your past, about high school, about Madison – all the things that still haunt you. It’s too much work for you to go over all of that again, just for me. It’s not worth it. So when you’re lost or upset and I want nothing more than to make you happy again, you’d rather run to Damian and let him take care of you. I saw you two talking at the sponsor party.” Tyler sneered. “And the world wonders why I’m not a good enough boyfriend. You won’t fucking let me be.”

Gemma’s jaw clenched. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she felt her closed fist pound on Tyler’s chest. “That’s not fair, Tyler, it’s not even true! Damian has nothing to do with this!”

“He has everything to do with this!” Tyler’s voice was a surprising growl as he closed in on Gemma, his face just inches from hers. She stiffened, startled. Suddenly, James was behind Tyler with a hand gripping his shoulder. Tyler flung his arm away with irritation, jerking free before pacing away from both of them. “You didn’t even know what I was upset about, Gemma. It wasn’t the ‘forever’ thing, it was your answer about Damian. How he was your best friend. He’s been through everything with you. He gets you. Beauford. Los Angeles. He gets everything.” He shook his head, running his hands through his disheveled hair. “You know what’s sick? I actually thought you and I might have some sort of bond after what happened with Elizabeth. Something only we understood. But turns out everything goes back to Gemma, and the only person who knows everything about Gemma is Damian. So this chemistry between me and Madison you’re upset about? This act we put on for the camera?” He laughed. “Imagine how you’d feel if it was real, and it was the reason why you always got ignored. Imagine that, ‘cause maybe then you’d start to know how I feel when it comes to you and Damian.”

The roof was silent for the next five, perhaps ten minutes – Gemma lost track. She stood in the middle of the roof, watching Tyler lean against the balcony and stare down at the street, his shoulders heaving less and less as his breathing seemed to calm. But Gemma knew that calm didn’t mean settled.

“Tyler,” her hoarse voice finally rasped. She wiped tears from her cheeks before glaring at James, who reluctantly excused himself out the exit. He’d be planted on the other side of the door, but that was good enough for Gemma. She inched closer to Tyler and the edge of the roof, going on her tippy-toes and daring to drape her arms over his wide shoulders. His back was stiff, but she felt his hands take hers. “I’ll tell you everything from now on,” she said quietly. “Just promise you’ll be you again. The real you – not this angry guy. Stop trying to prove things to the world, because I don’t need it. I know you love me.”

It took a few minutes but finally, Tyler nodded, and quietly, they left the roof. As they climbed down the stairwell with James behind them, Gemma released a sigh, wondering if it could possibly be over – if Tyler would be Tyler again. If he’d go back to sweet and charming instead of silent and brooding.

Her answer came fast.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Andro met them at the bottom of the steps. He looked at Gemma. “I talked to the guy, he’s not gonna bother you anymore.”

“What guy?” Tyler asked. Gemma flashed Andro a look, but he didn’t catch it before answering.

“Your friend, Liam.”

And without even asking what happened, Tyler exploded across the room, a blur as he headed straight for the rest of the cast. He didn’t stop, prompting a ripple of gasps as he pummeled directly into Liam, driving an elbow into his chest and shoving him onto the tabletop of bottles and glasses.

DID TYLER CHASE GROW A SET OF BALLS?

Pop Dinner

September 1st

Fighting with Liam Brody? Having an alleged affair with smoking hot Madison Lennox? The same Madison Lennox who ruthlessly bullied his girlfriend back in high school? Tyler Chase is veering into serious asshole territory… and we’re loving it!

If these rumors are true, we might be inclined to stop making fun of the pop idol here. I mean, fighting with a pompous jerk like Liam Brody earns you points already, but a possible fling with the incredibly sexy Madison Lennox? Tyler, that might just earn you our elusive stamp of approval.

“Look!” Kate shouted, running to Gemma with her phone in her hand. Gemma lifted her sunglasses to look at what Kate was so excited about. A picture of Tyler had been posted on Twitter. “He looks so incredible!” Kate swooned. Gemma looked at the recently uploaded photo, taken just moments before on set. Tyler looked ruggedly sexy as he sat on a motorcycle.

“Whose account is that?” Gemma asked, blushing as she smiled at his image. Leah and Kate giggled at her reaction. Underneath the towel over his face, Gavin let out a snort of disgust. The three had gathered in Gemma’s backyard as a bit of a last hurrah before they headed back to their respective schools. Classes were to begin in a week.

“One of the producers,” Kate said, twirling her hair, giddily. “She posts so many updates a day, it almost feels like you’re on set too.” Kate turned her attention to Gemma. “Which you have the option of doing, but you’re not!”

“Way to make me feel wanted!” Gemma laughed. “If I were on set right now, I wouldn’t be hanging out with you guys.” She was happy to have been able to squeeze some time out to see them before they left, though it meant canceling two meetings with Perrin and Oro that day. But Kate also had a point. Gemma had the option of being with Tyler on set, something she was sure he’d like, especially in their fragile state.

It was as if a switch went off in Tyler since the Frances Browning interview and thought she knew now what it was that had upset him, Gemma still wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Between the silent treatment and his sudden outburst at Liam, all she knew was that she was desperate for things to return to normal. Outwardly, no one would know that the couple had been traveling through rough waters. They were once again affectionate and loving with Tyler looking happy and radiant at every sight of her. It made Gemma feel that much more guilty for her misstep with Frances Browning and worse, she knew she had done virtually nothing to rectify it.

I just don’t know how, she thought as she bit her lip. Gemma wanted to ask her friends for advice while she had them, but it meant having to admit that there was still a problem. Word traveled fast about Tyler’s tussle with Liam and it seemed like everyone had seen the Frances Browning segment, so it wasn’t exactly a secret that there was trouble. But with the way that she and Tyler had been carrying on, her friends brushed it off as another media overreaction. She wondered why Tyler was having so much trouble doing the same.

“How’s my tan looking?” Gavin asked, taking the towel off his face as he sat up. “Tan enough to fit in with the Los Angeles crowd yet?” Gemma looked over. He had indeed picked up some color.

“Hanging out with Zoe tonight?” she teased.

“Yep,” he replied. “It’s going to be awhile before I see her again, so you know…”

“See her again?” Gemma raised her eyebrows. “There are already plans for that?” Gavin grinned.

“We’re going to give it a try. See how it goes,” he shrugged. Gavin walked over, giving Gemma a quick kiss on the forehead. “See you later, baby sister. Let me know when you’re on the east coast.”

“The superior coast,” Leah said as she sprawled poolside. Gemma laughed.

“You say that now,” Gemma replied. “But keep in mind that what you’re doing now is what I enjoy year-round.” As soon as she said it, she realized how untrue the statement was. Los Angeles hadn’t disappointed with its reputation for perpetual sunshine, but Gemma never really got to take full advantage of it. Between work and the constant drama that had seemed to plague her since her move, there was rarely any time. In fact, she wasn’t sure she had ever even stepped foot into Tyler’s pool.

“You’re seeing Damian at that perfume photo shoot thing right? Say bye to him for me, okay?” Gavin asked.