Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (45 page)

“You don’t have boobs,” I told her, as I smoothed down my own version of the same dress in a bright pink.

“Neither do you,” she snapped back at me.

“Yeah, and I look pretty fabulous,” I said admiring my reflection.

It was the day of my mother’s wedding to Luiz, and Skylar and I were upstairs in her bedroom at her dad’s house primping. Our mother had her hairstylist and make-up artist come in
earlier to make us beautiful, and we were now both donning the Vera Wang dresses my mom had settled on. She had rejected all of the dresses she’d had me try on the day I was mobbed by the paparazzi on Rodeo Drive and had gone traditional, which honestly irritated me just a little.

I peeked out the window to the guests milling around on the expansive lawn of Luiz’s estate between the two white tents that had been set up on opposite ends for
the food and the band. I didn’t think anyone had figured out that they were attending a wedding, which thrilled my mother to no end. She loved surprises and loved to be the center of attention, and that night, she’d get both.

“Is Jase coming?” Skylar asked.

She loved Jase. They’d always gotten along well, and she was devastated to hear that we’d broken up.

I shook my head
, still scanning the lawn. From three stories up, I could see Ethan and Nora holding hands, talking to Garrett and Ellie. Ethan had been happier than I’d ever seen him in the past month, and it was all because of Nora. She and I were slowly becoming friends again, but I knew it would be a long road back. I’d betrayed her trust, and even though she and Ethan hadn’t been together at the time, I shouldn’t have hooked up with him when I knew how she felt.

“No, he’
s not,” I finally told my sister. “I didn’t invite him.”

“Daddy invited him.”

I spun around and faced her. “He did what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Jase is starring in his next movie, duh, of course he invited him.”

I was surprised to hear that. Luiz usually didn’t let Hollywood politics come between family and friends, and I figured he’d stick to that rule in this case, especially since he knew what Jase had done to me.

I immediately turned back toward the window and frantically looked for him down below. I didn’t see him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there.
I could only hope he’d done the right thing and declined the invitation.

I was pretty sure he’d finally gotten the m
essage that we were over since I hadn’t heard from him after the photo shoot. I touched my finger to my lips, remembering how his mouth had felt on mine. I remembered it all too well. And just as he’d wished, Jase was still the last person I’d kissed.

I’d gone on two dates, one with a guy from my ethics class, and one with a guy Ethan and I had met while we were surfing, but I hadn’t felt a connection with either guy, so I hadn’t kissed them or accepted a second date. I was attending my mother’s wedding solo.

A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see my mother’s wedding planner enter the room.

“You girls ready?”

“I suppose,” Skylar said dramatically, as she pouted in front of the mirror.

I smiled at her even though she reminded me of our mother when she did that. “Come on, Sky. You look great.”

She shrugged. “I know. I just wish I had bigger boobs. I’m going to ask Mom if she’ll buy me some when I turn sixteen.”

“Skylar!” I turned to the wedding planner. “Give us two minutes, and we’ll be down, okay?”

“Two minutes,” she echoed sternly before she closed the door and left us alone again.

I turned back to my sister. “Sky, why do you want bigger boobs? You’re going to be tall like me, but you’ll have really amazing curves
when you get older. I have no hips, so look like a boy most of the time.”

“That’s because you dress like a boy,” she said honestly, and she was probably right, but I didn’t care. I’d learned to rock a girly look, but
I preferred jeans and a hoodie any day. It was just me.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I said, ignoring her snarky comment.

She shrugged. “Guys like big boobs.”

“Sky, I can’t tell you what to do.” And I certainly couldn’t stop my mom from buying her plastic surgery for her sixteenth birthday, but I could hope to knock some sense into her in the next couple of years. “I think you’re beautiful just the way you are, and when you’re my age, you’ll be sexy, just like you want to be
. You’ll be fighting guys off. Just be patient, okay. Don’t grow up too soon.”

She shrugged.

I stepped closer to her. “Sky, you scare me sometimes with the things you say. You’re my little sister, and I love you. And because of that, I want you to make good decisions when it comes to life and boys. I know you hate being thirteen, because you still feel like a kid, but trust me, if you do certain things too early in life, you’ll regret it.”

I hoped she got my message, because she worried me too much. I lived in fear that she was going to make a mistake that she couldn’t take back. She was so much more mature in so many ways than I’d been at thirteen, but in so many other ways, she was still a kid.

She turned around and looked at me, her brown eyes wide. “Lo Lo,” she said, using the nickname she’d given me when she was little, “I know I say things a lot, and you get mad, and then you lecture me, but sometimes I just do it because I want to get your attention.”

I felt my face fall at that admission.
“You do?”

She shrugged. “Yeah.
When you started dating Jase, I barely saw you, and then when you broke up, I figured we’d get to hang out more, but you’ve been busy with school and Ethan and Nora and your internship and modeling, and I feel like you only make time for me if I do something outrageous.”

My heart sunk as she called me out, and I realized how wrapped up I’d been in my own life that I hadn’t made time for her, and seeing her more often had been a big part of my decision to
go to college at USC. Living in L.A., I could have a relationship with my little sister that had previously been limited to the summers I’d spent at my mom’s house. I vowed then and there to spend more time with Skylar and be there for her however she needed me.

“I’m sorry, Sky. I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” I said moving across the room to hug her. She squeezed me around my waist.

“I love you, Lo Lo. I just miss you. And I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise.”

I wasn’t convinced of that, but I’d already said enough.

“I love you too, Sky.”

A knock on the door interrupted our sisterly bonding moment.

“Girls, you look beautiful,” Luiz said, as he stepped into the room, his Brazilian accent wrapping around his words.

“Thanks Daddy,” Skylar said, beaming at him.

I was suddenly so glad that Luiz was marrying our mom. Skylar was getting the wish she’d had her whole life, that her parents would be married and living under one roof. And that meant Luiz would be a daily fixture in her life. I felt much better about her fate knowing he’d be there to veto the bad decisions that our insane mother, who he loved for some reason, would no doubt make.

Skylar would be okay. Luiz and I would tag-team the effort.

“Listen,” he said, lowering his voice, “the wedding planner yelled at me and told me to come up here and get you girls or she was going to do it herself. So I’d come down, because she was not messing around.”

I smiled. “We’re on our way, Luiz.”

“Thank you, Logan.”

Skylar left the room before me,
hugging her dad on the way, and as I walked past Luiz, he stopped me. I turned to look up at him in question.

“I wanted to let you know that I invited Jason, but he called to tell me he couldn’t make it.”

I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and disappointment. “Okay, thanks for letting me know.”

“
And I didn’t invite him because of the movie,” he continued. “Logan, sometimes people make mistakes. It happens, and it doesn’t mean we stop loving them. Your mother and I have made mistakes, but we love each other, and that’s why we’re here today. Sometimes people deserve second chances.”

I swallowed hard, letting his words sink in. Maybe he was right, but if I took Jase back, would I always b
e expecting him to cheat again? Would I live in fear that he’d go on location and sleep with his co-star? I didn’t think I could live like that. I needed him to be a hundred percent in with me.

“I know,” I finally said, “
but I can’t forgive what he did.”

“I know
you can’t, but maybe in time you will.”

I didn’t think so, but it wasn’t the time to tell him that.

“Thanks, Luiz.”

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “You’re welcome.”

“And congratulations. I’m really glad you’re marrying my mom.” I smiled at him before I headed downstairs to meet my sister.

* * *

The wedding went off without a hitch and with no paparazzi appearances. I was honestly surprised that my mother hadn’t tipped them off like she’d done the night she and Luiz got back together, but that plan hadn’t worked out so well for her, so I guess she decided not to chance it. They could always make an official announcement via her publicist.

As the party was winding down,
Ethan asked me to dance. I’d seen him approach the band leader, and when I heard them start to play a song by The Horrible Crows, I’d known what he was doing. He turned around, smiled at me and beckoned me over with his hand, so I joined him on the dance floor.

He’d spent most of the night dancing with Nora, which I’d never seen him do before, but he was doing all sorts of things he’d never done before because of her, so I considered it a good thing.

“Hi,” I said, feeling the urge to take my shoes off. My feet were starting to hurt.

“Having fun?”

I shrugged. “It was a beautiful ceremony.”

“Not as beautiful as ours from what I understand,” he said, and I just shook my head as I grinned.

“Shut up, you idiot. I’m just glad I wasn’t dumb enough to really marry you.”

He shrugged and looked back at Nora who was talking to someone on the other side of the dance floor. Then he looked back at me. “Yeah. Me too.”

He pulled me closer then, and we danced for a few minutes in silence. When the song ended, he pulled back.

“Thanks for the dance, Ms. Kessler,” he said, being playfully cordial.

“My pleasure, Mr. Lewis.”

He grinned. “Hey, so w
e’re going to The Well later. You want to come?”

The Well was a lounge
we’d gone to a few times. It had a chill atmosphere, and no one really bothered us like they did at other places when we were with Garrett and Ellie. Of course neither of them were at the level Jase was at where he needed to have a bodyguard, but they still had fans and admirers.

“Yeah, I do,” I said, thinking I didn’t want to go home just yet.

I was staying at my mom’s house since the dorms had closed the week before when classes had ended. And since she and Luiz were headed out of town on their honeymoon, and Skylar was staying at a friend’s house for the week, I knew the house would be empty. I didn’t want to be alone.

“Am I okay to go wearing this?”
I asked him, fingering the satin skirt of my dress.

He
grinned. “Sure, you look hot.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head. “I mean that only in the most respectful way that my girlfriend would approve of.”

“I still can’t believe you have a girlfriend, E. You’ve certainly changed this year.”

He shrugged. “I think it was time. I couldn’t be an asshole player forever, and Nora’s pretty incredible.”

“I am, aren’t I,” she said, coming up behind him and linking her arm through his.

He smiled at her. “So incredible.”

They kissed, and although I was happy, I was jealous. I wanted that. I’d had that. But now it was gone.

Garrett and Ellie came up to us
then. “The Well?” he said.

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, we’re going to do something chill, is that cool?”

Ellie squeezed Garrett’s hand. “We’re down with that.”

She’d sung her new single for my mom and Luiz that night, giving an impromptu performance of what her fans would see
when she went on tour in June, and I’d seen the pride on Garrett’s face as he watched her. It seemed all my friends were happy and in love, and I just wasn’t. I knew in time I’d find someone else, but a part of me wasn’t in a rush. I wanted love, but I wasn’t ready for someone new to come into my life. Not yet.

I took a few minutes to say my goodbyes, and then we were off, piling into Garrett’s
Jeep.

“I’m going to find you a guy tonight,” Nora whispered in my ear, and I turned to her.

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “Sure. You need to get back out there.”

“I have gotten back out there.”