HDU #2: Dirt (10 page)

Amanda felt her
cheeks flush with embarrassment, rage and just about every emotion under the
hot West Village sun.
 
But just as
she opened her mouth to retort, the server approached their table to take
orders.

“We’re only
doing drinks today.
 
A Bloody Mary
for my friend and I’ll just have a seltzer with lime, thank you,” Casey said
daintily before returning her attention to Amanda.
 
“So, ever heard of a hard drive, silly nilly?” she giggled
as she ran her finger along the side of her water glass, drawing a smiley face
in the condensation.
 
“I’m in love
with the fact that you chose to store all that info in your inbox when even government
websites get hacked these days.
 
I mean,
doll.
 
Come on.
 
That is beyond irresponsible.
 
To both you and your pretend lover.”
 
Running a hand through her jaw-length
hair, Casey let out a mixture of a sigh and a groan.
 
“God, you might actually be as dumb as your little crackhead
friend.
 
What was his stupid little
name for the thing again?
Film
Freak?”

Amanda felt her
airway close up again.
 
Of course
this meant that she knew about Ian, too.
 
“You’ve done enough to him, Casey.
 
The media, everyone — they’re hard enough on him as it is.
 
He’s trying to rebuild.
 
Don’t expose this part of his life,
too.”

Casey batted her
lashes, amused.
 
“Who said I was
going to? I plan on keeping that loser forgotten.
 
Besides, this is about you today, doll.
 
You and this…” She put two manicured
fingertips to her tiny mouth.
 
“This very impressive fifteen minutes that you managed to stretch into a
job with Vogel and an interview with Fleur.
 
And somehow, comparisons to me.”
 
Casey laughed tartly.
 
“As if it really would have anything to do with you if
Leadoff
somehow did better than
Legacy
.
 
Not that it will.
 
You didn’t hear it from me, but I’m going to have your stupid show
canceled before you reach season two.”

“Casey.”
 
Amanda sucked in a deep breath, wanting
desperately to get to the point already.
 
Her stomach couldn’t take much more.

“I have to say,
I really didn’t think you’d make it this long in the city.
 
Mostly because I figured it’d be no
time before you walked in on Liam sticking his dick in some nineteen-year-old
model or a couple of his ex-girlfriends at the same time, or whatever the
fuck.”
 
She threw her hands in the
air.
 
“Turns out you two are full
of shit, anyway.
 
Who would’ve
guessed?” She paused for effect before snorting with delight.
 
“Everyone.
 
But hey.
 
In
this industry, loving someone is a liability.
 
So I’ll give you a few points for faking the relationship.”

Amanda ground
her teeth again.
 
“
Casey
.
 
Just tell me what it is that you want.”

“Fine.”
 
She plucked the cornichon from Amanda’s
drink and popped it in her mouth.
 
“All I want, doll, is for you to say a few nice things about your good
friend Casey at your interview today.
 
Sing a little bit of praise for my show.
 
Give credit where it’s due, that’s all.”
 
She leaned back, cocking her head with a
exaggeratedly sweet, doe-like eyes.
 
“How’s that sound?”

Suspiciously easy
.
 
“You’ll have to elaborate.”

Casey
snorted.
 
“Mm, no, not really.
 
I could tell you to stick your tongue
down our busboy’s throat right now and you’d do it to keep this from getting
out.”
 
She smiled wide when Amanda
said nothing.
 
“You might be a
little dim but I think you do realize what this kind of press would do to you
both.
 
No one’s stupid, we all know
Vogel hired you because of Wendy, and Wendy’s only in love with you because you
remind her of when she was an awkward little industry rookie.
 
Thing is she actually was a sweet,
innocent girl who caught some hot shot’s eye.
 
You… you’re some fame-hungry gossip whore who blackmailed
Liam Brody into dating you.
 
You’re
not America’s Sweetheart, you’re a lonely little Internet troll.”

“
Casey
.
 
I get it.
 
What
is it that you want me to say? I’ll say it.”
 
Amanda could hardly believe the words coming out of her own
mouth.
 
Casey flashed a bright
smile.

“See? How hard
was that?” Reaching for Amanda’s Bloody Mary, she took a sip.
 
“Get that pretty new phone out, doll, I
need you to write all this down.”

Amanda reached
into her bag, keeping her eyes locked on Casey.
 
“How do I know you won’t leak everything even if I do what
you say?”

“You don’t,”
Casey simpered.
 
“But let’s be
honest here, doll, you really don’t have a choice one way or the other.
 
Either come out and tell the world that
you and Liam are a crock of shit or do what I say.”
 
Tilting her head, she batted her lashes.
 
“Doesn’t it seem a whole lot easier to
just give a few harmless little quotes to a magazine?”

It did, but
Amanda knew it couldn’t possibly be so simple.
 
Despite that, she opened her notes on her phone.
 
Her pulse pounded angrily in her teeth
as she clenched her jaw, typing out all the false, idiotic quotes as Casey fed
them to her.

“Oh, come now,
don’t look so mad,” Casey giggled once they were finished.
 
She kept her icy blue gaze fixed on
Amanda as a passing server plucked the American Express she held out between
her fingers.
 
“I’m inducting you
into the industry, Mandy.
 
You
haven’t arrived till you’ve gotten fully screwed.”
 
She flashed a winning smile.
 
“So welcome, doll.
 
You’re officially part of the game.”

AMANDA
AND CASEY: BUDDY BRUNCH AT THE RED DEER!

The Pop Source

July 2
^nd

What feud?

Amanda Nathan and Casey Mulreed put a rest to the rivalry rumors
yesterday morning when they sat for a meal at The Red Deer in Manhattan’s West
Village.
 
Casey rocked vintage chic
in a knee-length floral dress while Amanda kept it boyfriend casual in Liam’s
T-shirt and jeans.
 
Too cute!

Said an onlooker, “Casey was laughing and smiling the whole meal.
 
Amanda was faced away from everyone but
you could pretty much tell that they were having a great time.”

But what does this mean for Amanda’s continued friendship with Ian
Marsh? Celebrity analyst Monica Kinsey weighs in:

“From the looks of it, Casey isn’t one to hold a grudge.
 
It’s more than likely that she
understands Amanda’s need to help Ian because she is dealing with similar
problems herself when it comes to addiction.
 
Now is not the time for Amanda to abandon Ian and Casey
understands that, even if it’s a hard pill to swallow.
 
In the end, she is a Mulreed, and the
Mulreeds are famous for having hearts of gold.
 
Substance abuse is a terrible thing, but it has made them
into a resilient, humble family.”

Good on Casey, and here’s to a lasting friendship between America’s
favorite sweethearts!

Chapter 4

Squinting hard,
Amanda studied her reflection in her bathroom mirror.
 
She hardly recognized herself.

Did I give them permission to cut and dye my
hair?

And straighten
it.
 
It was now straight, glossy
and highlighted with a shimmery caramel color.
 
Dear Lord
.
 
And she had a bang — a side-swept
one.
 
But still.
 
Bangs were kind of a big decision.
 
Not that she didn’t like the look.
 
From what she could see past her
remaining Casey-induced anger, she looked good.
 
Sultry, almost, which was quite a change.
 
Amanda was pretty sure she’d be
delighting in her little makeover if it weren’t for the fact that she was still
fuming.

I probably did consent to the bangs.

She couldn’t
really be sure.
 
Consumed with
Casey-related thoughts, she’d been a total zombie during her hair and makeup
session for the June Magazine interview.
 
It had taken place on the rooftop botanical garden at The Green, an
exclusive boutique hotel in Gramercy Park.
 
She’d been surrounded by pink wisteria and lavender while
sitting on a floral chaise in a cream crochet dress, an elderberry lemonade
cocktail in her French manicured hand.
 
The sugary sweet surroundings had felt like such a joke in comparison to
the absolute darkness she felt in the pit of her stomach throughout the entire
interview.
 
Spouting the lines she’d
memorized for Casey had felt bad enough — her ability to say them so
convincingly made Amanda feel infinitely worse.

“Yes, Casey and I are still very good
friends — we just don’t see each other as often anymore because we’re
both so, so busy.
 
But she’ll
always be one of the most important people in my life because she was the one
who introduced me to all of my career opportunities.
 
I owe her absolutely everything.”

“No, I’d rather not talk about Ian but I
will say that Casey’s been very gracious and understanding about that
ordeal.
 
I couldn’t be more
thankful to her for being behind me throughout the past few months.”

“Oh yes, there’s definitely a rivalry
between Leadoff and Legacy.
 
I
think Tom hired me to give him intel on Casey’s show…. I’m not sure what else I
have to offer!”

“God.”
 
Amanda covered her face with her hands,
letting them slide slowly down her bronzed cheeks.
 
Acting like an airhead for Casey had felt so horribly
degrading.
 
And the fact that they
were
mostly harmless quotes only served
to worry Amanda more.
 
As Ian had
already found out, being Casey’s puppet was never so simple.
 
Trouble was still ahead, probably in
the form of more blackmail, and the worst part of it all was that Amanda
couldn’t tell Liam or Ian.
 
She’d
already kept her decision to spout Casey’s quotes a secret from them,
essentially lying to them.
 
And
while she was no stranger to lying, doing so to Liam or Ian made Amanda feel
dirty.
 
It didn’t help that Casey
was still essentially a dormant volcano.

Stalking to her
closet, she stripped off the crochet dress that the stylists at Fleur had let
her keep, stepping out of it and kicking it into a corner.
 
It was too flowery to match her
mood.
 
Staring into her closet full
of Wendy-gifted clothing, Amanda felt herself grinding her teeth with irritation.
 
Alright.
 
Calm down and get into double date
mode.
 
You were excited for this
,
she scolded herself, all the while tearing a dress off its hanger.
 
It was black and it matched her
mood.
 
That was all she needed to
know.

By the time she
noticed the headlights of Liam’s Mercedes shine through her window, she was mostly
dressed — three-inch wedges on her feet and her dress on with just the
zipper hanging open in the back.
 
She groaned, wishing she could call Liam in to help her but he was
already at Lilac with Connor and Connor’s girlfriend.
 
With her interview having run hours late, she’d requested
that they start without her.
 

“Breathe,”
Amanda murmured to herself while contorting her arms to pull the zipper up on
her dress.
 
Just get through tonight and tomorrow, you’ll explain everything to
Liam.
 
And Ian.
 
She clomped over to the bathroom for
the help of a mirror.
 
Maybe.
 
Maybe it’d be better to tell them that
the interview quotes and brunch with Casey had been some publicity stunt
ordered by Tom and Wendy.
 
They want to keep people guessing
, she’d
say.
 
At least then she wouldn’t
have to worry them by revealing what Casey knew.
 
Not till she figured out herself how to deal with Casey.

Because more
than ever now, she had to.
 
She
needed to find something on Casey Mulreed.

Peering over her
shoulder as she pulled up the zipper on the damned dress, Amanda narrowed her eyes.
 
The hair, the makeup, the clothes.
 
It was strange, but she really didn’t
recognize herself.

~

The paparazzi
outside of Lilac probably qualified as mob but Amanda tried to accept it as a
tradeoff for having had none outside of her apartment before.
 
It was always nice to step out of her
building without having to deal with camera flashes and questions asked solely
for provocation.
 
“Amanda… big lunch? Or any chance you’re
pregnant?” “Hey Mandy, I heard Ian started using again — is that true?”

Stepping out of
the Mercedes in front of Lilac, Amanda braced herself for the camera flashes
and the stupid questions.
 
But for
the first few seconds out the car, she got neither.

“Whoa.”

Amanda tried to
contain the confusion on her face as a few paparazzi even lowered their cameras
for a moment.
 
They squinted at
her.
 
But as her heels clicked on
toward the entrance, the cameras began to go off slowly, crescendoing into a
storm of flashing lights.

“It
is
her!”

Oh right
, Amanda snorted inwardly as she
remembered her transformation.
 
Running her fingers through her glossy, straight hair, she considered
that it probably was a big deal.
 
She’d just been so consumed with thoughts of Casey that she hadn’t had
time to properly react.
 
Looking
down at herself as she entered Lilac, Amanda raised her eyebrows.
 
Her hair now reached the bottom of her
ribcage whereas before, it had only been up to the middle of her chest.
 
And the caramel highlights — they
seemed to lap up every last hint of light in the dimly lit restaurant.
 
They practically glittered against the
severe matte of her
black leather mini
dress
.

What the hell am I wearing?

Freezing in her
tracks, Amanda stared down at the dress that Wendy had given her, that she had
probably laughed off and dismissed as too vampy upon receiving it.
 
Had she been that mentally off while
getting dressed?
Holy crap, Amanda, get
your shit together.
 
How many
blackout style choices are you going to make in one day?

“Miss Nathan?
Would you like me to show you to Mr. Brody and Mr. Schaffer’s table?”

Amanda blinked
up at the hostess.

“Oh.
 
Yes.
 
Actually — is it our usual table?”

“Yes, it is.”

Amanda brushed
her bangs out of her eye.
 
“I’ll
just go myself.
 
Thank you,” she
said, flashing a polite smile before continuing her way into the dining
room.
 
The wave of eyes and hushed
whispers that followed her were almost comical.
 
With every table she passed, Amanda could hear a quizzical,
“Whoa, is that…?”

Yes, it’s me
, she laughed inwardly
though her own smile faded as she glanced over at one of Lilac’s mirrored
walls.
 
She always checked her
reflection on the way over to her table but for once, she couldn’t immediately
spot it sticking out like a sore thumb.
 
Tonight, among the ultra-chic crowd, she actually looked right at
home.
 
Playing with the ends of her
hair, Amanda bit back the disbelief curling her lips.

And when she
looked up, there was Liam.

He looked
handsome enough in his charcoal button shirt, but something about the part in
his lips, the complete shock in his eyes made Amanda really smile.
 
It was hard to catch Liam Brody off
guard, if even for a second.
 
Doing
so sent enough of a thrill up her spine that she forgot about the interview,
about Casey.

“Hi,” she
smiled, gathering her hair over one shoulder.
 
Liam watched every second of the motion before lifting his
gaze up to her curved lips.

“Hey.”
 
He slid his hands into his pockets,
leaning back and cocking his head as his eyes devoured her.
 
He smirked as he regained his outward
composure.
 
“Something’s
different.”

“I let them do a
few things to me.”

He raised his
eyebrows.
 
“Lucky them.”

Amanda bit back
her grin as he took her hand and pulled her over.
 
As he soaked her in from head to toe, she cocked her head to
look at their table behind him, offering an apologetic little wave to Connor
and his girlfriend, who smiled and waved excitedly back.
 
I’m
probably imagining that
, Amanda thought in regards to Connor’s frosty
expression.
 
Normally, she would’ve
devoted more time to overanalyzing, but Liam was standing before her being all
too distracting.
 
The way he looked
at her was about equivalent to silent dirty talk.
 
She blushed as the waitstaff and diners gawked at them.
 
The moment didn’t feel like something
appropriate for them to witness, especially as Liam tilted his head,
unapologetic as his eyes feasted on her side view.

He ran his hand
over his mouth and jaw, slightly tugging on his lower lip.
 
“So how am I supposed to do this
tonight?”

“Do what?”

“Sit through
dinner.
 
This is going to be
torture.”

“Well.”
 
Amanda wet her lips as she eyed the
frown between Liam’s brows.
 
She’d
never seen a frown so handsome.
 
“You thought a double date was torture anyway, so I guess we’re right
where we started.”

“We didn’t start
with you wearing a little black leather dress.”

“I’m sorry.
 
I’d change if I could.”

“Might help if
you took it off.”

Amanda rolled
her eyes and laughed.
 
“Liam.
 
Your friends are waiting on us.
 
Let’s go sit down.”

“I need to fuck
you right now.”

“
Liam
.”
 
Amanda held a finger to her lips, which twitched with a
reluctant smile.
 
That stupid smirk
of his always charmed and irritated her at the same time.
 
She ignored his satisfied grin, taking
his hand and leading him back to their table.
 
“We’re going to have dinner with Connor and his
girlfriend.
 
Now.
 
Come on.”

Once seated,
Connor’s raven-haired girlfriend held her hand out and her drink up.
 
“Ah,
hi!
I’m Stella.
 
I feel
like I should let you know that we had like, three rounds of drinks while
waiting so if I talk too much or say anything inappropriate, it’s because of
that.”

Amanda
laughed.
 
“Gotcha.
 
I’m so sorry about being late, by the
way.
 
I don’t know how the
interview ended up taking so long.”
 
She offered a cheery smile to Connor as Liam ordered her a
cocktail.
 
“Hi again.
 
We’ve met before… like, once,” she
laughed politely.

Connor simply
looked at her, his expression unreadable.
 
“Yeah.”

Amanda nodded,
waiting for him to say more.
 
When
he didn’t, she smiled in the way she did when she felt awkward.
 
“At the June Magazine party.
 
That was… that was a great party.”
 
Oh
my God, you suck at small talk, Amanda
.

“It was good.”

Or maybe it’s him
.
 
Amanda blinked at Connor, trying not to
look flustered over his lack of interest in speaking to her.
 
After all, he’d been the same way the
first time they met — though this time, there seemed to be a decided
rudeness in his behavior, especially considering the normal tone he spoke in
with Stella as she asked a question about the menu.
 
You’re the one who
scheduled this dinner, you big turd
, Amanda thought with while studying
Connor confusion.
 
He brushed at
nothing on his buttoned checkered shirt as Stella tugged on his skinny tie with
another question.
 
Despite the
irritation on his face, the way he asked her to stop was polite.
 
And when Liam returned his attention to
the table, his expression went from polite to full on warm.
 
Happy, even.