HDU #2: Dirt (14 page)

And she could if
she wanted since the Yankees were in Texas.

With the team
amid a four-game road trip — and Amanda in the midst of some
Leadoff
-induced insecurity over her lack
of baseball knowledge — Liam had rented out the entire space.
 
For the rest of the night, the
two-and-a-half acres of plush field was entirely theirs.

Her heart
swelling with awe, Amanda plopped down onto the Yankees logo, taking a seat to
properly soak it all in for a couple more minutes.
 
The 6PM summer sun was the absolute perfect amount of heat
and shine.
 
Amanda could
practically see its sparkling rays beating down from the sky and into the dome
of the stadium, the most brilliantly golden ones seeming to reserve themselves
for her on the fluffy grass behind home plate.
 
Suddenly, she was glad to be wearing the distressed, pale
blue shorts that Wendy had given her from her new denim wear client —
they had initially seemed far too short to don in public but now, in the
beating glow of the stadium sun, Amanda figured they were the next best thing
to what she really wanted, which was to strip down to her underwear and lay in
the middle of the outfield.
 
She
had simply never felt such energy before.
 
Something about the iconic stadium made her feel like she wanted to be
great, like she wanted to accomplish everything.

And something
about the incredible, wildly kind gesture made her feel like she wanted to tell
Liam that she loved him.

But she
physically couldn’t — not just yet.
 
She wasn’t sure why but it didn’t bother her.
 
I’ll know when it’s
time
, she convinced herself as she leaned back on her hands, squinting up
to see a grinning Liam take the seat on the grass beside her.

“I figure this
is a good place to crash course you on baseball so you feel good going into
your next day of work.”

Amanda
giggled.
 
“Oh, I already feel
great.
 
This is absolutely insane
and incredible.
 
So thank
you.”
 
Still smiling, she ran her
lower lip between her teeth as she gazed out at the field.
 
“It’s kinda weird, but this is making
me miss North Carolina.”

Liam lifted his
eyebrows under the old Yankees cap that he’d put on for effect.
 
“Same, actually.”

“I guess this is
proof that we stay sanest by running off to somewhere big and private and
grassy every once in awhile.
 
Just
for a week.
 
Or until we miss New
York again.”

“Yeah.
 
We think alike.”
 
Liam leaned forward with his arms
resting on his bent knees.
 
He
looked over at Amanda.
 
“Which
reminds me — remind me to give you your birthday gift later.”

She burst out
laughing.
 
“This isn’t it?” she
asked incredulously, leaning back to rest on her elbows.
 
As she did, she noticed movement in the
corner of her eye, turning to see a stream of pinstripe-clad stadium vendors
filing down an aisle over by the third base line.
 
Her smile was quizzical as they streamed onto the field with
their giant bins of peanuts, hot dogs, Cracker Jacks and beer.
 
She turned to face Liam, her glittering
eyes wide with delight.
 
He laughed
at her reaction, touching the dimple in her cheek.

“We need to give
you the full stadium effect,” he said.
 
“You know.
 
For work
purposes.”

Amanda shook her
head in awed amusement.
 
“For
research.
 
Totally,” she murmured
as the vendors neared, her eyes feasting on the giant bins stacked with Philly cheesesteaks,
sliders, lobster rolls, cheese fries, pretzels and fried dough.
 

“We’re going
full gourmet tonight, by the way, in case you didn’t notice.”

“I did, yes.”

The sun had set
halfway by the time Amanda and Liam were officially done with their meal.
 
With the various foods set onto a
Yankees logo blanket that one of the vendors had brought, Amanda had marveled
over the picnic spread, sampling tiny bites from every dish as Liam went over
both baseball terminology and the season’s Yankees stats, just in case she was
ever asked again about a Yankees pitcher’s over-under for wins.
 
Oddly — or perhaps not-so-oddly,
considering her strange, new energy — Amanda had picked up on everything
quite rapidly.

“Definitely will
start watching Sportscenter and games with you from now on, but,” she eyed Liam
with a grin, “Judging from Ono’s stats and record so far and how many starts he
has left, I’d say that he’ll have over sixteen wins this season.
 
He’ll probably end the season with
seventeen or eighteen,” Amanda decided.
 
Liam raised his eyebrows, genuinely impressed.

“See what I said
about how you catch on quickly.”

Amanda smiled as
she tucked a lock of straight hair behind her ear, trying not to beam like a
five-year-old who had just been given a golden star.
 
She let her head tilt a bit to the side, resting it lightly
against Liam’s arm.
 
“Well, it’s
not like I’m
completely
clueless
about baseball.
 
Megan used to play
shortstop for the softball team in high school.”

“So you did
too?”

“No, I didn’t
play any sports,” Amanda snorted, shaking her head at herself.
 
“But since I was her glorious little
lapdog, I always helped her field balls when she practiced batting for tryouts
every year.”

“You actually
caught balls?”

Amanda
paused.
 
“Was that a sex joke?”

Liam raised his
eyebrows.
 
“Actually, no, but we
can pretend it was,” he said as his eyes dropped to her mostly bare legs, which
rested across his lap as she sat perpendicular to him.
 
Her lips twisted into a smile when she
tipped his chin back up but still failed to bring his gaze away from her
thighs.

“Hey,” she said
softly, tilting her head to meet his eye.
 
“Before I forget, I need to thank you for being such a good, patient
teacher tonight.
 
I actually feel a
lot better about work tomorrow.”

Liam wound a
string of fringe from her shorts around his finger.
 
“Good.
 
Show
those assholes what you’re made of.”

“I will.
 
I actually kind of can’t wait to go in
tomorrow,” Amanda murmured, laughing at herself.
 
“I just feel…” she shook her head, her eyelids heavy as she
gazed out at the pretty white frieze crowning the upper deck of the
stadium.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I’m energized.
 
My whole body just feels so damned good
right now.”
 
She laughed quietly to
herself, chewing on her lower lip as she returned the eye that Liam gave her.
 
“Make a sex joke.”

“I can make your
body feel even better,” Liam said without missing a beat, laughing at her when
she bit a little grin back.
 
“Jesus, Amanda, that was horrible and you’re still blushing.”

“I know, I don’t
know what’s going on with me,” she giggled, shaking her head and squeezing her
eyes shut for a moment.
 
They were
still closed when she felt Liam’s smiling lips give her a kiss.

“You make one.”

“What?”

“Sex joke.”

“Oh, is this my
practice for the writer’s room?”

“Sure.”

Amanda
snorted.
 
“Um.”
 
She squinted as she thought about
it.
 
“Something, something, going
to second base.”
 
She nodded when
Liam furrowed his brow before blinking several times with surprise.
 
“I know.
 
Some obvious joke material that you overlooked right there.”

“Very
obvious.
 
Shame on me,” he said
with feigned gravity.

Amanda cracked a
grin as she ran her hand up his chest, snaking her arm around his neck as he
stared out at the darkening sky, some pleasant, faraway thought casting a
little haze over his dark eyes.
 
Amanda smiled when he unconsciously dipped his head to kiss her
forearm.
 
Somehow, the simple gesture
made her feel so plain and simply loved.
 
Amanda studied Liam, her heart beating fast despite her calm.
 
Apparently, it was just her body’s
natural reaction to merely looking at the man and reminding herself that he was
hers — from the perfect square jaw to the hard and broad chest to the
delectably perfect V-shaped hip bones that she really needed to see the rest of
by now.

Amanda
blinked.
 
Suddenly, she couldn’t
understand why she hadn’t yet had sex with Liam.
 
She wanted and needed to be with him immediately.
 
In his bed, the sheets kicked to the
floor, the weight of his body on top of hers.
 
Wetting her lips, she turned to Liam who was already looking
at her, his smirk inquisitive.

“You okay?” he
asked, seeming to know the answer as he eyed her slightly parted mouth.
 
Amanda managed a somewhat sheepish
smile, able to feel the blood rushing to her lips, the heat flushing in her
face.
 
When Liam placed a hand on
her leg again, she answered his question with an involuntary pump of the
thighs.
 
He raised his eyebrows,
once again dropping his gaze to her bare legs.
 
“Should we go?” he asked slowly, his hand squeezing her
naked knee.

Amanda’s toes
curled in her leather sandals as she felt Liam’s body grow suddenly rigid with
the same need to leave.
 
“Yes,
let’s go home.”

He managed a
smirk.
 
“Baseball joke?”

“Sure.”

Within mere
seconds, she and Liam were up and off the field, making their way through the
tunnels of the stadium and toward the exit through which they came, their lips
stretched into polite, wordless smiles as the vendors said goodbye.

But slowly,
Amanda felt the curve in her lips fading as she continued her walk, realizing
that it wasn’t just the first vendor who had given her and then Liam a strange
look.
 
All the vendors were
flashing odd looks at them that they hadn’t worn on the field just a few hours
before.
 
Before she could chalk it
up to her usual paranoia, Amanda snuck a glance at Liam, whose brows were knit
with a quizzical frown as he passed a goateed male vendor in his early twenties,
who pressed the end of his fist to his mouth as he looked up from his phone at
Liam.

What is going on?
Amanda wondered,
feeling as if she were walking through a parted sea of either judgmental looks
or suppressed laughs.

“I have no
idea,” Liam murmured to her under his breath, reading her mind.
 
In silent confusion, they continued
what felt like a much longer walk out of the stadium than it had felt like
coming in.

Finally, when
they reached his Mercedes waiting right outside, the door through which they’d
exited swung back open.
 
The
goateed vendor burst out of it, in hysterics as he pointed the camera of his
phone at Amanda and Liam, pushing back his coworkers who tried to pull him back
in.

“Yo, you just
dropped mad money on a date that don’t even matter!”

Amanda and Liam
both stared back at the boy, though through her confusion, Amanda somehow knew
to reach for her phone.
 
And
somehow, she understood exactly what was going on the second before she turned
on her screen.
 
Her pulse blaring
in her eardrums, she held onto Liam, bracing herself for a text from Casey and
whatever it would have to say.
 
Tapping on her screen, she confirmed her suspicions upon seeing the
little icon indicating a new message.
 
And suddenly, she missed the horrible, deafening sound of her own
heartbeat in her ears.
 
She
preferred much more than the absolute nothing she heard, the frozen numbness
she felt as she read the words of Casey’s text.

Changed my mind, doll! I told everyone.

Chapter 7

BREAKING:
LIAMANDA STAGED — COMPLETELY FAKE RELATIONSHIP

Amanda Nathan: Internet
troll, blackmailer and half of the most staged romance in Hollywood!!! Pop
Dinner gets the exclusive, anonymous leak about America’s once-favorite
couple!!!

HDU via Pop Dinner

Posted by R0X1E

July 15
^th

Bombshell time!

So what’s utterly plain on the outside and evil to the core on the
inside?

If you didn’t guess Amanda Nathan, march your ass to the back of the
line because as Pop Dinner has been trying to tell you for ages, America’s
Sweetheart really ain’t so sweet after all.
 
That’s right.
 
Your favorite girl next door is actually a master manipulator who
dragged her faux beau so hard on the Internet that he was forced to email her
and ask for mercy.

But let’s start from the beginning.

If you’ve ever scoured the Internet for some juicy tidbits on your
favorite Hollywood celebs, you’ve probably run into the gossip community, HDU
— basically the Florida of celebrity reputations.
 
And guess who serves as the Grim Reaper
of so many Hollywood images? Yep — Amanda Nathan, who spent the past five
years under the online pseudonym, PrettyKitty29, the past two of which were
spent as moderator of the almighty online rumor mill.

And under this horrifically embarrassing username, our sweet little
Miss Nathan blackmailed Liam Brody into letting her play the role of his
inexplicably plain girlfriend.
 
Why
would Liam go for it? Well, according to the video/bribe offer below, it was to
land the wholesome role of John Parker Camden in Terrence Rambis’s
A Soldier
.
 
Yikes! Kind of desperate but looks like the evil plan
did
trick senile Terrence into handing over the
dignified role.
 
Probably regretting
that now, aren’t ya, Terrence, old boy? This was your final Oscar contender,
your baby, your masterpiece and now “Liamanda” has turned it into a giant, PR
joke.
 
Womp womp.
 
Hope John Parker Camden’s family is
okay with their hero being played by a spandex-sucking womanizer who tricked
America into loving him and his so-called Plain Jane sweetie — who, as it
turns out, is all plain and no sweet.
 
Hope audiences can think of anything besides the fools they were to
trust Liam Brody while watching
A Soldier
— assuming they even go to see it anymore.

Because who needs the actual movie when you’ve got the
behind-the-scenes entertainment? Our next move here at Pop Dinner is to see how
the famously temperamental Rambis reacts to this mortifying ordeal.
 
Watch out Liam — you pissed off
the wrong Hollywood director! Don’t be surprised if he goes ahead and drops you
from the cast of
The Legends
.

And as for Amanda — we’re going to assume that her fifteen (okay,
thirty) minutes is finally over.
 
Back to the gossip forums with you, lonely Internet troll!

(I HAVE NO WORDS.
 
WE HAVE BEEN LIED TO.
 
OUR GREAT MODERATOR PRETTYKITTY29 =
AMANDA NATHAN!!!!!!!!!

JUST COMMENT BECAUSE I CAN’T
EVEN RIGHT NOW.
 
OMFG

HDU, AMANDA NATHAN!!!!11

— R0X1E)

TOP COMMENTS

mrstylerchase

NO.
 
WHAT IS MY LIFE.
 
EVERYTHING HAS BEEN A LIE

bailey21390

holy shit. PRETTYKITTY!?!?! i’m pissed. why didn’t I think of this
first

Leilani_11_13

HOLD UP.
 
HOW DO WE KNOW
YOU’RE NOT IN CAHOOTS WITH AMANDA NATHAN, OP? WHO ARE YOU? CASEY MULREED?

thisismyusername

omg. this is why Pretty is never around anymore. and this is why she
banned Pop Dinner as a source they’re always dragging her cause they know she’s
a giant SKETCHY BITCH. ADLKFJDLFKJF EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE NOW

Honeybee423

soo basically liam brody reads hdu and is still a dirty,
implant-chasing piece of shit.

lies311

pfft i would’ve done the same thing if i had the chance.
 
more power to you, amanda nathan you
evil whore.
 
i think I like you
now.

mrstylerchase

SO PRETTY TRICKED US INTO HATING LIAM AND THEN LOVING HIM OMG THAT
BRILLIANT BITCH.
 
NOT SURE IF LOVE
OR HATE HER RIGHT NOW TBH

vidabella21

knew that basic face couldn’t land his flawless ass.
 
someone tell me what that megan chick
thinks of this she is probably loling forever rn