Holly Hearts Hollywood (13 page)

Lacey was already walking away with her hips swaying. She waved at me over her shoulder without looking. “Thanks, girl!”

I left the backstage area to watch Lacey. My lungs seemed unable to hold enough air. I’m not sure if it was because of nerves or the fact that it’s hard for me to move from place to place without breaking a sweat. I probably should work out, but I really hate being active, if that wasn’t obvious enough. If I keep gaining weight, I’m going to have to start buying two plane tickets when I travel.

I sat down in one of the plastic chairs and prayed the chair wouldn’t break like it did at a school assembly last year. They’ll probably still be talking about that at our fiftieth reunion. “Oh, remember that time that heifer Holly Hart broke that chair? What a gas!” I still believe there was a crack in the leg of that chair
before
I sat on it.

As soon as I sat down, Grayson sat down next to me. “Hey,” he said, the smell of his musky cologne nearly making me gag. “Lacey said you’re from Iowa.”

“Yeah,” I said, avoiding his eyes and wondering why Lacey had been talking about me in the first place.

“I’m from Iowa too! What town are you from?” he said brightly. It was
painful
. He was acting so nice. It confused me. It’s been three years since I’ve seen him, and I suppose people can change but come on. How could he change in three years when he’d been the same for fourteen?

“Des Moines,” I lied. Cedar Junction was a small enough town that he’d most certainly remember me if I gave him a point of reference. I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t recognized my name. I know I’ve gained a ton of weight, and my hair color is completely different, but I can’t believe I made such a little impact on his life that he couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of the girl he bullied.

“Oh, awesome!” He smiled brightly.

I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want to say anything about it, but I love gossip too much. “So, are you and Lacey dating?” I blurted.

Grayson shrugged and pulled his iPhone out of his pocket. I’m not sure how he fit that phone in his pocket, his pants were so tight. “Yeah, she’s a cool girl.”

A cool girl? What does that even mean? I’m pretty sure pulling your pants past your bare butt and making out with someone counts as dating, but what do I know? Keller hasn’t kissed me, much less asked me on a
real
date, so what does that make us? Business partners?

“Oh, well I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now that you’ve signed with Shell Shocked.”

Grayson pressed a couple of buttons on his phone and placed it on his lap, which of course made my eyes go toward his crotch. I bounced my eyes away from his zipper and back up to his face, which was another mistake, because he’s stupidly handsome and I hate him. My face turned tomato-red.

Grayson looked at me strangely. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little sick.” While it wasn’t the most complimentary thing to hear, it was probably accurate. I was holding my breath and internally screaming at myself.

I exhaled. “No, I’m fine.”

“I’m excited to see Lacey perform,” Grayson said with that same unexplainable energy that made me sick. He seemed to be over their little spat from earlier.

“Really?”

“Well, she let me listen to one of her singles the other day, and I
loved
the song. I’ve been looking forward to hearing her sing live all week.”

“Oh,” was my brilliant response. It didn’t matter anyway, because Lacey came out on stage to great applause. She
looked
like a superstar in her glittery dress, blown-out hair, and legs that went on for miles.

“Hey, y’all, my name’s Lacey Bennett,” she said into the microphone. Suddenly there was a trace of a Texas accent where there wasn’t one before. “My first album comes out tomorrow, and I thought I’d sing one of my favorite songs from it.”

My whole life started to slow down. My heartbeat became almost nonexistent. I was so ridiculously nervous. A million things could’ve gone wrong. Lacey could’ve tripped over a cord on the stage, or she could’ve mixed up the lyrics and made it obvious she was lip-synching. There were about twenty photographers and reporters at the foot of the stage, and the cameras flashed away with the consistency of a strobe light.

The music started, and I had to fight the instinct to start singing along. Lacey flashed a big smile, opened her mouth, and started to sing. Or at least that’s what it looked like. She strutted around the stage and tossed her hair. She almost had me fooled for a while. At the end of the song, people actually gave a standing ovation. My heart nearly exploded; I was so happy. Grayson even whistled!

“She was amazing!” he shouted over the applause. “Just…wow!” He ran his hands through his hair, almost golden in the sunlight. Halfway through the next song, Lacey ran to us, positively beaming. I’m still not sure how her heels didn’t get stuck in the grass. If I were wearing those shoes, I would’ve snapped both my ankles.

Lacey threw herself on Grayson and squealed. “Did you like it? Did you like it?” she squeaked.

“I loved it!” Grayson said sincerely. “You were amazing, babe.” He planted a big kiss on her lips that looked entirely unpleasant, and Lacey made a super gross moaning sound.

“Lacey.” Sabrina appeared at that moment, thankfully interrupting them. “You have to go do the photo-op with the kids.”

Lacey grimaced, and it wasn’t very subtle.

“Lacey,” Sabrina hissed. “There are photographers all around, could you keep the ugly faces at a minimum?”

Lacey’s brow furrowed. “My face isn’t ugly,” she protested. Sabrina gave her a stern face. “Fine,” Lacey groaned. “But let’s do this quickly, okay?”

Lacey deserves an award. She plastered on a big, sparkly smile and let some super-energetic kids sit on her lap while she asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Then she “casually” posed for some photos.

After, they thrust some heavy gift bags into our hands, much to Lacey’s glee, and we retreated to the safety of the car. Lacey rummaged through the bag like it was full of Halloween candy.

“What was the budget for the bags?” she whined. “It’s just some Bumble and Bumble stuff.” She tossed it aside and crossed her arms over her chest.

The rest of the ride home consisted of Grayson trying to convince Lacey the stuff in the bag was actually pretty cool and worth her time. He even looked up consumer reviews and retail prices on his iPhone. It seemed to calm Lacey down a bit, and she tested some of the lotion on the back of my hand.

Ugh. Mom just walked in with two huge handfuls of flowers and plants that look like they came from an alien planet. Well, there goes my evening.

Later, 9:30pm—Pink Palm Motel

Fourteen bizarre flower arrangements and two boxes of Kung Pao chicken later, Keller still hasn’t called me. I’m a leper.

March 1st, 10:35pm—W Hotel

I don’t know how I keep getting wrangled into these things. I’m not the kind of girl that gets invited to parties of any kind, especially parities of the swanky variety. People back home went out of their way to make sure I didn’t know about the birthday parties they were having. Once, Katie McCormick actually passed out false invitations so I wouldn’t know the real party day. I showed up at her house with a Bath and Body Works gift basket on the wrong day. I was mortified. She laughed at me and took the gift.

I should’ve known things wouldn’t go great for me tonight. They started to go bad the minute we arrived at the W Hotel. Unlike the last time we went to a party, Lacey’s a little more well known now. There were crowds of people and paparazzi outside. There was a narrow strip of red carpet leading up to the front door.

When Lacey saw the paparazzi, she started preening and adjusting the ruffles on her Christian Siriano gown. My heart was in my throat. I didn’t want all of these strangers around me with cameras. I look terrible in photos. I’m the most un-photogenic person ever.

We pulled up, and the door to the limo swung open. Lacey draped one Louboutin-encased foot gracefully out of the car. I was ready to rush forward and help her out when a man suddenly reached down and helped her to her feet. The crowd went wild! Light bulbs started flashing like crazy, leaving floating dots in my vision.

Like some dummy, I sat in the car gaping as Lacey waved to the crowds like a princess. Grayson appeared in a tailored tuxedo and slipped his arm around her waif-like waist. They turned toward each other and kissed. The crowd and paparazzi went bananas.

The driver coughed expectantly, and I realized I was sitting in the limo in a purple Stella McCartney cocktail dress that was entirely inappropriate for a formal party like this. No one told me about the dress code! I most certainly didn’t want to get out of the limo after Lacey—I couldn’t compete with that. I wasn’t exactly emotionally prepared to walk into a judgmental cloud of photographers. And I most certainly didn’t want to appear in some “Who Wore It Best?” column against Jennifer Garner or something.

Well, the last thing I expected happened. As I was considering smacking my hand on the glass partition and telling the driver to put that lead foot of his to good use, someone stuck their head into the limo.

“What are you doing?” the head said.

Then I saw his painfully charming and dazzling smile. I wanted to kick his teeth in.

“Are you getting out of the limo anytime soon?” Grayson asked nicely. I was dumbfounded. He was being nice to me. He’s never been nice to me, or to anyone else for that matter.

“I’m thinking about it,” I mumbled.

“Hey, I know it’s scary with all of them out there,” he gestured toward the paparazzi, “but don’t worry, you’ll be in good company. Just walk with your head held high. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed or nervous about.”

What does he know? He’s gorgeous and loved by millions all over the world. I, on the other hand, am a social outcast who cats routinely hiss at.

Grayson held his hand out to me, the tips of his fingers were callused from years of playing guitar. “Come on,”

I took his hand and clumsily stumbled out of the limo, immediately blinded by all the camera flashes. From her spot on the red carpet, Lacey turned her head and arched an eyebrow at me. She couldn’t make a super-ugly face with all the cameras around. I awkwardly ran up to her, using my free hand to hold my dress down. I avoided meeting Grayson’s gaze as much as possible. He was suddenly so nice, and that was the last thing I expected from him.

“Keep the breath mints nearby,” Lacey whispered to me from the side of her mouth.

As far as parties go, this one was crazy fancy. I had to stop myself from going fan girl on all the celebrities. The last thing I needed to do was drool all over Johnny Depp’s Prada loafers.

But I felt like an idiot in that short, purple dress while everyone else wore gowns. People kept complimenting me on it, but I know they were only saying it to be nice. I couldn’t help but worry for Lacey. Since this was their first public appearance as a couple, she had this image in her head of how everything was supposed to go.

She wanted a certain amount of photographed kisses; she wanted particular music played when she danced with Grayson. I had to be nearby to make sure everything went swimmingly. I knew I’d suffer from the brunt of Lacey’s disappointment if things went awry. But there were so many people there! I could see her, but I couldn’t see anything interesting besides John Mayer flirting with a cocktail waitress. Serena, the social butterfly, only hung out with boring old me for a little while.

I could only handle the thumping of the bass and the heat of so many bodies for so long. After a while, I had to go to the balcony for some fresh air. And who did I stumble across, looking so hot while he brooded against the railing of the balcony?

Keller. Super-sexy Keller.

Keller smiled when he saw me. “Are you on your way to Vegas?” He gestured to my ridiculously short dress. I couldn’t help but blush.

“Not exactly.”

Keller raised his eyebrow. “Would you like to go?”

I laughed. “Maybe another time.”

God, what a stud.

“So, did you lose your phone or something?” I asked, not very smoothly.

The corner of this mouth turned up in a smile. “What makes you think I lost my phone?”

He seemed completely different from the Keller I went out with, but maybe the nicotine went straight to his head and altered his personality. “Um, you said you’d call me.”

“Oh.” He laughed and put out his cigarette. “I’m sorry, I was busy.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t. How hard is it to make a simple phone call?

“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked.

I froze. In the movies, this was always what the handsome man says when he wants the girl to come back to his place for steamy sex. I’ve never even kissed a boy. I can’t have
sex
! And Keller isn’t my boyfriend! We haven’t even been on a real date yet, and the rule for sex is waiting until the third date, at least. Well, according to movies.

Keller must’ve seen the sheer panic on my face because he quickly said, “I know a diner near here that serves pancakes all night.”

As long as we’re not pouring the maple syrup all over our naked bodies…at least until the third date.

So, is this a date? He didn’t exactly say, “Will you go on a date with me?” but it feels like a date. He’s gone to get his car, which seems a little date-like. I’ll wait to see if he offers to pay for my pancakes. I’m pretty sure that constitutes a date. But what do I know?

Later, 11:35pm—Round the Clock Diner

Okay, I have to be quick—Keller stepped out to take a quick phone call. This is
totally
a date. When we arrived at this adorable fifties-themed diner, he told me to order anything I liked because he was paying. Meredith and Amanda take turns paying for dates. If they’re both broke, they stay home, watch
Orange is the New Black
on Netflix, and roll their own burritos.