Kiss & Sell (27 page)

I nodded in agreement and launched into the story as the camera crew followed behind us, capturing the whole moment on film.

“YOU DID ALL
of this?” Ryder asked in awe.

We were standing just inside the gymnasium after handing our tickets to a few freshman Bree had suckered into working the door. Ryder looked around the room, taking in the different decorations and pointing out all the things he saw that fit our theme. He seemed impressed and excited and happy all at once. It was really cute.

“I didn’t do it all myself,” I said. “But yeah, I helped put it together. You don’t think it’s too cheesy?”

“Are you kidding? This is more elaborate than P Diddy’s after-party.”

I was grateful for the dim lighting, because I was blushing so hard from his compliment that I could have doubled as one of the Chinese lanterns we’d hung from the ceiling.

“Well, I hope everyone else feels the same way,” I said.

And for the most part, everyone
did
seem to be having a good time. Music was blaring from speakers that had been set up around the room. On top of that, a lively chatter served as background noise to the party atmosphere. A hundred people were already inside, gyrating on the dance floor, lounging around tables and snacking on food, and at least fifty more were lined up outside waiting to get in. Based on the smiles on everyone’s faces, I’d say we’d planned a pretty great party.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Ryder agreed.

We watched as a group of kids standing nearby, exploded into laughter, and then posed for a few selfies. Two of the girls pressed their cheeks together and made
kissy faces at the camera. I started to smile but felt it fade as I was reminded that
my
friends and I weren’t doing the same. The sadness came flooding back.

“Do you want to find them?” Ryder asked, reading my mind. “Your friends? Maybe they’re waiting for you somewhere in here.”

“I doubt it,” I said, frowning. Then, I forced a smile. After all, I
was
here with my dream guy. “I’ll let ’em cool down for a while. You want to go find a seat?”

“Sure,” Ryder said.

We walked toward the far right corner of the dance floor and snagged an empty table. I placed my purse on the tabletop and sat down, overly conscious of how short my dress was when I did so. Crossing my legs tightly together, I sat up straighter as Ryder filled the chair beside me. Then he scooted his seat closer to mine and leaned in so we could talk.

Or did he want to be closer to me?

“So, what are you supposed to do at these things? Do we sit on the sidelines and make fun of all the people dancing, because we’re too cool for it all? Or do we get out there and break out a choreographed dance like they do in the movies?” he asked, mischievously.

He was so close to me that I could smell the clean scent of his shampoo. I had a strong desire to lay my head on his shoulder and stay there for the rest of the night. Who cares if other people thought we were lame? Of course, that wouldn’t have really been fair to Ryder. He’d come because he wanted the classic school dance experience. And he wouldn’t get that sitting in the corner with me. Still, I wasn’t exactly ready for
Dancing with the Stars
just yet, so any fancy footwork was out of the question.

“Well, since we didn’t practice any eight counts before we came, I think that doing an elaborate dance number is out,” I answered, with a laugh. “And as for making fun of people…I think that’ll be kind of hard to do when everyone’s staring at us.”

I’d noticed it when we’d first made our entrance. Ryder had to have seen it, too. You’d have to be blind not to. All eyes had turned to us as we’d walked through the door and had followed our every move since. People were whispering and pointing, a few were even brazen enough to take out their cameras and snap a few shots in our direction. I couldn’t exactly blame them, though. Even if they didn’t recognize Ryder—which, let’s face it, was a pretty big “If”—the fact that there was a camera and lighting crew following us around would’ve clued them in.

the whole thing was totally weird, and I began to feel supremely awkward having all those eyes focused on me. I wanted to tell them to mind their own business but had a feeling it wouldn’t go over too well. Besides, it was too loud in there for people to hear me anyway. Instead, I turned away from our audience and focused on Ryder.

“How do you deal with this every day?” I asked. “Doesn’t it freak you out, having all these strangers staring at you?”

Ryder glanced over at a group of people who’d been dancing together just a few minutes before, but were now fully focused on us. He turned back to me and shrugged. “You know, I don’t really notice it anymore.”

“How could you
not
notice that,” I exclaimed, pointing at a few sophomore girls who were giggling and making a scene not six feet away from us. “There’s no way you could avoid the elephant in this room.”

“I’ll admit, it takes some getting used to. When people first started to recognize me, and they’d stop me on the street for a picture or an autograph, it was surreal. I mean, I’m just
me
. Some kid from oregon who happened to get lucky and land a few roles,” he said. “And suddenly I can’t go to the mall without being bombarded by girls who swear they love me, and guys who call me gay or whatever. Even parents would stop me in the middle of eating at a restaurant to ask me for autographs for their kids.”

“It got to the point where I was having a really hard time dealing with it all. I started to get anxious about going out in public, and began to hole up in my house, only coming out when I had to do a gig or my family forced me to. Then, I talked to one of my co-stars about it, and he told me just to imagine that I was somewhere I felt safe and happy, and then continue on with my life. So, I tried it and things started to get easier.”

It was solid advice, and I could see how it might help, but I wasn’t convinced I could pull it off. Right now I just couldn’t deal.

“You want some punch?” I asked him. I
was
a little thirsty, but I was mostly looking for an excuse to get away from the spotlight for a few minutes to collect myself and catch my breath. I sort of felt bad about leaving Ryder on his own, but like he’d said, he barely noticed it any more.

Getting up from my seat, I click-clacked my way over to where the refreshments were set up. Checking out the spread in front of me, I had to admit that it was all pretty
Impressive. There were salty treats like chips and pretzels, teamed up with sweets like M&Ms, brownies and fudge. Fruit and veggies balanced out the junk food and there was an assortment of dark and clear sodas to choose from. I grabbed a plate and began to pile it up. Then I filled two cups with soda and turned to leave.

And ran right into Bree.

“Hey, A! I’m so glad you’re finally here! You look amazing! Is your dress Marc Jacobs?” she bombarded me with her questions like a trigger-happy firing squad.

“Hi, Bree,” I said, trying to balance everything in my hands without dropping it. “Um, thanks. You look great, too. Are you having fun?”

“OMFG! People are saying that this is the best dance the school’s ever had. Even better than when susie Ferguson was in charge,” she gloated excitedly. “But enough about that. Why didn’t you tell me that you were bringing
Ryder Diggs
to the dance! If I’d known, we could’ve gotten at least two hundred more people here, easy. We probably could’ve even gotten the local news to come. How cool would that have been?”

I stared at her dumbly, as I saw the wheels turning in her head. Did she seriously not recognize that alerting the paparazzi was exactly the
last
thing we needed? Ryder and I had enough people following us around, I couldn’t imagine adding flashing cameras and yelling strangers to the mix.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Bree,” I answered. I knew this wasn’t totally true. That having a well-known actor crash our dance was probably the biggest thing to happen in our boring town. But I wanted her and everyone else to leave us alone. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently it was.

“Are you crazy? This is
huge
! like, Justin Bieber huge,” Bree said, her eyes widening. “Do you think he’d perform something from
Night Light
?”

“I don’t think he was planning to perform tonight—”

“Can you ask him anyway? I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t really feel comfortable—” I said, and glanced back in Ryder’s direction helplessly.

But Ryder was no longer alone. My eyes narrowed as I saw a tiny blond standing in front of him, hands on her hips suggestively. My heart dropped as she threw back her head to laugh and I realized that it was Kristi. And from the look on his
face, Ryder wasn’t recoiling in disgust like I would’ve hoped. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the company.

Of all the girls he could be talking to, it had to be her. Seriously, why did God hate me?

Leaving Bree to stare after me, I marched over to them, no longer paying attention to the drinks that were sloshing all over me. As I approached, I could hear Kristi’s scratchy voice as she fawned all over my date.

“No,
Really
. You were my first crush! I saw
The Secrets We Keep
a hundred times in the theater,” she cooed. “I thought you were
brilliant
in it.”

I resisted the urge to gag. Stepping in between them, I carefully set down the plate of treats and handed Ryder his drink. Then, I turned around and blinked at Kristi, like I was noticing her for the first time.

“Oh. Hey, Kristi,” I said flatly. “This is Ryder.
My
date.”

“We met,” she answered, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

“Great,” I said between clenched teeth. “So, who are you here with? Please don’t tell me you’re here
alone
?”

Please tell me you’re here alone, please tell me you’re here alone, please tell me…

“Of course I’m not here by myself!” she said as if I’d just suggested she shave her head and start dating a math nerd. Kristi glanced around the room halfheartedly. “My date’s around here somewhere.”

“Really?” I asked, desperately wanting her to leave. “Maybe you should go find him.”

“There he is!” she said, waving in the direction of the stage. The guy, who’d just been lounging up against the wall, saw Kristi motioning to him, and he began to saunter over. Lights were shooting around the dance floor like we were in a club, making it impossible to see who it was. But the guy’s walk was slow and cool, like he wasn’t in any hurry to get to us. He seemed to almost glide across the floor.

Wait. I
know
that walk.

My eyes widened as the figure got closer. After a few agonizing seconds, Cade came into focus in front of us. His hands were characteristically shoved in his pockets, but that’s where the similarities ended. The tux he wore fit him perfectly, hugging all the right places. He looked sharp. Like James Bond or Brad Pitt. You could tell that his hair had just been trimmed and he’d shaved earlier that day. He
looked softer somehow. I wouldn’t have even recognized him if it hadn’t been for that requisite broody look on his face.

Cade stared at me, and then over at Ryder, and then back at me. Though probably no one else had noticed, I could see the flash of intensity in his eyes as he recognized Ryder.

“Arielle,” he said way too seriously.

“Hey, Cade,” I answered.

I was suddenly furious at both of them for daring to come to the dance together. no doubt, Kristi’s motivation had been revenge and all-around torture. Somehow she’d found out that Cade and I’d been hanging out together lately, and figured that by inserting herself between us, she’d succeed in making my life even more miserable than it already was.

And Cade? He was just mad that I refused to tell him about the MTV thing, and was trying to get back at me for it. Why he even cared, I couldn’t figure out. no matter who was responsible for the betrayal, my night was slowly heading downhill.

“Kristi was just telling me a funny story about you,” Ryder said.

“Oh, really?” I answered as sweetly as I could muster considering how mad I was. “And what story was that?”

“You know, about the guy you tipped over in the cafeteria,” he answered, chuckling as he pictured it. “She said he deserved it and that the whole thing was hilarious.”

That was enough to knock me off my pedestal. “Really?” I asked, turning to her incredulously.

“Sure,” she said, the faintest hint of annoyance in her voice. “It’s not
your
fault no one wants to kiss you. And Dan certainly shouldn’t try to take advantage of your newfound social status.”

What she said wasn’t totally mean, but it wasn’t exactly nice, either. So I just nodded my head slightly.

“Not that I can blame Dan for noticing the change in you. You
were
always hanging out with those two losers before—he’s a big step up for you, by the way,” she said, nodding at Ryder, who was now busy having what appeared to be a staring contest with Cade. “Speaking of the socially-challenged, where
are
your friends?”