Moving in Reverse (24 page)

Tears blurred my vision as everything
that had happened sunk in, my chest rising and falling like I
couldn’t get enough air. I pulled my knees up to my chest, feeling
all the pain of the last week like it was going to explode inside
me.

I’d lost Blake. I’d lost everything,
and I was no closer to getting it back now than when I
started.

I was crying so hard that I barely
even noticed when Sophie got off the chair and moved over to the
couch beside me, wrapping her arms around me a bear hug, tight and
comforting. I leaned my wet cheek onto her shoulder.

“
Case, it’s gonna be
okay,” Sophie whispered, letting me cry. “We’ll figure it
out.”

Chapter
Thirty-Six

I slept on Sophie’s couch that night,
in a pair of borrowed pajamas, not wanting to go back to the
hotel.

She was still asleep when my cell
phone started buzzing at seven o’clock in the morning. I looked
down at the caller ID, trying to quell my hope that it would
somehow, magically, be Blake, finally forgiving me. But it was my
parents.

“
Casey,” my mom’s voice
was cheerful and wide awake when I hit the button to answer her
call. “How’s Los Angeles?”

I froze. I’d been relying on the fact
that my parents basically never read the tabloids, hoping they
wouldn’t notice that I’d skipped a week of school. But apparently,
the jig was up.

“
It’s, um, good?” I said,
nervously, not sure why she wasn’t more angry.

“
How’s Blake?” She
continued, like this was just a normal conversation, catching up
after a week or two.

“
He’s good,” I lied
smoothly. It was starting to feel like I lied so often that I
couldn’t even tell the truth apart anymore.

Although, to my credit,
Blake
was
fine,
as far as I knew. He was mentally and physically intact—he just
wasn’t interested in giving me the time of day.

“
Well, we’re sad that we
missed you this week, but we’re really excited for next weekend.
Have you picked a restaurant yet?”

For a moment, I stared dumbly at the
phone, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

And then I remembered: Fall
Break.

Blake and I had left
school a week early, but eventually the real vacation had merged
into ours. My mom wasn’t angry at me for being in California
because she
knew
I was in California. She just didn’t know I’d been here an
extra week.

Duh.

I was really off my game this
week.

“
Definitely — somewhere
near school, maybe? There are some great places on the Upper West
Side. Is Trevor coming?”

“
He can’t wait. We
promised him a trip to the Museum of Natural History to see the
dinosaurs. You guys are more than welcome to come, too, if you
think that’d be fun.”

I let myself picture an afternoon with
Blake and my family, wandering through a museum full of dinosaur
bones (and probably some other stuff too, but knowing Trevor, we
weren’t going to make it much further than the T-Rex. The kid had
seen Jurassic Park basically every weekend for the last two
years).

It sounded... perfect.

And there was no way it was ever going
to happen, unless I figured out how to get Blake to actually talk
to me.

“
Maybe,” I said, not quite
lying this time. “I’d love to.”

My mom’s voice deepened,
conspiratorial. “So have you seen any celebrities yet?”

I started laughing, my
shoulders shaking with the weirdness of the question. Had I seen
any celebrities? I’d seen Blake. I’d seen Tanner. I’d seen April, I
thought with a shudder. I’d had these weird appearances where it
seemed like
I
was
the celebrity.

But George Clooney? Leonardo Dicaprio?
Not yet.

“
It’s been pretty low key,
mom,” I lied again. It had been the opposite of low key, but I
hadn’t been hanging out with Matt Damon either. “No
celebs.”

“
Well, if you see Brad
Pitt, give him my number.”

“
Mom!”

“
I’m kidding, hon,” she
paused. “Well, I mean, actually, for
Brad
Pitt
...”

“
I’m not finishing this
conversation,” I said, smiling and shaking my head. “And I think
his thirty-two kids might object to you stealing their dad. Not to
mention
your two
.”

My mom laughed. “Ok, I’ll let you go.
Sorry for calling so early, I forgot about the time
difference.”

“
All good,” I said,
somehow feeling better. “Tell dad and Trevor I say hi.”

“
I will — can’t wait to
see you next weekend. Love you, Casey.”

I smiled. “Love you too,
mom.”

Sophie didn’t wake up for another two
hours, so I was already showered and dressed in some of her clothes
by the time the doorbell rang at ten.

“
Soph?”

“
It’s okay,” she called
from her bedroom. “It’s just Tanner.”

My stomach flipped. I’d
spent so much time trying
not
to be seen with Tanner, and Sophie was going to
be the one to blow it for me?

As if reading my mind, she peeked her
head out from the bedroom. “Case, no one knows you’re here. Stay
behind the door when you open it, just in case, but you guys are
safe here. Tanner comes over all the time, no one’s going to think
anything about it.”

“
He’s not bringing a
camera crew, is he?” After my first run-in with April’s reality
show, I wasn’t anxious for another.

“
Doesn’t need one — they
wire our apartments. It’s like 1984 in here,” Sophie said
casually.

I froze, my eyes wide and terrified,
scanning the walls for hidden cameras.

Sophie burst out laughing.
“Jeez, Case, I forgot how gullible you are. No, we have shooting
schedules and film crews, you dork. Tanner’s alone. Now let him in
before someone
does
recognize him, pretty please?”

I kept my body so concealed behind the
door that I could hear Tanner start to laugh as I pulled it
open.

“
Sophie,” he called out,
his voice conveying every ounce of his amusement. “Did you know
that your house is haunted?”

“
If only,” Sophie laughed
from the bedroom. “Maybe they could scare away my awful
neighbors.”

Tanner took the door from my hand and
shut it, taking a quick look at me. “I guess if I had to have a
ghost around, I’d want her to look like you,” he said, winking at
me.

I blushed, turning away from him and
toward the kitchen. “Do you want some coffee?” I asked, despite
having no idea whether Sophie actually had a coffee machine or
whether I could figure out how to use it.

“
Nah,” Tanner said,
sitting down on the couch and gesturing for me to sit too. I took a
quick look to make sure all the window shades were shut to the
front of the house, and joined him.

“
Heard you had a rough
night last night, Snow,” he said it sympathetically, and for a
moment I panicked. Had Sophie told him about everything? About
Blake? “Psycho fans come with the territory, you know,” he said,
and I exhaled. He just meant the girl at the bar. “Do we need to
get you a bodyguard?”

I laughed. “I don’t think I’m quite in
Bradgelina territory. Besides, one appearance at a club isn’t going
to buy me an entourage just yet.”

“
I volunteer,” Tanner
immediately countered, throwing me a grin that I had to admit was
pretty sexy. “I’ll do it for free.”

“
You already seem to
follow me everywhere I go,” I giggled. “Does that make you the
bodyguard or the stalker I’m supposed to be protected
from?”

“
You want protection from
whoever is trying to hurt you, Snow,” Tanner said, eyes suddenly
dark. “And that’s not me.”

My breath wavered for a second,
staring into his brown eyes. The tension in the room was almost
palpable.

“
Besides,” Tanner said,
his voice seductive. “I’d never let anyone toss a drink on you...
unless maybe there was a white tee-shirt involved.”

I threw a pillow at him, breaking the
tension, ignoring the feeling that my heart was starting to beat a
little faster.

As if on cue, Sophie finally came into
the room, dressed in a black tank top and fringed jean shorts. She
looked stunning. I’d always thought Sophie was beautiful, but it
was as if she’d come into her own over the last few months, her
skin translucently pale and perfect, her dark eyes and pink lips
flawless.

“
Good morning,” she said,
plopping down on the couch next to me. “Nice shirt,” she gave me a
sideways look, and I glanced down at the tank top I’d borrowed from
her closet without asking.

“
I thought we were friends
again?”

“
I haven’t even worn that
one, you little mooch,” she said, her eyes laughing. “Besides,
didn’t you pack a suitcase this trip?”

I thought about sitting in LAX in a
Madonna costume at two in the morning. “Not exactly,” I shuddered.
“I do, however, have a brand new closet of free clothes over the
last few days, so I’m happy to return the favor.”

Sophie smiled. “Nah,” she said. “You
can just owe me one. So what’s on the agenda for today?”

I looked down, embarrassed.

Tanner looked at me, a smile forming.
“What is it, Snow?”

I bit my lip. “It’s
nothing.”

Sophie shook her head, confused.
“Case, what is it?”

I threw my head back against the
pillow, not wanting to meet their eyes. “I have a...
photoshoot?”

Sophie hooted with laughter and Tanner
looked like he was trying to hold back the same. “You don’t waste
any time, do you?” he said, half admiringly.

“
Lauren set it up, I don’t
know. It’s for some Japanese teen magazine,” I backtracked,
mortified. “I could cancel?”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “And do what?
Hang out in the hotel, dreading every minute till you go back to
Columbia? Do it,” she grinned. “Those things are a
blast.”

Tanner leaned back on the couch as
Sophie continued.

“
Besides, they’ll do your
hair and makeup, right? Maybe we can all go out
tonight.”

I looked at Tanner fleetingly,
catching his eye. The last thing I could do was show up at some
club or restaurant with Tanner Cole. Not if I ever wanted things to
go back to normal.

“
I can’t,” he said,
catching my meaning. “Date with a Victoria’s Secret model,
actually. The website, though, not the print campaign,” he said it
apologetically.

Sophie threw the pillow at him faster
than I could, and I started laughing.

“
Come on, Snow,” he said,
setting the pillow down on the floor. “I’ll drive you to your
shoot.”

I hesitated. “Are you sure that’s a
good idea?”

“
I’ll drop you off a block
or two away,” he said. “People have been sneaking around Los
Angeles since before you were born. Just try not to make out with
me if we hit a stoplight — that’s how you get caught.”

I blushed. “I’ll see if I can restrain
myself,” I said sarcastically. “Thanks.”

“
When do you go back to
New York?” Sophie asked, her voice a little sad.

I was too. Now that we were talking
again, it felt hard to remember why we’d gone so long without
it.

“
Sunday,” I said, feeling
a little tinge of regret in my voice.

It was Friday. I had two more nights
in California, and even if Blake didn’t return my calls before
then, we had six hours in adjoining seats on the way
home.

And then, back to Columbia. Leaving
one set of problems behind, just to run headfirst into another
one.

Sophie seemed to sense my anxiety, and
put her hand on my shoulder. “Cheer up, Casey. A lot can happen in
two days.”

Chapter
Thirty-Seven

Tanner drove me to the photoshoot in a
brand new black Lexus, still with temporary plates.

“
Signing bonus?” I asked,
as he unlocked the door for me to get in.

He grinned sheepishly. “What, like
Blake doesn’t have one?”

I thought about Blake’s silver
convertible, that I’d been so afraid to drive. I didn’t
answer.

“
So why don’t you want to
go back to school?” Tanner asked, pulling out of Sophie’s driveway
and signaling to turn onto a wider residential street. We passed a
few couples with strollers walking down the sidewalks, but
otherwise, for a weekday, everything was pretty quiet.

I sighed. “It’s a long
story.”

“
About Blake?”

“
No,” I paused, “not
really. My roommate. Fraternity, sorority stuff. Dumb college
things.”

Tanner chuckled. “Right. Not exactly
my forte.”