Unlucky Break (18 page)

Please pull me to you,
she begged silently.
Put your hands on my hips and push yourself into me. Show me how much you want me. Kiss me, take me.

And then she poured the water over his hair and held her breath, watching the moment go down the drain with the soapy water.

He opened his eyes. ‘That was better than sex,’ he said, smiling up at her. ‘Thanks, Andie.’ There wasn’t a trace of desire in his voice.

Maybe it was better than sex for you, but not for me,
she thought, feeling flustered and awkward as she dried off his hair with a towel.

‘We done?’ he asked, sitting up carefully, protecting his back. He took the towel off her and put it over his lap.

She nodded. ‘Yep, we’re done,’ she said and handed him his crutches.
For now,
she added silently.

15

James sat in his room with the door shut, trying to compose himself. Did she even know what she’d just done to him?

Water from his hair was still dripping down his back. He shivered and pulled on a T-shirt, then towel-dried his hair and lay on the bed. His back was still a little sore, but it was much better already. A day or two of rest would sort it out.

He wasn’t going to make a move, just because he noticed everything about her. Or because he knew exactly where she was whenever she was in the house.

James hadn’t had a crush on a girl since high school. Nikki had thrown herself at him on the film set of their first movie together and, flattered by the attention, he’d convinced himself he was in love with her too.

Before he knew it, he was in deep with Nikki and he couldn’t leave. Every time he said they needed a break, she would threaten to kill herself, or kill him, or both. This was usually said when she was blind drunk, but he was too afraid to risk finding out if she was serious or not. It wasn’t until she finally left him for a new co-star that he was free. Or so he’d thought.

James stood up and swayed a little on his crutches, mind drifting to Andie again. What was it about her? He wanted to be with her all the time. It was distracting.
She
was distracting. Not since the girl at the bar had he liked someone so instantly.

She seemed distant, not interested in him. She probably thought he was super arrogant – in fact, she changed the subject whenever he talked about his foot. Was he talking about it too much?

He opened the door and moved slowly along the hallway. He heard the sound of the television and carefully went down the stairs. She was sitting on the sofa, surrounded by his fan mail, watching a movie.

‘Hey,’ he said, and she looked up at him and blushed.

‘I’m sorry, is it too loud? I’m working while I watch,’ she stammered, waving letters at him.

‘That’s cool,’ he said and hopped over to the sofa. ‘What are you watching?’

‘
Amélie
,’ she said, looking away from him.

She clearly wanted him to be quiet. He put his foot on the table.

Andie got up without speaking and picked up a cushion. She walked over and lifted his leg, gently placing it back down on the soft pillow.

James tingled slightly at her touch. It was the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a long time. Thoughtful, and without any expectation. James wished he could do something as nice for her.

James stared at the screen determinedly, but he could still feel her next to him. Only a few handspans away and yet not even on her radar. She was doing her job, nothing more.

‘How’s the fan mail going?’ he asked casually, and then regretted it. She’d think he was an idiot for asking about it. He wished he could press rewind.

‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘Lots of girls madly in love with you.’ She winked at him, then started to read from the letter in her hand.

Dear James,

I love you. I think about you all the time.

I know you don’t know me at all but whenever I see you in your films, I know that Nikki is not the right person for you. I am. Please give me a chance and you’ll find out. I think we would be very happy together.

Andie read and James held his breath for a moment, imagining that Andie had written that to him, that it was her way of telling him he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

‘Love from Hilary, aged twelve,’ Andie finished, pretending to swoon.

James nodded slowly, smiling weakly. ‘God bless Hilary,’ he said, looking back to the film.

‘Is it weird?’ Andie asked.

‘Is what weird?’ He turned to her and noticed the way the new haircut showed off her cheekbones. Her skin was so perfect and pale, not like the tanned girls all over LA.

‘Having a girl’s heart in your hands like that,’ Andie said. Her gaze was penetrating.

James felt turned on and uncomfortable at the same time. ‘I guess I’ve never really thought about it like that,’ he said, wishing he could kiss her but knowing he wouldn’t.

Andie leant back on the sofa, and his eyes swept over her legs in her skinny jeans. She had bare feet and was still wearing the black top from before. He was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing a bra under it.

‘You should think about it,’ said Andie. The tone of her voice made James wonder if she was mad at him for some reason.

‘Okay,’ he said frowning. ‘Write a letter back to Hilary from me.’

Andie raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Really?’

‘Yes,’ said James, sitting up straight as Andie picked up a pen and pad.

‘Dear Hilary,’ said James, and then thought for a minute.

‘Good start,’ said Andie. Was she mocking him? There was laughter in her bright blue eyes, but no, he didn’t think so.

‘Thank you for your letter. I feel so lucky that you love what I do. I agree with you about my relationship with Nikki. That’s why we’ve decided to be just friends.’

Andie smiled as she wrote it down.

‘I am sure you’re a great person and in another time and place, perhaps we would meet and be great friends.’

He thought again for a moment. Andie looked up at him, pen poised. He swallowed, blushing slightly as he continued.

‘Lots of boys will come into your life in the years to come, Hilary, and I just want to tell you that you should never do anything you don’t want. Be with someone because you like them as they are and make sure that person likes you for you. Life is too short to waste time trying to be someone you aren’t.’

James watched as Andie wrote quickly, taking down his words. ‘Be yourself and then find someone who’s been looking for someone exactly like you.’

He thought he saw Andie’s jaw tighten as she wrote.

God, she must think I’m so full of it
. He was regretting his idea to write back to the little girl.

‘Love, James?’ she asked, looking up at him.

‘Yes.’
If only you did
, he added silently.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and type this up now, then.’

And with that, she left him alone in the room.

16

Every day, Andie wished James would do something to end the crush she had on him. But the more she wished, the more perfect he became to her.

‘I just want him to eat with his mouth open or wear a stupid hat, or have some weird habits, like chewing his toenails or something, so I can be released from his spell,’ Andie moaned to Jess on the phone.

‘Lemme get this straight,’ said Jess. ‘You want him to be a douche so you won’t like him anymore?’

‘Yep,’ said Andie as she lay on her bed.

‘You’re crazy, you know that?’ said Jess.

‘I know, right?’

Andie had spent the last three days since ‘shampoo gate’, as she now called it, swinging between wanting to burst into his room and declare her feelings for him, and just trying to be the best assistant possible.

She had cleaned out his library, alphabetised his bookshelf and answered all the fan mail. Now she was reading the piles of scripts his manager and agent had sent him, making notes for him on each one.

‘What am I looking for in a great script?’ she asked as she started on the pile. They were both on the deck, Andie with a huge pile of scripts next to her, and James reading
Pride and Prejudice.

James looked up at her. ‘You don’t have to do that,’ he said.

‘I know, but I want you to feel assisted,’ she said, smiling. ‘I’ll just sort out the really bad ones for you, so you have a smaller pile to read.’

She sat down and tucked her feet underneath her on the cane lounge. The sun was warm on her head, and she adjusted her fake Ray-Bans on her face.

‘I like your sunglasses,’ he said, still watching her.

Andie made a face. ‘They’re fake. I can’t afford the real ones yet,’ she laughed.

‘Aren’t we paying you enough?’ he joked, putting the book down.

Andie smiled weakly. ‘No complaints,’ she said, opening the first script.

Except of course she wasn’t getting paid, and there was no way she was going to use the money Cece had given her for a ‘real’ pair when the fake ones worked just as well.

‘So, the scripts?’ she reminded him.

‘Yeah, the scripts. Okay,’ he said, thinking. ‘It needs to have an interesting plot, good character arc and great dialogue.’

‘You’re not fussy, then?’ she teased. She saw something flicker across his face – hurt, maybe? – but it was gone as soon as she saw it.
Great,
she thought.
He thinks I insulted his taste.

Reddening, Andie looked away, flicking the first script open. ‘Okay, let’s do a couple together so I can get a sense of what you’re looking for. This first one is set in a men’s jail in the future.’

James made a face as Andie looked up. ‘What?’ she asked.

‘In case you haven’t heard, I’m being taken to court for driving under the influence,’ he said, rubbing a hand over his face. ‘I don’t think this is a good omen.’

Andie was speechless for a moment. In her weeks of crushing on him, she’d forgotten about the drink-driving charges. Now that she knew him better, she wasn’t sure she believed the rumours anyway. But now here he was, admitting to it like it was a crime akin to eating the last chocolate biscuit.

‘You drove drunk?’ she asked him finally, her face serious.

‘Yeah. I was hammered,’ he said, emotionless. He looked at her and smiled, as if to say, ‘What’re you gonna do?’

Andie had done a lot of stupid things in her time, especially since she got to LA. But driving drunk was pretty much the worst thing she could imagine.

Her brain flashed white-hot with anger as she looked at him sitting there, shrugging at his casual choice to endanger not only his own life, but countless others as well.

In the same instant, she realised her prayers had been answered. Her crush was completely, utterly gone and she disliked him intensely.

‘Okay,’ she said brusquely. ‘I’ll read through these and make some notes, if it helps, although I don’t know how much my advice will count.’

James didn’t answer. He was watching her closely and she felt uncomfortable under his gaze.

‘You’re judging me,’ he said.

‘No, I’m not,’ she said, a little too quickly. ‘I don’t care what you do, I’m just an employee. Nothing else.’ She kept looking down in case her face betrayed her true feelings.

There was silence between them. Andie tried to read the words on the page she was holding, but the knowledge of what he’d done ran through her head. Who the hell drove drunk? Didn’t he know anything? She was so angry she could hardly look at the words on the page.

James’s mobile phone rang beside her and she answered it, glad for the distraction.

‘Andie?’ she heard. ‘It’s Pete.’

‘Hi, Pete,’ she walked to the other side of the deck.

‘I’m sorry, I totally forgot to tell you or James – there’s an opening of a new restaurant and bar in town tonight and James is invited. One of the partners is a producer over at Capitol, so he needs to be there.’

‘Okay,’ said Andie. ‘What time is it?’

‘Seven for press, but the official opening isn’t till eight.’

‘That’s fine. I can have him there, no problems,’ said Andie, glad that she would have the night home by herself. She needed some time alone.

‘The thing is,’ said Pete, ‘I need you there too.’

‘Why?’ asked Andie. Dinner with James and his manager was the last thing she felt like right then.