Unlucky Break (19 page)

‘Well, the invite was for two. Nikki’s no longer on the scene, and he has to take someone,’ said Pete. ‘He doesn’t really have female friends. Nikki scared them all off.’

Andie made a face, her back to James. ‘Okay,’ she sighed. ‘I guess I have no choice.’

She turned and looked at James. He was reading, his foot on the table in front of him.

‘Thanks, Andie,’ Pete said, sounding relieved. ‘Oh, and one more thing?’

‘What?’ she said, and immediately realised she sounded rude. ‘Sorry, yes?’

‘Um, any chance you bring a date for me? Mine just pulled out.’

Andie looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. ‘Really?’

‘Sorry,’ said Pete.

‘Leave it with me,’ she said, and hung up the phone.

James looked up at her. ‘All okay?’

Andie scowled. ‘We have to go to some restaurant opening. And Pete wants me to bring a date for him.’

‘That sounds okay.’ He peered at Andie. ‘Doesn’t it?’

Andie shrugged and looked back at the script. ‘It’s all part of the job, I guess,’ she said. ‘What’s he like?’

‘Pete?’ James smiled. ‘A massive myopic dork, with a hard shell, but a soft gooey caramel centre.’

‘So he’s a Caramello Koala.’

‘A what?’ laughed James.

‘Just a type of chocolate in Australia,’ said Andie, shaking her head. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘Are they nice?’

‘What?’

‘The caramel koalas.’

‘Caramello Koalas. And yes, they’ve always been my favourite. I don’t think you can get them here.’

James was obviously bored with her chocolate nostalgia, and changed the subject. ‘So, can you hustle up a friend for Pete?’

‘Yeah, I’ll ask my friend Jess.’

Andie dialled Jess’s number, not looking at James. She could feel his eyes on her.

‘Hey,’ said Andie, when Jess answered. ‘It’s me. Wanna come out for dinner tonight?’

‘Okay,’ said Jess straight away.

You had to love that about Jess. She was always up for an impromptu night out.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Jess.

‘I don’t know,’ said Andie. ‘Some new restaurant with James and his manager, Pete.’

‘With Pete Arkin?’ yelled Jess. ‘Oh my god, I have to go and get ready.’ She hung up without saying goodbye.

Andie put the phone back in her pocket. ‘Is Pete a big deal?’ she asked James. ‘I’m pretty sure Jess just wet herself.’

James smiled. ‘He’s the best.’

Andie nodded and pretended to go back to reading her script. Now that she’d calmed down, she was confused about everything. Why was she judging James so harshly for drink-driving when she’d run him over and left him for dead? Everyone made mistakes.

Andie sensed that James was still staring at her, and looked up at him. ‘What?’ she snapped. ‘Do I have something on my face?’

‘Yep,’ he said, a faint smile on his lips. ‘Judgement.’

Andie put down the script. ‘I just can’t believe you drove when you were drunk. It’s, like, the worst thing you can do.’

James shrugged. ‘I agree.’

‘So why did you do it? You can get a driver anytime. You can afford a taxi. So why?’ she asked, trying but failing to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

James considered her carefully for a moment. ‘Do you think less of me?’

Andie looked at the ground and the small trail of ants that crossed the deck, all lined up. ‘It doesn’t matter what I think of you,’ she said finally.

‘Yes it does,’ he said quietly.

‘Why?’ She didn’t move a muscle.

What the hell was going on here – was he teasing her? Could he see her crush?

‘Because your opinion matters to me,’ he said, moving his head and trying to get into her line of sight.

Andie looked away. ‘Okay, whatever.’ If he was going to fire her, she figured he’d do it whether she told him what she thought or not. ‘I don’t know, I just think it’s a choice you make and you should know better. Well, everyone should. Don’t drink and drive. It’s simple.’

‘What if I told you it wasn’t me driving?’ he asked, sitting forward. Their knees were almost touching now.

Andie looked at him in the eye. Suddenly it all clicked into place. ‘Nikki?’ she asked.

‘How did you know?’

Andie shrugged. ‘Makes sense. You take the blame for her all the time.’

James made a wry face. ‘I know.’

Andie stood up. ‘Is she worth it?’ she asked. ‘I mean, potential jail time. Would she do it for you?’

James looked away. ‘It’s not like that. She doesn’t cope as well as other people.’

Andie picked up the scripts and started to walk away.

James called out after her, ‘You think even less of me now, don’t you? Because I’m letting Nikki get away with it.’

Andie didn’t say anything as she went to her room.
No, James,
she thought as she sat on the bed.
I think my crush has just turned into something more.

Cameron would never have helped her like that. Instead he showed her his true colours after the worst period of her life.

Andie flopped backwards on the bed and put the script over her face. She wondered if Nikki knew she had the love of the greatest guy in the world.

17

Andie was drunk. She hadn’t been drunk since she was sixteen, when she had spent the night in the shower. Marissa put her there in case she threw up on the carpet.

Jess frowned at her from across the table and Andie poked out her tongue in reply.

A combination of nerves and Jess and Pete’s obvious flirtation with each other had encouraged Andie to try every wine with the eight-course degustation menu so far. It was clear that Pete was smitten with Jess the minute he saw her.

Andie was surprised to see that Jess had donned a relatively sedate black one-shouldered jersey dress for dinner. She had an armful of bangles that jangled when she walked.
Like a warning bell,
thought Andie when she saw Pete’s face as she and Jess entered Decca.
Caution: Sexy coming through.

Pete was short, hairy and short-sighted. James had told Andie that he refused to get contacts or glasses, so he wore a permanent squint, which made him look a little surly. He was also, next to James, the most stared-at man in the room. He was only twenty-four, though he acted more like forty-four, but he was one of Hollywood’s biggest power players, and he worked it. Wannabe actors, male and female, made excuses to walk past their table – preening, flirting with Pete, acting like they knew him. Pete was gruff, dismissive, though somehow also charming. Andie liked him immediately, though she had very little direct conversation with him – Jess monopolised him throughout the whole dinner.

James and I should have got our own table,
Andie thought, as Jess laughed at something Pete said. Jess had been pleasant to James and friendly to Andie, but Pete took up the vast majority of her attention.

When they’d gone to the ladies room after the third course, Andie dragged Jess into a stall. ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Jess.

‘You flirting with Pete,’ said Andie. ‘You don’t really like him. You’re just using him for your career. It’s cruel.’

‘How do you know?’ asked Jess. ‘Why wouldn’t I like him?’

‘Because he’s not …’

‘What?’ asked Jess, raising her eyebrows. ‘James?’

Andie raised her shoulders haughtily. ‘No, I’m just saying …’

‘He hasn’t looked at my tits once, he hasn’t offered me coke and he told me he would negotiate my war-movie contract for me. What’s not to love?’ said Jess, opening the stall door and going to the mirror to check her lip gloss.

‘Are you serious?’ Andie shook her head as she followed Jess out. ‘He hasn’t looked at your tits because he’s myopic.’

‘That’s okay. I used to be bulimic, I don’t judge him,’ said Jess, and she sailed out of the bathroom.

And that was when Andie had started to drink in earnest. Jess was either the greatest actor alive or Squinty Pete, as Andie was calling him in her head, was attractive. He was nice and all, but would she sleep with him? Nope.

Andie knew it was a bad idea, and very unprofessional, to get drunk in front of her employer, but she was on her fifth glass of wine before she realised. At that point, her judgement was too impaired to stop.

James was taking it easy on the drinks – they didn’t agree with his meds. He was watching Jess and Pete with interest. He whispered in Andie’s ear after the fifth course.

‘They seem to be getting along well. Good set-up.’

Andie whispered back, ‘Yeah, I’m all over it. A regular matchmaker.’ She smiled sweetly at James, who grinned back at her. Andie suspected she might have spoken a little louder than she’d intended.

At the fifth course, it was Jess who was dragging Andie to the bathroom.

‘What are
you
doing?’ Jess almost pushed Andie into a stall.

‘What?’ slurred Andie, just a little.

‘Why are you getting drunk?’

‘’Cause that’s how I roll,’ said Andie, pretending to be cool with gangsta hand movements.

‘That’s your boss out there, you know,’ said Jess, impatiently waving Andie’s hands away. ‘Not to mention half of Hollywood’s hottest. You look stupid.’

‘Your boobs are stupid,’ said Andie, giggling.

Jess put her hands on her hips. ‘I’m going to forget you said that,’ she said, and she left the bathroom.

‘That’s because you’re stupid,’ called Andie, but she did actually think Jess had a point. She was starting to feel a little sick anyway, so when she returned to the table she switched to Diet Coke. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. It was going to take a while to sober up.

By the seventh course, Andie was finding it easier to focus if she just narrowed her eyelids a little.
I’ll have to start calling myself Squinty Andie,
she thought, grinning stupidly to herself.

As soon as the eighth course, an architectural masterpiece of chocolate ganache and cherry jelly, was done, Jess and Pete stood up to leave. Jess was clearly pissed off with Andie, who had slapped Jess on the butt as she stood up and told her to use the egg chair in her living room for some good fun. In hindsight, probably something she should have texted to Jess, rather than said loudly in a crowded restaurant.

Jess had left without another word to Andie. Soon after, James said a driver was there to take them home.

Andie sat in the back seat of the car and James got in next to her, his crutches lying along the floor.

‘That was nice,’ she beamed.

‘It was,’ said James, smiling at her.

‘I think I’m a little bit drunk,’ she said.

‘Uh-huh,’ he said, opening a console in the armrest where there was a bottle of water. ‘Drink this.’

‘Drink this. Will it make me smaller or larger?’ she laughed.

‘Sober, hopefully,’ he said.

‘You didn’t get my joke,’ she pouted.

‘I got it.
Alice in Wonderland
,’ he said, holding the bottle to her mouth. Andie took a few sips of the water.

‘Good, I’m glad you’re not stupid,’ she said, leaning on his shoulder.

‘Thanks, I’m glad I’m not either,’ said James.

‘It’s a silly job, being an actor,’ said Andie, closing her eyes.

‘Lots of people want to be actors,’ said James.

‘And lots of people are stupid,’ she answered. ‘I’m stupid.’

‘I don’t think you are,’ he murmured.

‘Oh, I’m stupid, I’ve done some seriously stupid things.’

The car weaved through the streets and Andie felt her stomach lurch a little. She drank some more water.

‘This is like a ride,’ she said, putting her arms up and pretending she was on a roller-coaster.

‘Uh-huh,’ said James, as the car stopped outside his house. Andie got unsteadily out and ran around to open his door.

‘Let me help you,’ she said, offering her hand to James. She swayed a little.

James laughed. ‘I don’t think you’re much help. Come on, let’s get inside.’

Andie took the keys from her purse and opened the door.

‘Honey, I’m home,’ she called into the dark entrance hall. Her voice echoed off the marble floors.

She kicked off her shoes and ran down the hall to the living room. She went straight to the bookshelf and pulled down a book. ‘
On the Road
, by Jack Kerouac,’ she read aloud. ‘One man’s journey to find himself through pretentious beat poetry and obscure jazz references.’

‘Hey, I like that book,’ said James, coming in behind her.

‘Of course you do,’ said Andie and dropped it on the floor. She picked up another book. ‘
Love in the Time of Cholera
. So deep,’ she said in a serious voice.

She picked up a third book. ‘
Pride and Prejudice.
When the one you love doesn’t love you back, it’s just a misunderstanding, and in the end you’ll live happily ever after.’

A funny look came over James’s face. ‘Haven’t you got anything better to do than critique my books all night?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know. Do I?’ Andie asked and put her hand on her hip, meaning to strike a sassy pose. She missed though, so instead it looked like she was doing a weird dance move.

‘You know, I saw you once,’ she said. ’At the airport with Nikki.’ She spat Nikki’s name as though it was toxic.