“Ah, Char,” I said as I hopped up on the counter empty-handed. I wanted to eat ice cream to calm down my nerves. “Talking about Keira Knightley isn’t helping at all. If I see Keira Knightley, I’m going to embarrass myself even more than I did the last time they saw me, and I don’t want to think about that.”

Walking around me, she opened the refrigerator and took out two small boxes of apple juice—taking advantage of a sale, we had bought them the day before. Handing one of them over, she jumped on the counter right across from me.

I sighed. “My savior.”

“I would offer alcohol to take the edge off, but I’m thinking that wouldn’t be very helpful in your state.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” I said, with a wince. “I’ll drink to my heart’s content when we go out tonight. Still coming, right? Don’t bail on us like you did last time. It’s karaoke night.”

“No bailing necessary. I wouldn’t miss karaoke night. So, how does it feel to be an early graduate? What are your plans now?”

“I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet. I’m happy, of course, but a little sad, too, I think. I paid off all my student loans with the money I made from the book, so that’s something. I feel as light as a feather. Don’t have a lot of money left in the bank, but at least I won’t have to worry about loans.”

She shook her juice box before jabbing the straw into it. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to paying student loans every month. I wish I had the time to write a book, too.”

It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard the past few months. I’d quickly learned that when you write a book, and surprise, surprise, you’re making money off of it—even if it’s only fifty bucks a month—suddenly everyone around you turns into a writer. Of course, they’re a much better writer than you, only they don’t have the time to sit down and go into la-la land because they are so very busy with real life already.

“Oh, you’re thinking of writing a book?” I asked mildly as I inspected the juice box in my hand.

“Well, I’m English lit, too, so yeah, I’ve thought about it. I mean, even you wrote one,” she chuckled nervously.

Raising my eyebrows, I looked at her. “Even I wrote one?”

“Oh.” She went poker-faced. “That didn’t sound right. I just meant, you never mentioned that you were writing a book and then bam, you published it on your own. It was just surprising.”

Lucy had been my beta reader since the day she’d stolen my laptop to see what I was always working on, but I hadn’t had the courage to share my words with anyone else. It wasn’t because I didn’t like Charlotte, it was just because I was too nervous about the whole thing.

In the silence that followed her words, she took few long sips from her apple juice before putting it down on the counter. “Anyway, the reason I asked about your plans…I was wondering if you were thinking about moving out?”

“Moving out? Of here?”

“Yeah. I mean we have one more semester, but since you’re gonna have money coming in from the movie, too…” She shrugged. “I just thought maybe you’d get your own place.”

“You trying to get rid of me, Char?” I asked, slightly amused, slightly wary.

“Of course not.” She jumped down and tossed the box into the garbage can; she hadn’t even finished it. “You know Lily, right?” I nodded. “Well, her boyfriend tossed her out so she is looking for a place to stay for the rest of the semester. I said maybe your room would be vacant if you decided to move out.”

“Sorry to hear that about Lily, but I’m not considering leaving. I like living with you guys.”

“Oh.” She looked genuinely confused. “The way you’ve been acting around Marcus lately, I thought you were uncomfortable here.”

“Marcus was my friend for a year before we started our relationship; we’ve been living together for almost three years now. I’m not uncomfortable around him, Char, we just don’t hang out together as much as we used to. Other than that, I have no problems with him. He is the one acting weird after this book deal happened.”

“I understand.” She avoided my eyes.

“Well,” I started, edging off the counter to get down. “I’m glad we did this.”

“Are you angry at me?”

“No. Is there a reason I should be?”

“No. Then can I ask you something else?”

I settled back again. “Sure. About?”

I pulled the short straw into my mouth and sighed a happy sigh when the cold apple juice hit my tongue.

“Jason Thorn.”

Intrigued, I gestured for her to go ahead. Charlotte didn’t ask many questions. She watched. She listened. She was shy to the point that it was painful to watch sometimes.

“When you saw that video of Jason in that alley…”

My face fell. Why was she even asking me about that?

“Were you upset?”

Do birds shit?

What the hell?

Letting go of the straw, I raised an eyebrow. “Where are you going with this, Char?”

“Nowhere.” Avoiding my eyes, she played with the coffee machine I had bought with Lucy the day I got my first payment from Amazon. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. He is a movie star, Liv. I saw you two together that day—when he was dropping you off—”

“You left as soon as you met him Char.”

“I know. I know. But I see how excited you get every time you’re talking about him.”

“So?”

“Marcus thinks you’re—”

“I don’t care what Marcus thinks, Char. And to answer your initial question, yes, I was upset to see it, but not because I was jealous or anything like that. I don’t have a say in his life. Hell, I’m nothing more than a friend or an old friend’s sister to him right now.” I shrugged. “I’m not stupid enough to think otherwise. So what if I enjoy hanging out with him, wouldn’t you? It’s not news that he, um, enjoys having sex, for lack of a better word. Did all those people who bashed him on TV and online think that he was a virgin or something?”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I heard that after the video was released, he was booted out from a few movie projects, and there were rumors that he was actually losing his role in your movie, too.”

“Obviously, he didn’t.” I hopped down from the counter and tossed the now empty juice box into the garbage can.

“Well, still. It seems like he is a ticking bomb. I just hope that he won’t ruin your movie, too.”

The apartment door opened, and Marcus and Lucy walked in.

I focused on Char. “He is a damn good actor, Char. He can have any role he wants. They’ll forget about the video in a few weeks when some other celebrity cheats on his wife with the nanny, then everyone will focus on them instead. What’s gotten into you today?” I asked, frowning at her.

“What do you mean?” she mumbled, not looking at me.

“Hi, Liv,” Marcus greeted me on his way to the fridge and oh-so-casually brushed a kiss on my hair.

Startled, I turned to him as he took a water bottle from the fridge and walked right out. “What was that?” I asked to his back, pulling myself together.

He glanced back over his shoulder. “I said hi. Or is that banned, too?”

Lucy bugged her eyes at me from the doorway.

“Something is wrong in this apartment today,” I announced.

My phone pinged.

Thank god!

“My Uber is here. I’m leaving.”

“But I just got here!” Lucy whined. “You didn’t even hear what Jameson did to me today.” She widened her eyes at me. “In an empty classroom!”

“He rocked your world?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She gave me a wolfish grin. “That he did.”

“See, I’m all caught up now. Text me when we’re leaving for karaoke night, and I’ll get back here to get ready.”

I grabbed my purse and walked out the door, not meeting Marcus’ eyes.

***

Finally reaching the building where the auditions were being held, I got out of my Uber and stood there to stare at the building for a moment. Was I excited because I was about to see my characters come to life? Or was I excited because I’d get to spend some time with Jason again?