A Slow Burning Fire (24 page)

Bryce had a way of turning her into putty in his hands. Not only was he tender with her, but he had dreams as big as hers. When he shared them, he made everything sound like a great idea. Not because he was manipulative, but because he was so passionate about what he believed. Sometimes it worked to her benefit to trust him and those passions. Singing at the fair had been a good thing. It got her out of her comfort zone, giving her a glimpse into the future of her career. Whatever dreams he had concocted in his head now, she didn't know if they were the same dreams as hers. They might have been close to being on the same page, but it was hard to be sure. She needed to strengthen her resolve to keep from following him around blindly.

I did that back at the farm and nearly forgot who I was.
Things felt better between her and her family, so in a way it had all paid off.
But why should I have to give up one thing in order to have the other? Why can't I have both? It's not fair.
She didn't ask others to give up their dreams for her.

The party would get her back in the swing of things. She would be back to feeling like herself in no time, and hopefully she'd be able to forget about the empty hole left behind when she left Ohio. Was there any way she'd ever be able to find a happy balance and have all of the things she wanted? Possibly. For the time being she would focus on getting ready for Marcus's party. The first thing she would need to do for that was sleep.

****

Bryce woke up groggy and unrested. When he glanced at his clock, he saw that it was much later in the day than he would have preferred. Nearly dinner time, actually. He groaned and rolled out of bed, wondering how he could have possibly slept for so long.

He grabbed his phone. A smile crept onto his face when he saw there was a message from Arial. Opening it, he let out a soft sigh of relief when she said she was in fact in Los Angeles. Her not wanting him to call troubled him more than he anticipated, but she did say she would call him in a couple of days. She would never lead him on.

I don't want to wait, but what other choice do I have?
He scowled. His heart skipped a beat when his phone rang. Without looking at the caller ID, he picked up.

“Arial?” he answered hopefully.

“No,” the rough voice of his younger brother said from the other end of the phone.

“Sorry, I —”

“Was hoping it was someone else? I figured as much. Just wanted to say I got your text, and I thought I'd call.”

“Thank you for getting back to me,” Bryce said. He was trying his best to hide the agitation in his voice. His brother Riley always brought out the worst in him for some reason.

Riley snorted. “I've been thinking a lot about us, too. This isn't how Mom would like things. She always said that brothers are forever, right? So we have to learn to get along. But you still bother me, a lot. I'm still mad at you for a lot of things, and it's not something I can just forget.”

“I know,” Bryce said. “And I feel the same way about a lot of things, too.” Like how much his brother hated him for things that were outside of his control.
But I need to try and make this right. I promised I would, and I know I should. He is my brother.

“We can save the sentimental chat for another time. How's that? I called because I wanted you to know I got your text. Yeah, I do feel the same way. I'll start cutting you some slack, but you've gotta start coming around more often. Now that your schedule isn't quite so crammed, maybe you can make it happen,” Riley said.

“Yes, I can.” Bryce nodded animatedly. Even if his brother couldn't see him, he couldn't help it.

Riley laughed. “I saw what you did out in Ohio. That was interesting.”

“I'm sure you thought so.” Bryce rolled his eyes. “I was trying to help out my friend. She needed to experience it.”

“Arial?”

“Yes, Arial.”

“She's something,” Riley said. “You say she needed to experience it?”

Bryce shrugged. “We both did. It was just supposed to be something fun. We did one of her songs and had some fun at the fair. Sometimes performing live is the best feeling in the world. It was nice to get in touch with that again. I'm not sure you would understand.”

“It's your thing. Like how I get excited over stuff that NASA does. I get that. You just picked an interesting choice of words. Especially since from the sound of it, it seems like she's mad at you.”

“You can tell?”

“The desperation when you answered the phone was a pretty dead giveaway.”

Bryce sighed. “We kind of had a fight after the show. I told her I was in love with her and that I wanted her to be it for me. She freaked out and said I was running away from all of my problems.”

“Are you skipping a detail? Because it sounds like it. I'm not sure how those two things correlate with one another.”

Just like his brother to make things overly logical. His brother was an engineer, though. Riley only saw the world through science and logic, it seemed.

Bryce rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “I mentioned how it would be cool to get some land out there in Ohio.”

“Gotcha. So she doesn't like that idea, thought you were hiding from all of your problems back home, and now she's not talking to you.” Riley laughed.

“Not sure what's so funny.”

“You always get these ideas where you think you know what's best for everyone. Did you stop to think about what she wanted? Even with performing at the fair, did you do that? Maybe you should try talking about this stuff before making all of the plans.”

Groaning softly, Bryce closed his eyes. He did not want to talk about all the ways his brother thought him a failure. “I'm going to talk to her as soon as she'll let me.” Riley did raise some interesting points. For someone who was so emotionally detached, he did notice a lot of things Bryce had missed. “She's insecure about Katie, but no, you're right. I didn't stop to ask her how she felt about staying back in Ohio. The show had been my idea. I think we both had a good time with it, but I hadn't really asked her about it either.”

“Ace.”

“Shut up,” Bryce mumbled. “I get it. I screwed up on multiple levels. Thanks.”

“No problem. We really should do this more often.”

Laughing, Bryce nodded. “We should.”

Riley exhaled softly. “I'd go see her. Don't call her, go see her.”

“That might make her madder.”

“She's running away from you right now. Sure, she's mad, but the longer you both sit on this, the more awkward everything is going to be, man. Now that you've had your revelation, she needs to know you get it before you change your mind.”

“I'm not going to change my mind,” Bryce mumbled.

“Then before she changes hers. The longer you let girls sit on things, the more they seem to blow them out of proportion or detach. Go and see her and do something all romantic and apologetic. They like that kind of thing, according to all of those stupid movies you're in.”

Bryce shook his head. “Thanks for the chat and the advice.” Even if he hadn't wanted it. “I should go and find her before it gets to be too late.”

“Good thinking.”

“Bye, Riley.” Bryce hung up and got his things together, a plan already forming in his head. He'd need to shower before he did anything else.

Chapter Twenty-One

Arial ate a fairly heavy dinner. There would be food at the party, but she didn't know what kind. On the off chance it was something light or something she didn't like, she wanted to be prepared. If she did happen to like it, then she would overindulge. When she got stressed, she tended to eat more anyway. She could take one more food holiday before getting back to her exercise routine. She also wanted a full stomach, because she knew she would be having a drink of some kind. Alcohol wasn't generally her thing, but the idea of unwinding a little bit was appealing. If she was going to have a drink, then she would be sure to do it responsibly.

After her stomach was full, she found the perfect dress to wear. A red cocktail dress with spaghetti straps and a sweetheart bust. There was an empire waist, and the fabric hugged her curves down to halfway over her thighs. Five-inch heels in the same color accessorized her feet, and she found a simple flower pendant necklace to help add a little flare. The outfit was a little more risqué than she usually attempted, but she felt hot, sexy, and confident. Three things that would help her to forget about Bryce for an evening.

Did he get my message?
She wondered. If he did, he wasn't saying anything.
Which is what I told him to do, but that's not like him. Maybe I should tell him it's okay to at least let me know he got it and still wants to talk. Or is that caving?
The whole thing was a lot more complicated than it needed to be, and she blamed herself for that. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she had overreacted. Space changed from needing time away to regain her bearings to wanting space because she was too embarrassed to admit she'd gone off the deep end.
But I still need to be able to hold my ground.

But it
was
Bryce. He was calm and gentle. It was foolish of her to think they'd not be able to talk things out rationally from the beginning. If anyone was going to be irrational, it would be her, not him.

Her phone rang, and the caller ID read Lisa, her makeup artist from
Three Wishes,
or rather, old makeup artist. The two were best friends, or as close to best friends as Arial would get in Hollywood. They lived on different planets sometimes, but they connected in all of the ways where it counted.

Arial answered it with a smile. “I'm almost ready!”

“Okay, because it starts soon. You do know that even if the party is starting at seven, it's not going to get interesting until at least ten, right? Not many people will be there yet. Wanna catch a movie or something first?” Lisa asked.

“No, I'm ready to go now. I'm still on Ohio time anyway, so it's already almost ten in my world.” Arial laughed. “I want to go out and dance until the sun comes up. I don't care when it starts hopping, I just want to get out and let loose. Besides, when I texted Marcus, he told me to go ahead and come as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like he wants you alone,” Lisa teased. “You're actually going to let loose, huh? How loose?”

Arial gasped as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door. “Not that loose!” She walked out to Lisa's car, which was waiting in front of her apartment building.

“Could have fooled me with that dress!”

Rolling her eyes, Arial shut her phone. “It's not that sexy. It's cute. You're talking to me like I'm going naked or something.”

“For you, that's pretty scandalous,” Lisa pointed out.

“I don't have any plans on doing anything over a PG rating. Sorry to disappoint you. I do want to feel good and to have a good time. Is there a problem with that?” Arial glared at her friend as she got into the car.

Lisa shook her head. “No, nothing wrong with that at all. I just have to give you a little bit of crap. Too bad Bryce isn't going to be there, so he can see what he's missing out on.” She winked.

“I shouldn't have told you about any of that,” Arial mumbled.

“Yes, you should have. And I'm guessing you still haven't taken my advice to call him either, have you?”

“No. I told him I would in a couple of days.”

“You should have only waited for a couple of hours!”

“Tomorrow, I'll call him tomorrow. Tonight is about forgetting there were ever any problems. Plus I need to remember why I don't want to live like I'm from L.A.” She laughed.

Lisa shrugged. “Who says you have to live like you're from anywhere?”

Arial sighed. “It's just the whole bit about him wanting to live in Ohio. On the farm, all of that. It made me want to come back here all the more, but I know this lifestyle isn't the type I need to be diving into either. The whole thing is leaving me kind of discombobulated. Do you know what I mean? I told Bryce when we were in Ohio that I didn't feel like I had a home. Ohio isn't right, but neither is here. As easy as it would be to pretend I am just a sweet country girl I can't, just like I can't pretend I am the 'it' girl of the entire planet.”

“You're one of a kind, and you embrace that, which makes you a lot more secure in yourself than a lot of people out here. You actors always seem to have fragile egos.”

“I think Bryce mentioned that once, too.”

“Because he's smart. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. I mean, for the most part. It's part of why he doesn't blend in completely either. He's just better about not sticking out like a sore thumb.” Lisa nudged her. “Buckle up so we can go already.”

Arial nodded and did just that. The car started and they were on their way to Marcus's party. “I don't stick out.”

“You do, but it's not always in a bad way. I mean, if I had to pick a role model for my future children, I'd definitely pick you over some of the other girls I've worked with. For one, your stance on purity isn't just an act. You don't wear the chastity belt to sell yourself to a certain kind of market. It's something you believe in for yourself, and that is awesome. People can't give you a hard time for wanting to have some love in your life. But you also can be a little tense.”

“Which is why I'm working on relaxing,” Arial said and winked. “I don't want to sell myself out. I just want to feel like myself.”

Lisa glanced at her. “In a sexy red dress?”

“The real me can be sexy sometimes, too! I'm a woman of many different attributes. That kind of attitude is the kind that I'm trying to avoid.” She hugged herself, feeling suddenly very self-conscious of her body. The dress didn't make her look that out of character, did it? Arial didn't think she looked overly sexy. She still maintained her class. How was she ever going to find where she belonged if she couldn't be herself anywhere?

“I'm teasing you! Stop looking like I just shot your dog.” She paused. “This will be a lot of fun. If you wanna get out and do something new, you've picked a good place for it. Same for if you want to remember all of the things you love and hate about the game.”