He gave a short, rueful laugh. “You don’t know,” he said.
“Sure I do,” I said, with the phone in a death grip in my suddenly sweaty hand. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was talking— flirting, even!— with Adrian Stadt. “You’re young, you’re handsome, you’re talented…”
“Flatterer,” he said. He had a wonderful voice, low and warm. I wondered why he always spoke in that weird whiny singsong in his movies, if he really sounded like this.
“But it’s true! You are. And you’re in this wonderful place, and it’s a beautiful night. You can see the stars.”
Another bitter burst of laughter. “Stars,” he sneered. “Like I’d want to.”
“Not those stars,” I said. “Look out the window,” I told him. I watched his eyes as he did what I said. “Look up.” He tilted his head. “See that bright star, just off to your right?”
Adrian squinted. “I can’t see anything. Pollution,” he explained. He turned from the window, scanning the crowd. “Where are you?”
I ducked even farther behind my pillar. When I swallowed, I could hear my throat click.
“Or at least tell me who you are.”
“A friend.”
“Are you in this room?”
“Maybe.”
His voice took on a faint, teasing edge. “Can I see you?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m shy,” I said. “And wouldn’t you like to get to know me better this way?”
He smiled. I could see his lips curving in the window. “How do I know you’re real?” he asked.
“You don’t,” I said. “I could be a figment of your imagination.”
He turned around swiftly, and for a second I felt his eyes on me. I dropped the phone, picked it up, clicked it off, and handed it back to Maxi, all in one motion that I would like to think was smooth, but probably wasn’t.
Instantly, the phone started ringing. Maxi flipped it open. “Hello?”
I could hear Adrian’s voice. “Figment? Figment, is that you?”
“Hold, please,” Maxi said crisply, and handed the phone back to me. I slipped back behind my pillar.
“Star 69 is the bane of human existence in the nineties,” I began. “Whatever happened to anonymity?”
“Anonymity,” he repeated slowly, as if it was the first time he’d said the word.
“Just think,” I continued, “of the generations of pubescent boys who are never going to be able to make hang-up calls to the girls they’ve got crushes on. Think of how they’ll be stunted.”
“You’re funny,” he said.
“It’s a defense mechanism,” I replied.
“So can I see you?”
I held the phone as tightly as I could and didn’t answer.
“I’m going to keep calling until you let me see you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you sound very nice. Can’t I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t drink,” I said.
“Don’t you ever get thirsty?” he asked, and I laughed in spite of myself.
“Let me see you,” he said.
I sighed, straightened my tunic, cast a quick glance around to make sure Bettina Vance was elsewhere, then walked up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder. “Hey,” I said, hoping that he’d get the full impact of my hair and makeup before getting to my belly. “Hi.”
He turned, slowly. In person, he was adorable. Taller than I’d imagined, and so cute, so sweet looking. And drunk. Very, very drunk.
He smiled at me. I picked up my phone. He grabbed my wrist. “No,” he said, “face-to-face.”
I turned the telephone off.
He was so handsome up close. On the screen he looked cute, not gorgeous, but in the flesh he was amazing, with beautiful brown eyes, and…
“You’re pregnant,” he blurted.
Okay, not precisely a news flash, but it was something.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m pregnant. I’m Cannie.”
“Cannie,” he repeated. “Where’s your, um…” And he waved one arm in the air in a vague way that I took to mean “baby’s father.”
“I’m here by myself,” I said, deciding to let it go at that.“Actually, I’m here with Maxi Ryder.”
“I’m here alone,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard me. “I’m always alone.”
“Now, I know that isn’t true,” I said. “I happen to be aware that you are dating a German medical student named Inga.”
“Greta,” he murmured. “We broke up. You’ve got some memory.”
I shrugged and tried to look modest. “I’m a fan,” I said. I was trying to figure out whether it would be completely tacky to ask for his autograph, when Adrian grabbed my hand.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Do you want to go outside?”
“Outside?” Did I want to go outside with Adrian Stadt? Did the Pope wear a big hat? I nodded so hard I was worried I’d give myself whiplash, and darted off into the halter-topped, miniskirted masses in search of Maxi. I located her at last in the crush by the bar. “Listen,” I said, “I’m going outside with Adrian Stadt for a minute.”
“Oh, you are, are you?” she said archly.
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, no?”
“He seems kind of… lonely.”
“Hmph. Well, remember, he is an actor.” She thought about it. “Well, actually, a comedian who makes movies.”
“We’re just going for a walk,” I said, feeling desperate not to upset or offend her, but even more desperate to get back to Adrian.
“Whatever,” she said airily. She scribbled her number on a napkin and held out her hand for the cell phone. “Give me a call from wherever you are.”
I handed her the phone, tucked the number into my purse, and rolled my eyes. “Oh, right. I’ll be off seducing him. It’ll be very romantic. We’ll be snuggling on the couch, and I’ll kiss him, and he’ll tell me he adores me, and then my unborn child will kick him in the ribs.”
Maxi stopped looking sulky.
“And then I’ll film the whole thing, and sell the rights to Fox, and they’ll turn it into a special. World’s Kinkiest Threesomes.”
Maxi laughed. “Okay. Just be careful.”
I kissed her on the cheek and, unbelievably, found that Adrian Stadt was still waiting. I smiled at him, and he led me to the elevator, down and out the door, where we found ourselves standing in front of what looked like a highway. No benches, no grass, not even a lowly bus shelter, or a sidewalk to stroll on.
“Huh,” I said.
Adrian, meanwhile, was looking even more tipsy than he had in the Star Bar. The fresh air didn’t seem to be having the sobering effect I was hoping for. He grabbed at my hand, managing to get my wrist instead, and pulled me close to him… well, as close as my belly would allow.
“Kiss me,” he said, and I laughed out loud at the absurdity of it. Kiss me! Like a line from a movie! I was looking over his shoulder for the inevitable bright lights and milling extras and director ready to yell “Cut!” when Adrian took his thumb and traced it along my cheek, then down over my lips. It was a move that I was pretty sure I’d seen him perform on screen, but I found that I didn’t much care. “Cannie,” he whispered. Just hearing him say my name was making me throb in places I hadn’t expected to feel anything until the baby came. “Kiss me.” He brought his lips down to mine, and I tilted my face up, and my body away, as his hand curved behind my neck and held my head like it was something precious. Oh, so sweet a kiss, I thought, and then his lips were back on mine, harder, his hand more insistent, as the traf-fic rushed by us and I felt myself melting, forgetting my resolve, my history, my name.
“Come with me,” he offered, raining kisses on my cheeks, my lips, my eyelids.
“I’m staying at a hotel…,” I murmured weakly, realizing as soon as the words were out of my mouth that it sounded like the cheapest come-on ever. And what was going on here, anyhow? Could he really be that lonely? Did he have a thing for pregnant women? Was this perhaps his idea of a joke? “Do you want to maybe…” I tried to think quickly. If I were in Philadelphia, if I were standing on a street being groped by the ultimate object of my desire who was very very drunk, what would I suggest? But, of course, I couldn’t think of a thing. Nothing in my life had even come close. “Go to a bar?” I finally offered. “A diner, maybe?”
Adrian reached into his pocket and produced what I figured must be a valet ticket. “How about a ride?” he said.
“Can we…” I thought quickly. “Can we go to see the beach? It’s such a beautiful night” Which was not exactly true. It was an extremely smoggy night, but at least it was warm, and there was a breeze.
Adrian rocked back and forth on his feet and gave me a sweet, slightly dopey grin. “Sounds like a plan,” he said.
First, though, there was the not inconsequential matter of getting him to surrender the keys.
“Ooh, a convertible,” I cooed when a small red car arrived at the curb. “I’ve never driven one.” I shot him my most coy and charming glance. “Could I drive it?” He handed over the keys without a word, then sat beside me quietly, not saying much except to tell me where I should turn.
When I glanced over he had his hand pressed to his forehead.
“Headache?” I asked. He nodded with his eyes shut. “Beer before liquor?”
He winced. “Ecstasy before vodka, actually,” he said.
Oof. I guessed if I was going to stay in Hollywood, I’d have to get used to people casually confessing to recreational drug use. “You don’t look ecstatic,” I ventured.
He yawned. “Maybe I’ll ask for a refund,” he said, and glanced at me sideways. “So, you’re, um… when are you…”
“I’m due on June fifteenth,” I said.
“So your, um, husband’s back in…”
I decided to end the game of fill-in-the-blank. “I’m from Philadel-phia, and I don’t have a husband. Or a boyfriend.”
“Oh!” said Adrian, sounding like he felt himself to be on firmer ground. “So, your partner’s back there?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “No partner, either. Just your classic single unwed mother.” I gave him the briefest bare-bones outline of the story: me and Bruce, our breakup and twenty-minute-long reconciliation, the pregnancy, the screenplay, and my flight to California a scant twelve hours ago.
Adrian nodded, but didn’t ask any questions, and I couldn’t look at him to read his face. I just kept driving. Finally, after a series of twists and turns I knew I couldn’t hope to remember, let alone repeat on my own, we found ourselves parked on a bluff overlooking the ocean. And in spite of the smog, it was magnificent: the smell of salt water, the rhythmic sound of the waves on the shore, the feel of all that water, all that power and motion, so close to us…
I turned toward Adrian. “Isn’t this great?” I asked. He didn’t answer. “Adrian?”
No movement. I leaned toward him slowly, like a big-game hunter approaching a lion. He didn’t stir. I edged closer still. “Adrian?” I whispered. No murmured endearments, no inquiries as to the subject of my screenplay, or the nature of my life in Philadelphia. Instead, I heard snoring. Adrian Stadt had fallen asleep.
I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. It was a classic Cannie Shapiro moment: out on the beach with a gorgeous movie star, with the wind whipping the waves and the moonlight gleaming on the water and a million stars in the sky, and he’s passed out.
Meanwhile, I was stranded. And getting cold, too, with the wind blowing off the water. I looked in the car in vain for a blanket or a stray sweatshirt. Nothing doing. It was four in the morning, according to the glowing green hands of my watch. I decided I’d give him half an hour, and if he didn’t wake up and start moving I’d… well, I’d figure something out.
I turned the engine on so I’d have heat, and music from the Chris Isaak CD he had in the CD player. Then I sat back, wishing I’d worn a jacket, keeping one eye on Adrian, who was snoring to beat the band, the other on my watch. It was… well, pathetic, really, but also a little bit funny. My big trip to Hollywood, I thought ruefully. My romance. Maybe I was the kind of girl who deserved to be mocked in magazines, I thought… then I shook my head. I knew how to take care of myself. I knew how to write. And I had one of the things that I wanted most in the world— I’d sold my screenplay. I’d have money, comfort, some measure of fame. And I was in Hollywood! With a movie star!
I glanced to my right. Said movie star was still not moving. I leaned closer. He was breathing harshly, and his forehead was covered in sweat.
“Adrian?” I whispered. Nothing. “Adrian?” I said in a normal voice. I didn’t see as much as an eyelid twitch. I bent over and shook his shoulders lightly. Nothing happened. When I let him go he flopped bonelessly back into the bucket seat. Now I was getting worried.
I slipped one hand into his pocket, trying not to think of the potential tabloid headlines (“Saturday Night! Star Molested by Wannabe Screenwriter!”) and found his cell phone. After a little fumbling, I produced a dial tone. Great. So now what?
Then it hit me. I reached into my purse and pulled Dr. K’s business card out of my wallet. He’d told us in one Fat Class session that he didn’t sleep much, and was usually in the office by 7 A.M., and it was later than that on the East Coast by now.
I held my breath and punched his numbers. “Hello?” said his deep voice.
“Hey, Dr. K. It’s Cannie Shapiro.”
“Cannie!” he said, sounding happy to hear from me, and not at all alarmed by the fact that I was calling long-distance in what was, for me, the wee hours of the morning. “How was your trip?”
“Just fine,” I said. “Well, so far so good. Except now I seem to have a problem.”
“Tell me,” he said.
“Well, I, um…” I paused, thinking. “I made a new friend,” I said.
“That’s good,” he said encouragingly.
“And we’re at the beach, in his car, and he’s kind of passed out, and I can’t get him to wake up.”
“That’s bad,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “and it’s not even the worst date I’ve been on. So normally I’d just let him sleep, except he told me before he’d been drinking and also taking Ecstasy…”
I paused, and heard nothing. “It’s not what you think,” I said weakly, even though I had no real idea what he was thinking, except that it was probably some combination of my name and words like “flaky.”
“So he’s passed out?” asked Dr. K.
“Well, yeah. Basically.” I sighed. “And I thought I was being fairly amusing.”
“But he’s breathing?”
“Breathing, but sweating,” I elaborated. “And not waking up.”