How to Date a Millionaire (11 page)

I don't see Seth the whole of the next day and by about 4 pm, I'm starting to think he's avoiding me. Nat, Alexa and I spend the day in and out of the apartment – at the beach, strolling down Kalakaua Avenue, people watching and eating ice-cream (yes, more ice-cream. And at the rate I'm hitting the scoops, I may fit into Holly's maternity-wear soon. It's been a nice day. A relaxing day. Apart from the Seth thing. Because, as Alexa pointed out, he might be busy working, like he has been this whole trip, but, as Nat pointed out, he still could have called for a quick chat, texted, or left a note under my door. Or something.

Anything, really.

Not that I want to seem desperate, but it would have been nice. Right?

Right.

Anyway, what I've been thinking about all day (namely Seth) must have been written across my sad little face a tad obviously because Alexa drives me into a corner, away from Nat, when we get back to the apartment.

‘You should call him,' she tells me. ‘Why wait for him to call you? Maybe he's been up there all day waiting for
you
to call
him
.'

I almost laugh. Yeah, right. Because guys are always hanging about all day waiting for me to call them. It happens all the time.

Not.

‘I really think you should.' Alexa leans in further, giving me her best best-friend death stare that I know for a fact isn't going to end until I've dialled the number for upstairs and Seth is on the line.

‘All right!' I give in. ‘All right!'

‘Here.' She passes me the cordless, efficiently hidden in the back of the waistband of her hipster shorts. ‘I'll keep Nat away.'

I take the phone from her meekly. ‘Thanks. I think.' And then I skulk off to my bedroom to embarrass
myself further in private (always the best way to embarrass yourself, I find). I ring the front desk and get put through to the penthouse. As I'm waiting and the phone is ringing, I start to pray – please don't let Jason or Connor pick up. Please don't let Jason or Connor pick up.

‘Hello?'

Phew. Prayers answered. ‘Um hi, Seth. It's Nessa.'

‘Nessa. Hi. How's it going?'

‘Good.'

Silence.

Right then. ‘And how are, um, things with you?' (Okay. Dying here.)

‘Good,' Seth answers. ‘Good.'

More silence.

‘So what have you been doing today?'

‘So what have you been up to today?'

We ask the same question at exactly the same time. And then, after we've done so, neither of us laughs.

Rather telling, no?

‘Um, Nat and Alexa and I have been down at the beach most of the day.'

‘Nice. I've been doing some more work. You know me. Work, work, work.'

Yeah, sure. Work, work, work. Avoid Nessa, avoid Nessa, avoid Nessa.

Just when we're about to head into another minute of silence, I can't help myself. I have to find something to say. And so I blurt the following: ‘Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. About my dad. He can't help himself. He thinks he's hilarious and …'

‘Nessa …'

‘What?'

‘There wasn't anything wrong with your dad. He seemed nice. Funny.'

‘Oh.' But wait. Funny? My dad? I don't think so. Maybe Seth's actually deaf? Maybe that's why we're having communication problems here?

‘Is it Holly then? I mean, I know I should have told you who my stepmother was, especially because you're in the same industry, but it's difficult. Sometimes it causes problems. Big ones and …'

‘Nessa …'

‘What?'

‘There wasn't anything wrong with you not telling me who your stepmother was.'

‘Oh.'

Even more silence. I didn't know there could be so much silence in one conversation. Or, if there's so much, is it then not a conversation at all? Don't say that out loud, Nessa, don't say that out loud.

Gulp.

‘So … but I thought we had a good time at the aquarium.' Oh, fantastic. Where did that come from? Just when I thought I had censoring my thoughts under control – whammo. From way too teenagerish ‘I can't believe I have parents, how embarrassing' to baby snivelling ‘I thought we were best friends'. How low can I go?

‘We did, Nessa. We did. Look, I'm really sorry, I …' Seth pauses and then, when he starts speaking again, his voice sounds strange. ‘I'm so, so sorry, Nessa. I never meant to … look, I have to go …'

Beep, beep, beep.

Fine. See you later then. Surfing anyone? A dip in the pool? Another scoop or two?

Not likely.

I sit on my bed for a minute or two, the phone in my hand and stare at it, thinking. What's gone on here? Just twenty-four hours ago, Seth and I were having an amazing time together. And now this. Is it me? Him? Dad? Holly? Jason and Connor?

I look up as my door handle twists and Alexa's head pops in. ‘I saw the phone wasn't in use any more. How'd it go?'

I shrug. ‘He's acting really weird.'

Alexa checks outside the door for Nat and then slinks inside and comes over to sit beside me on the bed.

‘I just don't understand it. We got on so well yesterday,' I tell her. ‘And now we're doing the whole long silences on the phone thing.'

Alexa makes a face.

‘Something's going on with him. I just don't know what.'

‘Something's going on with Jason and Connor too. That whole thing at the mall yesterday was really strange. I don't know about you, but I get a weird vibe off those two.'

‘Yeah, so do I.'

‘Maybe the Seth thing is something to do with them?'

I shrug. ‘I've got no idea. And the way things are going with Seth, maybe we'll never know.'

Alexa and I sit in silence together for quite some time, as only best friends can. There are just some people you can be with where silences don't matter. And I'm not sure what she thinks about (maybe how to get me out of my misery? Maybe what's for dinner? Who knows?), but I know what I think about.

The gas pump jockeys.

Yes, again.

I'm about to mull over the whole bad conversation with Seth once more and decide if I should add him to my list, or whether it's too early yet, when something happens. Slowly, very slowly, I start not to feel quite so sad any more.

Ben. Ned. Justin. And Seth. My new gas pump jockey addition.

This is one gas station that's going to be making me a mint.

Slowly, very slowly, I start to get something a bit closer to angry.

Because you know what? What is it with guys and the holidays? Ben messed up Thanksgiving (Holly kind of messed it up too, trying to cook the most gigantic turkey ever, but we won't go there – it was easy to forgive that), Ned messed up Christmas and Justin messed up Valentine's Day. And now it's Seth's turn for Spring Break in Hawaii.

Well, I don't think so, buddy.

Frankly, I'm getting a bit sick of this. A bit tired of it all. And I think it's time Nessa took back some dating control. It's time guys started telling me the
truth
. It's time someone made them.

I sneak a quick peek sideways.

Like Alexa.

Okay, okay. Not Alexa. I guess it should be … me.

Gulp.

So, before I lose my confidence, I turn back to Alexa again and pick up the phone. ‘Hey, can you give me a minute?'

Alexa glances down to the phone in my hot little hand. ‘Are you going to call him back?'

I've had enough of this heart stuff. It's too tricky to
read. No. This time I'm going with my head and it's easy to read – it's just plain angry. My head's had enough.

‘I've decided,' I say. ‘No more games. I'm sick of guys and their games. I'm just going to come right out and ask him what's going on.'

Alexa's eyes widen. ‘Really?'

I don't hesitate. ‘Now run. Before I hide under the bed and refuse to call anyone ever again.'

‘Okay!' Alexa springs up and is at the door in an instant. ‘Good luck!'

I take her good luck. Because something tells me I'm going to need it.

Right then. Deep breath …

‘Hello?'

‘Hi, Seth. It's Nessa again.'

‘Nessa, er, hi.'

But no more silences this time. Not from me, anyway.

‘Seth, what's going on? What's the big brush off about? You're acting weird. And from what Alexa and Nat tell me, Jason and Connor are acting pretty weird too.'

There's a pause. A big pause. And then Seth sighs. Not a ‘you're boring me, Nessa' sigh, but a ‘coming clean' sigh.

‘Look, can I come down and talk to you? In person?' is what he finally says.

‘Sure. That would be good.'

‘See you in a minute,' he says, like he's not really looking forward to this, and hangs up.

Something in the tone of his voice tells me not to bother putting any lip-gloss on. Not that I have any time, because I spend the minute racing out of my room, locating Alexa and begging her to keep Nat busy. As it turns out, though, Nat's already busy in the spa, reading a magazine, so we're okay on that front. And Alexa will make herself scarce, so I'll have Seth all to myself.

Yay. Won't that be fun?

The knock on the door makes me jump, even though I'm hanging around next to it, expecting it. I hesitate for a second before my hand reaches out and tugs the handle open.

‘Hi, Nessa.' Seth is standing there, arms crossed (not, I'm thinking, a good sign).

‘Hi. Um, come in.' I hold the door open for Seth. When he passes by me, he pauses and there's an awkward moment where I think he's going to kiss me hello, but then he seems to change his mind at the last second.

Ugh.

I clap my hands together as he moves back again. Suddenly, I feel awfully, terribly self-conscious. ‘Right. Um, can I get you a drink or something?' Double ugh. So nice. So polite. But I'm on a roll now and can't help
myself. I continue to gabble, filling the silence. ‘Yes, a drink. I need one. We've been living off guava juice lately. Have you tried it? It's really nice.' Blah, blah, blah. I'll talk about anything right now. In fact, if I'm not careful, I'll probably start in on the weather and make moves to bake a batch of scones. Anything to fill in that awful, awful silence.

‘That sounds good. Thanks.'

Seth follows me around to the kitchen and takes a seat on one of the bar stools on the opposite side of the kitchen bench while I spend a few minutes filling two glasses with ice and juice. ‘There you go.'

‘Thanks.'

He can't even look at me. Wow. This is going
so
well. I can only imagine what he's going to say next.

‘So, um …' I take a sip of my juice.

Seth looks up. ‘Nessa, I'm just going to come out and say this, because there's no other way to do it. I'm really sorry, but I haven't been honest with you about …'

Another, louder knock on the door makes us both jump this time.

‘Hang on,' I tell Seth. ‘I'll just see who it is.'

But Seth is already off his seat and grabs my arm as I come around the bench to head for the front door. ‘If it's Jason and Connor don't let them know I'm here. And don't let them in.' He looks serious. Deadly serious.

‘Um, sure. Okay.' I start towards the door again. This is getting weird.

Another tug on the door handle sees me staring right at Jason and Connor, as Seth predicted.

‘Hi,' I say to them both.

‘Hi, Nessa,' Jason, speaking for the pair of them as usual, says. ‘Hey, did Seth come down here?'

I shake my head. ‘Seth? No. I spoke to him on the phone before, though. He said he was going to be working today. Hey, the three of us are just about to go up to the pool. Want to come?' Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie.

‘Er, no. That's okay.' Jason shakes his head and shoots a half-confused, half-relieved look at Connor. ‘If you see Seth, can you let us know?'

I shrug. ‘Sure. No worries.' I close the door on the pair of them. Fast. And then I march back to Seth, furious at the spot he's put me in.

‘I want to know what's going on. Now. Why don't
Jason and Connor want you down here? And what's going on between you three?'

Seth shakes his head. He looks as if he wishes he could be anywhere but here right now. Anywhere at all.

I sigh. ‘Oh come on. It can't be that bad.'

Seth looks up at me.

‘Can it?' I'm starting to get worried. Seth's eyes look like they're saying it can. That it can actually be worse than ‘that bad'. Instinctively, I move back to my former position, placing the bench between us.

‘I was trying to say that I haven't been honest with you. And I haven't.'

‘About what?' I say, but just as the words come out of my mouth, I start to get an inkling of what this is all about. Why Jason and Connor don't want Seth down here. Why Alexa thought the pair were only interested in me, and not in her and Nat. Why all they've been talking about since we've met them is their screenplay. The one with the feisty heroine. The one that sounds just that bit too perfect for Holly. And how, when Seth met Holly he didn't freak out. He didn't even look all that surprised.

Oh.

So that feeling I'd had when I was talking to Marc on the phone had been right after all – the boys
had
known about Holly.

Which means I
can
add Seth to my gas pump jockey list.

Well, what a surprise.

More trash to add to my pile. So much for giving him a chance. If I'm not careful, with all my trash, I'll be on the NYC sanitation department's ten most wanted list soon.

‘So you knew all along Holly was my stepmother,' I say quietly, wiping the condensation off my juice glass.

‘Yes,' Seth answers, equally quietly.

I keep wiping, as other things start to add up. Our getting bumped out of the penthouse to the two apartments below. The plastic cup ‘accidentally' falling onto our balcony.

Seth's interest in me.

Ouch.

And it's this thought, of course, that hurts the most. I mean, I know that people will do anything and everything to get their screenplays read by Holly, but this was different. I thought Seth really liked me. I truly did. Funny how
Nat was right in the end. This
is
just like
How to Marry a Millionaire
. But with all the funny bits taken out and all the parts about using people being left in. All the hurtful bits. And there's no happy ending for anyone. I guess I was wrong. You
can
get hurt in ten days. You can get hurt in six without even trying.

‘I'm so sorry, Nessa. I really am.'

I keep wiping my glass, even though there's no condensation left to wipe.

‘I got caught up in Jason and Connor's stupid plan accidentally. Believe me. I should have put a stop to it from the start. I just didn't know …'

I look up now, angry. ‘Really? What didn't you know? Or, more like, what did you assume? Did you think I'd be some movie star's unbearable princess stepdaughter? That it'd be easy to fool me and for you to get what you want without feeling the least bit guilty?'

Seth shakes his head sadly.

‘You did, didn't you?' I snort.

‘It wasn't like that. I don't know what to say, other than I should have told you what was going on sooner. I'm really sorry, Nessa.'

‘You're only sorry because you were wrong. Because you got found out.'

‘No. That's not true. I wasn't part of their stupid scheming.' Seth's voice gets a little louder now. ‘And then, when I saw the three of you, I knew I really didn't want any part of it at all. You were all real people, not just things to be manipulated. And that's why I tried to stay away. Why I said I was working all the time.'

I shake my head and look back at Seth again now. Straight into his eyes. ‘I can't believe I felt sorry for you. That I thought you'd been staying in because you were sick. Because of your heart condition.'

Oh.

My.

God.

I'm not a fainter. I've never fainted in my life before, but right now, in this moment, looking into Seth's eyes and uttering those words – ‘heart condition' – I actually think I'm going to. When I see his reaction that is. I just know. And as soon as I know, the edges of my vision go kind of swirly and dark and fuzzy and I have to reach out and hold on to the bench for a second before I can speak.

‘You don't
have
a heart condition,' I finally say, not looking up at Seth again. I can't look back into his eyes. I just can't.

‘No.'

‘You never had a heart transplant.'

‘No.'

‘This was your little “in”. Your special little way of getting to me. Because of my mum.'

I hear Seth get up off his seat, but I don't look up.

‘No. I didn't know anything about that, Nessa. I promise you.'

I look up now, just as Seth is approaching my side of the bench. ‘No. Don't come near me,' I tell him. ‘And don't touch me.'

He stops in his tracks, a couple of steps away from me.

‘Nice researching,' I tell him, my face frozen.

‘Honestly, I didn't know. I didn't do any “research” on you, or your mother. I wouldn't do something like that, Nessa. I had no idea before Jason and Connor blurted it out that day at Pearl Harbor. They were angry because I wasn't playing along, so I guess they thought they'd up the stakes a little. I couldn't work out what they were talking
about until you started saying the stuff about your mum. Remember I said it wasn't true? It's just that everyone assumed it
was
true and I was just too embarrassed to talk about it. And then, when you came and found me – I didn't know how to tell you it wasn't true. There was never a right time and …'

I take a deep breath as Seth drones on and then I cut in. ‘I want you to leave now.'

‘Nessa, I …'

‘I mean it, Seth. Just go. I'd like you to go.'

And he must see the look in my eyes, because he gives me one last, pleading look and then, silently, heads for the door.

I follow him over there, wanting to see him leave. Wanting to see the back of him for the very last time.

When we get to the door, Seth holds it open, his eyes begging me to forgive him.

But I won't. ‘I can't believe anyone would use my mother like this. Use
me
like this.' I shake my head. And then I remember something. ‘Not to mention their own mother.' I snort again now, thinking of all the lines he used on me. ‘I guess your mother's fine. That she couldn't be healthier. She's probably out jogging in Central Park as we speak.'

Seth's eyes don't budge from mine. ‘I never lied about that, Nessa. My mother did die in a car crash. When I was seven. Just like I told you.'

Oh. So, somewhere in there, deep down, there was a grain of truth in our relationship after all. ‘I'm sorry to hear that,' I say. ‘Bye, Seth.'

And then I close the door.

Huh. So much for taking chances on people. I guess I should have stuck with using my head all along.

No doubt about it, from now on, it's the only piece of my anatomy I'll be listening to.

‘Should I ask?' Alexa pulls a ‘tell me it wasn't that bad' face, after I've hung around the front door until I can bear going into the living room to face her.

I pull a face back. A ‘yes, it was that bad and more' face.

‘Oh, Ness. You poor thing.' She comes over to give me a hug. ‘That sucks.'

I don't go into details and Alexa doesn't ask for any. Not now. Maybe later, when it's all a little less raw. And Alexa's
far enough away that she won't be able to run upstairs and kill the guy.

‘Do you want to go out or something? Take your mind off it all?'

I shake my head. ‘I think I might go next door and see if I can borrow Holly's iPod.' All I want to do now is zone out. I don't want to think. I don't want to talk to anyone. Listening to something loud sounds just about right. And, sadly, Holly's much better at updating her iPod than I am, so hers always has better music on it.

‘Okay,' Alexa says. ‘I'll be around when you want to talk about it.'

‘Thanks.' I give her another quick hug and then make my way over to Dad and Holly's adjoining door. ‘Hello?' I call out, giving a quick knock as I open the door. ‘Dad? Holly?'

‘Nessa?' I hear my dad's voice call out from down the hall.

‘Yep, it's me.' I push the door open and wander on in. ‘I just wanted to …'

‘Nessa, quick. In here.'

There's something about my dad's voice that makes my blood stop circulating. I immediately forget about Seth
(Seth who?) and freeze for just one second before I start to run down that hall like I've never run before.

‘We're in here.'

It feels like forever before I make it to the bathroom. Dad's kneeling on the floor, the bathroom phone lying on the floor beside him and Holly's sitting, leaning on the wall, a towel wrapped around her and her hair wet.

‘What is it? What's the matter?' My voice, echoing around the tiled bathroom sounds way, way too loud.

‘Holly fainted in the shower. I think her blood pressure might be up again. We've called Dr Reid and he's coming over now. From what he just said we've probably got two options. If things look dicey, we'll have to have the babies here, now. Or if it looks like we've got some time up our sleeves and Holly will be all right, we'll fly straight home and hopefully try to carry the twins a bit longer.'

Holly shakes her head wearily. ‘We're going home.'

Dad looks up at me and, this time, he doesn't argue with Holly. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so in charge of a situation.

‘Get the girls together and pack your things, sweetheart. The plane will be ready by the time we get to the airport.'