London Falling (17 page)

***

“London! You’re here.” Candace and Nina squealed in unison. I felt like I had missed out on an important roommate memo seeing the girls together in the basement. I walked over to join them on the couch.

“What are you working on?”

“Did Derek call you?” Nina looked concerned.

“No, why?”

My roommates exchanged nervous glances. “Well, he decided to cancel
Winged Angst
. He wrote something completely new over spring break.” Nina broke the news.

“Is he crazy?” This was unheard of. Derek might be a creative genius, but this was taking things too far.

Candace stood and handed me a copy of the play. I read the title out loud. “
Betray Me
.” I looked at my friends. “Are you two ok with this?”

Before Nina answered, I knew exactly what her answer would be. She would throw her full support behind anything Derek suggested. “It’s really good, London. Just read it.”

“But we already started promoting
Winged Angst
and we rehearsed it. Shouldn’t we get to vote or something?” I thought about all of the hours I had wasted on a play that wouldn’t see the stage. Nights I had missed watching
Love Match
with Beau, dates I had to skip, hours I wasn’t making my final Carolina memories, moments I couldn’t get back.

“Derek was worried you might be upset, but he says this part is perfect for you. Better than
Winged Angst
.” Nina was still playing the role of Derek expert. “Really, he said he was going to call you.”

“I think I’ll pass.” I handed the script back to Candace, who took it reluctantly.

“What? You’re kidding, right?” Nina was visibly shocked.

It was a slow surge, but I felt the confidence in my decision spread through my body and root in my heart. “No. It’s not a joke. I’m going to focus on other things for the rest of the semester. Things not related to Encore.”

“What other things? Beau and your fake dates?”

I had to tread lightly. I had promised Beau I wouldn’t breathe a word to either of the girls. “I do have the project and the rehearsals interfere with the dates, but that’s not all. I want to do something else before I graduate. I’ve been buried in this basement for four years. I only have five weeks until the end of the semester; I need more than this.”

I thought Candace might start crying. “London, but we need you. You’re the lead actress. This is what you do; we’re counting on you.”

“Maybe if Derek hadn’t scrapped
Winged Angst
, but I can’t imagine starting over right now.” They were disappointed, but I knew I was freeing myself. I had to do it. “Candace, you have Pearce, and Nina you are all tied up with Derek and whatever play he is working on. Don’t you think I deserve to have something else too?”

Nina was relentless. “Does that mean something is going on with you and Beau?”

“Nina, stop. I just don’t want to do this play.
Betray Me
is for some other worthy actress, not me.”

She looked defeated. “I can’t believe this. I never thought it would end like this.” She wiped back a sliver of a tear. “Ok. Ok. If you think this is what is best for you, then you know I’m behind you, London, a hundred and ten percent. But I think you should tell Derek yourself. I’m not breaking this news to him.”

I wrapped my friends in a big circle hug.

“Sure. Whatever you need me to do, but this girl is not going to be in
Betray Me
.”

***

I walked out of the theater basement for possibly the last time as an actress. It felt good. I looked over at the planetarium building across the parking lot. I hid an inner giggle, thinking about the burning picnic basket on the roof. Since January, I had experienced more Carolina moments with Beau than I had in the previous three and a half years on my own. Sure, I had dated. I even had a few boyfriends over the semesters, but the artistic type are moody at times, and like me, they just wanted to go to the theater, film festivals, and rent classic movies. For the first time, I was a stereotypical, normal, everyday Carolina student—and it was awesome.

I texted Beau on my way to Hamilton Hall. Surely, he was finished with his drunken exam. I couldn’t wait to tell him about my decision.

Are you done?

Yep. Just waiting on a pretty girl.

He always had the best texts. I sighed.

He was leaning against the handrail when I walked into his view. My first instinct was to run and jump into his muscular arms, but this damn charade we had created for class kept me from doing anything that looked like a girl in love.
In love?

“How was the exam?” I stayed a few feet away.

“Nailed it.” He was oozing with confidence or maybe some leftover drunkenness.

“Really?” I didn’t believe him.

“Why not. I know all the details about Pearl Harbor. I even wrote an essay about Japanese concentration camps in the U.S. I think I filled the entire blue book.”

“I’m impressed, but let’s see what your grade is before you declare drunk exam taking as your next best idea.”

“You just wait, London. I got an A on that exam.”

“What do you want to do now?” It was getting dark and campus was quiet.

“I’m not about to lose this buzz. Let’s go to He’s Not and get a blue cup.” He started walking toward Franklin Street.

“Blue cup?”

Even slightly tipsy, Beau stopped in his tracks and turned toward me in a perfect swivel. “Don’t tell me. You’ve never had a blue cup?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Nope.”

“All right, girl. You are lucky you met me. If you haven’t been indoctrinated into beer drinking at He’s Not Here, world famous Franklin Street bar, we have our work cut out for us tonight.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me down the brick sidewalk. I didn’t point out that we were in the middle of campus and shouldn’t be holding hands. His palm felt warm in my clasp. I let Beau lead me to one more experience I needed to check off my list. “He’s Not, here we come.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

My bed was littered with scraps of paper. I had easily written down twenty casting call opportunities in L.A. and then balled them up. Nothing felt right about any of the parts. I wasn’t so naïve to believe I would land a break out role in my first acting gig, but I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. It probably wasn’t helping that all I could think about was Beau and what he was doing right now. He still had a full semester of classes, exams to study for, and papers to write.

Beau let me plan this Saturday’s date. I felt so disconnected from
Love Match
and everything Victoria was going through on the show since my week away at spring break. The reality was, in some weird way, she and I were going through the same thing. While she was dating seven guys at a time, I was doing my best to date one and pretend to the world that what I was feeling wasn’t real. But everything about Beau and me was real.

When I saw her first date of the episode, I knew it would be perfect for us. Victoria and one of the unsuspecting bachelors were driven by limo to a recording studio, where they spent two hours receiving voice lessons with Victoria’s favorite singer. Once the quickie rehearsal was over, the bachelor sang his heart out in an attempt to get a rose at the end of the date. It was a date to the sudden death. If Victoria didn’t like the recording, he was sent packing. If she did, she would give him a rose and they would head on to the second part of the date.

Nina started throwing things at the TV when the bachelor didn’t make the cut. She might be a fan of the show, but she didn’t like Victoria’s decisions about doling out roses. “He could sing. That was totally unfair. I don’t know why she didn’t give him a rose. They had chemistry. Anyone could see it.”

I watched as my roommate huffed at our mini flat panel. “Nina, if it’s not there, you can’t force it. Victoria likes the other guys better. Don’t you think it was nice of her to send him home before things got any more serious?”

“Better? He was the cutest one on the show. It wasn’t nice at all.” My roommate was still appalled.

Now that I had quit Encore, I would be able to watch the rest of the season with Beau. At least he didn’t throw things at the TV, and I was sure he could care less who Victoria picked in the end.

I pulled my car in front of Beau’s apartment building. His motorcycle was parked in a tight corner spot. I had never seen where he lived. It was hard not to be completely curious.

I knocked on the door of apartment 202. Through the door, I heard a loud, “Yeah?” I listened for footsteps and knocked again. “Come in!” That definitely wasn’t Beau’s voice.

Timidly, I turned the handle and cracked the door enough to peek in. Sitting on the couch were two guys, intently glued to the TV. Each one had a controller in his hand.

“Dude, that was badass!”

“No shit.”

I cleared my throat, nervous I might be in the wrong apartment. They looked up from the game.

“Oh, are you Paris?” the one on the left asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Nah, man, that’s Sydney.” I recognized the second one from the night at the planetarium. He had let us in the side entrance.

Before I could come back with a witty retort, Beau walked down the hall and into view.

“Hey, I didn’t hear you come in.” He smiled, and I reminded myself not to be anything but casual in front of his roommates.

“Yeah, I just got here. I was going to introduce myself to your roommates.”

The Xbox junkies barely glanced up when Beau entered the room. “We met Dakota already.”

“It’s London, you jackasses.” Beau stood in front of the TV, blocking their view.

“Man, get out of the way.” The one on the left looked angry. “We said hi to her.” I recognized both of them from the Belize Facebook pictures. I wasn’t a fan.

“Beau, it’s no big deal. I get that all the time. The funny what-city-are-you-named-after joke. Hilarious.”

He gave me an apologetic shoulder shrug. “Ok, let’s go.”

Neither one of us even bothered to say good-bye.

“Sorry about them. Russ and Chip aren’t always dicks. They’re good guys.” Beau ushered me down the stairs and to my car.

“I’m sure they’re nice…sometimes.” The roommates didn’t impress me. Didn’t one of them have a girlfriend who watched
Love Match
? I was having a hard time seeing either one of them in a relationship. It made me a little nervous about Beau. Why would he live with those guys?

I pulled the seat belt across my chest, but before I could fasten it, Beau’s hands were on my face and he was pulling me across the console.

“I hate not being able to kiss you,” he whispered as his mouth landed on mine.

I fisted my hands in his hair and succeeded in uttering, “Me too.” Kissing him was like feeling breathless and whole at the same time.

“Ok.” He pulled back. I really didn’t want him to stop. “Now you can drive.” He had a wicked smiled on his face. “Where are you taking me on this date?”

I put the car in reverse. “You’re going to hate it at first, but I promise it will be fun. You’ll see.”

He groaned. “Oh no. I think I know what it is.”

***

Date Six: Laying Down the Hits

The recording studio was surprisingly busy for a Saturday night. There was a birthday party for a ten-year-old girl ahead of us. The giggling girls reminded me of a party I went to at that age. They were covered in glitter and boas.

Beau slouched as far as he could in the seat while he flipped through the song list. Admittedly, being surrounded by a pack of squealing girls was not the plan I had for this part of the date, but this was for the blog. I had a surprise part two after we recorded our song.

The girls skipped into an open studio. I brushed off the seat and watched the glitter flutter in the air around me. “Did you pick a song yet?”

“I’m still looking through the options of self-humiliation. I can’t believe you are getting me to sing again. Can we skip this part? Why don’t you record something and I’ll listen on this side of the glass?”

“That’s no fun. Sing with me. It’s exactly like the
Love Match
date, only this is a sure thing. I promise to give you a rose if you sing.”