Next Door to a Star (8 page)

Chapter Twelve

While Simone got ready for the party everyone but me was invited to, I went to the grocery store with my grandmother. Grandma went to buy stuff for our little family BBQ, and I went to check out the fake tanning creams. I stuck a bottle of self-tanning cream in the cart. I planned to tell Grandma it was sunscreen if she asked. It did have an SPF of 4 in it, after all. Charlotte’s grandpa was talking to Grandma in the meat aisle when I came back to the cart with some ice cream.

“Judd Lidstrom’s coming over tomorrow to watch the fireworks,” she said. I was excited until she told me Charlotte was going to a party with her friend instead. Great, so the whole world would be at Pilar’s house, and I’d be stuck home. Even Clark was going to the Ito’s because he had become friends with Pilar’s brother, Jeremy. Grandpa had bought sparklers for us. and Uncle Stu was going to grill hot dogs, but I wasn’t exactly in the party mood…if you could call sparklers and hot dogs a party.

Charlotte called later and asked if I wanted to go with her to Deidre’s aunt and uncle’s party tomorrow. I went to put on my fake tan and imagined myself walking into the party looking all tan and gorgeous, and everyone would be wondering who I was and why they hadn’t asked me to hang out with them before. Connor and Lucas would want my phone number, Nick would be begging me to go out with him, Simone would realize I was cool, and Morgan would want to be my friend.

Then reality set in. First, the fake tan squirted out of the bottle all gooey. I rubbed the cold cream all over my arms and legs and put a little on my face. Simone had said you had to wash your hands well or it would stain your palms. I wasn’t sure how to put the tanning stuff on the back of my hands without getting it on my palms and drying, so I decided not to put any on my hands at all. I sat on some paper towels so I wouldn’t get any brown stuff on my bed, but it seemed to dry fast.

I woke up the next morning and I was definitely darker. My face was kind of orange, but my arms and legs had streaks on them. It was like somebody had burned me with a curling iron. Plus, my hands looked like I had white gloves on compared to the rest of me. I couldn’t go to the party all streaky. People would make fun of me. I thought about putting the tanning stuff on all the lighter places on my body, but then it might look like I had a disease. I ended up wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans to the party. Charlotte had on a t-shirt and shorts when she came to pick me up.

“Aren’t you hot wearing all that?” she asked.

“I want to be covered for the mosquitoes,” I said. “Malaria is nothing to mess around with.”

“I have some bug spray,” she said. “But maybe I better bring a sweatshirt too. You got your hair chopped. It’s cute.”

I wasn’t the only one wearing jeans at the party, but I felt like I was dressed for a winter carnival when I saw Morgan and Pilar. Pilar had a deep pink halter top on with tiny jean shorts, and she had put some shimmery stuff all over her arms and legs. Morgan was wearing a blue crocheted tank top, and she would have passed for at least seventeen. She had her curly blonde hair down for a change, and all the guys were sitting around her.

“She’s so fake-looking,” Charlotte said as we watched Morgan and Lucas dance.

Morgan seemed so confident as she moved her hips. I wouldn’t be able to dance so free even if I was alone in my own bedroom. I was glad I had worn jeans because I would have seemed like a skinny kid next to Morgan’s muscular legs. Simone was sitting next to Pilar and Connor, eating potato chips. Simone was wearing a black and white off the shoulder striped t-shirt and a jeans skirt. Nick was sitting off to the side drinking a glass of lemonade and watching the rest of the group dance. He didn’t look my way at all.

Charlotte and I shared a lawn chair while Deidre sat on the porch rail. I ate hot dogs while I watched everyone else dancing and having fun. Deidre’s uncle made cupcakes with red, white, and blue frosting, and Charlotte had eaten two cupcakes when I noticed her lips were purple from the frosting. I gave her my napkin to wipe her mouth, but she didn’t seem to care.

“Hey, you going to ignore me all night?”

I looked up and Nick was standing there.

“Oh, hey.”

“Can I sit?” he asked. I nodded. “So what’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Hadley, did I weird you out when I said I was thinking about you the other night?” he asked.

“No, why?” I said staring at my hands.

“I dunno, you seem a little distant that’s all. I didn’t mean to come on too strong. I like you, that’s all,” he said. He looked a little sad, but how was I supposed to feel knowing he was only paying attention to me now that the TV star was back in L.A.?

“How’s Lauren?”

He scrunched up his face. “Huh? Who?”

“Lauren Gere. I wouldn’t think you could forget someone like her so easily.”

“Oh, her. I dunno. Okay, I guess. She sent me a couple crazy texts.”

“Define ‘crazy texts,’” I said.

He laughed. “Um, well, in two of them she was wearing a bikini. I don’t get texts like those every day.”

Great. Very subtle, Lauren. “Are you guys going out now?”

“Nah,” he said, looking out on the water. “I mean, she lives in L.A.”

Lovely, so if it weren’t for the distance factor, he’d be sending her love poems now.

“Besides, I like somebody else,” he said.

I started to ask who when Pilar came over.

“We’re getting ready for the fireworks display,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Nick. I wondered if he wasn’t supposed to be sitting with me. Nick turned to me when Simone rushed past us out of the house. She ran down the steps and Connor watched her, but he didn’t go after her. Nick and I exchanged a look.

“It’s kind of late for her to walk back by herself,” I said. He nodded. I went to get Charlotte and we went after Simone.

“Leave me alone,” Simone said when we caught up with her. Her mascara was smeared under her eyes and she moved away from us.

“Where are your shoes?” Charlotte asked.

Simone glanced down at her feet and said she left her sandals in Pilar’s room. Charlotte offered to get them while Nick and I waited with Simone.

“What happened?” I asked her.

She looked over at Nick who said, “You know what? I’ll go over here while ya’ll…talk about…whatever.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Simone spilled. “They think I was flirting with Connor. It’s so stupid,” she said “Connor told me Morgan said I didn’t like him anymore, so he asked Pilar out. I told him I never said anything to her about not liking him, and then Pilar accused me of trying to break them up.”

“Why would Morgan say you didn’t like him anymore?” I asked.

“I dunno. This summer has totally sucked,” she said. We both stared up at the sky as the fireworks started.

“Oh, and they’re mad I gave Nick your number, because, even though she won’t admit it, Morgan likes to keep him around in case things don’t work out with her and Connor. Nick’s like, her backup. It’s so dumb,” she said.

Charlotte ran up holding Simone’s sandals and Nick came back over. The four of us stood and watched the fireworks. Mosquitoes kept landing on Simone’s arms, so Charlotte let her wear her sweatshirt. Simone sat on the curb and tucked her legs under the shirt, and I hoped Charlotte didn’t notice Simone was wiping her nose on the sleeve.

“This must be the finale,” Charlotte said as the sky lit up.

Nick touched my arm and moved me away from the girls. Charlotte was staring up at the sky and oblivious to everything around her.

“I’m really glad you came tonight, Hadley,” he said.

“Me too. And thanks for coming with us to check on Simone. That was really sweet of you.”

“Yeah, no problem, but I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not though,” he said.

“Huh?” I turned to face him.

“I told you I liked somebody else, and you didn’t even ask me who. Is it because you don’t care or because you already know?”

I remembered Chandler had been in a similar situation on
Charmed Lives
and I quoted her word for word. “Well, don’t keep it a mystery. Tell me.”

He smiled and then leaned over and kissed me. I could smell the smoke from the fireworks mixed in with Nick’s Polo cologne, and I thought I would pass out from happiness.

Then my inner dorkiness came out. “So it’s me, right?” I asked.

He laughed. “Yeah, I thought you’d figure that out, but if you need clarification, that’s cool.”

I started laughing. “Sorry, I’m…yeah. Whatever.”

“That’s what I like about you. You’re real. And for the record, I was never into Lauren. She was acting like she was super into me when she was here, but she’s not my type at all. However, if you’d like to send me bathing suit pictures, I would not object at all,” he said. “I’m kidding! Well, sort of.”

He smiled and kissed me again, and when he pulled back, the fireworks show was ending.

“That was the best display ever,” Charlotte said. I looked shocked until I realized she meant the fireworks and was oblivious to what had gone on literally behind her back. Even Simone didn’t seem to notice that Nick and I had a major moment, but he was smiling at me, and it was like we shared this intimate secret.

Deidre came down and asked why we had run off without telling her. Charlotte told her we were walking Simone home and Deidre seemed disappointed.

“My uncle bought some fireworks and he’s gonna shoot them off from the deck,” Deidre said.

“I want to go home,” Simone said. “You guys don’t have to go back with me.”

“Are you still spending the night?” Deidre asked Charlotte.

Charlotte glanced over at Simone and me. I said I could walk Simone home and I noticed Deidre didn’t seem to care whether or not I left.

“I’ll walk you guys home,” Nick said.

“But they’ll get mad at you for leaving,” Simone said.

He shrugged. “It’s dark, and I want to make sure you guys get home okay.”

My face got warm. He was so thoughtful. Unlike that jerk Connor who let Simone run out of the party upset and didn’t even bother to check up on her.

Simone was texting Asia as we walked back and Nick reached over and held my hand. It felt like sparks were going off up my entire arm. We got to our street and I turned to thank Nick for walking us home.

“It was really sweet of you,” I said.

“No problem,” he said, glancing over to where Simone was standing. “Uh, well, I’ll text you tomorrow then.”

We both had stupid grins on our faces like we had some private joke. I wanted him to kiss me goodnight, but I also didn’t want to share that sort of private moment in front of Simone.

“Will you tell me if they talk about me at the party?” Simone asked him.

“Oh, I’m going to head home,” he said. “Less drama.”

As soon as he walked away, Simone grabbed my arm. “Can I come over for a little bit? My mom will wonder why I’m home so early,” she said. “And I don’t want to have to get into it.”

We walked through my backyard where Charlotte’s grandpa was roasting marshmallows with my family.

“Hi, girls. Come make s’mores with us,” Aunt Maggie said, handing Simone a stick with a marshmallow. Simone held it over the fire and Grandpa gave me a marshmallow, but I scorched it right away. Aunt Faith showed me how to turn it so the marshmallow was sort of bathed in the blue part of the flame.

“Simone, I saw you on the
Celebrity Snooper
site,” Aunt Faith said. “That must have been a fun visit with your friend.”

She shrugged. “Lauren flew home after the photographers showed up on the beach, and then Pilar got mad because they cut her out of all the shots.”

I wanted to ask her more about it, but she’d already had a pretty rough night and I didn’t want to make it worse.

We went into the kitchen and I started to pour her a diet soda when she asked if we had any regular soda. I found a can and she leaned across the counter and balanced herself on her stomach with her nose almost touching the countertop.

“I can’t believe how those guys acted,” I said. I was still hanging onto the hope this was it—the final fight, and now she’d realize I was her true friend and someone she could count on.

“They did it all the time at school last year,” she said as she sat down and twisted her hair up. She grabbed a pencil lying near the phone and stuck it through the bun. I’ve tried that a million times and I’ve never been able to get one to stay in my hair. Even with her hair all messed up and her eye makeup smeared, she still was like something out of a magazine. She sighed and spit an ice cube back into her glass.

“You know, Morgan used to get mad at my best friend, Asia, like, twice a week, so I’m used to it. They kissed my butt when Lauren was here, but now Lauren’s gone so they don’t need me anymore.”

I shrugged. I wanted to say something about the fact she said she was going to introduce me to Lauren, but I wasn’t brave enough. I guess I was lucky Charlotte hadn’t gotten mad at me for all the times I dumped her to do something with Simone. Charlotte hadn’t even abandoned me when Deidre came back to town. Maybe I’d even been lucky before when I only had Lexi for a friend. It seemed like having a lot of friends was a huge pain in the butt. I mean, I went out of my way to help Simone out, but there were tons of times when she told me we were going to hang out and then she left to do stuff with her popular friends…or her famous friends.