Someone Else's Fairytale (39 page)

I emerged from her room an hour later, fifty minutes of which I'd spent looking at pictures. If it was a miracle intervention that Jen had hoped for, I hadn't pulled it off. Jason, Jen, and Kyle were all seated around the table, eating tortilla chips and dip. When I walked in, they looked up and fell silent.

I shrugged. “I learned all about camera lenses.”

“Oh, her pictures,” said Kyle. “Yeah, she's got a good eye, and a very nice camera, as of last Christmas.”

“I'm sorry,” I said.

“For what?” said Jen. “She won't even talk to anyone else. For some reason, she really likes you.”

“And it's
ten p.m.
, and she's still here in the house,” said Kyle. “I call that a win.”

“We should get home,” said Jason.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Jen got up to walk us to the door.

Once we were in his car, Jason was all apologies. “I'm sorry you get dragged into my family stuff.”

“No, I don't mind,” I said. “I just don't feel like I did any good.”

“Like Jen said, she talks to you. That's more than anyone else can manage. Jen and Kyle want to send her away somewhere for the summer. Get her away from that guy and try to get her to think about the rest of her life.”

“Well, I can't help with that last part, but if they want to send her to
New York
for the summer, I can be her roommate.”

“Don't joke about that. People will take you up on it.”

I shrugged. “It's not a joke. Provided I could send her home if there are any problems, I don't mind.”

Jason glanced at me. “Really?”

“Sure.”

“Would you let me rent the apartment?”

“Jas-”

“She's still just a kid. Jen would want her in a safe building with a doorman and... I bet I could get her a job of some kind on set. Wait a minute, why am I talking about this? You do not need to spend the summer babysitting my wayward niece.”

“I really don't mind. The moment it became a babysitting job, I'd want to send her home.”

“Totally reasonable...” He looked sidelong at me. “I'll talk to Jen. And I'm renting the apartment.”

I didn't want to fight about that right then. The truth, though, was that I'd searched high and low for an affordable apartment in the neighborhood Jason wanted and come up with nothing.
 

Jen showed up towards the end of my Saturday afternoon shift at work. One minute I was ringing up an order, the next I was face to face with her. “Hi,” she said.

“Hey.”

“You get off soon?”

I nodded. “Ten minutes.”

“Okay... can we get coffee or something, then?”

“Sure.”

Jen went to find a seat and page through a magazine. I finished off my work, signed out, poured two cups of coffee and went to join her. “So how are you?” I said as I put her cup of coffee down in front of her.

“Oh, I was going to go order. I didn't mean for you to-”

I waved that away. “You want something other than coffee?”

“No, no. This is great.” She took a sip – I noticed she drank it black. “Okay,” she said, “I gotta ask, you taking Kyra to
New York
, is that a serious offer?”

“Sure. Though I'll need a way to get one of you out there or send her back if things go wrong. I might be in over my head.”

“Of course, yeah, of course. Are you sure, though? I mean, that's not exactly a romantic summer away, having her around.”

“Well, what would she need?”

Jen fidgeted with her coffee cup, exactly like Jason did when he was on edge. I wished I'd gotten her something other than coffee, or cut it with decaf or something. “I've got an old classmate in
New York
who knows the people who are doing the catering for Jason's movie. I could probably get Kyra a job.”

“I'm sure Jason could-”

“I never ask Jason for favors like that. I know he'd help, but-” She shrugged. “Seems dumb that I deserve anything for being his sister. My friend in
New York
, now I helped her through culinary school. She owes me one. Think Kyra would do catering?”

“I barely know her.”

“Right, me too. Kyle and I are also hiring her an
SAT
prep coach who'll help her with her college applications.”

“Sounds nice.”

Jen gave me an odd look. “Really? Doesn't sound neurotic and over the top?”

“I wish I'd had one of those.”

“Make sure you tell her that. Basically, we'd just need somewhere for her to live. She and Jason aren't a good mix. I mean, I think they get along now, but only up to a point, and we need someone to just make sure she's... spending the night in her bed. Alone. That sounds awful.”

“If I had a daughter her age, I might have her chained to the floor.”

“The thought has crossed my mind, but I think that's illegal. I'm being unfair, though. Her problem isn't guys, plural, right now. It's one guy. This one guy we can't seem to keep her away from.”

“And you want her to go to college and get a life.”

“Exactly. But I've gotta ask, are you
seriously
offering-”

“Yeah, it's a serious offer. I don't think I can fix your problems here, but I can be her roommate and keep tabs on her. And this resolves my little discussion with Jason about apartment rental. He can rent the apartment and I'm not just his girlfriend, whom he has out there.”

“I get what you're saying, but it's not like that. Here's the other thing, though, and it may be the deal breaker. When you spend the night with Jason, I need you to be discreet about it.”

Ye-ah, I thought. I kept a straight face and nodded. “Sure. I understand.” I wondered, though, how clueless Jen thought her stepdaughter was.

“I feel guilty,” said Jen, “just dumping this on you. Kyle and I are at the ends of our respective ropes, though. I mean, we've sent her to the Academy and funded her going to speech competitions and track and field and drill team and whatever else she's been interested in, but she won't stick with anything. She and that guy- his name's Nate, by the way -are talking about getting married as soon as she graduates high school. She told me to be glad she's waiting until she graduates. Maybe this summer she'll meet some other guy, and not get into this obsessive, unhealthy relationship with him.”

“Or maybe she'll find something she wants to pursue as a career,” I said.

“Right. Yeah.” Jen drained the rest of her coffee. “I'm sorry to be so crazed. I just feel like I'm really bad at this. Kyle's asking me if I want more kids and... I just don't know! I can't seem to keep Kyra in line.”

“Well, that's not really your job,” I said. “All you can do is try, right?”

“But it means failing sometimes. Do you know how scary that is? Someday you'll have kids and you'll know what I mean.”

And for a moment I imagined that, having a family the way Jen did. Would I ever really get that?

“Kyra's lucky,” I said.

“Try telling her that.”

I just nodded.

“I'm so glad you're with Jason,” said Jen.

“Thanks... I know he's dated a lot...”

“Mmm, I guess.” Her tone was noncommittal. “You're what he needs, though. Stable, normal, still able to put up with his crazy family.”

“I never did get to thank you, for what you said to him on New Year's.”

“Oh.” She laughed. “I'm just glad I was right. After he tore out of the restaurant I wondered if it was just wishful thinking on my part. Anyway...” She shrugged.

After a little more small talk Jen got up to go, and it was decided, Kyra and I were bound for
New York
in a few weeks.

“So what was it like, filming in
Albuquerque
? That's home for you, right?”

Lori and I were at my house, watching
The Tonight Show,
while I also did my homework. Jason had started the press junket for
That Day,
which had, like his last five films, opened at number one. He wore a casual blazer over a button down shirt and matching slacks. I did like his stylist. Lori munched potato chips, transfixed.

“Yeah,
Albuquerque
's home,” said Jason. “I grew up there.”

“Until when? You were doing your Disney show by the time you were, what? Sixteen?”

“Well, right. I moved to LA in high school.”

“But your family's out there?”

“Yeah, yeah, they're all out there.”

“High school friends?”

“I wish I still had my high school friends, but they're all too cool for me now.”

“Won't return your calls, eh?”

I flipped to another page in my textbook and started scanning down the text. I didn't get how people could watch this show every night. My own boyfriend was on it and I found it dull.

“Maybe I should try that, calling them, yeah. No, seriously, a lot of them have moved away. One of them's in the film industry. He's a key grip. Worked on set with us.”

I shook my head. “That's made up,” I told Lori.

“A key grip, eh? What does a key grip do?”

“You know, I'm not sure. Every time I saw him, he was just sitting around eating nachos.”

Lori and everyone in the studio laughed, including the host.

“Maybe we should ask these people.” Jason gestured off camera. “Hey, are any of you guys grips?” There was an inaudible reply. “Yeah?” said Jason. “Are you a key grip or just a grip? Is there a difference? Do you have to have, like, special ninja skills to be a
key
grip?”

The crowd was eating this up, roaring with laughter.

I went to get some water. This was a more productive study evening than I'd anticipated.

“So did you get to spend time with your friend-”

“Oh, not my friend. He was way, waaaaay more popular than I was in high school.”

“But he's out getting fat, eating nachos and you're a movie star.”

“Right, the moral of the story is, stay in school kids... except I didn't. I had tutors. Does that count?” Jason feigned a thoughtful look.

“He graduated from La Cueva,” I told Lori. “Transferred his credits there.”

People were howling with laughter.

“Does key grip guy have a high school diploma?” asked the host.

“You know, he probably has a college degree...”

By LA studio audience standards, Jason was being a riot. Lori kept giggling too.

“All right, tell us about this clip.”

“This clip is interesting because it uses no special effects.”