The Hollywood Effect (16 page)

“Sounds like great relationship material,” Liam rolled his eyes.
 

“Well yeah, like I said… hindsight. Not agreeing on anything politically and morally and practically wouldn’t make for the best long-term relationship, but it was fun for a couple of years. It’s not like we lived together or anything. Really, we’d just meet up for dinner once or twice a week…”

Liam just shook his head again. “I guess after that loser your sister was involved in, anyone would look like a great catch.”
 

I laughed. “Oh god, he was horrid. I’m so glad that’s in her past. She’s dating a really nice guy now. One that’s not an alcoholic, unemployable, emotionally abusive mooch.”
 

“Why’d she stay with him for so long?”
 

“I have no idea. She doesn’t either. I’ve only really talked to her about him properly, once. It was pretty fucked up. He totally isolated her from her friends, and she thought all she had was him. Mum and Dad couldn’t stand him, but they were afraid that if they were too hard on him, she’d cut contact with them as well. He was always trying to start fights between Steph and us.”

“Why’d she leave in the end?”
 

“He hit her. That was the last straw. It didn’t matter how many times he screamed at her, or threatened to kill himself, or called Mum a big fat bitch to her face… she always ended up forgiving that. And expecting us to as well. But then one night he punched her in the face. Thank god she left after that. Mum and Dad were at their wits ends. They were seriously contemplating kidnapping her and camping in the bush for a few months!”
 

Liam shook his head. “Nuts. I thought Steph had better sense than to get involved with a guy like that.”
 

“We all did, Steph included. But he was her first boyfriend, and she seemed to think it was normal. Anyway. The new guy is great, it’s just a pity he’s Canadian. She’ll never come home at this rate.”
 

“More excuses for you to come over to this side of the Pacific,” Liam said and shot his award winning grin at me.
 

“Can’t you move to the south of France? I’ve always wanted to go back there.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I will, one day. I fantasise about renting out a villa for a few months and just relaxing and reading and maybe some writing. Finally learn how to play the guitar.”
 

“You need to go to France to learn the guitar?” Liam laughed. “Make time for it now. If you really want to do something, just do it.”

“You make it sound easier than it is.”
 

“Seriously. Buy a guitar. Set aside fifteen or twenty minutes and practise every day. You can’t always push off stuff until tomorrow.”

“I know. I know. There’s no guarantee of tomorrow. You’re right. I will. When I get back.”

“Or you could do it today. It’s not like I have a shortage of guitars,” Liam said.
 

“Oh, all right. You win. You’re right.”
 

Liam nodded in satisfaction.
 

“So what are you learning right now? Do you take your own advice?”

“I do, actually,” he said, looking rather proud of himself.
 

“Oh?”
 

“I’m learning Japanese. I’ve got this app on my phone.”
 

“An app?” I asked, skeptical. I’d had to go all the way to France to get my French past the basic standard. How could you possibly learn to speak a language fluently from an app?

“Yeah. I’m learning the basics. It’s fun.”
 

“If you say so.”
 

“It is.”

“So what’s on for the rest of the day?” I asked. I actually had no idea what the time was. Thanks to the time difference, I’d left Melbourne on Wednesday morning and arrived in the US on Wednesday morning. Such is the wonder of the International Date Line.
 

“I thought you might want to take it easy today, so we’ll just hang out here. If that’s okay?”

“Sure,” I said. “Not like you live in a scummy house anymore. I’m sure I can cope hanging out here for a day.”

“Good. I invited a few people over for dinner tomorrow night. And I asked my neighbour to come over at some point to meet you.”
 

Almost on cue, a strange voice called out Liam’s name.
 

“Out here on the deck!” he yelled back.

A tall, willowy woman in tight blue jeans and an even tighter white shirt came bounding up the stairs to where we were sitting. Her long, dark brown hair bounced behind her. I was momentarily captivated. She was stunningly beautiful.
 

“Mike let me in, I hope you don’t mind,” the beautiful woman said as she approached us. Liam stood up with a smile on his face and gave her a hug, and then turned to me with one arm still casually over the woman’s shoulder. Did he have a new girlfriend already? If he did, what on earth was I doing here? I forced my eyes to move from where Liam’s arm was resting to look them both in the face. Liam was smiling at me.
 

“Jen, this is my friend Raquel. Raquel, this is Jen. She’s my oldest friend.”
 

“Oldest because I’ve known him since we were toddlers, not because I’m ancient. I’m only a year older than him,” I started to waffle. Raquel laughed warmly, and leant over and gave me a hug.
 

“It’s lovely to finally meet you. Liam’s told me a lot about you.”
 

“Oh, really? I hope it was only good things.”
 

“Naturally.”
 

“Raquel is the one responsible for the nose job and mullet,” Liam said and gestured for us both to sit down.
 

“Ah, I see. So… you’re a make-up artist then?”
 

Raquel nodded. “And I live next door.”

Great. Lucky you.
 

Liam gave me a speculative look. I tried to look casual and attentive and to shove the green-eyed monster back in her hole. He turned to Raquel and offered her a drink.
 

“How’s Fi?” he asked. My eyes swivelled to Raquel, who took an elegant sip of the beer Liam had just handed her.
 

“She’s good,” Raquel said, a small smile playing around her lips. “She’s getting ready for her show tomorrow night.”

“Fi is Raquel’s partner. She’s a fashion designer,” Liam said for my benefit.
 

“Ah,” was all I managed. I swiped the imaginary hair that was suddenly in my eyes. “Cool,” I said after an awkward minute.
 

Liam shot me a bemused look before turning back to Raquel. “You’ll have to give our apologies to Fi, I’ve organised that gathering tonight to welcome Jen to my neck of the woods, remember?”
 

“Right! Sorry, it totally slipped my mind.”
 

“All good, mate. Are you still good for tomorrow?”
 

Raquel glanced at me and nodded. “Sure are! It’s gonna be fun.”
 

“What’s tomorrow?” I asked when they both turned to grin at me.
 

“You’re going shopping,” Liam said with a smirk.
 

“Huh? I’m what?” I hated shopping.
 

“I’m one hundred and ten per cent sure that you did not bring an appropriate dress for the premiere with you.”

“What? I brought a dress,” I protested.
 

“I know you, Jennifer Margaret Pike.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Is it the red and blue dress you wore to graduation and almost every wedding you’ve been to since then?”
 

I narrowed my eyes back. “Maybe…” Damn it. I liked that dress. It was very flattering. And it had been expensive. I needed to get my money’s worth out of it. Screw that stupid habit a lot of my friends seem to have of only wearing a dress once.
 

“I knew it!” Liam crowed at me. “I knew it,” he repeated to Raquel who just smiled. “Anyway, Raquel and Fi are gonna take you shopping in Beverley Hills and get you some stuff. Stop scowling, it’ll be fun.”
 

I pulled a face. Raquel looked a bit hurt.
 

“Oh, sorry. I don’t mean anything against you Raquel. I just… well, shopping’s not really my thing,” I finished off somewhat lamely.
 

“It’s okay, honey. We’ll make sure you have fun.” Raquel shot me a wicked grin. I half believed her.
 

She’s back?
 

Well, dear readers! We didn’t see that one coming! Mystery Girl aka Aussie Jennifer Pike is back in the picture! We thought she was safely tucked away in Australia, but guess who Liam was spotted out and about with! None other than the Aussie teacher. A source close to the couple maintains that they’re
 
just friends, and Jen is just here to support Liam and for a holiday. What this means for a possible Holly and Liam reunion, we can’t be sure!
 

I ended up falling asleep on the couch not long after Raquel left. Liam put on a movie (not one of his, and definitely not one of Holly’s) and I don’t think I even made it past the opening credits. The couch was just so comfortable.
 

I didn’t remember getting up and going to bed, but that was where I woke up at 4am, according to the little clock on my bed side table. I stretched out under the covers. The sheets were luxuriously soft, and the feeling of my bare leg rubbing against them made me move my legs around a few more times. I was sorely tempted to ask Liam to ship me out this bed. It was ridiculously cozy, and about a thousand times more comfortable than my bed back home. Although, if I had this bed back home, I’d probably never be able to get up for work. A double period of Year 10 english? Or stay in this bed? Hmm, it would be a hard choice some mornings.
 

I lay awake, I don’t know how long for. I kept telling myself to stop looking at the clock.
 

I eventually realised I wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep, so I threw the covers off me and got up. I ventured into the ensuite. The shower was unnecessarily complicated. Really, all you needed was a hot tap, a cold tap, and a shower head. This shower had a ridiculous amount of settings. I didn’t even know where to start. I cautiously turned one of the taps on and experimented until I had a decent temperature and stream. I didn’t want to think about how much water I’d been wasting.
 

I took more care than usual in selecting my outfit, rejecting one combination after another. LA was already getting to me. I didn’t want to be visibly identifiable as their version of a hillbilly, which I guess I sort of was. Country girl, through and through. You could take the girl out of the country, but you couldn’t take the country out of the girl. Although the girl had gotten used to impeccable coffee within walking distance… something my hometown was still catching up on. Once I was presentable, I cautiously opened the door and peeked out. I couldn’t see or hear anyone. I glanced towards Liam’s bedroom door, but it was firmly shut.
 

I padded down the corridor towards the living areas. It was all still and quiet. No sign of Mike. I randomly opened cupboards until I found some tea bags, and made myself a nice warm cup. Blowing on the hot liquid, I drifted over towards the bookshelves in the lounge room. He had a bunch of framed photos scattered around. I stood there, studying them. Some of the people I recognised from movies or television shows. There was a nice one of Liam and his family at the beach that I had a feeling I might have taken. I stopped and picked up one with my spare hand. I smiled wistfully down at Liam, me, Dan and Grant. We all had our arms wrapped around each other, and the boys were wearing school dresses. I was laughing madly at something. Grant was staring out of the frame. Liam still looked slightly gawky. It was from our last day of school. Smiling, I put the frame down. Life had changed so much since then. My smile faded. Grant would be dead within six months of that photo being taken.
 

I moved on, scanning the other photos. There was a nice one of me and Dan that looked a bit more recent. I grinned when I spotted an old photo of me, Liam, my sister Steph, and Liam’s brother Charlie. We were all in our underwear, standing in a paddling pool in our backyard. Definitely in the pre school era. There was a nice one of Liam and his family at Charlie and Nina’s wedding. I could see myself hovering in the background, talking to Steph. And yep, I was in the red and blue dress.
 

I grabbed a book off the shelf and settled into the comfortable couch. I was so engrossed in the story that I didn’t even hear Liam come into the room and got a fright when he plopped down on the couch next to me.
 

“How long have you been up?”
 

I glanced at the book. “About 112 pages worth of time.”
 

Liam laughed. “How’s the jet lag?”
 

“Not too bad. I woke up pretty early, but I feel fine.”

“Well, I hope you’re able to stay up a bit later tonight - I’m having a few people over. You’re the star attraction. I can’t have you passed out on the couch again.”
 

I punched him softly on the arm. “You shouldn’t have such comfy couches if you don’t want people sleeping on them,” I said while he rubbed his arm. “How many people have you invited to this thing?”
 

“Oh, only half a dozen or so. We’ll save the big party until after the premiere.”

“Cool,” I said. “Maybe I should have a nap this afternoon to make sure I stay awake…”
 

“You and your naps…”
 

“What’s wrong with naps? Naps are great. I nap every day of the school holidays.”
 

“Of course you do, you old nanna.”
 

I punched him again, slightly harder. “So what’s on for today, apart from your little shindig tonight.”
 

“Nothing much. I thought we could go out for brunch, and then ummmm, then you’re going to go shopping.”