The Hollywood Effect (23 page)

Lily gave me a big hug. “If I don’t see you again before you go, it was so lovely to meet you, and I really hope we see each other again! I’ll look you up next time I’m down under. Remember what I said before!”

“What did Lily say to you before?” Liam asked curiously after we’d moved on to the next group of people.
 

“Nothing.”
 

Liam just looked at me, but I didn’t say anything, and he was soon distracted by his director.
 

“Thanks again for coming with me tonight, Jen. I hope you enjoyed it. I know all the industry talk can get a bit boring…”
 

“It was amazing. Thanks for inviting me,” I said. We were both slouched in the back of a limousine, heading home. I pulled my phone out of my clutch, and then remembered I hadn’t paid for international data.
 

“Hey, can I borrow your phone for a sec?” I asked Liam. He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me.
 

I signed myself into Facebook and found Kat’s profile. I was surprised I’d missed it - there were photos of her and Nico splashed all over her page.
 

“She’s already put up that photo of us,” I groaned.

“Who?”
 

“Kat. The girl I went to uni with.”
 

“Oh, right. Was it just me or was she super flirty?”
 

“She was super flirty,” I said dryly. “I think she thought she might be able to trade in her older model for a hot new young one.”
 

Liam laughed and shook his head. I looked back down at the photo.
 

“Ugh. Now everyone’s going to know that I know you.”
 

Liam looked taken aback and
 
slightly hurt. “Is that a bad thing?”
 

I nodded, and then shook my head. “I don’t know. I just don’t usually bandy it about, you’re my secret famous friend. In that circle, anyway. Well, I guess the cats out of the bag now,” I said with a sigh.
 

“You do know where we just were, right? You were photographed on the red carpet with me.”
 

“Yeah, but most of my friends don’t look at that kind of stuff. The only way they’d probably see that is if we somehow ended up on the landing page of
The Age
online or something…”
 

“Right.” Liam shook his head and laughed. I looked back down at the photo. It already had dozens of likes, many of them from mutual teaching friends.
 

“Of course she posts a photo where you all look amazing and I look like a goof,” I grumbled.
 

Liam grabbed his phone off me to have a look. “What’s wrong with your eyes?” he laughed.
 

“I don’t know,” I squirmed closer to him so we could both look at it, suddenly very aware of where our bodies were now touching. I used my finger to cover up up half my face on the screen, and then the other half.
 

“You seem to be looking in different directions.”
 

“I didn’t even know that was possible.” I laughed. It was the only thing I could do, really.
 

“Well, apart from the weird eyes, you look great.”
 

“Thanks,” I snorted. I scrolled down to look at more of Kat’s profile.
 

“Woah. He bought her a Mercedes for her birthday!”
 

Liam rolled his eyes and shook his head.
 

“Jen, promise me something.”
 

“Anything.”

“If I’m sixty and ditch my wife for someone half my age, give me a stern talking to.”
 

“All right.”
 

“But if I’m single, just say ‘well done’ and don’t judge me.”
 

I snorted. “I’ll still judge you. If you’re sleeping with someone in 30 years, who hasn’t even been born yet, I will judge you my friend.”
 

“It’s a guy thing. I’d congratulate you.”

“Ew.”
 

Liam laughed again and then leaned back in the comfortable seat and seemed to doze off. The city lights zoomed by as I reflected on the evening, playing scenes over and over in my mind, wondering if I should have said anything differently, and coming up with wittier responses to things people had said to me; too late, as usual.
   

We made it back to Liam’s place and stumbled in the front door. The house was dark. Either Mike wasn’t there or he was already asleep.
 

“I need to get into something more comfortable,” Liam mumbled.
 

“Me too,” I said with conviction and kicked my heels off with relish.
 

“You do look stunning in that dress. You should where it again.” Liam looked at me speculatively.
 

“Right.”
 

Liam just gave me a funny look, shrugged and walked into his room, fiddling with his tie.
 

I hobbled after him to my room. My poor, poor feet. Whatever did they do to deserve such punishment?
 

I looked myself up and down in the mirror. I still looked okay. Slightly more disheveled than when Raquel had put her finishing touches on, but still pretty good, even if I had accidentally rubbed my eyes a bit too much. As nice as I looked though, I was dying to get into my cozy pyjamas. I twisted around, trying to see how to undo the dress. It looked far too complicated.
 

“Liam, can you do me a favour?” I called out.
 

He poked his head around the corner of my door. His tie and top buttons we undone. There was something alluring about a man you didn’t normally see in a suit dressed up. There was something even more alluring when they were half undressed.
 

“What’s up?”
 

“Can you help me get out of this dress? It’s impossible.” I tried not to blush.
 

“Yeah, sure.” He came into the room proper. I gazed into his beautiful eyes for probably a few seconds too long and then turned around, pulling my hair out of the way. I could feel his presence behind me, his breath on the back of my neck. I shivered when his fingers touched my skin. One by one, he undid the buttons, slowly going down my back. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his accidental caresses. And then they weren’t so accidental. I shivered again, as he ran his finger slowly up my spine and then down again. I stayed still, not wanting to break whatever spell had been cast. His lips softly grazed my neck and my breath hitched. His hands settled on my waist, and I leaned back into him.
 

“Is this okay?” he whispered.
 

In answer, I turned around and gazed up at him, breath coming hard. I stared at his lips for a moment, and then reached up on my tip toes. My eyes flickered from his dark gaze to his lips, and the next thing I knew we were kissing. Softly, gently and almost tentatively at first, and then it became deeper and more passionate. I ran my hands up his arms, feeling his taut muscles, and then down his chest. Liam groaned deep in his throat.
 

“You’ve got no idea how much I’ve been wanting to do that,” he said huskily.
 

I bit my lip, looking at him, contemplating.
 

“What?” he asked quietly.
 

“Take your shirt off.”
 

He shot me a grin. “As you wish.”
 

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, he undid the rest of his shirt buttons. His body really was exquisite. I had an overwhelming urge to run my hands over his wash board abs, and before I knew it, my hands had a life of their own. I couldn’t seem to help it. They were just as hard and chiselled as they looked. He pulled me close to him again. His hands ran over my shoulders, freeing me properly from the dress. It fell in a puddle to the floor. I stepped out of it, standing in my underwear. The feeling of self-consciousness that thrummed through me only lasted for a few seconds. The way Liam looked at me, like I was the sexiest being he had ever seen, cleared it away.
 

He still had his pants on, which seemed wrong all of a sudden. I stepped closed to him and leaned up to kiss him, my hands busy undoing his trousers.
 

He picked me up and my legs wrapped around his hips. I could feel how hard he was, and it made me even more excited. I’d done that. Me. He wanted me.
 

Still kissing, he carried me out of the guest room and into his beautiful bedroom. He laid me gently down on his bed.
 

I lost track of time. We could have been there for thirty minutes or three hours. I had no idea. I was in bliss. I hadn’t felt that aroused or that satisfied in a long time. Well, ever, really. Liam’s fingers and tongue worked their magic over my body and I became a quivering mess. He looked very satisfied with himself.
 

When he finally entered me, I closed my eyes. This felt right. Amazingly right.
 

“We should have done that a long time ago,” Liam said languidly and stroked my naked back.
 

I lay there for a minute, just being in the moment, enjoying the feeling of Liam’s fingers running lightly up and down my spine.
 

“No, we really shouldn’t have,” I said after a moment. The hand on my back stopped. I wiggled a bit, willing it to continue.
 

“Why not?” he asked eventually, evenly.
 

I took a deep breath. “You’ve never been interested in me until now. It would have been a disaster. We probably wouldn’t be on speaking terms.”
 

“Oh, rubbish,” Liam scoffed.
 

“This is just going to be Year 12 all over again, isn’t it? Where you change your mind and declare that you don’t want to ruin our friendship and that we should just pretend it never happened.” I all but mumbled and buried my face in his pillow. I lay there, heart pounding in my ears, waiting to see what he’d say. Was I about to ruin everything? It was an excruciatingly long time before he spoke.
 

“Jen, look at me.”
 

I peeked up at him. How was it possible for anyone to morph from the chubby kid I’d known into such an amazing looking man? I should have been used to it, but I still marvelled at him. Now he was looking at me with a strange look on his face, a slight crease in his forehead. I wanted to wipe it away.
 

“I’m not going to regret this, Jen.”
 

“Mmmm,” was all I managed.
 

“I’m serious. I… I don’t regret it at all. Do you?”

I frowned at him.
 

“No.”

He looked at me intently and before I knew what was happening, he was kissing me again. I closed my eyes and let the kiss go deeper. His lips were softer, gentler than I remembered and had imagined all these years, but the whiskers were new.
 

We spent the day in bed, exploring each other and ignoring the real world outside of our little self-created bubble. It was pure bliss. Of course, it couldn’t last.
 

Dear readers, the saga continues, and saga it certainly is! Holly professed her love for Liam, Jen got her claws out, and Lily expressed her growing feelings for Liam as well! Who will Liam choose? The romantic in me is still batting for a Holly-Liam reunion. A source at the party tells us that Jen told Holly in no uncertain terms to leave her man alone! What is she thinking? Does she really think she’s good enough for Liam?! I don’t know, dear readers. It’s hard to see what Liam could possibly see in her, not next to Holly and Lily at any rate. I know who I’d choose!
 

“Dan!” I called out and waved excitedly at my old friend. Liam lurked behind me, cap pulled down and dark sunglasses firmly planted on. I’d told him I thought he looked more conspicuous with the cap and glasses than without, but he didn’t seem to agree.
 

Dan hadn’t changed much. He was one of those people who looks the same whether they’re a toddler, a teenager, in their thirties, fifties or at the nursing home.
 

His face lit up when he spotted us, and he ambled over, dragging a heavy looking suitcase. I held my arms out once he reached us, and he leant down and gave me a big hug, lifting me off the ground. I still found it weird that they could both do that.

“Great to see you, Jen. It’s been too long!”
 

He put me down and let me go, and then turned to Liam. They went in for a quick man-hug, thumping each other on the back.
 

“Good to see you, mate. I think you can ditch the sunnies though, it’s not that bright in here!”
 

Liam laughed and took them off. I noticed a girl walking past, stop in her tracks and gape, open mouthed at Liam. He didn’t seem to notice.
 

“Let’s get you out of here,” Liam said, putting the sunglasses back on. “Can’t believe they let you in the country. How was your flight? London?”
 

I trotted after the two boys. As usual they seemed to have forgotten that my legs were much shorter than theirs, and were striding ahead of me. Liam glanced back at me and grinned, but thankfully slowed down a bit.
 

“We need to get you some stilts.”
 

I stuck my tongue out at him, in a very mature and ladylike fashion. He laughed, reached for my hand and then quickly dropped it. My heart skipped a beat, my hand tingling where he’d touched it.
 

Dan frowned at us. I shrugged at him when Liam turned again.
 

We made it out to Liam’s car without any more incidents, and only being photographed by one vigilant photographer.
 

“Damn, thought I’d made it,” Liam muttered once we’d passed the camera.
 

“Mate, me and Jen aren’t interesting enough. I doubt that photo will sell for anything much.”