Three Girls And A Leading Man (17 page)

“That was Tyler,” I said. “He’s
kind of a—”

“Better watch what you say, Miss
Duncan,” a voice from behind me said. I turned in my chair and found myself
looking up at Tyler himself.

“Hey,” I said, laughing to cover my
awkwardness. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” he said. “I’m
meeting a few friends here.”

He looked around at my group and I
realized I should probably introduce him. “Tyler, these are my friends. Guys,
this is Tyler.”

“Her boyfriend,” he added. “In the
show, I mean.” He did that smirking thing again and I felt myself grow annoyed.
Then I felt Nate’s hand come to rest lightly on the back of my neck. Tyler’s
smirk grew.

“Well, nice to meet you all,” he
said. “See you tomorrow, Annie.”

As soon as he was gone, Nate
dropped his hand. “What the hell was that?” I asked him quietly, so the others
wouldn’t hear.

“What?”

“That whole possessive bullshit.”

“I wasn’t being possessive,” he
said, but he didn’t meet my eyes.

“Right. You just happened to put
your hand on me at the precise moment that guy was being flirty. There was no
message in that at all.”

“Sorry,” he said, looking up at me.
“I just didn’t like him, okay? I don’t like how he looks at you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tyler is an
ass,” I told him. “But I don’t need that kind of shit from you, okay?”

“Fine,” he said, sounding pissed.
“I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Sorry.”

The rest of our meal felt a little
strained after that. Stupid Tyler, having to ruin everything.

And
Nate
, I thought to myself. Acting like a jealous, possessive guy. Isn’t
that exactly why I never wanted a boyfriend? Didn’t they all turn out this way?

Chapter Twenty-one

The following night I decided to go
out with the cast after the show. Everyone was planning to head over to a bar
in midtown that Jenner co-owned. He had promised that our drinks would be on
the house.

The bar was really nice, though a
little swanky for my taste. I noticed that Jasmine seemed to be perfectly in
her element. After we arrived, I watched her for a minute. She was still
throwing herself shamelessly at Jenner, always standing close to him, touching
his arm when she was talking, thrusting her chest out whenever she had his
attention. It was nauseating. At least he didn’t seem to be at all affected by
it. Maybe there was hope for the male species after all.

“So, you decided to join us
tonight,” Tyler said, sliding up to me at the bar. “Whatcha drinking?”

“Newcastle,” I responded, avoiding
making eye contact.

“Nice,” he said. “I had you pegged
for a fruity cocktail kind of girl.”

“Guess you don’t know me so well,”
I said.

“You’re pissed at me,” he said
suddenly, smiling like he thought the realization was amusing.

“Why would I be pissed at you?” I
asked him. “I barely know you.”

“You didn’t like me talking to you
last night in front of your boyfriend.”

I turned to him, feeling annoyed.
“Okay, first of all, you can talk to whoever you want. I couldn’t care less
what you do. Second, he isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just a guy I’m dating. And
none of this is any of your business.”

“He sure didn’t like me talking to
you,” Tyler said. “He looked like he wanted to punch me. Not your boyfriend,
huh?”

I rolled my eyes. “He did not want
to punch you.”

“I caught that little move he did,”
Tyler said, grinning. “The way he put his hand on your neck it might as well
have been a collar.”

“You know what, Tyler?” I said, my
face flushing. “Fuck off, okay?”

He only laughed. “Relax, Annie. I’m
just messing around.”

I glared at him.

“Look, I’ll change the subject,
okay? Word is, the suits are really excited about the press we’re getting.”

In spite of my irritation, I felt a
little glow of excitement at that. We had been written up in the weekend
section of the
Free Press
that
morning. It had been a glowing review and I had been singled out. Jen cut it
out and hung it on our refrigerator.

“If things keep going like this,
we’re a shoe-in for Chicago. The investors are meeting with Jenner next week.”

“Do you think they’ll re-cast?” I
asked, deciding to forget how irritated I was with him.

Tyler shrugged. “Maybe some parts.
I think you’re safe, though. You seem to be coming out of this with bells on.”

“What can I say,” I said drily.
“I’m destined to be a superstar.”

“You joke, Annie, but I actually
think that might be true.”

Tyler motioned to the bartender to
refill us.

“Seriously, you’re really good. And
you have the looks to go far, that’s for sure.” He looked me over in a way that
normally would make me want to slap a guy, but something about the joking light
in his eyes only made me laugh.

“Have you ever tried to get work in
Chicago or New York?”

I shook my head. “I was never
really interested, to tell you the truth. I like it here.”

“Yeah, but how much opportunity is
there to really act around here?”

“A lot,” I said, feeling defensive
about my city. “People are doing shows all over the place.”

“Yeah, but none of them are going
to make you famous.”

“That’s not really a consideration
for me,” I said.

Tyler burst out laughing. “Yeah,
right,” he said. “An actress who doesn’t care about fame?”

“I’m serious,” I told him.

“You might think that now, but just
wait until we get to New York. You can’t get off on standing up in front of a
bunch of people, demanding their attention, if a part of you didn’t like it.
The need for validation is what drives all actors. It’s in your blood.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know about
that.”

“You’ll see,” he said. “So, now
that you’re not mad at me anymore, can I ask about the suit?”

“Who?” I asked.

“The guy in the suit. Your
not-boyfriend boyfriend. What’s the story there?”

Now that I had another beer in me
the thought of talking about Nate didn’t bother me so much. “We met in Vegas,”
I told Tyler. “In September.”

“But he’s from here?”

“Yeah, Birmingham.”

“What does he do?”

“He works for Ford. He’s an
engineer.” Tyler smirked at that. “What? What’s the matter with being an
engineer?”

“Nothing,” he said, holding up his
hands. “Just doesn’t quite seem your type. Suit-and-tie guy and all that.”

“He’s very nice to me,” I said,
feeling the need to defend Nate. But wasn’t Tyler saying the same things I had
thought from the beginning?

“So what happens when you go to New
York?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you stay with this guy?
Once you’re in an off-Broadway run, living in the most exciting city in the
world, how does that work out?”

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling
uncomfortable. “I told you, we’re just dating. It’s not some serious thing.”

“I hope not,” Tyler said seriously.
“I don’t think you realize how much things will change when we hit it big,
Annie. Guys like him, they just won’t understand your life. Won’t understand
your art. You need someone more like you.”

Without my noticing it, he had
moved his hand over the bar until it was covering mine. There was a definite
flirtatious light in his eyes as he looked at me.

I grabbed my hand back. “As a
matter of fact,” I said coldly. “I don’t need anyone. Thanks for the advice
though.”

I grabbed my beer from the bar and
made my way farther into the room, determined to be away for Tyler and his
mocking, smug flirtation. He might be a cute guy, and he might be funny
sometimes, but he was also kind of an asshole. And I didn’t need that tonight.

“Hey, Annie,” a voice said next to
me.

I turned to find Jenner Collins
smiling at me.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Very much,” I told him. He
motioned for me to join him at his table. Over the past few weeks I had gotten
over my intimidation in his presence—mostly.

“Did you see the write-up in the
Free Press
today?” he asked.

“Yeah. That was really cool,” I
said.

“You had a pretty nice mention. I
was proud of you.”

“Thank you,” I said. “That’s never
happened to me before. I mean, some of our shows at Wayne had write-ups, but
nothing like that.”

“It’s pretty cool,” he agreed.
“Especially the first couple of times. Eventually it starts to matter less, and
you work on the things that mean something to you, you know? Rather than the
things that bring you praise.”

“Is that why you’re in Detroit so
much lately?” I asked.

He laughed. “Yeah, my agent is
getting pretty annoyed with me, actually. He keeps sending me scripts, assuring
me they’ll all be the next big box office smash.”

“Any catching your eye?” I asked.
Selfishly I wondered how him taking a role would effect our show.

“Not really. I’ll have to commit to
something in the spring, or else I’ll be running out of money to fund this kind
of thing.”

I laughed. “So, what projects are
you interested in?” I asked.

I was surprised by how easy he was
to talk to. Up close I noticed that his eyes were ever so slightly off- center.
It made him less perfect, more human somehow.

“I actually have some really big
plans,” he said, leaning forward. “But I’d rather this didn’t get out to
everyone.”

“Of course,” I said, leaning
forward myself. Maybe he was going to tell me that he wanted to shoot a movie
here in Detroit, staring me. He would make me a rich movie star and I’d never
even have to leave home.

“I want to start a permanent
company in the city,” he said. “With a home theater and resident artistic
staff. We would put on original shows, try to bring in as many local writers as
we could.”

“That sounds amazing,” I breathed.
“Wow.” It might not be as glamorous, but in all honesty, what he was describing
was more appealing to me than the movie fantasy.

“I figured it’d be right up your
alley,” he said, nodding in approval. “You work at a local theater, don’t you?”

I nodded. “The Springwells Theater
Company. We mostly do education and outreach for local kids.”

“I think having an education
component would be important,” he said. “We could run camps and classes, give
back a little.”

“Jenner, seriously, this sounds
incredible,” I said. I had never been good at selling myself or networking, but
at that moment I didn’t care. “If you need any help, please keep me in mind.
I’d love to be involved in this.”

Jenner smiled at me broadly. “I’m
glad to hear that. You know, you’re the first person in this cast who hasn’t
hinted to me about how willing you’d be to go to New York with the show.”

I blushed a little. “I
would
be happy to go to New York,” I
said slowly. “I’d be happy to do anything that kept me acting. But a local
company like this, with an outreach component…it sounds perfect.”

“Well, I’ll definitely keep you up
to date with the details.”

Over his shoulder I caught sight of
Jasmine, glaring at me. I stifled a laugh, badly.

“What?” Jenner asked, looking over
his shoulder.

“Nothing,” I said. “I think someone
is trying to crush my head with mind power.”

Jenner must have caught sight of
Jasmine because he turned back to me, rolling his eyes. “You’d think I’d be
used to that garbage by now,” he said. “Oh well, only a few more weeks, right?”

“Right,” I said, happily thinking
to myself that Jasmine might not be joining the cast in Chicago.

“I should really get going,” he
said, looking down at his watch. “I have a breakfast meeting pretty early.”

“Thanks for the party, Jenner,” I
said sincerely. “And thanks for telling me about the company. Good luck with
it.”

Jenner clapped a hand on my
shoulder. “Thank you for all of your hard work. It means a lot to me. See you
tomorrow.”

He turned and left, saying goodbye
to people as he made his way through the crowds. I caught sight of Jasmine
struggling through the throng in an attempt to catch up with him.

For once I didn’t feel at all
grossed out by her. I was way too excited and happy to care much about anyone
else. Jenner Collins thought I was doing a good job! And he wanted me to know
about his company. What if he actually asked me to be a part of it?

I pictured myself, a year from now,
teaching acting classes to kids. Without awful Grayson to boss me around, I
could get out of the office and spend more time on the creative side. Maybe I’d
even get the chance to perform, or at least work on some of the shows in some
capacity. A group of resident artists. The very idea sent a shiver down my
arms.

I compared my feelings with how I
felt about the possibility of going to Chicago, or even New York. The idea of
acting every night was definitely a dream come true. And this play was great.
But if I could still act and got to stay here? I had to admit, if it came down
to a choice between the two, it would be a very, very tough decision.

Chapter Twenty-two

‘One of the best
things you can do to solidify your new relationship is to create some new
traditions with your man. The holidays are a great time to do this. Why not
give him a taste of all the memories you’re sure to create over the years once
you have a family of your own? He may be hesitant at first—lots of guys
think traditions aren’t very masculine—but if you’re persistent you can
show him how much fun it can be!’—
The
Single Girl’s Guide to Finding True Love