Competing With the Star (Star #2) (14 page)

“Honey, if you see anything you like, just let me know and I’ll buy it for your birthday,” Simone said, smiling.

Did she think she could buy me off? Her super eager tone was irritating me and now I was starting to get mad. Did she think I was too stupid to realize how manipulative she was?

“Do they have anything for a broken heart?” I asked.

“We need to set you up with someone. How about Will?” Simone said.

“Will and I weren’t compatible,” I said.

“Yeah, she doesn’t just want to settle,” Pilar said. “I mean, once you’ve found your soulmate, it’s hard to just date anyone.”

Simone’s eyes widened. “Oh, look at this cute top. Hads, you’d look so pretty in this. You should try it on.”

I didn’t even care for it, but I realized going into the dressing room would be an escape. I pulled the curtain shut and stared at myself in the full length mirror.

“Do you like it?” she asked through the curtain.

I hadn’t even put it on yet. “It’s okay.” I looked sad. My eyes looked like they had no life in them. Had my skin always been this pale and dull-looking?

“I’ll buy it for you if you want,” she said.

Was she so desperate because she wanted things to go back to normal or to cover her tracks? Maybe it had to do with how she felt abandoned by her dad after her parents’ divorce. And now her dad’s new wife was pregnant and I knew Simone was feeling left out there as well. Or did she truly feel bad and didn’t know how to make it up to me? All I knew was that I looked and felt dead inside. It almost wasn’t worth being as happy as I was before if it meant I had to feel this bad when it all fell apart.

“Come out so we can see it,” Asia said.

I put on the top and walked out.

“Love it. Love everything about it. She can wear anything though, because she’s so pretty,” Simone said.

“Oh, shut up,” I said.

The girls looked shocked.

“Sorry, I have a headache and I just want to go and sit down for a while.”

“Oh right, you said you had PMS,” Simone said. “Totally explains it.”

Except I lied about that. I went back into the dressing room and saw I had a text from Pilar that just had a little cheerleader on it with the message:

Way to go! Stand up for yourself
.

Smiling, I texted back a boxer with his arms in the air. I put my own shirt back on and came out of the dressing room.

“Do you need aspirin or something?” Asia asked.

“Maybe a soda.”

“Ooh, let’s get one at the drugstore where we first saw Jack,” she said.

I smiled. “Okay, that sounds good.”

We headed out and Simone said she needed to use the restroom and would meet us there. Normally, I’d offer to wait, but I couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

“So this is awkward,” Pilar said.

“She’s trying,” Asia said. “She doesn’t want to lose you as a friend.”

Then maybe she should have kept her stupid mouth off my boyfriend.

“Anyway, what do you have planned for your party next weekend?” Asia asked.

I shrugged. “It’s not a big thing. Just Italian food and some movies at the house. I put, like, zero thought into it. I don’t want to go out and run into anyone.”

“She means like Nick on a date or something,” Pilar said.

Asia rolled her eyes. “Obviously. A low key birthday sounds fine. Do you have a cake ordered? You could get cupcakes from Cuppy Cake. That would be fun.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. Originally I was going to see about going back to Detroit to see a basketball game. I was going to ask my parents if Nick could come.”

Asia bit her lip. “Oh man, that would have been nice. Shh, here comes Simone.”

Yeah, let’s all protect her feelings. Heaven forbid she overhears us talking about how she had helped uproot my life.

“Hey, guys, did you order?” Simone asked, sitting on one of the stools.

“Yeah, we’re all getting hot dogs, fries, and a soda,” Asia said. “I ordered for you.”

“Cool. Hey, which one of these stools did Jack sit on?” she asked.

“The one I’m sitting on,” I said.

Our orders came and the guy behind the counter leaned across from me.

“You have such a pretty smile,” he said. “What can I do to make you smile? Would a cherry phosphate do it? A malted?”

If you pour it over the head of a certain blonde, sure.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“You sure? I make a great cherry phosphate,” he said, smiling. He looked just a little older than us, but like he was still in high school.

Asia elbowed me, so I said, “Um, okay.”

He made a big production out of making it and I glanced over and saw Simone frowning. It was probably bugging her because she was always the center of attention, and heaven forbid someone show me any.

“Here you go, sweetheart. On the house. All I ask for is one smile,” he said. “And if you are so inclined, here’s a napkin to write down your phone number.”

He winked at me as he put the napkin in front of me and then walked away.

“Holy crap, he’s cute,” Pilar said.

“You should give him your number,” Simone said.

Was she being sincere or did she think me going out with someone new would erase everything in the past? Maybe she even wanted me to move on so Nick would be completely free.

“I think I will,” I said. “Anyone got a pen?”

Asia handed me one and I wrote my first name and cell number. I was planning to leave it behind, but Simone grabbed it as I tossed it down on the counter and she handed it to the guy.

“Hey,” he said, smiling as he took the number from her. “Let me put this into my phone now, so you’ll know when it’s me texting you.”

My phone buzzed and he had sent a smiley face. “I’m Dylan, by the way.”

We got up to pay and when it came to my bill, Dylan said it was on the house. I felt a little weird about that, but said thank you.

“Her birthday is this week,” Simone said.

“Oh yeah? Happy birthday,” he said.

Simone giggled and said, “You should take her out for her birthday.”

“Sounds good to me. You up for it?” he asked me.

I glared at her. “Maybe, but I just broke up with someone.”

“Oh, that’s rough,” Dylan said. “Been there.”

“Yeah, well, he cheated on me.”

Simone looked stung and Pilar and Asia were giving each other a shocked look.

“Thanks for dinner, Dylan. It was nice meeting you,” I said.

“Have a happy birthday. Oh, and, his loss,” he said.

“It is,” Pilar said. “He will
never
find anyone like her again.”

Simone’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out of her head. We walked over to the other side of the drugstore with all the souvenir stuff, but Simone hung back.

“I take it we won’t be buying matching bracelets or anything here to commemorate this lovely trip,” Asia said. “Seriously, Pilar. What the crap was that?”

“Hey, don’t blame me. It’s about time someone stood up to her. You don’t do that to someone you call a friend and pretend it’s all fine.”

“Are you even talking about Hadley, or you and Connor?”

“Both actually.”

“Well, Nick and Connor need to take responsibility for their own actions,” Asia said. “It can’t all be her fault.”

“What’s the common denominator here?” Pilar said.

“Simone can’t help it that she’s so pretty.”

“Seriously?” Pilar rolled her eyes. “That’s what you come back with?”

“She’s my best friend and she’s devastated over what happened. She’s terrified she’ll lose Hadley as a friend.”

Asia put her arm around me and I didn’t say anything. Pilar looked upset, but Simone was walking up and I didn’t want to get into it in front of her.

“I just talked you up to Dylan,” Simone said. “He was worried you weren’t over your boyfriend, so I told him that was a thing of the past and he should still text you.”

“Just stop it,” I said. “I don’t want you trying to push me into anything.”

She looked hurt. Her round blue eyes filled with tears and she began crying. “You don’t have to be mean. I’m just trying to help.”

Asia moved over to give her a hug and looked over at me, pleading. “She didn’t mean it, right, Hadley?”

“I’m just…I’m not ready for another guy and not feeling up to talking about it.”

“I just want you to be happy. He’s so sweet. Isn’t he cute, guys?” Simone said, wiping her nose on her shirt sleeve.

“I’m not ready,” I said.

“Okay, well, I just thought it’d be nice for you to have some hot guy to go out with for your sixteenth birthday. I want that day to be special for you.”

She seemed sincere and I was torn between feeling bad that she was so upset, worried about our friendship, and being angry that she was the reason I didn’t have Nick to celebrate with on my birthday. But maybe that was his own fault and not hers. Her crying had made me feel awful and now I just wanted to tell her it would all be okay.

“Let’s go check out the stuffed animals,” Pilar said.

Simone and Asia were looking at the Hello Kitty display when I saw the tiny red panda on the shelf. My heart hurt remembering how Nick had won one for me.

“Why does she always do that?” Pilar said, coming up to me. “She cries and suddenly you feel like the bad person. Sometimes I wonder if it’s real or her acting.”

“You think that was fake?”

“Well, maybe not this time. I think she’s genuinely freaking out that you’ll dump her as a friend. That and she’s not that great an actress,” Pilar said, elbowing me. “C’mon. You have to laugh at that. It’s funny.”

I tried to hide my smile.

“My mom just texted me that the boys are sleeping over at our house. Nick will be under my roof tonight,” Pilar said. “Do you want me to spy?”

“Yes, yes I do. I’d love to hear what they talk about.”

“Wouldn’t it be great to be invisible for, like, ten minutes and go into their world?” she asked.

I bit my lip. Until a few months ago I had felt invisible around people. But Simone and Nick had both changed that for me and now it felt like I could lose one or both of them.

The four of us went to another shop and I pretended to try on clothes to get away again. I noticed Pilar going into a dressing room too. I expected her to text me, but my phone stayed silent.

“You guys? The shops are all closing. You want to get ice cream or just text my mom and head back?” Simone asked.

“I’m ready to go,” I said.

We headed back to the car and this time it was completely quiet on the ride home.

Chapter Twenty

Pilar called me the next morning. “Okay, I didn’t spy, but I overheard some stuff. I asked my brother and he didn’t want to spill at first, but I know that he and Will snuck out last weekend, so he owes me.”

“What did you find out?”

“Nick is super mad at you for not believing him.”

“Are you serious? He said he was upset I was still talking to Simone and not him, but he didn’t seem angry.”

“Yeah, well, he was getting it all out with the guys. He said it was like Simone got off scot-free and he took the hit. My brother said he was furious.”

“Wow, so he’s mad at me.”

“Do you care? I mean, are you still thinking there’s a chance for you guys to get back together?” she asked.

“Honestly, my first thought was, ‘oh crap, does that mean he’s going to go find somebody else?’ Is that lame? Am I stupid?”

“No, you still care about him. That doesn’t turn off just because something happened. If it did then I’d be over Lucas.”

“Part of me feels like Nick’s telling the truth,” I said. “Just the way he acted at the nursing home. I felt like he was being sincere. But what guy wouldn’t be into a TV star kissing them?”

“I interrogated my brother and he said even when the guys were like, ‘oh man, what was it like to kiss Simone, she’s so hot,’ Nick never caved and bragged or anything. He just said she was more trouble than she was worth. The closest he came to saying anything about it was…”

“What? Tell me.”

“People say I’m too blunt sometimes,” she said. “I dunno…”

“Just tell me.”

“He said he had fanaticized about kissing Simone for a long time and yet when it happened he was finally over her and had moved on and now it just ruined everything,” she said. “I don’t know if that makes you feel better or worse.”

“I don’t know either.”

“I gotta go. Homework. At least this week is only three days. You’re so lucky your birthday falls during parent/teacher conference week. It’s like the universe is giving you four days of no school and sleeping in.”

“Yeah, talk to you later.”

Mom and I went over the menu for my party on Thursday. Most of my conferences were scheduled for Friday, so my parents suggested I have everyone over the first day off we had. Since it was just a few girls coming, Mom suggested we get fancy takeout from this Italian place I liked and then have the cupcakes.

I was getting ready for bed when I saw I had a text from Asia.

Asia: Hey, are we okay?

Me: Yeah, why?

Asia: I feel like maybe I took Simone’s side too much yesterday. Pilar was right. You’re entitled to how you feel. Simone did a crappy thing. She’s my best friend, but she can be thoughtless sometimes. She was just trying to help with that Dylan guy. She feels super bad.

Me: I get that. It’s just going to take me a while to get past this.

Asia: Yeah. Looking forward to your party this week. Oh, Morgan said she can’t make it. She has some yoga class that night with Reagan.

I sent back a sad face, but inside I was cheering. It probably wasn’t so much Morgan blowing me off as it was Reagan convincing her not to go because she wasn’t invited.

I texted Pilar to tell her Morgan wasn’t coming to the party.

Pilar: I was right—the universe is giving you gifts. LOL

Me: Hahaha.

Pilar: Better make a birthday wish. Good things come in threes after all.

Me:
Do you think that Dylan guy was one of the three wishes?

Pilar: No, because I don’t think you were wishing for anybody new. Now if Simone is abducted by aliens, then I’ll know your wish came true ;) jk

Me:
LOL Hey, do you want to spend the night after my party?

I sat back, waiting for her response. We had gotten closer, but maybe it was due to her being fed up about Simone and I had misread things and she didn’t feel as close to me as I thought.

Pilar: Sounds fun.

My shoulders relaxed.

Me: Is it cool if it’s just us? Or did you want me to ask the others?

Pilar: I think it’d be fun with just us. Oh, I ordered your present today. I did express shipping so it should be here in time :)

Me: Thanks!! Gotta get to bed. TTYL

Pilar
:
Night.