How to Date a Millionaire (5 page)

‘Hi.' I wave slightly and the three of us start on over to the edge of the pool.

‘And, um …' Jason continues.

‘Nat and Alexa,' I tell him.

‘That's right,' he says and, standing there at that moment, I start to get the feeling I don't think I'm going to like Jason much. It's not even what he's said so far. I mean, it can't be. He must have said, what, less than fifty words to me? No, it's how he's said it. He's just a bit … cocky, as my dad would say. Just that little bit too sure of himself. A little bit too … (as Marc would say, to quote all the men in my life in quick succession) LA. Hmmm. I tune back in as he continues, ‘This is Connor and … Seth. Hey, where're you going, man?' he calls out, as Seth starts to make his way out of the pool.

‘The fitness centre,' Seth says, not looking at either Jason or Connor as he pulls himself out and up onto the tiles. The five of us watch as he towels himself off and starts towards the fitness centre. ‘Nice meeting you, Nat, Alexa, Nessa.'

‘Um, yeah. You too,' I say as he passes me by. Nat watches him leave, open-mouthed (he really is the best-looking one and that exit from the pool – well, I can hardly blame her). Beside me, Alexa also watches him go, before her eyes slowly flick to mine and her eyebrows raise. ‘What was that about?' her left eyebrow says, while her right eyebrow says, ‘Oh, Ness. He is sooooo your type.'

The next hour or so turns into a bit of a party, with the five of us hanging out in the pool, on the sun loungers, in the pool, on the sun loungers (well, there's only so much sitting in water a gal can take, you know!). As we chat, I start to get over my initial dislike of Jason. I can see we're never going to be best friends, but he's okay. Both he and Connor seem like reasonably nice guys, though I have to admit there are a few things they say that don't quite add up. For a start, one minute I'm talking to Jason and it seems like they're renting the place upstairs, and the next minute I hear Connor telling Nat that it's Seth's father's apartment. And are they at film school, or not? I think it's Connor who tells me that all three of them are in their second year of film school, but then Jason just says that they're all at college together.

When I ask Connor which film school it is, he's kind of evasive. He ends up talking about the school itself, but never saying which one it is, and I only realise this afterwards. Hmmm. It's kind of weird that I can't make sense of what's going on. Still, I shrug it off. I'd just look silly if I started questioning the two guys endlessly, like I was running some kind of an interrogation (pass me that lamp, will you? Oh, and those clamps). We're all having a good time (well, except for Seth, who never comes back from the fitness centre), so I let it slide. I'm probably just being over-cautious again. You know, because of the Ben/Ned/Justin thing. It's not like I have to date these guys. I just have to sit in a pool with them. So I let it all go, sit back and enjoy the sun on my lounger. And then the pool again. And the lounger again and then the pool …

Another half hour sees my fingers getting decidedly pruney for the second time today, so I decide I might try something else. It's then that I spot the sauna at the other end of the deck, partially hidden by a wooden screen. I jump up, towel in hand.

‘I'm off to boil my brains out in the sauna. Um … you two want to come?' I feel a bit prudish not including the
guys in my invitation, but how well do I know them, after all? I'd feel a bit weird being locked in a tiny steamy room with two guys I met about an hour ago. Then again, I tell myself what my dad would say about me having a sauna with two older guys I met about an hour ago and decide I'm right after all. Or even if I'm not right, at least my allowance is safe and I still have a lot of Hawaiian shopping to do.

‘No thanks,' Nat pipes up, sitting cross-legged in the pool's beach entry.

‘I'll stay here.' Alexa gives me an ‘as if I'm letting this one out of my sight' look before I head off and I try not to laugh.

I trot on over the warm deck till I get to the sauna, turn it on and settle myself on the top bench inside.

I don't last long.

There's just something about saunas and me that don't mix well. I keep trying them out, to see if I've got over it yet, but somehow I never seem to. I'm not sure what it is. I love the smell and the heat, but the tiny room thing – shudder. I think that might be it. It's something about the heat, about it getting hotter and hotter while I'm
in such a small space. It's all a bit Hansel and Gretel – like someone's trying to cook me. Within about five minutes I've moved from the top bench to the bottom bench. Within another five minutes I'm sitting on my towel on the floor. And another five minutes after that, I'm bursting out the door and running for the plunge pool around the corner from the sauna, also shielded from the view of the pool by the wooden screening.

Yeeeaaahhh! With a hop, skip and a jump I'm at the side of the plunge pool and am ready to leap in. Except … oh.

I stop in my tracks. ‘Sorry. I'll, um …'

‘Don't be silly. There's plenty of room.' Seth shuffles over.

I hesitate. I really want to get into that plunge pool, but Seth didn't look like he wanted company before. ‘Really? It's okay?'

Seth's eyes laugh. ‘I won't bite. I promise.'

‘Well, okay.' I start towards the steps.

‘Oh no. You'll never get in that way. You have to jump. That's why it's called a plunge pool.'

‘Oh, um. I guess you're right.' I eye the pool suspiciously.
I know how cold these things are. I've braved them in the past.

‘Quick. Before you cool off too much from the sauna. Go! Go, go, go, go, go.'

I realise Seth's right. So, with another yeeeaaahhh! I jump on in without thinking.

‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.' My teeth chatter when my head resurfaces and I finally find I can speak again. ‘Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod.'

‘Cold, huh?' Seth laughs.

My teeth still chattering away, I nod. Hard.

‘Apparently it's really bad for your blood pressure.'

I take a deep breath, becoming more accustomed to the cold now, and sit on the ledge across from Seth.

‘Really? I'll have to tell Holly to stay away then. She's my stepmother. She's pregnant with twins and we're kind of worried about her blood pressure.'

Across from me, Seth looks kind of taken aback. Too much information at once, maybe? But then he moves around in his seat and when he focuses on me again, his expression has changed. ‘That's no good. Is she okay?'

‘We think so. They're checking her out again today and
if her blood pressure's gone up again, we'll go home, I think. She's being obstinate, though. She wants to stick around for the mocktails and the shopping.'

Seth laughs. Then …

Silence. The two of us look around the deck, as if we've left something interesting to say over by our towels. ‘I'm, um, sorry we intruded before,' I end up blurting out.

‘Sorry?'

‘Well, you know. You left in such a hurry. I figured you didn't want us around.'

Seth sits up now. ‘Oh, no. It wasn't that. Sorry if it looked like that.'

‘Oh.'

‘It was … it's just Jason and Connor.' He looks away.

‘Did you have a fight or something?' The words come out before I can clap a hand over my mouth. Oh great. How old do I sound? About five years max is my guess.

‘No, nothing like that.'

‘Right.' That's your cue to shut up, Nessa.

‘Let's just say they can get on your nerves. They can be a bit of a handful sometimes.'

‘Ah, now that I can understand,' I say. ‘Maybe Alexa
and I are lucky we only have one Nat with us. Not two.'

‘The fun-loving type, is she?'

‘The boy-crazy type, more like it.'

Seth looks like he knows what I'm talking about. ‘I've got a sister like that. She's fourteen.'

‘Yeah, Nat's fourteen too.'

‘Maybe it's a fourteen-year-old thing.'

‘I think it's more of a fourteen-year-old Nat thing. She's one of a kind.'

Seth laughs again. ‘Now that you mention it, so's Cookie.'

‘Cookie?'

‘My sister's baby name. She had a bit of a thing going for cookies. She's been trying to drop the name forever, but it isn't working. Her real name's Johanna.'

‘Oh.'

‘Well, I'd better be getting out. I've got some work to do.'

‘Okay. Nice talking to you.'

Seth smiles back at me as he gets out of the plunge pool. ‘You too, Nessa. Have a good vacation. I hope your stepmother's blood pressure stays okay.'

‘Thanks. And I will!'

I watch Seth as he grabs his towel and disappears around the wooden screen, headed back towards the pool. Hmmm. That's funny. No weird vibes from him at all, like I'd got from Jason and Connor. He seems like a nice guy. A genuine guy.

Maybe Alexa's right eyebrow knew what it was talking about after all?

‘And then Jason said –'

‘Nat, if you mention either Jason or Connor one more time tonight, I'm going to smother you with this pillow,' Alexa butts in, holding said pillow up threateningly from the opposite end of the sofa.

‘But …'

‘No buts. And no more Jason. Or Connor. Here. Have some more pizza. A lot more pizza.'

‘You're just trying to shut me up.'

‘You think?'

‘Now now, children. Play nicely,' I intervene and the pair of them both end up glowering at me in the half-dark,
like I'm the baddie. ‘Right then. Maybe we should put the movie on?'

‘Good idea. And let's all remember it's rude to talk during a movie.' Alexa gives Nat a knowing look. ‘What did you pick out in the end?'

‘
How to Marry a Millionaire
,' Nat says, holding up the DVD box.

Ha ha ha. And before Alexa can even start, I point a finger at her. ‘Groan-free zone. Remember? Even where Marilyn Monroe is concerned. Nice choice, Nat, my friend.' And with that, I get up quick, take the DVD from her, and pop it into the DVD player before Alexa can do anything else. I might have said it was a groan-free zone, but I don't think we made any ‘no throwing DVDs over the balcony' pacts and I can see Alexa thinks the DVD wants to fly.

‘Wow! That was really great, Ness. You know, that Shatze's pretty smart. She was right about getting them the apartment. I mean, it's like here, isn't it?'

‘In what way?' I ask her.

‘Well, am I more likely to meet boyfriend material on the farm, or in a joint like this?'

Point taken.

‘And you were right about the outfits. They were fantastic. Do you think people really wore things like that? Like those hats and everything?'

I shake my head. ‘Sadly, no.'

Nat sighs a dreamy sigh. ‘When I move to New York, I want an outfit called “rainbow over the everglades” that I can wear to cocktail parties and afternoon getaways like Shatze. And I want a whole bunch of those champagne glasses – those ones with the wide, wide rims. And a parasol. And some of those cat's eye glasses with rhinestones like Pola wears. But definitely the dress. That's the first thing I'm going to buy.'

Both Alexa and I give Nat a look. Rainbow over the everglades, huh? ‘You might have to get that specially made,' I tell her.

‘Um, Nat, they were models, remember?' Alexa pipes up. ‘Think about the crazy things models have to get around in today. I mean, how much of what you see on the catwalk would you really wear?'

Nat sighs. ‘We don't see many catwalks. Not in New Zealand.'

‘Ah,' I start, but then realise she's probably right. Fashion's kind of thrown at you a bit harder living in Manhattan. ‘There's probably a wool show.'

‘Yeah. Probably. I'll remember to buy myself a ticket when I get home.'

I try to think of something to say to make her feel better. I know being dumped in NYC can be a bit overwhelming if you come from somewhere smaller. Even somewhere smaller like Sydney. ‘Living in Manhattan's not always so amazing, you know.'

‘Isn't it?' Nat sits up a bit. ‘Like when?'

‘Um …' I start again, thinking hard, but not coming up with much. ‘The apartments are tiny.'

‘Holly's apartment's huge,' Nat replies.

I grimace. Well, that's true. But then most people aren't Hollywood actresses, either.

‘There aren't many trees,' Alexa tries.

‘There's Central Park,' Nat counters.

‘Summer!' I blurt out, suddenly thinking of something. ‘Summer's awful. It's all hot and grimy and sooty. It's
disgusting. Seriously! You blow your nose in summer and the tissue comes back grey.'

‘That's true,' Alexa seconds. ‘Summer's revolting. Though the tissue's probably a little too much information.'

‘Oh,' Nat says, pausing to think for a second. ‘Well, summer in New Zealand isn't too bad, actually. As long as you're not wearing your fashionable wool beanie and scarf set, that is.'

The three of us crack up at this.

‘Do you think Jason likes wool?'

‘NAT!!!'