Under the Lights (19 page)

“Dude. Vanessa's looking pretty hot tonight,” Royce says, just as he's been instructed. “You gonna tap that?”

“Of course not.” Tonight, I'll be playing the role of Josh the Chivalrous. “She has a boyfriend.”

“Her boyfriend's not here.” He takes another drink from his bottle, and I know the cameras are focusing on the sleazy way he smiles around it. “Go for it, man. I'll take her friend. She's pretty hot.”

I glance over at Mini-Jade. She's a little too Punk Rock Chick for my taste, but apparently she's been hiding some great tits. “I'd like to see you try.”

“I will if you will.” He drains the bottle, puts it down on the bar. “Come on—everyone knows you guys have been all over each other on the
Daylight Falls
set.”

That's our job
, I know I should say, but the truth is, on set, when she was kissing me, digging her nails into my shoulders, it sure as hell felt like she was pretty into it. She's not a bad kisser, either. She may be annoying, and it's completely ridiculous that she still lives with her parents, and I'm almost positive she's a virgin, but if she did wanna get sloppy and make out a little tonight, I wouldn't say no.

My eyes shift from Mini-Jade's tits back over K-drama's legs before returning to Royce. “Dude,” I say instead, because I don't really feel like getting into all the Vanessa shit. Plus, Chuck's already given me my transition out, much as it makes me wanna hurl. “Shannah's coming tonight. She'd go nuts.”

“Oh, yeah,” Royce says dully. For a guy who pretty much carries a successful movie franchise, he can't deliver five stupid scripted lines for shit. Makes sense, I guess, since he's used to playing a zombie. “Uh, we should at least go say hi.” As if Vanessa and I both chose to come to this absurdly shitty club independently.
What a coincidence!

I glare at Chuck until he has the cameras cut so I can get a fucking drink before they follow us over
to flirt with the girls. As I wait for my Jack and Coke, I look over and see that there are already a few guys gathered around the table, hitting on both girls and trying to get them to dance. One guy picks up his shirt; I'm pretty sure he's asking K-drama to autograph his abs.

What a fucking tool.

She's laughing, though. Mini-Jade isn't quite as amused; clearly her mother has her trained to be a possessive pit bull around her clients. Or at least one client. Funny how she always seems to be babysitting K-drama. I wonder who's watching Zander tonight.

I expect the guys to bolt at the sight of us when we approach with our drinks, but the guy with his shirt up just nods and says, “Hey, Chester, Hudson,” as if he knows us. If I'm supposed to recognize him from somewhere, I definitely don't. Normally I'd just ignore him, but I'm on camera and feel like teaching him a lesson in being a presumptuous dick.

“Hey…you,” I say cheerfully, making patently clear I have no idea who this asshole is. Vanessa shoots me a look, but Mini-Jade cracks up, spitting out whatever she'd been drinking. I decide I might actually like her. Then I move in close enough that he has to pull back the arm he'd been using to brace himself over Vanessa's seat, and slide in across from them, ignoring his annoyed protests completely.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I greet the girls, air-kissing with both like complete tools, as if we do this every time we see each other. Royce does the same with Vanessa, though I'm pretty sure he air-kisses with tongue.

“We heard this is the place to be,” Vanessa responds dryly. “I hope you boys are staying out of trouble.”

“Never.” Hudson's eyes drop right back into Mini-Jade's cleavage. “I don't believe we've met. I'm Royce.”

“Brianna.” She shakes his hand, looking like she wishes there were a bottle of hand sanitizer on the table. Good thing the girl's not going for an acting career. “We met at Josh's goodbye party for Ally, actually.”

No sign of recognition, but that doesn't bother Royce. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Thanks, but I'm eighteen.”

Next to her, Vanessa laughs and takes a sip of her own drink. Then her eyes widen over the rim of her glass. “We've got company,” she murmurs as she puts the glass down. I know without even turning around that Shannah's walking up to the table, yet another condition of this whole stupid night.

“God, this is so many kinds of hilarious,” Brianna says from behind her hand. Then she pulls a pen out of I don't even know where and scribbles on a napkin,
We should be having way more fun with this.

I raise an eyebrow and grab the pen; all our mics are still on.
I don't think your mother would like that, Mini-Jade.

She rolls her eyes, just as I hear Shannah coo, “Hey, Josh.”

Turning, I see Shannah's not alone. How she managed to get two more of her stupid friends to join in for this train wreck, I don't even know, but there they are—Kaia Daniels, who's fresh off a stupid lip-synching scandal on
American Idol
, and Natasha Rivers, who once gave me surprisingly good head in an alley about a mile from here. “Ladies.”

I'm pretty sure Natasha's eyeing me and considering a repeat performance—to which I definitely would not object—but then Shannah crosses her arms and says,
“Didn't think I'd see you here with her,” jutting her chin at K-drama like she's caught me cheating.

“We just bumped into each other,” Vanessa says in the fake-innocent voice she uses as Bailey on the show. “The guys were just offering to buy us drinks. I'm sure they'd be happy to grab you something.”

“Make sure mine has cherries with stems,” Brianna adds, giving Royce a flirty smile. “I'm a little rusty on that whole ‘tying a knot with my tongue' thing, but I wouldn't mind the practice.”

Royce bows as he gets up to follow orders, as if she hadn't shot him down just two minutes earlier. Can't blame him for playing along. On top of the great tits, she and K-drama are also clearly pissing the crap out of the other girls.

“Who are you?” Kaia sniffs at Brianna.

“Me? I'm Josh's tailor.”

If I'd been drinking anything at that moment, I would've choked.

“Excuse me?”

Brianna shrugs. “Yeah, ya know, if he pops a button or something, he needs me here to fix it. What, you don't have one?”

Kaia eyes her weirdly, trying to figure out how to respond, as Royce shows back up, double-fisting clear drinks I'm guessing have a lot more alcohol in them than the glasses currently in front of the girls. Three cherries bob in the one he places in front of Brianna, and he winks at her and says, “Go to town. Practice makes perfect.”

She winks back as she purses her lips around the straw, and Kaia looks like she wants to shove those cherries down Brianna's throat. Even though she herself is completely talentless and almost definitely slept her way onto
Idol
, nothing bothers Kaia more
than other talentless people getting in her way. That I suspect Mini-Jade would've tossed that drink in Royce's face if the other girls weren't here only makes it more fun.

What the hell—if the girls can enjoy this, so can I.

“You ladies gonna sit?” I pat my lap. “There's plenty of room for everyone.”

Shannah wrinkles her nose—as much as she possibly can, given it's her third. “I don't share,” she says coldly. “Are you gonna get me a drink?”

“I wasn't planning on it,” I say honestly. Van and Brianna crack up at that, and the fact that they're both a few sips in to whatever Royce brought them probably helps. “You should totally get something, though. Actually, could you get me another Jack and Coke?” I glance at the camera guy. “And, by that, I mean a Coke. Because I am nineteen. And drinking alcohol is both illegal and irresponsible.”

Van and Brianna crack up again, and I can't help grinning as Shannah fumes. “God, you know, this is why I broke up with you for Garrett,” she snaps. “You're so freaking immature.”

“Garrett got arrested for wagging his dick out of a limo window,” I remind her. “Pretty sure I'm still winning this contest.”

She shoots me a disgusted look and turns on her heel, with Kaia following her to the bar. Natasha winks at me and licks her lips before following.

“That's so great that your friends could come join us!” Bri gushes, taking another sip of her drink and settling into the arm Royce drapes around her shoulder. “They seem really sweet.”

“Shannah's great,” Van says enthusiastically. “Remember how nice she was after she got caught yelling at that fan?
So
sweet.”

“And she seems to really like you, Josh.” Bri covers my hand with hers, which is cold and damp from her sweating glass. “When she's not being a little jealous of this one over here.” She nudges her shoulder into Vanessa's side, and Van laughs and nudges her back harder, almost spilling both their drinks. They crack up, and I'd think they were hammered, but they still haven't had all that much.

“Well, how could anyone not be jealous of K-dra—Vanessa? I mean, look at all that natural grace right there.”

She sticks her tongue out at me.

“See what I mean?” I wrap my hand around her glass and help myself to a sip. It's a vodka tonic, light on tonic.

“Of course, this one's taken,” Royce points out, tipping his own glass at K-drama. “Where's your boyfriend, anyway? How come he never hangs out with us?”

Oh, shit. I'd completely forgotten I was supposed to mention Zander. Though, watching the way her face screws up at the mention, I'm glad I didn't. Bri looks a little weird about it, too, and I wonder if Jade'll be pissed that her golden boy client was mentioned around the likes of me.

“He's got a tour coming up—needs to protect his vocal chords,” Van says after a minute, then nabs her glass back and takes a long drink, bypassing the straw. Around us, the song changes, and she laughs. “Speaking of which…”

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Chuck was behind having the Wonder Boys' newest hit, “My Girl, My Woman,” play at this exact moment. Even when he's not here, Zander Wilson is everywhere.

“We should dance.” Royce tosses back the rest of his drink and holds out a hand to Bri. “I think Park's boy toy would appreciate it.”

“I bet he would,” says Bri. She takes one last long drink and then plucks a cherry from the glass, sliding it between her lips as she follows him out to the dance floor.

I watch K-drama watch them go, and I wonder if she really is down about the fact that her boyfriend isn't here. She definitely looks…something.

And I definitely need more alcohol.

Reaching up the back of my shirt, I flick off my microphone and gesture for Van to do the same. Chuck starts to protest, but I hold out the mic and say, “I think you guys got enough for now, don't you? Why don't you all take a break and let me get a fucking drink or twelve.”

To my surprise, Chuck agrees, though instead of disappearing, they just focus on Shannah whispering in a corner with the other chicks. Whatever. I don't give a shit what they do; I just know I need a drink, and I'm willing to bet K-drama can be convinced to do a shot with me.

It takes even less urging than I expect, and we grab Royce and Bri from the floor and do a round of shots—to Zander, despite Vanessa's eye-rolling—before finally just dancing and chilling out.

I'll say one thing for K-drama—the girl's pretty damn good on the dance floor. As the Wonder Boys' track transitions into Beyoncé, she lightens up, and before long, she's filled with just the right amount of tipsy energy. People start to crowd around and watch as she rolls her body against mine, waves her hands in the air, and sings along to the music. Her voice is
pretty terrible, but she's having so much fun that no one even cares.

It's kind of awesome to watch her letting go like that. Not that I've never seen her have fun before, but right now, she looks…like she's glowing or something. Royce has nudged Bri closer to make the two girls dance up on each other, and if she minds being sandwiched between us, it doesn't show. I'm certainly not complaining about the view down Bri's top, but the truth is, I kinda want them to disappear. I kinda want everyone to disappear. For weeks I've been feeling like everything is spinning, and right now, Van's hips beneath my hands, even as they rock to the music, feel like exactly the stability I need to keep myself grounded, just for a night.

Doesn't hurt that her hair smells really fucking good. Sweet. Like strawberries or something.

Fingers brush mine, and I look down to see that Bri's now got a hand on Van's waist, too. She's pulling her closer, and I'm doing the same, and we end up merging like an Oreo while Royce whistles. I'm pretty sure the cameras are on us, but I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit about anything. Right now, all I want is the scent of strawberries in my nose, the sound of her crappy singing in my ear, and her little body beneath my hands.

I don't wanna think about Chuck. I don't wanna think about my mother. I don't wanna think about my shitty future.

And I don't wanna think about what it means that I don't wanna let go of Vanessa Park at the end of the night.

I don't even know how many songs I dance sandwiched between Bri and Josh, watching the flashing lights and singing along. I feel drunk on pure adrenaline, though I know there's some vodka mixed in there. There are flashbulbs going off, and I know I'll see myself on websites tomorrow if I spend two seconds looking, but I don't care.

Zander would hate this.

Jade will kill me.

I don't care. About either of them. Any of it. In front of me, Josh looks like he's having every bit as much fun as I am. Behind me, Bri seems to be enjoying herself, too. Every few seconds, I feel her hair or breasts graze my back, her breath on my ear, and my brain short-circuits.