Absolutely Famous(76)

I get in his face and yell right back at him. “And I thought you were better than Jeff Talley, reading those stupid rags and believing everything you see! I guess we were both wrong, Oliver.”

“Miss Tannen, is everything okay?” I turn to see Evan standing in the doorway, his tattooed biceps flexing as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Fine Evan. I was just finishing up for the day.” I glare at Oliver one last time. “I’m really disappointed that you feel that way Oliver.” Then I walk back inside and gather my things to leave. Evan calls the elevator for us even though it’s only two flights down to my floor. We step in and let the doors close. I turn and see that he’s eyeing me cautiously.

“Evan…”

“I won’t say anything to Mr. Forrester if that’s what you’re wondering. But, I’m not very happy with that guy speaking to you like that.” He frowns and the doors open to let us out on our floor.

“Thanks, Evan.” I pat his giant arm.

I reach the suite and let myself in, telling Evan he can head back to his room for the rest of the afternoon.

“Drew?” I call out. Dropping my bag on the foyer table I walk through the suite and discover that he’s not here yet. I look at the clock and do some quick math in my head. Deciding that it’s not too early, I pull out my phone to call Allie.

“Syd, what’s up?” she says sadly.

“Allie, are you okay?”

“Yeah, just missing London.”

Crap, she sounds miserable.

“You miss London or you miss Dex?”

“Both. Plus work sucks, Sydney. One of the nurses on my floor read all of that stuff about me online and is apparently a huge fan of Drew’s. She told everyone she knows that he’s my brother and now I can’t stand going to the hospital every day.” I hear her sigh miserably and can completely relate.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I know exactly how you feel.”

“I know you do Syd. Hey, don’t tell Drew okay? I don’t want him worrying about me.” More secrets from Drew. This isn’t my day.

“I won’t Allie. So, are you still talking to Dex?”

“Yeah, every day. He said he’s going to try and make it to the ball. Wouldn’t that be so great Syd?”

I think about Drew and Declan being in the same room all night and shudder. “Uh, yeah, that would be great.” I’m sure I don’t sound convincing.

“Syd, Drew can just take his big brother shit and stuff it up his ass! I like Dex. A lot. I’m not letting his attitude get to me. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if he was an actor or a heart surgeon, Drew would still hate his guts.”

She’s right, but I’m sure having his sister date an up and coming actor like Declan Foster is much harder for him than if he actually was a doctor or something normal. “He just wants you to have a regular life, Allie. Not one like his where you can’t really trust anyone around you. Dating Dex isn’t going to be easy.”

“I know Syd. But people always seem to find out who I am anyway. There is no normal for me. In high school, when Drew first made it big, it was easier because I knew who my friends were. Then in college, I made the mistake of telling my freshman year roommate. That was my first giant dose of reality as Andrew Forrester’s sister. She told so many people that for four years I had no idea who was genuinely my friend and who was just using me to try and meet him,” she says.

“I’m sorry Allie.”

“It’s okay Sydney; I know it was pretty much the same for you only worse. Anyway, when I got to pharmacy school, I kept my mouth shut. People joked about my last name and how cool it would be if we were related, but I always just brushed them off. But now, with everyone at work knowing …” she doesn’t bother finishing her thought. After a moment she continues. “Sometimes I think that I should have just taken him up on his offer to be his PA.”

I laugh. “He asked you to work for him?”

“Yeah, he wanted someone he could trust. But I wanted to go to school, not follow my big brother around doing everything he said.”

“I would love to have a big brother or sister. I’m jealous that you have each other.”

“He is pretty great, even though he’s a giant pain in the ass sometimes,” Allie jokes.

“Yes, he is pretty great,” I agree.

“Hey, I gotta go Syd. Thanks for calling me.”

“I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course. Plus, we have to talk about dresses!”

“Dresses?”

“For the ball! Jeez, I swear Syd; you are the most forgetful person I know. Bye!”