"Are you okay, Blake? You look upset. I thought you'd be happy for us to find out who's after Jeanne."
"I am, of course I am. But I don't want to lose you again," I tell her honestly. "Can we have tonight? No matter what, can we just have this one night together? All night?"
"I'd like that. No, actually, I'd love it. I have a small suitcase in the car, just in case I had to stay longer."
I pull her to me, and kiss her softly. "You can stay as long as you'd like."
"You don't even know me, Blake. Not really. You can't know if you want me to stay."
"I know enough to realize that I want you. Both in my bed, and out of it."
"I'll have at least a week off once things are over. I don't know if that works with your schedule … "
I place my fingers over her mouth, and touch my forehead to hers. "I'll make it work. I don't start promoting my next film for a few months. I have scripts to look at, and some other things I have to work on, but I'll give you as much time as I can."
"After Jeanne gets her time."
"Yeah. I won't apologize for that."
"And I wouldn't ask you to. She's your daughter, she has to come first. In fact, aren't you supposed to grab her for dinner?"
"I'm here."
"Oh hey, baby. I was just coming to get you."
"After you finished kissing Audrey."
"We were talking, too."
"How was school?" Audrey asks her, stepping away from me.
Jeanne shrugs, which she didn't do when I asked her the same question earlier. "Roger was being nice to me."
"Was he now?"
"Who's Roger?" I ask.
"Just a stupid boy."
I don't like the sound of that. "Did he do something to you? Before he was nice today, I mean?"
"Not really. He usually ignores me. Yesterday at the mall, he was checking Audrey out, but she shut him down. Today, he sat by me and told me I looked pretty. It was really fake, though. I think he wanted to ask me about Zack."
"I'm sorry," I tell her, and I really am.
"It's okay. I'd rather know he's a jerk now than keep thinking I like him."
"How about the girls?" Audrey asks, her eyes narrowing.
Jeanne rolls her eyes. "They wanted to know if they could meet Kace."
"You know that if you wanted that, Stella would make it happen for you."
"Would you do it? Try and impress people so they'd want to be your friends?
"Now? No. When I was your age, yes."
"I don't want pretend. I want real friends."
"Good choice," Audrey says as we walk into the dining room.
We sit down, and start piling our plates with tamales, rice, and beans while we wait for everyone else. "Did you really make the tamales, Matt?"
"Damn straight."
"He helped make them," Reina says, rolling her eyes. "We both helped Audrey's mom."
"She likes me better, though."
"Of course she does."
"She said. Tell her Audrey."
"I'm staying out of this one."
"I didn't even ask you how things went with your parents. I'm sorry," I tell Audrey, mentally kicking myself. I'd be a bad boyfriend-if I was her boyfriend, that is. We're not there yet, but I have hope.
"That's okay. It was pretty rough at first, but then my dad defended me, and we started the road back to each other."
"What did he defend you against?"
"No what, who. His boss, or ex-boss now."
"He's not an Audrey Sanchez fan?"
"Actually he's a little too much of a fan."
"He tried something with you?"
"Not today, but yes. I broke his arm when he did it. He showed up and was an ass to me and Reina. Matt showed up, but then my dad got in his face when he wouldn't stop."
"I'm sorry it took that, but I'm glad you're reconnecting."
"Me too."
We eat for a little while in silence, and then the rest of the crew shows up. From the look on their faces, it seems like they didn't get the info they were hoping for. "No?" Audrey asks.
"We're almost there," Ainsley says. "Yasmin insisted that Scott eat, and we decided that we should too."
"Jesse was right, then. Whoever did this is smarter than you."
"Jeanne," I say sharply.
"It's fine, Blake. I can answer her honestly. The person who did this isn't smarter. They've just buried their tracks better than most people we deal with. There's no doubt we'll uncover everything. It's just taking us a little while."
"You have a whole team, though, and someone might have done this alone."
"Burying things is much easier than uncovering them. You should know that if you've hacked."
"I do. I just think you should say Jesse was right."
"Sorry, Jeanne, but that's not going to happen."
"Enough shop talk," I say, trying to diffuse what was becoming a very awkward situation. "Let's finish this wonderful dinner. Matt worked really hard on it."
That leads to a round of teasing from all of his friends, leaving me to focus on Jeanne. "Outside, now."
She gives me a long-suffering sigh, but follows me out. "I don't need another lecture. I was just asking questions."
"No, you were trying to bait Ainsley, and belittle her intelligence. I really don't understand it. I would think you'd love being surrounded by these women, but instead, they seem to make you angry."
"I'm not angry, just … I'm jealous, okay? They have this exciting life where they get to use their brains, and have hot guys falling all over them. I have to go to a boring school, and have boys think I'm weird because I'm smart."
"I thought you liked school. Not the people, but the classes."
She shrugs. "I used to, but now I know more than the teachers."
"Okay. I'll find you another school."
"You know this is the best one in the city."
"You have to go to school. It's the law."
"I could have tutors. Then I could travel with you, too. And Mom, if she wanted."
"I'd love it if you could travel with me." I don't mention her mom, because I know Misha wouldn't be so receptive.
"So we can do it? Get me tutors?"
"On one condition. You need to find some classes or clubs around the city to join. Anything that gives you some time with other kids your age."
"I can pick whatever I want?"
"Sure."
"Deal."
"Deal. Now let's go back in so you can apologize. Again. Please let this be the last time."
Audrey
"Meet me in my theater in a half hour?" Blake asks me. "I have to get ready for our date."
"Date? I thought … I mean … "
"I don't think I've ever seen you flustered. At least not recently. And don't worry, we'll be doing exactly what you were thinking. After I wow you a little."
"You're not planning on wowing me when we have our ‘after' then?"
"That came out wrong. I would like to wow your brain with the first part of our date. Then I'm going to wow your body so much that your brain completely shuts down."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you in a half hour. Should I wear anything special?"
"Just be comfortable."
I'm not sure he really means it, but I think it's a good idea to do exactly as he said. I'm going to be comfortable. Not glamorous, or sexy-well, I'll be rocking some sexy lingerie underneath-just comfy and casual. Like I'd wear for a typical night in. I would put more of an effort in a regular date, but he's already seen me dressed up. Casual it is.
Thirty minutes later, I knock on the door to the theater, wearing yoga pants and a loose t-shirt. My hair's in a messy bun, and I have no make-up on. I'm pleasantly surprised when Blake opens the door, and I see him dressed down as much as me. He's got a tank and board shorts on, and he didn't shave. There's more like an eight o'clock shadow than a five o'clock one covering the lower part of his face, and he has some glasses on. The whole look is a lot sexier than it should be.
"You look hot."
"Starting a date with a lie. Not so smooth, Hollywood."
"Not lying. At. All. I like seeing you all casual and shit."
"You don't look so bad yourself."
"It's the glasses, isn't it? I've been told women dig men in glasses."
"You don't need them?"
"I do. I usually take my contacts out at night when no one's around."
"If you really need them, then wearing them is hot. So's the beard. And that little bit of chest hair peeking out is doing it for me to, if I'm being honest."
My boldness is rewarded with a big smile, and an even bigger kiss. "Please be honest tonight. I want everything to be as perfect as possible for you."
"You need to do the same."
"It's a deal. Are you ready for part one of our date?"
"More than ready."
He leads me to a couch, and I see all of the fun snacks he's laid out on the table in front of it. "I know that stuff's from before we would've gone on a date, but it fits the year the movies I picked were released."