“You understood all of that as a kid?” Now, I was feeling really stupid. If even a kid could understand it, then I was hopeless.
“No, not a word.” He laughed at the doubtful expression on my face. “Seriously. But I could understand the emotion. The actors were so powerful. I wanted some of that. I wanted to be able to move an audience. To hold it captive in the palm of my hand. To make them cry when I wanted and laugh when I told them to. Mom knew I was sunk. She enrolled me in theater the next day.”
I stared in awe at him. He seriously was the strangest boy I’d ever met. He’d been working toward a dream since he was a tiny kid. Most of the guys I knew barely had an idea of what they were going to do next week, let alone the next five or ten years. And I never shared my own dreams with them because I always thought it made me seem like a freak to be so determined. But with Zane, there was none of that pressure because he felt it too. A drive to go after his goals. It was exhilarating to be around someone like that.
“Tell me about your makeup,” he said, reaching over to lightly run a finger down my jawline. It was a light touch that had me internally begging for more, no matter how much I tried to shake it off. “What got you into it in the first place?”
“Necessity.” I smiled sadly at him, then reached for another gummy. This wasn’t a story I was used to spilling. It was one of the few secrets I actually kept hold of tightly. Letting go wasn’t going to be easy. “I had really bad breakouts for a few years. It started with learning how to cover them up and then I started to expand into everything else. I fell in love with it and the community. I spent so much time online watching tutorials. It’s an art. An art that allowed me to hide my flaws.”
His lips puckered slightly as he studied my face. I could tell he was studying it, looking for hints of the scars that I so desperately covered every morning. He wouldn’t find them. I was that good. But still, it was always nerve-wracking to be put on display.
“You feel like you have to hide?” he asked softly. “Even now?”
“Well, I went on some pretty powerful meds that helped clear up my skin a year ago,” I said with a shrug. “But the acne had done its damage. I’ll never have clear skin again. Not unless I do some expensive laser treatment. I would spend every last dime on a treatment like that.”
His jaw worked as he stared at me. “You have scars under there?”
Here it was. The moment I’d been dreading for so long. That was why I usually kept those kinds of personal details out of my dating life. Guys didn’t care about acne scars or blemishes, as long as I kept them well-hidden. Of that, I was sure. But Zane and I weren’t dating, right? We were just friends. And I knew deep down that Zane could be trusted.
“Don’t worry. You’ll never see them. I’m good at keeping them covered up. That’s why I don’t swim.”
He reached over and grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. His palm was warm against my skin. With a slight squeeze, he leaned toward me, plucked the phone from my hand and opened the camera.
“Let’s take a picture,” he said, putting it into selfie mode.
Holding it up so that our faces appeared on the screen, he turned to place a light kiss on my cheek and clicked the photo. I was pretty sure my whole body flushed from the sensation. It wasn’t anything sensual. And really, it could’ve been a kiss between friends, but the way my body reacted to it was so not kosher.
Looking approvingly down at the photo, Zane handed my phone back to me. “There. Proof that I don’t care about all of that. You could swim around me. Heck, you could go without makeup, if that’s what you wanted. I don’t care about any of that.”
“Actually...I think I already knew that.” I leaned back in my chair until we were on eye level. Thank goodness for cameras, because I was going to want to stare at that face for years to come, he was so dang gorgeous. “You’re different, you realize that? You’re not like other guys around here.”
The right side of his mouth twitched. “Hopefully that’s a good thing.”
“It’s the best thing.” I sighed happily and reached over with my free hand to trace random designs on the back of his hand. I liked the roughness of his skin. It wasn’t like he had the hands of a laborer or something, but they had a kind of innate toughness to them. They felt like they’d protect me, if I needed it. “I like being friends with you.”
“And I like being friends with you, too.” His eyes dimmed ever the slightest. “I just wish it didn’t have to be secretive like this.”
With a squeeze of his hand, I smiled. “No regrets, remember? We’ll take what we can get.”
That seemed to end his mourning. He nodded and then sat up to reach for the books. “Okay, time for studying.”
“Wait.” I sat up, still holding tight to his left hand. “I thought this whole library thing was a cover. I only brought those as props.”
“Nope, this is a study date between friends.” He winked at me. “Can’t have a study date without studying. And lucky for you, you happen to have a Shakespeare expert right at your fingertips. Literally.”
I let out a groaning laugh. How did Zane make even Shakespeare sound fun? We still had another hour before we had to get back to set, but it wouldn’t hurt to get in a few minutes of studying. Maybe, he’d even save my rear with Mr. Garret. Who knew? Lying to everyone around us might actually help me out in the end.
“Okay, you be the sexy tutor and I’ll be the helpless, but totally gorgeous student who can’t keep her eyes off of the tutor,” I said, grinning up at him.
He wagged his eyebrows. “Done. That’s a roll I was born to play.”
“And after today...?”
I didn’t dare ask the question I actually wanted. Would there be more time spent with him after this? We only had a week left in the same town. Was this risk worth it to him?
Was I?
“After today, we continue to live with no regrets.” The solid set of his jaw had me smiling. “No matter what my contract says. We’re friends. Deal?”
“Deal.”
It would’ve been the perfect morning, if it hadn’t been for nagging voices in the back of my head that sounded an awful lot like Charlotte and Beth. I swatted them away again and again, determined to keep all of my attention on the boy in front of me, attempting to explain Shakespeare to the girl who could do nothing but watch the beautiful shape of his mouth form words.
They weren’t here. They didn’t know how hard it was to keep away from this boy.
If they really knew, they would’ve sent me their blessings.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty when their text messages blinked on my phone screen every fifteen minutes—a reminder of the friends I had ignored.
And their warnings.
We had this under control. No regrets.
That was my life motto from now on.
Chapter Fifteen
Even my six-inch pumps had never made me feel this tall.
I was floating on air after my study date this morning. I’d never had a friendship like this before. As Alanis had me carry her tote toward the set where they were shooting a soccer game beneath a fake rainmaker, I couldn’t shake the warm, bubbly sensation inside of me. Or erase the feel of his lips pressing gently against my cheek. And when I got a look at Zane, soaking wet from the top of his head to his sneakers, I had to hide my smile by tucking my chin and staring at the asphalt beneath my feet.
“This is a special challenge,” Alanis said, stopping short of the edge to the grassy field, her neon green heels tapping impatiently as she surveyed the scene. “Wet shoots are absolutely a makeup artist’s worst nightmare. We have to make sure everything stays in place, even with the water.”
I nodded my understanding, eager to watch Alanis work. She’d opened up a little more daily and I was learning so much from her. Every day, I felt extremely grateful to Zane that he’d talked me out of quitting. She really was a treasure chest full of information and knowing that she was climbi
ng her way back up to the top was the inspiration that allowed me to skate through her bad moods and occasionally catty remarks. It was understandable. But if anyone knew Alanis, they wouldn’t be surprised when she came out on top again.
“Bad news.” Allen trudged over toward us, a miserable frown on his face that pulled his bushy eyebrows together. He gestured angrily at the mass of pipes and black scaffolding equipment set near the field. “We’re having equipment trouble. Rain machine is malfunctioning.”
Alanis squinted at the water coming down. “Looks fine to me.”
“I asked for steady rain, not monsoon. And now, the field is too muddy to shoot.” He grunted something that sounded like a stream of curse words, but it was too fast for me to tell for sure. “We’re going to lose a day of shooting for this. I swear, the studio’s already breathing down my neck the way it is. We can’t take delays like this, but here we are. I’ll be glad to get out of this town by the end of the week.”
“So, that’s a wrap on today?” Alanis asked, cocking her hand on her hip.
Allen nodded. “That’s a wrap, until we can get this fixed. Go do something useful. Take a nap, for all I care. The kids are going to blow off some steam with a soccer match. I’ve threatened to fillet someone if we’re not back to business by tomorrow.”
She nodded as he walked away. I held the makeup tote awkwardly by my side and glanced at the boys still playing soccer under the broken rain machine. It really had made a muddy mess out of things, but they didn’t care.
Freddy was showing off his dribbling skills, trying to get the soccer ball around the others. Zane outmaneuvered him and stole the ball away. I smiled as I watched him lengthen his stride and aim for a small makeshift goal the boys had fashioned out of two garbage pails. With a hard kick, it sailed right between the goalie’s outstretched arms and through the goal, earning a cheer from Zane’s team. I held up my phone to get a picture of the whole cast, zooming in on Zane’s face as he celebrated his goal. He looked good in mud, in rain, and probably would rock a burlap sack, too.
“Makeup Girl,” Freddy called, jogging to my side. He held a hand on his chest as he leaned over and panted. “Come on, we need some more support. Zane’s team is kicking our tails.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “You know you can call me Lexi, right? I mean, you were at my house just a few days ago.”
He stood up straight and shot me a grin. “Makeup Girl is more mysterious, don’t you think? Come on. Zane would never steal a ball from a girl. I’m counting on you being his handicap.”
Playing soccer in the mud was probably about the last thing I’d ever expected to want to do, but those boys made it seem so fun. Plus, a few of the extras were getting involved, including some of the other girls. Janelle, of course, sat on the sidelines in her chair, looking far too important to get herself dirty. The sight of her lording over the field made me want to try it all the more. Plus, they’d just turned off the rain machine, so my only nemesis at that point was the wet ground. I could keep it together.
I’d missed out on the fun in the pool. I wouldn’t miss out on this.
Zane had given me the courage.
“Okay, count me in.”
Freddy whooped in victory and I took a step toward him, before freezing to look back at Alanis. Oh, that was right. I still had a job to do. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, her brow arched. With a sheepish grin, I ducked my head and hugged the tote to my abdomen.
“That is, I’ll play if you’re done with me for the day,” I said, cringing.
“Fine, go.” She waved her newly red-painted nails at me and then took the tote. “Mud baths are good for the skin, anyway, so they say.”
I squealed my thanks, then turned to run onto the soccer field.
“Wait, Makeup Girl!” Janelle called, waving me toward her.
What now? Did she want to interrogate me some more? To make me feel inferior about my bone structure? I took a tentative step in her direction as she smiled at me in a way that could only be described as disarmingly friendly.
“Leave your jacket and stuff with me,” she said in a friendly tone I wasn’t used to hearing from her. Maybe we’d finally made some progress at my pool party on Friday. “You can’t let those boys destroy something that cute.”
I glanced down at my pink denim jacket. She had a point. It was one of my favorites. With a grateful smile, I handed it, my employee badge, and my phone over to her. “Thanks, Janelle.”
“No problem,” she answered with a sickly-sweet smile. “It’s the least I could do, since I’m not playing. Right?”
“Uh...yeah. Sure.”
I wasn’t sure what had gotten into Janelle, but it was nice to feel like a part of the crew for once. No demands, no eye rolls or anything coming from Miss Hollywood Star herself. Ready for the game, I ran out onto the field. The ground below my Sketchers squelched with every step. I joined the lineup, standing across from Zane, as Freddy placed the ball back into the middle of the field.
“Freddy thinks you’ll take it easy on me,” I said under my breath, holding back my smile. “Is that true?”
His eyes sparkled with a teasing tone as he shrugged. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see, but I wouldn’t count on staying clean if I were you.”
“Oooh, a tough guy, huh?” I teased. “Bring it on.”
“You got it.”
We both watched Freddy run toward the ball and kick it into play. All at once, the field broke into motion. At least twenty of the actors had joined the game and were slipping and sliding through the mud, gunning for the ball. It was madness and chaos on every level. I hadn’t played soccer since my elementary school days, when Dad still held out hope of me being a star athlete—that hope died pretty fast—but I remembered enough to run toward the ball when Zane got possession.
“Get it, Makeup Girl,” Freddy called from behind. “He won’t fight a girl. Get in there.”
As I rushed up on him, Zane laughed and easily maneuvered the ball out of my reach with the toe of his shoe. He held up his hand and grinned at me.
“Are you sure you want to believe Freddy?” he asked, slickly moving the ball again so that I couldn’t reach it. “He’s not exactly the most reliable source, you know?”
“Yeah, well, I think he might be right about this one,” I said, reaching for the ball with my foot and missing it again. “You wouldn’t dump me in the mud.”
He laughed, the sound of it was as sweet as lemonade on a hot summer’s day. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah!”
This time, I was ready. Zane faked right and I darted for the left. The ball landed in front of me and I went to kick it to my teammate coming up strong. But Zane was quick. He dodged me again and stole the ball back. I tried my best to turn and chase him down, but the mud was too slick. With a surprised shout, I landed flat on my rear, staining my floral tunic and leggings, and watched as Zane sprinted toward the goal and made a beautiful scoring shot.
So much for him taking it easy on me.
Freddy doubled over in laughter as I glared accusingly at him from across the field. He beat his chest with his fist and his laughter turned into a coughing fit. It was slightly humiliating, but what was a girl to do? Not give up, that was for sure. Pushing myself off the ground, I brushed off the mud as best I could. I wasn’t going to let Freddy or any of the other guys on my team down.
And I had a score to settle.
“Doing all right there, Makeup Girl?” Zane asked as he jogged by me. He looked me up and down, eyes glittering with humor while he took in my mud-soaked attire.
Showoff. I wrinkled my nose at him and brushed him off. “Doing great, thanks. Next time, you’ll be the one going down.”
“Is that a challenge?” he asked from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to see him standing just two feet away. Biting back a smile, I nodded. “Yep. I may not be a sporty girl, but I’m as competitive as the rest of them. Just you wait and see.”
“Can’t wait...friend,” he said in a low voice, before jogging away.
I watched him go, feeling utterly hopeless at the sight of his muscular calves, spattered with droplets of mud, and the way he ran his fingers through his hair. I would’ve stared at him all day, too, if my gaze hadn’t landed on Janelle sitting on the sidelines. She was watching me, that old condescending look on her face. The sight of her was enough to lurch me back to planet Earth and away from my totally not-like-a-friend feelings toward Zane. With a shake of my head, I turned to refocus on the game.
The more we played, the more I realized how much I’d missed out on by refusing to participate in sports. From an early age, it had been dance and makeup and anything girly for me. Sports seemed like nothing but a modern day gladiator spectacle. But now, I could see the appeal.
It was fun to steal the ball, to push past an opponent and race them toward the goal line. Of course, I didn’t get to do it very often. All of the guys were athletic as I could get out. With their lean muscles and quick moves, I didn’t stand much of a chance. But when I got the opportunity, I took it. And near the end, I could tell that I had nearly as much mud on my face as the rest of the guys. My makeup was probably a wreck.
And for once—I didn’t care.
Zane had the ball again. He ran with long strides toward the other team’s goal, making it look easy as he bypassed my team. If he wasn’t such a brilliant actor, I would’ve said he should go into soccer. He was clearly athletic and talented. And as he tripped up Freddy, making him splay hilariously face first into the mud, it left only me to stop him from advancing.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Zane asked as I ran up on him. “Your team is already getting trounced. Do you really want to sacrifice yourself for one last goal?”
Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High Book 5) Page 12
