by Marr, Maggie
“She was in a film with Jackson Turner who I guess is one of the three boyfriends. He asked her to come and she asked me to come and now—”
“You’re asking me to come,” I press my lips together “Are you sure it’s okay if I go too?” Fear weaves through my chest. I’m not particularly adept in social situations. I mean…I’m smart and presentable enough, but seriously most nights I’d prefer an evening watching movies or reading a book to going to a party, no matter who is throwing it.
Julia nods. “Absolutely. Perfect way to start our LA life, right? Going to Kiley Kepner’s Malibu party.”
My heart thumps in my chest. Why does this work me up? I’m a little thrown. The idea of walking into any party always makes me a little sick to my stomach but walking into a party like this…well that just makes me feel even sicker than normal.
“You said you’d go,” Julia says with a hint of whine in her voice. “I’m gone for two months starting tomorrow.”
“I know,” I say and sigh. “I’m going,” My gaze slides from Julia to my reflection in the mirror. “But can you help me with this?” My hair is wild-frizzy mass of curls and the sundress is wrinkled and there isn’t a stitch of make up on my face and the glasses that I usually love are feeling gawky and over-whelming. “Not feeling too confident right now.”
“Seriously?” Julia asks her eyes widen. “You’re gonna’ let me put make up on you?”
I sigh. Close my eyes and nod.
“Oh my goodness, dreams do come true,” she crows. “I thought you’d never ask!”
Chapter 3
Matt
“Bruh! You made it!” Jorge high-fives me and pulls me in for a quick backslap. He stands on the back deck of this giant, beachfront, Malibu pad. Beside him is Alex. He worked at Bliss Boards two summers ago and is back teaching surf camp this year.
“Hey man,” Alex says. He nods to me. He’s a solid guy. He spent all of last summer and fall on a fishing boat in Alaska making bank to pay for his last couple years of school. Wonder if he’s as amazed with these swank Malibu digs as I am.
“Let’s get you a beer man,” Jorge says.
The three of us wind through the crowd on the deck to the bar where a guy around our age makes drinks. We get two beers.
“Told you this would be off the hook!” Jorge says and glances toward the party-people on the deck.
“Can you believe this place, man?” Alex says. He shakes his head and looks across the deck at the view of the ocean.
“Hardly,” I say. It’s about a million miles away from me and my sister’s apartment.
The place is huge and filled with actors and musicians and super stars and celebs and what the—
“Holy fuck!” Jorge nudges me in the ribs. “Do you see those girls? The one in yellow is like some model and the one in red? She was just in a film with Jackson.” He whistles under his breath and shakes his head like he’s in a trance.
And while those women are beautiful, it’s the girl that walks between them, in the sundress, with curly copper-colored hair and smile that lights up the room…and glasses, the most adorable red glasses I’ve ever seen in my life, that is rocking my world in this completely unfamiliar way.
“Yeah,” I say and try to stop staring. She’s got curves for days. She turns her head and laughs and not in that fake kind of LA laugh way but in the way that makes her entire face fill with joy. She looks back and her eyes lock with mine.
A jolt shakes my body. Holy fuck. My cock is hard. Rock hard.
Her eyes are bright blue, like summer-sky-LA-bright-blue. Her gaze widens for an instant, because yeah, I’m staring at her and I want her. Like want her in a way I’ve never wanted a woman before. We’ve connected like an electric circuit was completed by just us looking at each other.
She feels it too. Because her mouth makes this o shape like she surprised and then her gaze drops to her feet. A blush flushes over her chest and up her neck.
“Do you know them?” I interrupt Jorge’s continual words that stream from his mouth about the two women that she’s with.
“I’ve met Martina, my dad is actually doing her con—”
“Let’s go, introduce me.” I upend my beer and start to walk. I’m driven. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. But the girl in the purple dress means something to me—already. It’s immediate. Like I know her. Like I’m meant to know her. Like if I don’t get to know her my entire world will end.
What the fuck?
I’ve dated. I mean I’m busy but I’ve never felt this compelled in my life. This need to swoop in and know this girl and convince her that she should get to know me. I check the room. Looking to see if any other guy has honed in on the fact that the hottest woman in the world has just walked into the party.
We walk up to the three women. My throat is tight, because man I do not want to fuck this up.
“Hey, Martina,” Jorge says. He tilts his head and jerks his chin out. “How you doin’?”
Martina turns to him and she’s at least a foot taller than Jorge in her heels. Her hair is this honey color that’s between blonde and brown and her skin is a light brown. “Do I know you?” She asks and flips her hair over her shoulder.
“Yeah, my dad he’s uh…” Jorge stumbles over his words and his gaze slides from Martina to me. “He uh…is your attorney. We met at his holiday party—”
“Oh right! You’re his son!” Martina leans in and gives Jorge two air kisses. Relief slides over Jorge’s face.
“So sorry, I remember now. Just coming off a movie and there’re so many people. So hey, this is Julia,” she nods to the woman in the yellow dress, “and this is Ashley.”
I nod and say hello to both Martina and Julia but I lock my gaze onto Ashley, because as of about two minutes ago, there is no other woman on the planet but her. She tucks a bit of her wild-ass curls behind her ear. There’s no one else in this party, no one else in this world for me. I feel it. I know it. I just have to convince this girl of it too.
“I’m Matt,” I say and hold out my hand.
“Ashley,” she says.
A zing pulses through me as her hand touches mine. Her eyes widen and her mouth and those lips form that o of surprise again. And I get it, because I can’t believe it either. I can’t believe any of this.
“Can I get you a drink?” I ask.
“That’d be great,” she says.
I steer her away from her two girlfriends as Jorge continues to try and chat them both up. I hand her the vodka tonic she asked for.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” She asks. “I feel like I know you.”
Big sigh. All the air exits my chest. “Okay soooo I’m not alone with this feeling, because I feel like I’ve met you before too.”
She squints at me and tilts her head like she’s trying to figure out how or where we could’ve met before tonight. Once she has her drink, we walk down the deck steps to the sand and sit on the stairs. “Are you from LA?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Just moved here two weeks ago.” Her gorgeous full lips wrap around the straw and I fight away the visual crashing in my mind of those same gorgeous lips wrapping tight around my cock.
“Are you an actor?” She asks.
I laugh. “You’re kidding right?”
“What?” She smiles at me and tilts her head to the side.“You’re definitely good looking enough with that black hair and your smile. Plus you’re completely charming.” She glances into her drink and then back up at me. “It’s a fair question.” She leans back. It’s not easy but I force my gaze to remain on her face instead of taking in all those gorgeous curves beneath her sundress. “Besides I thought everyone in LA was an actor?”
“Not an actor,” I say. “What about you? Did you move out here to become an actor?”
She shakes her head and smiles. “Went to college for business, just graduated. Moved out here for a job.”
“In entertainment?” I ask.
“Not en
tertainment,” she says. “You?”
“One more year of undergrad and then hopefully med school,” I say. I don’t inform her of all the hurdles I still have to clear to get to my goal.
Ashley leans forward, she’s close to me. She gazes up at me through those thick eyelashes. “So we don’t know each other from LA, did you ever live anywhere else? New York? Chicago?”
“Just here,” I say.
“Hmmm,” She bites her bottom lip. My gaze locks onto her. I can’t pull my eyes from her face. The urge to wrap my arms around her and pull her to me is fierce, but I fight it. I can’t explain why I feel like I know this girl or how I’m supposed to know this girl or—
“It feels like I’ve met you,” she whispers. “I can’t explain it. I know this sounds insane, but…” She squints. “I’ve never felt this way.”
The sea breeze picks up her curls and they slide across her face. I can see her freckles from the lights behind us on the deck.
My heart hammers in my chest. “Can I…can I…” I lean forward and our lips are so close. She smells like lemon and flowers and—“Can I—”
“Yes,” she whispers and her lips press to mine.
Heat sears through me. This kiss. Heat and want and—
She pulls away from my mouth and she looks at me. “Oh my god.”
“I know.” I lean forward and press my lips to hers. This time there’s no hesitancy. No wondering. Nothing. My hand presses up through her curls. My tongue presses along the seam of her lips and she opens her mouth to mine. Our tongues tangle.
My cock is hard. So fucking hard.
I press my other hand to her back and pull her closer to me. Her sweet mouth was made for mine. This kiss. Her palm presses to my chest and my heart hammers against my ribs.
She shivers.
“You’re cold,” I say. I wrap my arms around her and shield her from the wind.
“I…I don’t want to go back to the party,” She says. “I…I want to be with you.”
I press my fingertips beneath her chin and tilt her face up to mine. “I feel exactly the same way,” I say. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 4
Ashley
“This guy. Oh my god, this guy?! Matt. It’s like I’ve known him my entire life. Never…never have I experienced anything like these feelings that I’m having.”
“Hold up,” Julia says. She stands in front of me in the bathroom with her palms facing me. “You met him like thirty minutes ago and now you’re leaving with him?”
I nod.
“Okay, friend-code prohibits me from allowing this to happen.”
“I know, but you saw him, right? He’s sweet and cute and—”
“How are you going? Where you going? I mean come on? This is LA? You can not just hook up with some random at a part and expect me to let you leave with him.”
“Come with us,” I say.
Julia sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. She rolls her eyes toward the ceiling. “Fine. Because you’ve been my wing-woman for like forever and are always doing this for me, I will ditch, what may be the best party I’ve ever attended in LA.”
“This is the only party you’ve attended in LA,” I say and roll my eyes. “And it definitely won’t be the last.”
She looks at her reflection in the mirror and glances at me, because we both now that based on her looks and her booking schedule for like the next twelve months that her life is about to explode into an entirely different stratosphere with her modeling and her acting.
“Fair enough,” she says. “Besides, Martina already ditched us for some actor she met on set on her last film.” Julia dabs gloss onto her lips. “How do you find the only other non industry person at this party and want to leave with him?’
“It gets better,” I say.
She lifts an eyebrow, “How?”
“He’s a science nerd!” I say.
“Oh my god,” Julia shakes her head, “the only thing better for you would be if he was some sort of business guy on top of being a science nerd. Have you two already discovered some new theory with regards to something?” Julia asks.
“You don’t fool me, you may try to act like you’re some vapid model type, but remember I know you,” I smile. “I was your roommate in college, I know your degree is in theoretical mathematics.”
“Shh,” she says and smiles. “Keep it down, you’ll ruin my rep. ” She says with a teasing lilt in her voice. “Okay so where is Mr. Science man taking us?” Julia asks.
“He mentioned some place called the Bu Burgers?” I say.
“Let’s roll,” Julia says and tosses her lip gloss into her bag. “My flight leaves in about nine hours and I need to be at LAX in seven. I’m thinking bed in the next two. So we have to determine if this guy is a stalker-killer or okay for you to be with before then.”
“I vote okay,” I say.
“Mmmhmm, well I know what you’re voting with,” Her eyes drop to my skirt and she smiles. “So let’s just check out this dude and then let me get to bed.”
* * *
“Do you see this man’s car?” Julia whispers under her breath.
“He’s still in college,” I whisper.
The valet pulls the Saturn to a stop in front of me and Julia. It’s battered with a ding in the side and missing a hubcap.
“There’s a baby seat in the back,” Julia whispers. “Are we sure this guy isn’t a baby-daddy?”
“Do you have a kid?” I call toward Matt.
“What?” He hands the valet some money and glances at me over the roof of his really crappy car. Our eyes lock and, that incredible zing of electricity surges through my body. Not only am I meant to be with this guy, but I already know he’s a good guy and that I totally want to sleep with him.
“Kids?” He squints.
“The car seat. In the back.”
“Oh that,” he shakes his head. “No, I have a nephew, not my kid.”
“See,” I say to Julia.
“Mmhmm, not sure if I believe him yet,” Julia says. The valet opens the back door and she slides into the back seat. I climb into the passenger side.
“There are enough Cheerios back here to feed an orphanage,” Julia mumbles under her breath.
Matt climbs into the car. “Sorry it’s a mess. I share it with my sister.” He adjusts the rear-view mirror. “My nephew’s name is Teddy.”
I smile and nod. I glance toward the back where Julia sits. “Okay kids, I’ve now got an hour before I turn into a pumpkin. Where are we going?”
“You like burgers?” Matt asks. His gaze stays locked to mine.
“I like anything you like,” I say. Words that have never, before this moment, come out of my mouth. What the hell is wrong with me?
Julia leans forward and inserts herself between us, “I like burgers Matt,” she turns and looks at me and gives me ‘the look’, the look that asks if I have lost my damn mind. Which I might’ve because I’ve never, ever, felt this whipped this fast before tonight.
“Let’s go get a burger. Let’s do that now. Before I have to go to sleep in like forty-five minutes,” Julia says.
“Sure,” Matt puts the car in drive and Julia shakes her head at me and squints.
* * *
Forty minutes later, my burger sits in front of me. I’ve taken like two bites. All I can do is stare at Matt. What the hell is happening? I love food. I eat. I am not the type of girl who tries to impress a guy with a bird-like appetite. Yet, my stomach is acting like I’m in some sort of high-wire act. It’s fluttering and barrel-rolling and I can’t stop watching this guy, that I just met, like he’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. I’m grinning like a fool. I glance across the table at Julia who has just polished off a burger and fries, because she, unlike me, has a metabolism with some sort of turbo jet-pack attached.
Julia and I’ve known each other for so long it’s like I can hear what she’s thinking, and what she’s thinking is; snap out of it Ashley. You don’t even know thi
s guy. Why are you acting like a whipped puppy when you have no idea who this guy is? And she’s right. I pull my seatbelt over my chest and sit back.
I stare at Matt’s profile. He’s not even my type. I go all-in for guys that look a little…well…maybe a bit more nerdy? Matt may be pre-med but he looks really..athletic. I can’t pull my gaze from his forearms, because they’re super-sexy; well-muscled and tan. His jaw is sharp and he’s got these great cheekbones.
“So how do you know Kiley?” Julia asks.
“I don’t,” Matt says and glances up from his fries. “It was my work buddy, Jorge who knows her. She was his baby-sitter a long time ago.” Matt looks at me and smiles.“And you? How do you know her?”
“Martina did a movie with Kiley’s boyfriend. And I’m in his next film, the one that starts shooting next week.”
“You do a lot of movies?” Matt asks.
I glance toward Julia. “No, this is my first. Ashley said you’re in medical school.”
Matt shakes his head. His gaze slides toward me. “No, not yet. I mean, that’s what I want to do. Become a doctor. But, I still have another year of college left and I have to take the MCAT and…well there’s a lot for me to do still. But it’s my goal.”
“Did you grow up in LA?”
I know what’s she’s doing. In fact I’ve done the exact same thing a million and one times. Seriously, every time Julia meets a guy who wants to take her home or go home with us (not as in to be with US—but to be with her) I’ve done the exact same thing. Asked a million questions, to try and figure out if the guy was legit or an asshole. It’s kind of a rule we established in college to help each other out, it’s just, Julia doesn’t get to play this part very often, since most the guys don’t hit on me, nope, they pick-up on her.
“I did. Me and my sister. We live just east of Venice. I went to SAMO High,” Matt says.
“SAMO High?” Julia squints.
“Santa Monica High School,” Matt says. “Then to Santa Monica junior college for three years, and now…now I’ve been accepted into UCLA.”
