by Saba Kapur
I snatched the t-shirt from her defensively and put it on top of the black dress I had folded a minute earlier.
“It’s a really long story, but Jack got me that,” I told them, shrugging.
It was definitely great that I could tell my friends the truth about everything, but there were some things they just didn’t need to know. They wouldn’t understand all the inside jokes, so I had just omitted them when I told them the stories. I guess I thought the memories would remain as they were if I left it that way.
“Okay . . .” Aria said, raising her eyebrows.
“I still can’t believe Jack was your bodyguard!” Veronica said, placing Famous carefully on the floor. “Bodyguards never look like that.”
“I think Jack is the love of my life,” Aria added seriously, and Veronica and I exchanged knowing glances. Aria thought everyone was the love of her life.
“I wouldn’t mind hiring him full time, if you know what I mean,” Veronica said. “I could do with some twenty-four-hour body protection.”
“Not sure how Aaron would feel about that,” I said.
Veronica held up her hands in front of her and wiggled her fingers as if she were trying to dry nail polish. “Do you see a ring on this finger?” She asked me.
I picked up the nearest piece of clothing and threw it at her playfully. She caught it right before it hit her face and held it up in front of her.
“Hey, I kind of like that,” Aria said, as we all inspected my long-sleeved Victoria’s Secret dress.
“Me too actually,” I agreed.
“Same,” Veronica added with an approving nod.
“Knock, knock!” came Milo’s voice from the door. “Everyone decent?”
It had been way too long for me to still get butterflies every time Milo was around, but it happened anyway. Especially when he was in his uniform. Every man needs to invest in one of those.
“Hi Milo!” Aria chirped, giving him an excited finger wave. “You look really good today.”
I cringed and gave Veronica a handle her look. The smile on her face told me she was having way too much fun to save me from the embarrassment.
“Hey girls, how’s it going?” Milo asked. He was getting used to the level of craziness that followed me around.
“Good!” Veronica replied, before Aria could say anything else. “We’re planning outfits for the party tonight.”
Milo eyed the pile of clothes carpeting my floor and bed. He nodded and said, “I can see that.”
I held up my chosen outfit and held it against myself to show him what it would look like. “Do you like it?” I asked him.
Milo eyed the dress up and down and said, “On a scale of one to the Oscars, how fancy is this party?”
“I’d say it’s at least a Paris Hilton Birthday Bash.”
Milo smiled and said, “Well then it’s perfect. You look good in everything.”
I smiled so widely, I think my jaw snapped in two. When life gives you lemons, throw them back and ask for a hot police officer instead. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
“I see you made it past LAX,” I said, referring to the new guards Dad had hired to pretty much sit outside the house and make sure no one kidnapped me or anyone else.
“It helps when I’m in the uniform.”
“Good things happen when you’re in that uniform,” Aria told him with a nod.
“So are you going out tonight?” I asked him, shooting Aria a warning look.
“Yeah, I’ve got drinks with some guys from the academy, to celebrate graduation,” he replied. “I just stopped by to check in on you. Make sure everything was okay.”
Milo had been doing that a lot lately. Actually, everyone had been doing that a lot lately, even when I told them I was fine. And I was fine. I mean, okay, I may have had this nightmare where Frank was breaking out of his prison cell and yelling out my name like a maniac. If he was going to break out of jail, he may as well have brought Wentworth Miller with him. And yes, I kind of freaked out when I was alone for too long. But everything was still raw, so you could hardly blame me. Dad had suggested I get a shrink, but I had replied with a categorical no. I wasn’t going to pay some stranger to tell me I was traumatized. I had already figured that out myself. Thanks, Dr. Phil.
“I’m good,” I told Milo. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Hey listen,” he said, lowering his voice. I glanced at my friends who immediately made themselves busy, poring over a magazine as if they had just discovered it was made of gold. “I found out some more stuff about Frank and those guys he was working for in China. It pretty grimy stuff. Do you want to hear about it?”
“Um,” I replied, fiddling uncomfortably with the ring I was wearing. “Not really.”
“Okay,” Milo said, nodding understandingly.
“I’m sorry! I just don’t think that I’m . . .” I trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.
“No, I get it,” Milo said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. “Whenever you’re ready.”
I gave him a grateful smile as he released my hand. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate all the effort he was putting into following up on everything to do with Frank. But hearing all about Frank made it a lot harder to forget he existed. It was like going through a really tough breakup, when all your friends keep talking about your ex and how he’s doing. Oh, and your ex tried to kill you on a movie set. You know, standard relationship drama.
“I better head off,” Milo said, turning to the girls. “Nice to see you again. Enjoy the party!”
Aria basically threw the magazine out the window, flipping her hair. “Bye Milo!” she said, batting her eyelashes.
I practically shoved Milo out of the room, desperate to get him away from Aria. When she bats her eyelashes, boys go nuts. And I wasn’t about to let that happen this time around.
“Okay, time for you to go before Aria starts getting frisky!” I told him, placing my palms on his chest and pushing him out of my room.
He laughed, trying to keep his balance as I backed him out with all the strength I had. “She’s nice,” he said.
I dropped my hands and shook my head. “She’s marking you as her next victim as we speak, so you better get out of here.”
“I heard that!” I heard Aria called from inside my room, and I smiled.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Milo said. “I ran into your dad downstairs.”
“And?” I asked nervously.
“We mostly talked about the weather, which is actually great progress from a few weeks ago. At least he didn’t call me Melvin this time.”
“Oh God.”
“Is he like this with all your boyfriends?”
I paused. “Are you implying that you’re my boyfriend?”
“Of course not,” he replied, but his dimples were showing. “That would be breaking our no labels agreement.”
“Yes, it would.”
“Okay, but this isn’t a free pass to date some guy from like, the CW or something.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “Teenage werewolves don’t really do it for me. But if Henry Cavill comes knocking on my door, I can’t guarantee I’ll turn him away.”
“Fine by me,” Milo laughed. “He can put up with your terrible Christian Bale puns instead.”
I feigned an outraged look and said, “Firstly, that joke was hilarious and you secretly loved it.”
“Debatable.”
“And secondly, my Superman puns are even better than the others.”
“Oh no,” Milo said. “You’ve already thought of some, haven’t you?”
“I wonder if he’s Hen-free tonight.”
“I am in actual physical pain right now.”
“I Kent believe how hot he is!”
“Wow, these are actually getting worse.”
Milo looked at his watch and said, “Actually, us cops have no appreciation for being late. I better run. Detective Reynolds is expecting a whole lot of paperwork, and I don’t even know how to do half of it.”
I made a face. “Have fun.”
“You too,” Milo said, hooking an arm around my neck and pulling me against him. “Remember, drugs are bad, and don’t take candy from strangers. I can give you a pamphlet if you want.”
“Pass.”
Milo smiled, giving me a quick kiss before letting me go. “Stay out of trouble,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
I watched him disappear down the staircase with a happy sigh. If this were a Disney movie, you would have seen hearts in place of my eyes and tiny blue birds circling my head.
“I freaking love witty banter!” I announced, re-entering my room. “Seriously, my life is like a Meg Ryan movie right now.”
“If I didn’t love you,” Aria said. “I would hate you so much right now.”
I moved the pile of clothes out of the way and flopped down onto the bed in between my friends, staring up at the ceiling with a smile.
“I bet Brendan was great at witty banter,” Aria said sarcastically, resting her head next to mine.
“Brendan probably thought banter was a type of cardboard,” I replied, and my two friends cracked up. “He sent me another few letters after the incident, saying he was super freaked out. He even wrote in capital letters and drew shocked smiley faces.”
“Oh my God,” Veronica cringed. “I think it’s time to give him a fake mailing address.”
“I hate to admit it,” I said. “But you might be right.”
“Hey Gia,” Aria said, propping herself up onto an elbow. “You’re friends with Zac Efron right?”
“If by friends you mean we’ve met twice, then yes. We’re best buds.”
“You think he’d want to date me?” Aria asked.
Veronica and I both turned our heads toward Aria, who looked dead serious.
“Come again?” I asked, just to make sure she wasn’t kidding. She wasn’t.
Aria shrugged. “What? Can you put in a good word or something? I happen to think we’d look bangin’ together.”
“The key word being banging,” Veronica added with a laugh.
“Aria, if I had that kind of influence over Zac Efron, don’t you think I’d put in a good word for myself first?”
“Oh shut up!” Veronica said, and I turned to face her. “You have Milo.”
“Yeah!” Aria agreed from behind me. “You don’t need anyone else. You have witty banter, remember?”
I looked up at the ceiling, my smile widening. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”
A muffled buzzing noise came from somewhere on the bed as the mattress began to vibrate lightly.
“Is that my phone?” Aria asked, pulling her phone out of her jeans pocket and checking the screen. “Nope, not mine.”
I sat and listened closely to the buzzing. It sounded like it was coming from underneath the pile of clothes. I shoved my hand in the pile, tossing clothes out of the way until I found it, lying hidden underneath a Taylor Odetta dress.
“It’s mine!” I told my friends, checking the caller ID. “Oh, it’s Jack!”
I answered as quick as I could, before he hung up, putting the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” Jack’s voice came through the phone.
“Hey Jack!”
“Gia!” he replied, and I smiled. Something about Jack’s voice was so familiar and comforting.
“HI JACK!” Aria and Veronica yelled in unison behind me. They were so loud, people in Uzbekistan could have heard them without a phone.
I turned and shushed them, sliding off the bed. “The girls say hi,” I told him, pacing in front of my bed.
“Aw, I miss the girls!” Jack replied.
“Jack says he misses you,” I told my friends, the phone still to my ear.
Aria clutched her chest like she was having a heart attack, and flopped back onto my pillow dramatically. Veronica chucked a pillow at her and I turned around, trying not to laugh.
“So what’s been happening?” Jack asked, his breath sounding a little uneven, like he was walking quickly.
“I messaged you like a billion times yesterday. You never replied!”
“I know, I’m so sorry!” Jack apologised. “I’ve been super swamped at work lately. I just didn’t get any time.”
I gave a disappointed pout, but I guess I couldn’t blame him. He didn’t really have much of a choice if work was busy. I just missed him a little more than I liked to admit.
“It’s okay. I just wanted to tell you some exciting news!”
“Dinner with Clooney?”
“Oh my gosh, no that’s next week! I just about died when Dad told me he had set it up. I couldn’t believe it!”
In fact, there were plenty of people in the celebrity world that had sent my family messages. They all said the same thing; how they couldn’t believe something so horrible had happened. It felt so odd, like a family member had died. Even Carol had sent me a basket of chocolate. I’m not going to lie; I got some of the housekeepers to try it first, just in case it was poisoned. Harsh, but a risk I was willing to take. So far the causality count was at zero.
“Try not to go British at dinner,” Jack said. “He’ll never love you then.”
“I still have Leo.”
“You’re not blonde, or a supermodel. You don’t have Leo.”
Sadly, he was right. I was going to have to rule him out.
“Anyway, whatever,” I said, pushing the hair out of my face excitedly. “I just wanted to tell you that you’ll be seeing me in New York pretty soon.”
“Oh, how come?”
“I’m going to NYU in the fall!”
“Seriously?” Jack’s voice came through the receiver. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you!” I replied, giving the phone a pleased smile. He sounded genuinely excited. “I mean, Aria’s going to UCLA and V’s at Berkeley, so I’m going to miss them. But I’m still happy!”
“You should be,” Jack said. “This city is incredible. You’re going to love it!”
“I better! You sure talk about it enough. Dad was pretty set on Brown, but I did some research and NYU ranks higher on the list, so he couldn’t technically say no. Plus, Mom will be there after she gets back from filming in Greece, although who knows how long that could take.”
“Well, nothing’s better than New York. Not even Greece,” Jack said, matter-of-factly. I heard a car horn beep in the distance as Jack continued. “So have you thought about what you want to major in?”
“I don’t know yet,” I told him, sitting on the edge of my bed. Famous walked past, nudging his little ball with his nose. “Maybe something do with psychology? It sounds pretty badass.”
“Oh good choice!” Jack replied. “You’re going to need some experts to help figure out what’s wrong with you.”
“Ha ha,” I said dryly, rolling my eyes even though he couldn’t see. “The joke’s on you buddy. You’re stuck with me for at least another three years. Just you and your bestie, Gia!”
“Lucky me!”
“Yeah, lucky you!”
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say Milo’s going to be around a lot.”
“It’s not that much of a wild guess if you ask me.”
“Great! Can’t wait to hang out with him,” Jack said wryly.
“Can you at least try to be nice?” I asked him, seriously. “He’s important to me.”
“Fine, but I’m not making any promises,” Jack said, sounding a little breathless.
“I’ll take it,” I said. I’d break down his walls eventually. There w
asn’t much he could do about it once I moved to New York.
“On that note, when you get here I want to introduce you to Lucy.”
“Who is that, your cat?” I joked, eyeing the chipped nail polish on my free hand.
“Very funny, smartass,” Jack replied. “No. She’s my girlfriend.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. Did he just say what I thought he said?
“Your what?” I said, as more car horns blared in the background.
“My girlfriend!” Jack replied, raising his voice over the noise of the traffic.
“Since when?” I asked, not fully believing it.
“Since always. Listen, I need to go. I was out for my break but I’m just heading back now.”
“Wai—”
“I’ll message you later, okay?”
No, not okay! He couldn’t just drop a bomb like that and then disappear!
“Wait, Ja—”
“Talk to you soon!” Jack said cheerfully, and hung up before I could protest.
I lowered the phone and stared at the screen for a few seconds, gaping at the photo of me and Jack that Mom had taken before the Golden Globes. It stared back at me, sitting next to Jack’s name and contact details on my phone.
“What did Jack say?” Aria asked from behind me.
“Uh,” I said, trying not to sound as flustered as I felt. “Nothing much. He said he wants to introduce me to his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend?” Veronica repeated in surprise, and I nodded.
“Are you kidding me?” Aria cried. “All the good ones are taken!”
“I guess you guys could double date now.” Veronica said.
There were about a billion things I would rather do than double date with Milo and Jack’s girlfriend. Number one on that list involved throwing myself out of a plane without a parachute. It’s not like he wasn’t allowed to have a girlfriend or anything, but it was Jack! He wasn’t exactly a commitment kind of guy. Besides, if he had a girlfriend, why hadn’t he mentioned her until now? And what does “since always” even mean? That wasn’t a clear answer! Maybe that’s why he was always glued to his phone. Maybe he was sending her updates about how annoying I was being, and how he couldn’t wait to see her again.
But, you know, whatever. My New York adventure would just have another person involved. And I could do that much for Jack, after all he’d done for me. Besides, I am a very accommodating person. Mostly. Sometimes. I would accommodate the heck out of her. Okay but, like, who is actually named Lucy nowadays? All I’m saying is, she sounded like a cartoon farm animal.
