“Want what?” Savannah asked. “To be a singer?”
Madison nodded.
“More than anything,” she said. “It’s my dream. If I didn’t have singing...I don’t know what I would do.”
“Then you have no other option,” Madison said. “You have to ignore the people who put you down. Look at the guys in One Connection. They have tons of fans, but there are also people who don’t like them. They don’t let it stop them from doing what they love and making music.”
“That’s different,” she said. “They’re One Connection.”
“It doesn’t make them any better than you,” Madison said. “Don’t ever forget that. They weren’t always famous. Everyone has to start somewhere. If you let people bring you down now, you’ll never know how high you could climb. And you owe it to yourself to try.”
“You’re right,” Savannah said. “Thanks.” They shared a hesitant smile, and she added, “But after tonight, Perry’s not interested in me anymore. Everything was great between us this morning. Now it’s a mess.”
Madison sipped her tea, quiet for a few seconds. It was over between Savannah and Perry—that was obvious, after what had happened in the hot tub. But what could she say that wouldn’t come across as insensitive? To make sure that Savannah wouldn’t regret opening up to her?
“You deserve better than him,” she finally said. “Sure, he’s famous, but he’s a jerk.”
“I know he was a jerk tonight,” Savannah said, her eyes sad. “But he’s been so nice to me until now. He’s been texting me since we met at my Sweet Sixteen, and when we were on the chairlift today, he told me he believed I have real talent and that he wants to help me get on Teen American StarMaker. I thought he cared about me.”
Madison curled up in her chair, waiting for Savannah to throw in another “but.” Instead, Savannah played with the ends of her hair, waiting for what seemed like...advice. Like she was asking for help from a sister.
Or more like a sister replacement, since Peyton was out with that ski-instructor boy toy of hers, and Courtney was “otherwise occupied” with Brett. But it was the first time any of the Diamonds had made an effort to let Madison in. How could she not take it?
“Please don’t tell me you would give Perry the time of day again,” she said, since it was the same advice she would have given a close friend. “I don’t care what teen reality show he says he can get you on—if he was actually interested in you, he wouldn’t have stopped paying attention to you after finding out you were a virgin. And he definitely wouldn’t be in his room with Emily Nicole doing who the hell knows what right now.”
Savannah’s eyes were glassy, and lower lip quivered, as if she were about to cry again.
“I don’t mean to be harsh,” Madison said. “But you deserve someone better than Perry. And I think you know that, too.”
“Maybe.” Savannah sniffed and pulled her knees to her chest. “And honestly...it’s not even Perry that I’m actually upset about.”
“You’re more upset about the bitches on YouTube?”
“No,” Savannah said. “It’s another guy. Someone I’ve known longer than I’ve known Perry.”
“Who?” Madison asked, although she had a feeling that she knew the answer.
“No one.” Savannah wouldn’t meet Madison’s gaze. “Well, it’s someone, obviously. But it doesn’t matter, because I had a chance with him a while ago and I messed it up. He doesn’t think of me like that—at least not anymore.”
Madison chewed the inside of her cheek. “You’re talking about Damien, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” Savannah glanced down the hall and lowered her voice, even though Damien was sleeping and his room was far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to hear them. “But please don’t tell anyone? He only sees me as a friend, and I don’t want to embarrass myself again like I did over the summer. I can’t be rejected by him twice.”
“But since the night of your Sweet Sixteen party, it’s looked like you were more into Perry.” Madison shook her head, genuinely confused. “And didn’t you choose Nick over Damien at the grand opening of the Diamond, and ignore Damien for the rest of the night, even after he asked you out?”
“I guess.” Savannah’s cheeks turned pink. “But that happened after you kissed Damien. He wanted you more than me. So I thought if I tried to move on with other people, I would get over him. But it didn’t work.”
Madison took a deep breath. She’d apologized to Savannah before, but she had to try again. “I really am sorry about what happened last summer,” she said. “I shouldn’t have kissed Damien that night. But someone I liked had just rejected me, and it hurt a lot. I knew Damien had feelings for me, and after I saw him with you, I wondered if maybe I could return those feelings. But I didn’t, and it blew up in my face. Damien and I never would have been good together. I knew it, and now he knows it, too. I promise that we’re truly just friends now.”
“I believe you,” she said. “Especially because Damien sort of said the same thing.”
“So you know it’s true. You’re the one he wants to be with.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I believe that you and Damien are only friends. But not that he’s interested in me. If anything, he likes Brianna now. He’s been spending a lot of time with her on this trip, and they’re always sitting next to each other.”
“Brianna?” Madison laughed. “No way. Damien’s known Brianna longer than he’s known me. He doesn’t see her as anything but Oliver’s little sister.”
“So how come he’s always with her?”
“Because he’s comfortable around her,” she said. “Come on, Savannah. Give yourself some more credit. Damien skips lunch with our friends to help you with your YouTube stuff, and he ditched his family vacation in California to come here for you. He wouldn’t have done all that if he only saw you as a friend.”
“But if he was interested in me, wouldn’t he have made a move by now?” she asked. “He wasn’t exactly shy about going for what he wanted when we first met.”
“Because he didn’t know you then, so he wasn’t risking anything by trying,” Madison said. “Take it from someone he used to be interested in. He flirts a lot, but if he’s really interested, he won’t make the first move. That night at Luxe, I was the one who kissed him, remember?”
“You weren’t subtle about it, either.” Savannah cracked a smile. “From what I heard, you basically pounced on him.”
“Yeah, well, I’d had too much to drink that night.” She shrugged and sipped her tea, which was starting to get cold. “It wasn’t one of my finest moments. But that’s all in the past. What I’m trying to say is that if you’re interested in Damien, you need to let him know. Otherwise he’ll go on thinking you have feelings for Nick, or Perry, or someone else.”
“Being obvious didn’t work for me over the summer,” she said. “And then I thought that I was clear about my feelings for him last semester when we were working together on my YouTube channel.”
“Did you tell him your feelings?” Madison asked. “Or did you expect him to pick up hints?”
“Hints, I guess.” She pressed her lips together, then sat up straighter. “But if he likes me, shouldn’t he be the one to make it happen?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to follow those old-fashioned dating rules.” Madison rolled her eyes.
“They’re not old-fashioned!” Savannah retorted. “Every website says that guys like the chase, and you should let a guy come to you, or else you’re going to come off as too aggressive and make them lose interest. If they don’t come to you, you’re supposed to ignore them. No calling, no texting, no interacting with anything they do online.” She counted each one off on her fingers. “Then if they like you, they’ll come bouncing back.”
“How many websites have you consulted
about this?” Madison asked.
Savannah glanced sideways at her computer. “A few.”
“And how’s that been working out for you?”
“It hasn’t.”
“Exactly.” Madison crossed her legs and smiled. “Stop looking up dating advice on the internet. No website knows your exact situation. But I know Damien, and here’s what I think—he’s one of the most confident guys I know, but even he has to feel overshadowed by Perry Myles.”
“I guess,” Savannah said, picking at her nails. “But it’s hard to think of Damien being intimidated by anyone.”
“Like I said, he’s confident, but come on.” Madison laughed. “This is Perry Myles we’re talking about. Imagine if Damien had a thing with Ariana Grande, or Taylor Swift, or someone like that. Wouldn’t you feel intimidated, too?”
“‘Intimidated’ would be an understatement,” Savannah said. “I dream of their level of success. If Damien got involved with either of them, I would probably give up all hope that he would ever notice me.”
“Exactly.” Madison finished off her tea.
“Not that it matters,” Savannah said. “Since Perry was playing me the entire time.”
“What he did tonight was pretty crappy.”
They sat in silence for a few seconds, and Madison watched as Savannah stirred her hot chocolate. It must be cold by now, but that didn’t stop her from drinking it. The entire house was quiet—more peaceful than it had been since they’d arrived—and Madison was glad she’d joined Savannah..
“I should have known better than to get involved with Perry,” Savannah said. “But come on, he’s Perry Myles. Even my agent told me I would be stupid not to see what might happen with him. That’s part of how this all began. Then when he started replying to my texts, and saying he wanted to see me again, I got caught up in the excitement. But if you’re right about Damien actually having feelings for me this entire time, then I’ll feel like the biggest idiot ever for messing that up.”
“You can still fix this,” Madison said. “I truly believe that Damien cares about you—but you have to let him know how you feel.”
“If I have a chance with Damien—and I trust that you mean it when you say I do—I don’t want to miss out on that, either,” Savannah said. Then she frowned. “But he’s barely paid attention to me this entire trip. He hasn’t talked to me one-on-one at all. It’s like I don’t exist.”
“Because you’ve been spending so much time with Perry,” Madison reminded her. “But tonight, in the hot tub, Damien looked like he wanted to punch Perry in the face.”
“Really?” Savannah brightened.
“Really.” She scooted her chair forward. “Seriously, Savannah, you have to tell him how you feel. If you don’t, then you guys will keep having these misunderstandings, and it’ll be so much of a mess that you won’t be able to fix it.”
“You’re right.” She chewed on her lip. “But if I tell him how I feel, and he says he doesn’t feel the same way, it’ll be awkward being in the house with him for the rest of spring break. So I’ll tell him toward the end of the trip. Okay?”
“I think you should do it as soon as possible, since I’m positive he’ll be happy when you tell him,” Madison said. “But I can understand wanting to wait until the end of the trip.”
“And I don’t know what to do with the One Connection guys,” she said, burying her fingers in her hair. “I don’t want Perry here anymore, but I can’t just kick him out. Can I?”
Madison raised an eyebrow—she couldn’t imagine Savannah kicking Perry out, although it was an amusing thought. “It’s Adrian’s house, and Perry’s a guest here,” she said. “You can do whatever you want.”
“I’ll think about it.” Savannah sighed and sat back in her chair. “Anyway, enough talk about Perry. You and Oliver have been spending a lot of time together recently... What’s going on between the two of you?”
Madison shifted in her seat. She hadn’t talked about her feelings for Oliver with anyone yet. It was almost as if, by not putting her feelings into words, they didn’t have to be real. But Savannah had just opened up about Damien. If Madison wanted them to become closer—to really try seeing what having sisters was all about—she would have to put herself out there, too.
“If I tell you, promise you won’t say a thing?” she asked. “To anyone?”
“I promise,” Savannah said.
“Okay, here it goes.” Madison sat cross-legged on her chair, making herself comfortable. “I care about Oliver a lot. I wouldn’t have invited him here if I didn’t. But the first day we were in Aspen—when everyone went skiing and I spent the day in town with him—he told me he was upset because I hadn’t tried harder to stop him from getting in the car the night of your party. I said that he shouldn’t blame me—that he’s responsible for his own actions—but I can’t stop wondering if maybe he’s right. That I should have done more.” Her throat tightened, and she blinked away tears. “All I did was tell him not to drive, and I was so upset that night that I just...let him go.”
“His accident wasn’t your fault,” Savannah said softly. “It was a hard night for you, too. Peyton told me that she’d just told you about the bet. And you knew about us being sisters, but couldn’t tell us. I can’t imagine what that was like.”
“It was awful,” Madison said. “After Oliver left, I cried in the bathroom for most of the night. And I hate admitting this, because I shouldn’t forgive him so easily...but even after knowing about that bet, I still have feelings for him.”
“If it helps, when Peyton and I first told him about the task she’d come up with for him, he said he could never hurt you like that and there was no way he would do it,” Savannah said. “From what I saw, he really cares about you. More than it seems like he cares about anyone else.”
“That’s almost the exact same thing he said to me before leaving your party.” Madison sniffed and wiped away a tear.
“Maybe because it’s true,” Savannah said.
“Maybe.” She smiled, although her chest panged with doubt. “Everything’s been so hard since the accident. He wouldn’t talk to anyone for weeks. Now things are finally starting to feel like they’re getting back to normal between us, and I don’t want to mess up our friendship.”
“I get that,” Savannah said. “But what was it you told me about Damien? That you believe he has feelings for me, but that I need to be honest with him about how I feel, or else nothing will ever happen between us?”
“Yeah.” Madison nodded.
“Then you should take your own advice and do the same with Oliver.”
Madison jerked back and studied Savannah. Savannah had seemed so fragile and naive before, but now her eyes gleamed with strength, her fists curled with determination. “I sound like a hypocrite, don’t I?” she asked.
“Maybe a little.” Savannah smiled. “But when anyone’s wrapped up in the emotions of their situation, it’s easier for someone else to see what’s really going on than for them to see it themselves. And I wouldn’t tell you that I thought Oliver cared about you if I didn’t believe it.”
“Thanks,” Madison said, although she still wasn’t sure what to believe. The advice she’d given Savannah was right because she knew Damien. Savannah didn’t know Oliver. Their situations were so different. “I’ll think about it.”
Then the front door opened, and Peyton rushed inside. She was so loud that she could have woken up everyone in the house. Her cheeks were red, her hair a mess—Madison could only guess what she’d been up to with that hot ski instructor of hers all night.
“Is everyone else sleeping?” Peyton asked, throwing her bag onto the kitchen island.
Madison looked to Savannah to take the lead.
“Oliver, Brianna, Evie, Noel and Damien are sleeping,” Savannah said. “Courtney and Brett ar
e still in the room you’re sharing with Courtney, so you might want to steer clear from there tonight.”
“They’re not...” Peyton shook her head, her eyes bulging. “No way. She would have told us if she was sleeping with him.”
“Maybe they’re just talking?” Savannah squeaked. “Or sleeping. Not as in with each other, but you know...just sleeping.”
“We’ll find out tomorrow,” Peyton said. “I bet they were just talking and fell asleep.”
“You could stay in my room tonight,” Madison offered. “Emily Nicole’s been upstairs with Perry, and it doesn’t seem like she’s leaving anytime soon.”
Peyton looked back and forth between the two of them, tossed her jacket on the table and plopped in the chair next to Savannah. “Why do I have a feeling that I missed a lot while I was out?”
Savannah and Madison shared a knowing look, and then told Peyton everything that had happened, up through their conversation about Damien. They left out the part about Oliver, which Madison appreciated, since Savannah had promised to keep it secret.
“Wow,” Peyton said once they were done, leaning back in her chair. “First of all, Perry Myles is a jerk. You deserve better than him. Now, on to Damien. I wasn’t his biggest fan when we met him last summer, but now I agree with Madison—you should tell him how you feel.” She turned her gaze to Madison. “Thanks for being there for Savannah.”
“Of course.” Madison had a feeling that, coming from Peyton, those words meant a lot.
“Now you have to tell us about your night,” Savannah said. “How did it go with Zack? Since you got home so late, I’m guessing you hit it off?”
“It didn’t go quite as you might think,” Peyton said, and then she launched into the tale of her night.
Madison settled back in her chair to listen. For now, only one thing was certain—after tonight, things were definitely going to be interesting tomorrow.
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