Unveiled

by Alice Raine

  ‘Hey, are you OK?’ I perched on the arm of the sofa, worry pushing away my previously happy feelings as it settled in my stomach like a lead weight. What on earth was wrong with her?

  Blinking again, Allie suddenly jerked forwards as if she’d finally become alert again, almost spilling the drink in her hands in the process. ‘What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.’ Taking the cup from her before she spilt it, I frowned when I found it was stone cold. How long had she been sitting here?

  ‘Are you sure? It looks like you’ve been crying,’ I asked softly.

  Allie raised a hand to rub distractedly at her eyes, but seemed to shake herself slightly and gave me a small smile. ‘That must be from the chlorine, I had a swim when I woke up earlier.’

  Giving my bestie a narrow-eyed look, I tried to work out if she was telling the truth or not. I had a pretty good built-in lie detector – not as good as Allie’s bullshit meter, but not bad – and right now there was a warning klaxon blaring inside my head. But why would she say she was fine if she wasn’t?

  ‘You still up for shopping later?’ I asked cautiously, but Allie seemed more alert now and nodded.

  ‘Yeah, it’ll be good fun. I’m going to go for a run first, though.’

  ‘Running as well as swimming?’ I asked. I was a bit of a fitness freak, but even to me that seemed a bit excessive for a weekend.

  ‘Yeah, I didn’t swim much. I won’t be too long, I promise.’ And with that, Allie jumped up and headed off to change, leaving me wondering what could be the cause of her slightly odd mood.

  About an hour later I was showered, dressed, and midway through sorting out my washing pile when there was a loud knocking from the other room. Allie had disappeared out for her run and hadn’t returned, so chucking down the clothes I had been folding I wandered from my room.

  Who could be here knocking? Unless Allie had forgotten her key. No one else knew we lived here. Except Jack. Jack knew where we lived … Oh God, what if it was him again? I still hadn’t decided how to progress with him yet.

  But when I checked the peep-hole, it wasn’t Allie, or even Jack, but Sean, pacing back and forth across the porch. He was disguised, sort of, in a baseball cap and shades, and his hand bore some padded plasters, but even with the distorted glass of the peep-hole there was no mistaking his profile.

  As I stepped out to join him on the porch, Sean seemed to register my appearance, stopped his pacing, removing his glasses, and giving me a brief nod accompanied by a mightily penetrating look.

  I’d never been quite this close to Sean before, and those were certainly some big blues he was rocking. I swallowed hard and blinked back. No wonder Allie always went on about how his ‘intense looks’ made her melt. Except I wasn’t melting, I was practically quaking in my flip-flops.

  ‘Cait, hi. Is Allie here?’

  Allie was right about him getting into your personal space too, because Sean was leaning right over me to the point that I had to crane my neck up to meet his gaze. How unnerving. Taking a small step back, I tried to loosen off my suddenly tense muscles and instead smiled at how bizarre my life now was – meetings with celebrities were run of the mill occurrences for me nowadays.

  Remembering his question, I shook my head, about to inform him that she was out running, when I noticed how dreadful Sean looked. He was pale, a little dishevelled-looking – although that could have been part of his disguise, I supposed – with a thick chin of stubble and some seriously dark bags under his eyes.

  ‘She’s out running.’ His appearance and the way his eyes were darting around put me on edge and I instinctively found myself reaching for my phone, assuming that something was wrong. ‘Hang on, she always takes her phone with her, let me call her.’

  Sean threw his hands up, pushing his baseball cap backwards as he clutched his fingers in his hair. ‘Fuck! No, don’t call her!’ Spinning on the spot, he stared at the parking lot for a second before looking back at me with almost wild eyes. ‘I shouldn’t be here. I’ll go.’

  What the heck? I raised my eyebrows. He looked so dazed that I didn’t think it would be a good idea to let him go.

  ‘Wanna come in?’ Tipping my head in the direction of the lounge in way of invitation, I was quite surprised when Sean nodded and stepped inside with very minimal resistance.

  Closing the door, I stepped away to keep a good distance between us as I observed him with concern. I didn’t know Sean well, but it was obvious he was in turmoil over something, and after staying silent for several seconds he seemed to wince as he looked back at me. ‘I’m … I … I’m not supposed to contact her,’ he admitted through gritted teeth as he raised a hand and rubbed viciously at the back of his neck.

  Not supposed to contact her? What was he talking about? As far as I knew things were going fine between the two of them. Sean’s fake engagement to Savannah was an issue, but they had been meeting in secret and it had all seemed to be going OK.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  At my confused tone, Sean looked up, his eyes wide with shock as his mouth dropped open. ‘She hasn’t told you?’ he asked in surprise, his eyes widening. Told me what? Suddenly expelling a frustrated noise quite similar to a growl, Sean shook his head dejectedly and spun on the spot before collapsing onto one of the armchairs.

  I, however, was frozen to the spot by his peculiar behaviour. I felt like I’d fallen into some weird parallel universe. What the heck was going on?

  ‘I’m even fucking this up.’ Tipping his head back, he stared at the ceiling, ‘I’m fucking everything up,’ he muttered. Dropping his head back down, Sean met my gaze and I saw his eyes were glassy as if he were on the verge of tears.

  Blimey. Seeing such a big guy have such an emotional collapse was really frigging unnerving. ‘Allie split up with me. Well, we’re on a break, but I don’t know if she’ll take me back.’ My eyes boggled at his words, but before I could ask the questions swirling in my mind – most predominantly, when the hell did this happen, and why in the name of all things holy would she do that – he continued. ‘Told me she needed space.’

  She hadn’t said a thing about this to me, but the news certainly made sense of her strange mood. I thought all their issues about the fake engagement were behind them, so this made no sense whatsoever and my poor brain was whirling as it tried to keep up.

  ‘Why did she split up with you?’ I asked in astonishment, almost unable to believe that this was happening. Allie was crazy about Sean, like loop-the-loop, head-over-heels-in-love kind of crazy. And let’s face it, he was undeniably gorgeous and lovely, so all in all a pretty good catch – what could have prompted this?

  Shaking his head, Sean blew out a long breath and lowered his elbows onto his knees so he was leaning forward, his eyes now diverted away from mine.

  ‘Savannah.’ He practically spat the name from his mouth, his lips twisting with disgust. ‘She invited Allie to the studio to watch us filming last Wednesday.’ I nodded, recalling the morning Allie had got her call and headed off, excited about watching Sean in action.

  Sean ran his bandaged hand over his face before continuing, ‘I had no idea Savannah had called her, I didn’t even know Allie was there until after the shoot was finished.’ Ruffling his hair he chewed his lower lip before sighing heavily and continuing.

  ‘Anyway, it was a day where Savannah and I had to film a kissing scene. Savannah went over the top, hands all over me, trying to force the kiss to be more than a stage kiss, all for the benefit of Allie, who was watching in the wings.’

  Oh shit. Wincing, I tried to imagine how that would have felt. It must have been horrific. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t told me. Mind you, it made sense of her quieter behaviour these last few days, not to mention how zoned out she’d seemed this morning.

  ‘That must have been pretty horrible, but why would that make her break up with you?’

  Closing his eyes, Sean seemed to be reliving their last conversation, his eyelids fluttering as his mouth twisted into a grima
ce. ‘She said she couldn’t deal with the jealousy. That dating someone famous was harder than she’d thought it would be.’ Running a hand up and down his leg in agitation, Sean finally made eye contact with me again. ‘Worse than that though, she … she said I’d betrayed her by kissing Savannah and not telling her.’ Sean rolled his neck with an audible click and then grimaced. ‘She’s right, but I never meant to. I just didn’t even think she’d see it that way.

  ‘Then she asked me to stay away while she had some time to think.’ Letting out a humourless laugh, Sean shook his head. ‘And here I am, messing up already because you’ll tell her I was here and she’ll be even more pissed off with me.’

  I was silent for several seconds as I tried to absorb all that he’d said. This was insane. He was clearly crazy about her and she was running away? A small niggle at the back of my mind whispered that that was exactly what I was doing with Jack, running, running, running, as fast as my little legs could carry me, but I pushed it aside – it was a totally different situation.

  Focusing back on Sean’s slumped shoulders, I pursed my lips and decided to help him. ‘Will it help if I conveniently forget your visit?’ I asked softly.

  Sean’s head snapped up, his eyes laser sharp and focused. ‘You’d do that?’

  I shrugged and leant against the wall. ‘I’m kind of rooting for the two of you,’ I explained with a fond smile. ‘I’ve never seen Allie like this about a man before, there’s obviously something special between you.’

  Shooting up from his chair, Sean was suddenly right in front of me again. ‘There is, Cait,’ he nodded vigorously. ‘I love her so much. Fuck. I’ve never felt anything like it. I don’t think I could function if she left me.’ Crikey, talk about emotional. I really felt for the guy; he looked like someone had ripped out his heart, stamped on it, and chucked it in a food processor.

  ‘I’m going to sort out the issues with Savannah. I’ve forced the director to contact the show’s PR team and asked them to arrange a press conference so I can clear up the lies once and for all. I’ll prove to Allie that I’m serious about her, and only her.’

  I nodded. I couldn’t say anything else because Sean’s open, raw honesty was making me quite emotional and I didn’t trust myself to speak just yet.

  How would it feel to be that crazy in love with someone? If I kept up my protective walls I’d never get the chance to find out. Swallowing hard, I frowned. It was a thought that didn’t sit very well in my stomach.

  ‘How is she?’ he asked, his head tilting, lip back between his teeth as he chewed on it anxiously.

  ‘Pretty miserable,’ I said, annoyed with myself for not realising that there was more to Allie’s glumness over the last few days.

  Turning away from me, Sean looked around the lounge before striding over to the dining table and ripping off the corner of a notepad. Grabbing a pen, he scrawled on the paper and strode back over to me. ‘This is my number. Will you call me if Allie needs me? Or maybe just text me each day to let me know she’s OK?’

  Holding up my hands, I shook my head. ‘Uh-uh. I’m willing to keep quiet about today’s visit, but don’t ask me to spy on my best friend for you. That’s too much.’

  His hand dropped dejectedly to his side, before he screwed up the paper and threw it on the floor. ‘You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m such a mess. I hate being the cause of her sadness, and not knowing if she’s all right is killing me. We’d been apart for so long and now she’s finally in LA and this happens. I just don’t know how to handle it.’

  Seeing how tortured Sean was, I relented marginally and bent to retrieve the scrunched-up ball of paper. ‘I tell you what. I’ll save this in my phone, just in case of an emergency,’ I said, retrieving my phone and adding his number. I saved it as ‘Phillip’ just in case Allie happened to see it. ‘But don’t expect daily updates, Sean.’

  ‘No, that’s OK. Thank you, Cait. Thank you.’ He did look less stressed, so perhaps I had helped. Now all I needed to do was discreetly persuade my stubborn best friend just how much this man clearly loved and needed her.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Allie

  When I got back from my run, Cait was nowhere to be seen, which was probably just as well because if she’d seen the state of me – bright red, staggering, and utterly exhausted – she’d definitely start to question why I’d been running so much over the past few days.

  And running I had been. I’d literally jogged until my legs failed me and I’d felt sick, just in an attempt to take my mind off Sean. It had worked to some extent, because I’d fallen into shattered, dreamless sleeps the last three nights without fail, but there was only so long I could keep this up without doing myself an injury.

  Dragging myself to the sink, I clung to the counter and hung my head as I tried to recover my breathing. Jeez, I must have covered fifteen miles today. I loved my runs, but that was a distance record even for me. I’d only turned for home because the charge in my iPod had died, and instead of the distracting beats of The Foo Fighters filling my head, thoughts of Sean had begun to swamp my mind. Again.

  Filling a glass with water, I took a greedy swig, which I almost immediately brought back up again. Ugh. I had definitely overdone it today. Opening one of the drawers, I pulled out a straw and took a more cautious sip, which thankfully stayed down, and turned to make my way back to my bedroom.

  Unfortunately, I found the previously empty room now contained Cait, who was standing with a towel wrapped around her head and an odd look on her face.

  ‘Hey. Been for a swim?’ I asked, hoping that she hadn’t just witnessed my staggering and near vomiting episode.

  ‘No, just a shower. How are you feeling?’

  How was I feeling? Desolate, desperate, and depressed. Swallowing some more water, I tried to give a casual shrug that didn’t give away my wretched state. ‘I’m fine. Why?’

  Cait moved closer and leant back on the counter, appearing casual, until she opened her mouth and spoke again. ‘You’re not fine. You’re a mess. I saw you staggering, and we’ve been friends long enough for me to know that you only run yourself into the ground when something bad has happened.’

  ‘I ran a bit too far, that’s all.’ My lies weren’t even convincing me, so goodness only knows what Cait was making of all this.

  ‘Does all this running have anything to do with Sean? Because he just stopped by and we had a very enlightening chat. I promised I wouldn’t tell you, but seeing as you look just as awful as he did, I can’t keep it a secret.’

  Sean just stopped by? At those four small, seemingly insignificant words my legs buckled and the glass in my hand almost slipped through my fingers. Oh god. I’d been hoping I could have had a quick chat and made a break for my room, but no, no, no. My secret had been discovered.

  ‘You split up with him on Wednesday?’ she asked softly, taking the glass from my trembling fingers before I dropped the bloody thing. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ As much as I loved Cait – and I really did, she was completely and utterly the greatest friend a girl could ever ask for – I had been avoiding her since my split from Sean, because, quite simply, I didn’t know how to even begin talking about it.

  Giving a small shrug, I lifted a hand and chewed on a fingernail until Cait gently tugged my hand away and held it between the warmth of her two palms.

  ‘I don’t know …’ A huge sigh, heavy with emotion, slipped from my lips. ‘… I suppose I thought that talking about it would make it all more real.’

  ‘Oh Allie, hun.’ There was a catch in Cait’s voice as she pulled me into a tight hug. ‘You wanna talk about it now?’

  Did I? It was hard enough to even think about the fact that Sean and I were on a break, let alone vocalise those feelings. Deciding that actually, talking it through might help me decide what to do next, I pulled back from her and gave a hesitant nod. ‘OK, but I’m all sweaty from my run, so let me take a quick shower first.’

  When I reappeared in the lounge fifteen minute
s later, Cait was waiting on the sofa, the table laden with goodies: my glass of water, a bowl of fruit salad, a box of tissues, and a full coffee pot, milk, and two mugs.

  Apparently we were settling in for the duration.

  I accepted a small bowl of the fruit salad, even though I had no appetite whatsoever, and looked at Cait. ‘You said Sean was here, but you didn’t tell me what he said.’

  Levelling me with a sober gaze, Cait shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure you were ready for that.’

  ‘I probably wasn’t,’ I admitted, ‘but the shower has cleared my head a bit. How was he?’

  ‘Honestly?’

  I nodded and she grimaced. ‘He was distraught.’

  Distraught? God. Now I felt guilty as hell in addition to wretched.

  ‘He was all scruffy and unshaven. To be honest, he looked like shit. From the bags under his eyes I’d say he’s not slept since Wednesday.’

  Wincing, I held up a hand to stop her. There was only so much honesty I could take.

  ‘Sorry. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Sean said he’d demanded that the press conference be arranged so that he can clear things up with the public.’

  My eyebrows rose and I found my heartbeat accelerating at that news. ‘OK … that sounds promising,’ I agreed with a nod.

  ‘So what are you going to do?’ Cait asked, her face tight with worry.

  Shrugging, I pushed a piece of pineapple around the bowl with absolutely no intention of eating it.

  ‘I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if he comes through on his promise to sort things out. There’s not much else I can do, is there? I won’t date him if he’s pretending to be with her every day. It would kill me.’