Angelica ignored his sullen mood. “I love New York. I’ve lived in Maryland all my life, but we’d often run off to New York for a few days. I love the rich culture there.”
When Drew didn’t respond, Angelica changed the subject. “Have you ever been to Belize?”
He glanced out the window again. Was Miranda in her room crying? “No,” he said. He took a sip of his coffee. It tasted bitter.
“I just love Belize. We’ll have to do the cave tubing. That’s so much fun.”
His gaze snapped to Angelica. “Miranda wanted to do that.”
“Good. That’s perfect. We can go as a couple, and she’ll see us having fun together. That falls in perfectly with our plan. You’ll love the lush greenery. It’s gorgeous.”
Drew grew anxious, his knee bouncing. He really should go check on Miranda. He hadn’t meant for her to find out about Shelly from someone else. He was going to tell her . . . eventually.
“What’s on the schedule for tonight? I forget.” Angelica smiled at him.
“You know, I don’t remember either. I should go get my schedule. I left it in my room.”
He started to get up but she grabbed his hand. “No worries, I have it on my phone.” She pulled out her purple bejeweled cell and started tapping the screen. “Ah, here it is. A Star Venture game show. Audience participation. That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah,” he said, his gaze back to the window. Grey clouds were blowing in. It fit his mood.
“Do you want to ditch the table tonight and eat at one of the themed restaurants? Carol wanted to try the Galactic burgers.”
“Mmm,” he said, not looking at her.
Angelica sighed. “You want to go check on her, don’t you?”
His gaze flicked to Angelica. “Yeah.”
She waved a hand. “Go.”
He stood. “Thanks.”
“But,” she said, holding up a finger. “Remember, you’re trying to make her jealous. Don’t come on strong to her. Let her know you’re interested in someone else for a change. It’s key to breaking this cycle you have going on.”
“Got it,” he said.
She grabbed his hand. “Meet me at Galactic Burgers in an hour. Now you can go.”
He didn’t wait to be told twice. He sprinted toward the stairs. He was at Miranda’s door in less than five minutes. Pausing to catch his breath, he waited a moment before knocking. “Miranda?”
A muffled sound came from inside. “Drew?”
“Let me in. I want to talk.”
After a moment, the door unlocked and Miranda stood before him, her mascara trailing tears down her cheeks. His heart stabbed. “I’m so sorry.”
Miranda let him in, then she sat down on her bed and put her face in her hands. He joined her and put an arm around her. “I should have corrected you right away. I don’t even know why I didn’t. It was stupid.”
“No,” she said, lowering her hands. “It was my fault. I jumped to conclusions.”
“Would you just let me apologize? Gosh, you’re pig-headed sometimes.”
She whacked his chest. “That’s your apology? Calling me pig-headed? You suck at it.”
He lifted her chin so her gaze met his. “You know I love you.” He almost gasped. He’d never said that before. He froze, waiting to see what Miranda would do.
She blinked at him, then smiled. “Okay, your apology is getting better.”
He decided if he kept talking, she wouldn’t think too hard about it. “I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. I made a mistake, and I know I hurt you, which kills me. I swear, I’m not hiding anything else.”
“Really? That was your only secret?” She gave him a flat look.
“Seriously. You now know everything about me. Like I know everything about you.”
Her gaze faltered and she twisted her hands together.
“Right?” he prompted.
When she didn’t say anything, just kept looking down and twisting her fingers, he placed his hand on her back. “Miranda?”
Guilt flooded her features. “I tell you most things.”
“But not all things?”
“Some things are just hard to talk about, okay?” She stood, clearly uncomfortable.
What was she saying? Did Miranda hide things from him? The thought was a bit disturbing, but because she looked worked up, he decided to let it slide. He stood and put his hand on her shoulder. “I understand.”
Relief came over her features. “You always understand me. That’s why we’ve been best friends for so long.”
Right. Friends. He pulled her to him in an embrace. She threaded her arms around him and hugged him back, laying her head on his chest. “You’re the best.”
Oh, no. He was far from the best. Not an hour ago he was scheming with another girl to make her jealous. And now he was in her cabin smelling her hair and imagining what it would be like to kiss her. He was not the good friend she imagined.
She pulled back and elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s with you and Angelica? Are you guys a thing now?”
The seconds ticked as he tried to think of what he was supposed to say. Was he hesitating too long? Would Miranda know something was up? “Yes,” he said quickly. “We kind of like each other.” He held in a moan. We kind of like each other? What was this, third grade?
Miranda whacked him in the chest. “Well, good for you.”
Nice. She wasn’t jealous. She was happy for him. Like a friend should be. He changed the subject. “Are you up for Galactic Burgers tonight? Angelica wanted to meet us there.”
Her hands flew to her face. “I look like a wreck.”
She looked amazing, but he held that in. “Go wash your face and put on your makeup. I’ll wait here.”
A small smile formed on her lips and she nodded. “Thanks.” She went into the bathroom and turned on the faucet.
He sat back down on her bed. This whole thing with Angelica better work soon. Miranda was driving him mad.
Miranda came out of the bathroom ten minutes later, her face put back together. He couldn’t even hardly see the puffiness around her eyes. “You look good.”
“Thanks.” She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
When they walked into Galactic Burgers, Angelica waved from a table in the corner. Carol sat with her. They both had their food already, so he got in line with Miranda. After ordering, they carried their trays over to Angelica’s table. Drew sat next to Angelica. She threaded her hand through the crook of his arm. “Are you hungry? These burgers are amazing. You’ll love them.”
Of course he was hungry, he was at the restaurant with food sitting in front of him, but he shrugged off her annoying question and took a bite. “You’re right. They’re good.”
Miranda ate silently next to him. Angelica was almost done eating, so she spent the entire time talking about nothing in particular. She mentioned the weather, Carol’s shoes, and the shops they’d gone to this afternoon. Drew nodded politely as he ate his burger and fries.
He glanced up at the wall and a Star Voyage pixelated figure caught his attention. He poked Miranda. “Look at that.”
“Holy cow, that’s from the old Star Voyage computer game.”
“Remember when you saved all your babysitting money that summer to buy that game? We sat on your mom’s computer and played that thing for hours.”
Miranda’s eyes sparkled, and she nodded. “That game was a blast. Until the ending. Worst video game ending in the world!”
He laughed and picked up his soda. “I actually learned a lot from that.”
Carol sent him a questioning glance. “What do you mean?”
“I learned that the ending to a video game has to be satisfying. You have to feel like you’ve accomplished something. And throwing in a surprise is also good.”
Angelica tightened her hold on his arm. “Yes. The surprise you tossed in the end of War Raiders was excellent. No one expected the king to actually be a w
oman.”
“My nod to Metroid.”
Miranda grinned. “It was brilliant. And definitely helped your game go viral.”
The conversation waned, and Drew tried to think of something else to say. “How are things at MalTech?”
Miranda shrugged and swallowed her bite. “Fine. I don’t know. Jim got fired and my new boss is kind of a she-devil, but that’s how it is everywhere I think, so I don’t want to rock the boat.”
“You should come work for me.” The moment he said the words, he regretted them. What was he thinking? What if the jealousy plan didn’t work and Miranda looked at him as her BFF for eternity? He couldn’t have her working with him every day.
He felt a kick under the table and shot a glance at Angelica. She stared at him. Her expression said, What are you doing? You need to play hard to get.
Miranda laughed, not noticing the tension. “You don’t need a statistician. You sit around all day playing video games.”
“Hey, that’s my job.” Well, sort of. He should be doing storyboards and thinking up characters. That’s one thing Miranda would be excellent at. They used to talk about video games and how to improve them, and they’d come up with awesome ideas of their own. She’d be perfect to brainstorm with.
“I know,” Miranda said. She looked down at her glass and played with the straw. “You don’t have to rub it in. You’re a fancy billionaire who gets to mess around all day playing games.”
Angelica sucked in a breath, like that was the rudest thing she’d heard.
Drew laughed. “She’s just pulling my chain.” How could he explain the way Miranda joked about his money? He thought it was funny.
Angelica exchanged a glance with Carol, then turned back to him. “If you’re done eating, we should go get a good seat for the games tonight. I want to get called out of the audience.”
Miranda stood. “Sounds good. I’m done.”
They tossed their trash and stacked their trays, then left. When they got to the theater, seats were filling up fast, but Drew spotted four empty ones and they made their way over. Angelica sat on one side of him, and Carol squeezed in on the other so Miranda was left on the end. He wasn’t thrilled about that, since he liked to talk to her, but he didn’t want to ask Carol to switch her seats.
Angelica leaned over. “What’s up with you asking Miranda to work with you? You need to make our relationship look real at least. Stop throwing yourself at her.”
“I was joking.” Maybe. Sort of. He didn’t want to admit the truth to himself, that working with Miranda would be awesome, so he pushed the thought away.
“It wasn’t funny. You agreed we’d try to make her jealous. You need to stop looking like you’re pining after her.”
He patted her leg. “You’re right.”
Angelica leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “If you let me, I’ll make you forget all about Miranda.” She gave him a devilish smile.
Drew swallowed and looked up at the stage. What was he getting himself into?
Chapter 12
Miranda tried to ignore each time Angelica would lean over and whisper something in Drew’s ear. She shouldn’t care at all what they were talking about, but it still annoyed her. There were people with them. It was rude to have a private conversation in front of others.
Luckily Aiden, the cruise director, came out on stage and the lights dimmed. Maybe her stomach would stop churning if she couldn’t see them whispering anymore.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight we’re going to have a blast. Welcome to the Star Venture gameshow. We’ll have trivia, a giant Tic-Tac-Toe, and more. But first, let’s welcome our favorite cast members!”
The crowd cheered as the cast to Star Venture came out on stage in full costume. Zachary was back to his cyborg self. Peter Walker tugged his uniform shirt, like he always did on the show. Daphne Porter and Mark Rushford came out with Gina Hummel and Brooklyn Scott. Angelica leaned over to Drew again, and Miranda focused on the stage. She didn’t care what Drew and Angelica did.
“Now, we are going to need some audience participation,” Aiden said, his voice in full announcer mode. “If you’d like to come up on stage, make some noise!”
The crowd went wild, and Angelica screamed and jumped up and down. Miranda sank down in her chair. She did not want to go up on stage.
“Our lovely cast members are going to go into the audience and pick our contestants, so be as loud as you can to draw their attention.”
Zachary was the first to hop down from the stage. Miranda’s heart pounded as he made his way right to her seat. He stuck out his hand. “I pick you.”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to,” she said, but the crowd was too loud, and she didn’t think he heard her.
He grabbed her hand. “Come on, it will be fun. You could win something.” He pulled her out of her seat. She could feel her cheeks redden as she walked up to the stage with him.
When she climbed up on stage, the crowd cheered. She scanned the crowd, and her eyes locked on Drew’s. He gave her a reassuring smile. That was good because she suddenly felt like throwing up. She hadn’t been on stage since the third-grade play, and then she’d been inside a large tree costume.
“Give it up for our contestants! What’s your name?” The director shoved the microphone in her face.
“Uh, Miranda.”
“Welcome, Miranda. Step over to the left. Thank you.” He went down the line, introducing all the people the cast had brought up on stage. “We’re going to play Star Venture Trivia! Would the contestants please take their seats?”
Zachary ushered Miranda over to a chair behind a table. After she sat down she noticed a large red button on the table in front of her.
“This game is simple: we’ll ask questions and you’ll answer them. The contestant who has the most points at the end of the game will win the prize. Gina, would you show our guests what the prize is?”
Gina Hummel stepped behind the curtain and brought out a hand-held blaster gun. The audience oohed.
“Is that a replica?” Aiden asked.
“No,” Gina answered. “It’s an actual prop from the television show. Peter Walker used this exact blaster in season five.”
Miranda’s heart raced. An actual prop from the show? That was the prize? She’d love to get that! The cheering was deafening.
Once the noise died down, Aiden picked up the first question card and stared dramatically at them. “During what episode did the ship become stuck in what they thought was a nebula, but actually turned out to be the sentient life form named Oomla?”
That was an easy one. Miranda hit her buzzer at the same time the lady next to her did, but Miranda’s buzzer was the one that lit up, so she answered. “Ruse.”
“Correct!” Aiden pointed at Gina who tallied one point on the board for Miranda.
Drew make a whooping noise and Angelica looked like she’d eaten a lemon. She tugged on Drew’s shirt and said something in his ear. Miranda tore her gaze away from them.
“Okay, is everyone ready for the next question? Here we go. Zee, played by Gina Hummel, is a member of what alien race?”
Miranda hit her button but the man on the end must have been a split second before her because his buzzer was lit up. They continued the game, every contestant neck and neck. Miranda was tied with the woman next to her when the final question came.
“We all know Zachary Dunham played the cyborg teen found on the planet Alganore. The crew affectionately called him Clink, but what was his given first name by his parents before he was turned into a cyborg?”
Miranda’s heart raced. She knew this. What was it? The woman next to her was flapping her hands like maybe she could blow the answer into her brain. Miranda thought back to the episode where it was mentioned. It was something starting with a T . . . Troy . . . no . . . Miranda hit her buzzer. “Trent?”
Aiden paused dramatically, looking out at the audience. “Correct!” he shouted. “The prize goes to Miranda!”
>
Gina picked up the blaster gun and carried it to the center of the stage. Miranda’s knees felt weak as she stood and walked to Gina. The other contestants were ushered off the stage.
Aiden came up to her. “Congratulations, Miranda! You win this prop from the television show. It comes with paperwork certifying its authenticity.” He gave her a side-hug with one arm. “Now, it’s come to my attention that you’re here on your honeymoon, so even more congratulations are in order.”
The crowd politely clapped as Miranda felt her cheeks heat up.
“Would this lovely young lady’s new husband come up on the stage?”
Miranda’s breath caught and her gaze snapped to Drew’s. His eyes widened. She shot him a desperate please-just-come-up-here look.
“Come on,” Aiden said. “Don’t be shy. What’s your husband’s name?” he asked, and stuck the microphone in her face.
Miranda’s face flamed, and pools of sweat formed under her armpits. Would it be possible for the sea to swallow them up right about now? She panicked and stared at Drew. He stood from his seat and climbed over Carol to get to the aisle. Then he jogged up to the stage. Relief flooded over her. “Drew,” she said as he sprinted up the steps.
“Miranda and Drew. Let’s give them a warm welcome as our newest married couple.”
Drew stood beside her as the audience clapped and hooted.
“Now, Drew,” Aiden said. “Are you excited that your wife just won such an awesome prize?”
Drew grinned. “Oh, yeah.” The audience laughed.
“Don’t you think you should kiss your wife, to congratulate her for winning?”
The crowed whistled and cheered. Miranda’s mouth went dry. Kiss Drew?
Drew’s face looked ashen, and he didn’t answer. Aiden tried again. “Does anyone here think Drew should give his wife a kiss?”
The crowd grew louder. Panic hit Miranda again. Drew turned to face her and shot her an apologetic look before he leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. Miranda’s heart hammered, the quick contact sending a jolt through her.
Her Big Fat Foxy Billionaire Best Friend (Billionaire Series Book 2) Page 8
