Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity)

by Alexander, Monica

  “Logan, thank you for meeting with us, and thank you again for filling in last week during the photo shoot. I have to be honest, when Gretchen first told me what she was doing, I didn’t love it, but she must have seen something in you, because these shots turned out better than we could have hoped.”

  I wasn’t sure if she was complimenting me or putting me down, but I also didn’t want to ask.

  “Thank you,” I said, aiming for brief.

  “Is it true that you’re dating Jason Brady?”

  “Yes, I am,” I said, finding it strange that someone like her would be impressed with that fact. She’d worked with tons of celebrities over the years. Elyce had given me the rundown on her extensive career with several well-knowing clothing companies before she joined 57 Jeans five years earlier.

  “And everything is okay with you two?”

  What a strange question, and the answer was completely none of her business, but I couldn’t not answer her.

  “Yes, we’re fine.”

  Suzanne nodded, shot Gretchen a knowing look, and then steepled her fingers beneath her chin. I wondered if they’d seen the same Internet article as me.

  “Tell me, has he seen the pictures from the shoot?” Suzanne asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, I showed them to him last week.”

  Could I actually get in trouble for that? I wasn’t sure.

  She nodded. “And what did he think of them?”

  “He liked them a lot.”

  She nodded again. “Good. That’s good. So, we were talking,” she said, gesturing to Gretchen and herself, “and we think we might have something really unique here.”

  “Okay,” I said, still not sure what this meeting was about.

  “We’d like to offer you a one year contact to model for 57 Jeans,” she said then, so unceremoniously that I had to stop a second just to process her words.

  “Oh. Seriously?”

  “You don’t sound excited,” Gretchen accused. It was the first time she’d spoken.

  I turned to look at her. “No, that’s not it. I, wow, I think you just caught me off-guard.”

  “Well, the thing is, Logan,” Suzanne continued. “You have a relatable, girl next door look, and we think we can pull more market share with your face. You’re sweet, but we can turn you into this sexy, sweet girl who women will want to be and men will want to be with. But you also have an attainable quality to your looks.”

  I assume that’s a good thing?

  “What about Nora?” I asked, realizing that if they were suddenly thinking of me as the face of their brand, wouldn’t she be out of a job? I didn’t want that, and I wouldn’t take the offer if that’s what they meant.

  “Oh, Nora’s still going to be a part of the campaign, but she’s exotic and beautiful, which is why the two of you looked so fantastic next to each other. We plan on integrating you into the plans we already had for her, and then of course shots that will include Cody.”

  I nodded. That made me feel better.

  “Well, that sounds great.”

  I really couldn’t find an issue with what they were asking of me. Of course I’d need more details about their expectations, when they’d need me, and I’d definitely want my dad’s lawyer to look at the contract, but other than that, it seemed like a great offer. And I’d get to work with Nora.

  “Good, I’m glad to hear,” Suzanne said, all business. “Here, take a look at this, and tell us what you think.”

  Gretchen turned over two pieces of paper and slid them across the table to me. I looked at the first one, which was a drawing of Nora and Cody wearing jeans and nothing else, standing on a street corner in what looked like Times Square. She was strategically pressed against his chest, her head turned to look at the camera. The 57 Jeans logo and tagline were at the bottom. I realized it was a magazine ad – a very sexy magazine add. When I looked at the other page, I saw myself, but I was wearing a shirt, and I was holding hands with a guy. We were walking on the beach without shoes. It was a much sweeter picture, and I finally saw what Gretchen and Suzanne were talking about. Nora would sell the sex of the brand, I’d sell the wearability of it.

  “What do you think?” Gretchen asked

  I looked up at her. “I think it’s great.”

  She nodded. “Do you think Jason will agree to it?”

  “To what?”

  Gretchen looked like she wanted to roll her eyes, but she held back.

  “Look a little closer at the mock-up, Logan. Does the guy you’re with look familiar?”

  I looked again and almost gasped out loud. It was Jase. They’d drawn him in next to me. I looked up at the two women in confusion.

  “We’d like Jason to be a part of the campaign. I’ve heard the two of you have a strong following of fans, so as a pair, you’ll sell the brand better than you will alone. Do you think he would do it?”

  Huh? Jase and I had fans – of what, our relationship? That was crazy.

  “Um, I don’t know. He has an endorsement deal with two companies already, so I’m not sure. I guess I could ask him.”

  Gretchen laughed. “We’ll handle that. I’m already having our people reach out to his agent to share our generous offer, but just in case he’s not sure it’s right for him, you’ll convince him, won’t you?”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “With all due respect, Jase makes his own career decisions. I don’t interfere.”

  “Oh, now I don’t believe that, Logan,” Suzanne interjected. “I heard you talked him in to starring in his latest film, the one about the rock band that he’s making right now.”

  How the hell did she know that?

  “Sons of Sovereignty,” I confirmed. “And I didn’t talk him in to doing it. Where did you hear that?”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just talk to him about the campaign when you next speak with him, will you? No pressure, but it would mean a lot to us if he would do it.”

  Yeah, no pressure at all.

  “Will you talk to him?” Gretchen prompted. My expression must not have been very reassuring.

  I hesitated before saying, “Sure, I’ll mention it.”

  “Thank you, now let’s go over your contract, shall we?” Suzanne said then.

  I nodded.

  * * *

  “So, I’m going to be a model,” I told Jase later that afternoon when he called me. He was on a break in between takes, and I had trouble telling him without laughing. I still couldn’t believe it.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “You know?”

  “Sure. Andrea and Erica called me today to discuss the offer from 57 Jeans and show me the mock-up of our ad.”

  Our ad. I liked the sound of that.

  “And?”

  “And I want to know what you think. Do you want me to do this with you, or do you want it to be your thing?”

  Yeah, right. Like this campaign would go off without Jase. I was pretty sure the only reason I was offered a contract was because Suzanne and Gretchen wanted Jase. Without him, I was just another cute girl.

  “I’d love for you to do it with me,” I told him, being completely honest.

  “Then I’ll do it. I wasn’t really looking for another sponsorship, but what the hell. This is something we can do together. I would love that.”

  I smiled as widely as my face would allow. “Okay, then I guess we’ll do it.”

  “I guess we will.”

  “So how’s filming going?” I asked, knowing how nervous he’d been earlier.

  “It’s going awesome. I saw the playback of the initial scenes we shot, and I can’t believe it’s me. I actually look like a rock star.”

  “Aww, baby, I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait to see the finished product.”

  “Me neither. But first, I do believe I owe you a song.”

  I loved how his confidence had returned. He was in a much different place about his musical abilities than he’d been at earlier in the day.

  “I�
�d love for you to play for me,” I said, getting giddy.

  “Okay, I’m going to put you on speaker, so I have two hands. And please don’t boo me if it’s bad. Just tell me I’m awesome. I need to maintain my ego throughout filming.”

  I laughed. “You will be awesome, but I’m happy to stroke your ego if you need me to.”

  “Okay, here goes.”

  As he strummed the first few chords of Here With Me, I set my phone on my stomach, put it on speaker and leaned back with my eyes closed so I could let the music wash over me.

  And Jase was fantastic. That was the only thing I could think. He was just great.

  The door to my room opened as Jase was wrapping up the song, and Henley stopped in her tracks and looked at my phone in awe.

  “Is that Jase?” she mouthed, and I nodded. Then she nodded in appreciation as she put her tote bag next to her bed and took a Diet Coke out of the mini-fridge.

  “Okay, how bad was that?” Jase asked when he finished, so I took him off speaker.

  “Babe, that was so good. You’re really amazing.”

  “So amazing, Jase!” Henley yelled from across the room in her thick southern accent.

  “Is that Henley?” he asked.

  “Yeah, she just got home, so she heard the tail end of your performance.”

  “Oh, shit, I didn’t know I had an audience.”

  “Babe, you were incredible. So sexy. I can’t wait to see you in person so you can play some more for me.”

  My stomach churned in excitement about how soon that would be.

  “Sexy, huh?”

  “Yeah, definitely.”

  “Alright, then, tomorrow night, we’ll sit out on my back deck, and I’ll play anything that you want – as long as it’s one of the ten songs I know.”

  I laughed. “I can’t wait. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Love you,” he said, cutting off the conversation since he knew I hated to talk to him on the phone when Henley was in the room.

  Our dorm was so small, and it wasn’t her fault, but our conversations had a tendency to get really intimate when he was away, so it was better if we talked when we were both alone.

  “Bye, babe. Love you too.”

  “Damn, you guys are too cute,” Henley gushed as she flipped through my copy of Celebrity Weekly.

  I’d been subscribing for a while, since I’d been kind of addicted to celebrity gossip before becoming a pseudo celebrity. Now it just seemed weird to see myself in a magazine when I wasn’t doing anything anyone should be that interested in, but my subscription ran through the end of July, so I was stuck.

  Henley enjoyed reading it, though. I’d kind of lost interest in celebrity’s lives after dating Jase and being friends with Ellie and Garrett. I realized very quickly that celebrity’s lives weren’t all that different when it came to day-to-day living. And that was usually what was photographed, but thankfully it had been a while since I’d graced the pages – not since Jase and I were spotted at Starbucks the morning of the Golden Globes. The magazine jumped all over that picture because Jase was nominated, so they captured us doing something as mundane as getting breakfast.

  I wasn’t sure how to respond to Henley’s comment about us being cute, so I just didn’t, and she continued to flip through the pages of the magazine.

  “Hey!” she said after a few minutes.

  “What?” I asked, looking up from the research I was doing for my paper on the media’s supposed involvement in Princess Diana’s death for my ethics class. The topic sort of resonated with me, so I’d jumped on it when the professor had handed out the list for us to pick from.

  “You and Jase are in here,” Henley said, holding up the magazine so I could see a picture of Jase and me holding hands and walking in New Orleans. “You’re even dressed alike. That’s so cute.”

  That was a hazard of going incognito in public. Many times we reverted to wearing nondescript clothing, hoodies and hats, and that day had been no exception. The only difference was Jase’s hoodie was gray, and he was wearing a blue Dodger’s hat, and I had on a black hoodie and a black Billabong trucker hat that said ‘California Love’ on the front. Ethan had given it to me for Christmas.

  We also were both wearing Converse sneakers, and the picture was taken as we were crossing the street after having gotten coffee early in the morning, so we were holding hands and each had a large to-go cup in the opposite hand. I don’t think either of us even knew we were being photographed, but it seemed we were spotted. Both our gazes were fixed on the crosswalk sign, so we looked serious and focused.

  “What does that caption say?” I asked.

  Henley turned the magazine around to look at the page. “Logan Kessler visits boyfriend Jason Brady in New Orleans where he’s on location filming Sons of Sovereignty.”

  I breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful the media hadn’t twisted our expressions to mean there was trouble in paradise or some other bullshit like that. I realized then I was taking way too much stock in what the media was reporting, and it was so unhealthy, but I couldn’t help it. Articles like the one from earlier about Jase and Chloe always got under my skin no matter how indifferent I tried to be and how much I tried to ignore them.

  My phone rang then, which gave me a chance to stop obsessing about the gossip rags, and I was happy to see it was my dad on the other end of the line. I hadn’t talked to him in a few days.

  “Hi Dad! What’s up?”

  “You went to New Orleans?!” he boomed , so I pulled the phone away from my ear, realizing he’d received his copy of Celebrity Weekly in the mail, and he was none too happy with me.

  Ever since the first time I’d been featured in the magazine, he’d started subscribing so he could keep tabs on how the media was showcasing his daughter. And he’d been known to get mighty upset when they said anything negative. I prayed I never had a fat day and they identified me as having a baby bump, because he might have a heart attack if he read that.

  But the bad thing about him tracking me in magazines is that he also knew where I went, even when I lived across the country.

  “Uh, yes, yes, I did. I went to visit Jase.”

  “Logan,” he chastised. “New Orleans is not a safe city, and don’t you have school? I know you care about Jase a lot, but you can’t be jetting off to see him whenever you want. Are your grades okay?”

  He was such a worrier, and it had gotten worse since I’d moved to California. I knew he loved that I’d decided to go to USC, which was his alma matter, but I wasn’t sure he fully wrapped his head around the concept of how far away I’d actually be and how little we’d see each other.

  I sighed. “Yes, Dad. My grades are really good. I studied on the plane there and back, and I was only in New Orleans for a day and a half. Jase missed me, so he flew me out there. It was sweet, and Charlie was with us the whole time.”

  “I don’t see him in this picture,” he accused, assuming I was lying.

  “He’s on the other side of me, Dad. They cropped him out. Trust me, Jase doesn’t go anywhere without him these days. He can’t afford to. Come one, you’ve got to calm down. I’m fine. I had a great time, and I was back in time to get a good night’s sleep for school on Monday.”

  Which was incredibly important because I didn’t sleep at all when I was with Jase in his hotel room, but I wasn’t about to share that tidbit of information with my father who’d probably be okay assuming I’d be a virgin until the day I walked down the aisle years from then.

  He didn’t say anything in response to my defense, so I kept going.

  “Dad, you’ve got to trust me. I’m making good decisions in my life, okay? You can’t spend your time worrying about me. I’m fine, and when I’m with Jase, I’m in really good hands.”

  “Lo, I’ll never stop worrying about you. You’re my baby girl.”

  “I know, Daddy, but you need to try, okay.”

  “I will,” he promised.

  “Okay, good. Now what else is g
oing on?”

  He took a deep breath. “Well, I do have some news.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, hoping he’d proposed to Sasha. They were so perfect together, and they’d just moved in together at the beginning of January. It was a logical next step.

  “So, I’m not sure if I should have talked to you about this first, but then it happened really fast, faster than we’d planned, and now I have to tell you.”

  Okay, I had no clue what he was trying to say, but I was going to be so pissed if he and Sasha had eloped. It was the only thing I could think of.

  “Dad, what are you trying to say?”

  “So, Sasha and I decided to have a baby.”

  My jaw dropped, and I was silent for a moment. “What?!”

  Apparently they were skipping right over the logical step. A baby?! Really?!

  He laughed nervously, and I pictured him stroking his chin roughly the way he did when he was anxious.

  “Yeah, so I always wanted more kids, and she wanted kids, so we just decided we’d try and see what happened, and she got pregnant the first month. So, yeah, it’s kind of crazy, but we’re wrapping our heads around the idea.”

  Aww, that was exciting. I was afraid he was going to tell me she’d accidentally gotten pregnant, but I felt better knowing they’d made the decision together. I felt like crying, but in a really good way.

  “Oh, Dad, congratulations! That is so incredible. When’s she due?”

  He cleared his throat. “Um, October, so we have a while. It’s all really early, so you’re the only person we’re telling, but we went to the doctor this week and heard the heartbeat, and it was strong, so that’s good.”

  I was suddenly crying hearing him talk about being a father again. My dad was the most amazing man, and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to raise me. I was glad he was getting another chance to be a great father. And I was going to be a sister again. That was so cool.

  “Lo, are you crying? Are you upset,” he suddenly asked, panic in his voice.

  “No! No, Dad. I’m happy for you guys. So, are you getting married?”

  He let out a breath in a rush of air. “Oh, wow, yeah, I guess. We didn’t really talk about it. We just decided to have a baby, but I guess we’ll get married too.”