by Dahlia Adler
I turned in my desk chair to see my mother standing in the doorway, a basket of laundry in arm. “Nothing. Just more Hollywood stupidity. Need help?”
“Nah, I’m just tossing these into the machine.” She set down the basket and came in to sit down on my bed. “Is this about Vanessa? Or about Liam?”
I sighed. “Both. Always both, seeing as those two are officially inseparable.”
“I have to admit, I’m still not certain I understand this situation. You’re dating him, and Vanessa’s also dating him?”
“No. Well, sort of. I’m really dating him, and Vanessa’s pretend dating him.”
If I didn’t think it sounded stupid before, the look on my mother’s face confirmed it. “I see. I think. What does it mean that you’re really dating him if she’s the one actually…going on dates with him?”
I opened my mouth to answer her and snapped it shut. What could I say? That our “dates” so far had consisted of hanging out in either my house or his apartment, but I was verboten out in public unless it was as part of yet another publicity stunt for Van? That we sure liked each other a whole lot and made each other laugh, and talked for hours, and had touched nearly every inch of each other’s bodies, but the idea of grabbing a slice of pizza around the corner was totally laughable?
“Never mind,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I never understand teenage things. I think I’d just rather not.”
“Then we’re in agreement, because I’d definitely rather you didn’t,” I admitted, grateful to be given the out.
“Still, I’d like to meet this boy. When is that going to happen?”
My eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“He’s really dating my daughter, isn’t he? And has been for a few months? I think that entitles a mother to some sort of meeting.” She crossed her arms. “Surely this could be arranged, especially if my daughter wants to continue to be able to operate with no curfew.”
“Mom! I’m eighteen—”
“And yet you still live in this house and drive a car that I handed down to you, so I’m pretty sure that means you have to do what I say.” She smiled, and it was so nice to see her joking around again that I couldn’t help smiling back.
“You know I barely get to see him outside of the set.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way. Your father’s met him, after all.”
The proverbial light bulb pretty much exploded over my head just then. “Tell you what—let Lucy go visit Dad when he goes back in.”
“Ally—”
“Hear me out. I’ll get Liam to come too—it always looks good for him when he visits sick patients, so Jade can’t exactly object.” Not that I had run this by Liam, of course, but he had said he wished he could help in some way. “We’ll have a little family gathering, and she’ll be so starstruck it’ll be exactly the kind of fun, distracted, instant-good-memory visit she needs. She gets to see Daddy, you both get to meet Liam… Pretty win-win, right?”
She sighed and shook her head wearily. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
“Definitely not. Is that a yes?”
“If you can get your movie star boyfriend to sit down with your family in your father’s hospital room… you’ve got yourself a deal,” she said, bracing her hands on her thighs and standing up.
Hmm. Once she put it that way, maybe it wasn’t such a gimme after all. No matter—it was worth a shot. And if I had faith in our relationship at all, I had to believe he’d give me this.
* * * * *
He did, though it wasn’t entirely without a little teeth pulling. “Are you sure I’m not underdressed?”
“It’s a hospital room,” I reminded him. We both kept our voices low as we exited Liam’s Range Rover and headed through the front doors. His head was down and sporting a Lakers cap, while mirrored aviators covered his very recognizable blue-green eyes. “My dad will be in pajamas. Jeans and a polo is fine.”
“And you don’t think it’s stupid that I brought a DVD instead of flowers?”
“You’re not allowed to bring flowers. A DVD is cute. My mom will love seeing you in a movie.”
“I feel like an egotistical jackass.”
I sighed. “You’re ridiculous, you know that? You’ve already met my dad, and he loved you.”
“I thought you said he doesn’t remember me.”
“He doesn’t, but I remember he loved you, and so do you. You have your ID on you?”
“Jared McElroy, at your service.”
“Perfect.” We flashed them at the front desk, got my dad’s room number, and made our way to the elevator.
“Thank you for doing this,” I said to Liam as soon as the elevator doors closed, leaving us alone in the enclosed space. We still couldn’t touch—not with the security cameras rolling—but I hoped my voice conveyed just how grateful I really was. “It means a lot to me and to my mom, and I know it will to Lucy.”
“It means a lot to me,” he replied quietly, and I hated that I couldn’t see his eyes through the mirrored lenses right then. “Thank you for asking.”
I pursed my lips, because if I didn’t, I knew I would lean across the elevator and kiss him right then. Fortunately, if you could call it that, the elevator doors opened, and we walked out and through the little maze of hallways until we reached my dad’s room.
“Let me go in first,” I instructed, placing my palm lightly on his chest to stop him in his tracks. He didn’t argue, and I slipped inside.
“Honey, there you are.” My mother stood up from the chair next to my father’s bed and came over to kiss me on the cheek. “Where’s—”
“Mom said you have a surprise for me!” Lucy blurted, bouncing over. “What is it what is it what is it?”
I laughed, covering her mouth loosely with my hand. “Chill, Luce. For this surprise, you’re going to have to be very, very quiet, okay? No screaming.”
“I don’t scream,” said Lucy. “I’m ten years old, you know.”
“If you say so.” I stuck my head out into the hallway. “Sorry, Liam. I guess she’s not that excited to see you after all.”
“Ouch,” said Liam, coming inside and pulling off his hat and sunglasses. “That kinda hurts, Lucy.”
She screamed.
I rushed to shut the door behind him. “I said no screaming, Luce!”
“It’s—it’s—”
“Liam,” he said, crouching down and lifting her hand to his lips. He was certainly no stranger to charming the tween set. “Nice to meet you, Lucy.”
I rolled my eyes at my mom, and she smiled. “He’s so handsome!” she mouthed.
“Duh,” I mouthed back.
While Lucy continued to babble incoherently, Liam straightened up and extended a hand. “So nice to meet you, Mrs. Duncan.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Liam. You two got here okay? No more paparazzi mishaps?”
For only the second time I’d ever seen, Liam blushed. “So sorry about all that, ma’am. Completely my fault, but it won’t happen again.”
Mom burst out laughing. “Ma’am. Wow. Haven’t heard that one in a while. Let’s just stick with Pam, shall we? And it’s fine, Liam. My daughter’s always brought a little drama with her everywhere.”
“I do not!”
My parents rolled their eyes at each other, and Liam grinned. “I knew it.”
“You knew nothing,” I grumbled at him.
“So Liam, you’re Vanessa’s boyfriend, right?” Lucy asked. “Do you love her?”
The rest of us exchanged amused glances. We’d decided not to tell Lucy the truth about me and Liam, since her secret-keeping skills were revealed to be utterly nonexistent the day after she found out the truth about Santa Claus in kindergarten and my parents got a lot of angry calls from parents.
“Lucy, that’s not polite to ask,” I said firmly, trying to keep the smile off my lips.
“No, it’s okay,” said Liam. He crouched down until he was nose to nose with my sister. “Can I tell you a secre
t, Lucy? But you have to promise not to tell anybody.”
Her eyes widened. “I promise.”
“I actually like your sister. A lot,” he whispered. “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
I smothered a laugh behind my hand as I watched Lucy’s eyes widen even further, until I was pretty sure they were going to pop out of her skull. “But—”
“Our little secret, right?” He ruffled the top of her blond head. “You can keep a secret.”
She nodded emphatically.
“Cool, I thought so.” He looked up. “Ally, she can keep a secret, right?”
“I’m pretty sure you’re playing with fire, Holloway.”
He broke into a wide smile. “Nah, I can trust Lucy. We’re buds now.” He turned back to her. “So, is it true this is your first time here?”
“Uh-huh. I wasn’t allowed to come before.”
“And how’s it going now?”
“Good. My dad gave me his pudding.”
“Well, you are a very lucky girl! Your sister told me he hiccups a lot. Is that true?”
Lucy giggled. “Yes. Oh my God, before, he was trying to ask me about school, and he couldn’t even say it, he just kept hiccupping. The nurse had to bring him medicine to stop. I didn’t even know you could take medicine for hiccups! I always just hold my breath.”
As Liam continued to chat with Lucy, I joined my mother in sitting back on the chair by Dad’s bed. “He’s wonderful with her,” Mom murmured.
“He’s wonderful with almost everything,” I said ruefully. “The whole ‘fake-dating my best friend’ thing…not so much.”
“I can see why they’d pair them up, though. He’s really good-looking, isn’t he?”
“He is.”
“Good job,” Mom whispered, and I smothered my laughter in response.
“Okay, my mom thinking my boyfriend is hot is way too weird.”
“Sweetheart, your boyfriend is going to be on every TV set in America. I promise, many moms are going to find him attractive.”
“If I vomit on the floor right now, can I blame it on Dad?”
She laughed, and we turned back to watching Liam and Lucy, my heart both swelling and aching at the sight of the beautiful normalcy between them and the recognition that it was only my father’s illness, nearing its end one way or the other, that allowed for it.
19
WHETHER IT WAS THE WHOLE family’s finally being together in that hospital room or Liam’s visiting or my dad’s vitamin supplements or just pure luck, my father’s next scans revealed that the treatment was indeed working, putting him in a tiny, miraculous percentage of stage IV melanoma patients who actually got to see improvement.
My mother called me during my lunch period to tell me the news, and I was only too glad to have the excuse to leave the table—and our third scintillating conversation that week about the prom I wasn’t going to—so I could answer in the relative quiet of the hallway. As soon as we hung up, I dialed Liam.
I tapped my foot frantically while I waited for him to pick up, my heart pounding. Just the idea of saying the words “the treatment is working” made my pulse pick up. I knew my dad was by no means out of the woods, but it was the best we could’ve hoped for at that point—the only thing we really could’ve hoped for, honestly.
The call went to voicemail, and I hung right up and tried again. This was not a voicemail message. This was a squeal-with-someone-you-knew-would-squeal-with-you kind of message. As the third ring sounded, I was hit with a burst of inspiration—after I told Liam my news, I would ask him to prom.
Yes, I knew that standing around in a tux with a bunch of high schoolers who’d probably just be gawking at him all night was probably the very last thing on earth he’d wanna do, and yes, of course there was the tricky little issue of the fact that he couldn’t really be seen with me. But suddenly, with my father’s health miraculously improving, anything seemed possible. I was going to use the same mantra my father had been using for the last three months: Focus on the goal and you’ll find a way to get there. Well, my goal was to get to go to my senior prom with my boyfriend. I’d figure out the logistics later.
Voicemail again. So much for that. A call to Vanessa yielded similar results.
“Goddammit,” I muttered, shoving my phone back in my bag.
“Everything okay?”
I whirled around. Nate stood in the doorway, looking at me curiously. “Everything’s good,” I answered. “Really good, actually.” I was dying to tell someone, and even though I’d been working to establish a distance between Nate and me, and even though he’d been sort of a jerk lately, I knew he’d care, and I was desperate to share the news with someone who would. “The treatment’s working. It looks like my dad’s actually getting better.” As the words came out of my mouth, I could feel a huge, goofy smile blossoming on my face.
“Duncan!” Nate leaped forward and wrapped me up in a huge hug, and he whirled me around in a circle as I laughed. “That’s fantastic!”
“Isn’t it?”
“Man, when I saw the look on your face, I thought it was bad news for sure. Glad to hear it was the total opposite.”
“Just a little communication frustration,” I said lightly. It took me a moment to realize he was still hugging me, and I gently disentangled myself. “I’m supposed to go to Calc from here, but I really just want to skip the rest of the day and go home to hang out with my family.”
“So go,” Nate suggested.
I laughed. “I wish it was that easy. My parents are both at work and Lucy’s at school. I expect that tonight will be a night of celebration at the Duncan house, though.”
“Sounds like fun.”
I was tempted to invite him—I was so grateful for his having been there to hear and appreciate the news when no one else was—but I knew that made no sense. This was a family thing, and my family didn’t even know Nate existed. Once again, I was just trying to use him to make up for the people I wanted to be available to celebrate, but those people weren’t answering their phones.
“Hope so,” I responded. “Listen, I gotta go look over my problem sets for class, but I’ll see you in French?”
“Bien sûr.”
I hadn’t actually planned to go over my problem sets; what I really wanted was a celebratory slice of chocolate cake from the caf. But being near Nate always forced me to fight the urge to thank him just for being there when I needed him, and Lord knew he didn’t need any more ammunition in that department.
I tried Van and Liam each one more time, to no avail, and then I trudged off to the library.
* * * * *
Liam called that night anyway, just to say hi, but by the time we were done talking about how he’d gotten a callback for the James Gallagher movie and was asked to cohost some party in New York during upfronts week—the week pilot pickups were announced by the networks, during which he and the rest of the world would learn the future of Daylight Falls—I no longer felt like sharing my news or discussing prom. Instead, I told him I needed to get off the phone to have dinner with my family, which was actually true.
“Cool,” he said. “Say hi to your dad for me. I’d come by myself, but the stupid paparazzi are out in full force since I’m apparently a frontrunner for this role. I’ll miss you while I’m locked in my apartment, memorizing lines.”
“Mmhmm.” Whatever.
“Oh, but hey, Josh is having another party on Friday night, and you should come.”
“Didn’t you not only have a lousy time at Josh’s last party but tell Van that I probably would’ve hated it too?”
“Yeah, but this one’s different.”
“And why’s that?”
“Um, because we’ll be there together?” He actually sounded hurt that I hadn’t thought of that first.
“But not together-together,” I pointed out. “Vanessa will be the one who’s there as your date. I’ll just be her friend who you let tag along.”
“Except that A) Josh knows
to only invite people who are discreet to his parties, considering all the shit that goes down at them, and B) as my best friend, he knows who my actual girlfriend is and he’ll make sure we get some time alone together. So now will you come with?”
Hmm, a date where we could actually be out as a couple? Granted, I wasn’t exactly dying to hit up one of Josh Chester’s parties, but could I really pass up such a rare opportunity? No, I could not, I decided, especially not when he’d let it slip that he’d told Josh about me, which somehow felt like a Very Big Deal.
“Of course,” I replied, feeling bad now that I hadn’t been more enthusiastic about the invitation. “That sounds like fun. Just make sure I don’t end up drunk and naked on YouTube, okay?”
He laughed. “Deal. Bon nuit, ma chère.”
* * * * *
Part of me was dying to tell Nate that Liam had come through as a “real” boyfriend after all by inviting me to the party, but I was so nervous about the actual event that I decided to reserve any and all bragging until I had proof that I’d gotten through the night without ensuring it wasn’t otherwise a disaster of epic Hollywood proportions.
Of course, I had no idea what to wear, but that’s what Van was for. She was still Liam’s official date, but she promised that once we got inside the house (or mansion, really), he was all mine, especially since she was interested in some private time of her own with the host himself. (I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Liam thought she and Josh would be an absolute disaster.) In the meantime, I was going to take serious advantage of both the styling skills Van had picked up on the set of Daylight Falls and her designer-heavy wardrobe.
I ended up going casual—or as casual as one can possibly look in clothing that costs more than a semester of dorm fees—in a pair of my own skinny jeans (Van’s were so tight I needed to take periodic “breathing breaks” by opening the button); super-high, black patent leather Louboutins; a Chloé tank; and a Marc Jacobs blazer I was relieved to see fit nicely even though I had a good fifteen pounds on Van. She even did my makeup, using what seemed like every Dior product known to man, and when she was done, I looked like a considerably hotter version of myself—exactly what I was going for.
