Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 4)

by Brooke St. James

  "I keep feeling impressed and inspired by you, Macy," he said as he took in the place.

  He was a big guy, and his presence in the room made me feel aware of how small it was. "I talked to Lane again tonight," I said. "I think it's gonna work out for me to get on part-time at S&S, so that means that my pieces will go into the gallery instead of getting stored in here. That'll make more room."

  "I love it with all this stuff in here," he said. He stood in the center of the room, slowly rotating as he took everything in. "What can I have?" he asked.

  "Anything."

  His head whipped around to stare at me. "Anything?" he asked with an expression so serious it made me smile.

  "Anything," I confirmed, scanning the pieces scattered about. "I don't have anything out right now that's spoken for. These are all new pieces."

  He gestured around himself with a sweeping gesture. "You're saying you'll sell anything in this room?"

  I nodded. "Not my furniture, obviously."

  "I'll take the skateboard," he said.

  "That's not in this room," I said.

  "Yeah, but if you're willing to sell anything in here, I figured…" he trailed off when I shook my head at him. "I said anything in here. You boys always want exactly what you can't have."

  "That's not true. And even if it was, it's not a feeling reserved for a particular gender. You girls want what you can't have, too." He was only a few feet from me, and he turned to stare straight at me. It felt like he was referring to me wanting to kiss him when he said that, and the funny thing was that he was right. That tiny little, barely-there, peck of a kiss was nowhere near enough to satisfy. If the level at which I wanted Ethan to kiss me was a result of that, then his philosophy on the subject was the absolute truth.

  "No I don't," I said, since I was relatively sure I should be denying something.

  "I want the doll," he said.

  "It's one of the only things in here I didn't make. My sister made it. I made a few of them years ago, but I don't even know where they are now. Tab and I started out making them together when we were younger, but she's better at it than I am. She made this one a few years ago when I was in college." I picked up the curly-headed doll and tossed it to Ethan. "It's mostly wool," I said. "She's good at felting wool, and it makes her dolls look a little like fairies."

  "I only want it because it looks like you."

  "It's supposed to," I said. "It is me."

  He turned it over inspecting my sister's whimsical, cartoon-type interpretation of me, hand stitched with wool, thread, and fabric.

  "Is she an artist, too?"

  "No, just the dolls," I said. "And she doesn't even really make them anymore since she's so busy with work and Isabel."

  "Can I have it?" he asked.

  "You want it?" I asked doubtfully.

  "Yes."

  I shrugged. "I mean, if you really want her then—"

  "I do. I'll take her to work with me—put her in my dressing room. She'll remind me of all the things you said to me tonight. I want the skateboard, too. But if I can't have it, then I'll settle for the doll and the table."

  I grinned at him. "Oh, now the table, too? What table?"

  He gestured to a simple, wooden table that I had painted in repeating patterns and shapes with a scene across the top. I wasn't surprised that he liked it because it was one of the more masculine pieces in my room.

  "So what do you think?" he asked.

  "I think you might be capable of talking me into just about anything."

  Chapter 8

  Two weeks later

  Ethan Prescott

  (At work on the set of Bad Medicine.)

  As the biggest-name star of Bad Medicine, Ethan Prescott had a choice, private dressing room. Ethan's space in the studio was his second home, and that's where he found himself after a long day of filming.

  Saul, the show's director, had been in a particularly productive mood, so they worked on scenes from two different upcoming episodes. Ethan was supposed to have dinner with Lu's husband, Joe, who was his close friend and business partner (and also happened to be Saul's son), but filming had gone over, and Joe was waiting in Ethan's dressing room, watching television when they finished.

  Ethan dropped onto the couch with a sigh, and Joe shifted to stare at him without picking up his head from the back pillow.

  "You look tired, too," Ethan said.

  Joe muted the television and tossed the remote onto the couch next to him. "I'm exhausted. Lu didn't feel well last night. She didn't get much sleep, and neither did I."

  "What's the matter?"

  "Nothin'. Just girl stuff."

  Ethan turned to face his friend, both of them still relaxing their heads onto the back of the couch. "What kind of girl stuff?" Ethan asked, since Joe seemed weird about it.

  Joe smiled. "I'm not supposed to say yet."

  "Pregnant," Ethan said in an uninterested, monotone voice as he stared at the ceiling.

  He was only kidding, but Joe nudged him with enough force that said he should show some respect.

  "Is she?" Ethan said, shifting to stare at his friend with a shocked but happy expression. "Is she?"

  Joe smiled. "I'm not supposed to tell anybody. She hasn't even told her mother. She just found out yesterday."

  "I won't say anything." Ethan smiled and patted his tired friend's thigh. "Congrats, brother! I'm happy for you."

  "I'm happy, too," Joe said.

  "Sarah's pregnant, too," Ethan recalled.

  He was talking about Joe's sister, who had announced recently that she was expecting a baby as well, and Joe nodded. "I know," Joe said. "They'll probably be a few months apart."

  Ethan stared at the muted television. He was tired from a long day of filming, but he felt happy for his friend. The news that Joe was having a baby made Ethan contemplate his own baby-less situation. He tried to picture himself settling down with one woman and starting a family the way Joe was doing.

  "I hung out with that girl, Macy, the other night," Ethan said, seemingly out of nowhere to Joe.

  "I was just about to ask you why she was sitting on your shelf," Joe said. He gestured to the shelf that served as a catchall in Ethan's dressing room. The one where he had set the little felt doll.

  "Did you know that was really her?" Ethan asked.

  Joe shook his head. "I just think it looks like her with the hair and everything.

  "It is her," Ethan said. "Her sister made it."

  Joe sat up to take a look at it. "It's pretty cool looking, but why's it in your office? Are you seeing her or something?"

  "No, I just like it," Ethan said. "It makes me remember a couple of things Macy said, and they're good things to remember, so I like it. We spent the night together a couple weeks ago, and I've really carried a few things she said with me. Plus, I like how it looks."

  "You spent the night with her?" Joe asked.

  "Not like that. We just spent the evening together or whatever. I went home without even kissing her or anything—barely, anyway. What I'm saying is that she stuck with me in a different way."

  "What'd Macy say that was so impressive?" Joe asked.

  Ethan sat up and picked up his Rubik's cube from a nearby table. It was about twenty moves from being completed, and Ethan had gotten good enough at it by then, that within a minute or two, he easily finished the puzzle. He handed it to Joe who inspected his work.

  "Pretty good," Joe said. "I tried to work on it when you were gone, but I didn't get anywhere."

  "I knew you messed with it because I had to go back and fix some of what you did."

  "When'd you become an expert?" Joe asked.

  "Macy," Ethan said. "That's what I'm saying."

  "She taught you how to do a Rubik's cube?"

  "No, she doesn't know how to do it, nor does she care to learn."

  "What's she got to do with it, then?"

  "She told me to collect talents. Well, she didn't tell me to, necessarily, she just sai
d she thought it was a good idea to do it, and I felt inspired by that." Ethan shrugged like he knew it might sound silly but he didn't care. "Next, I'm gonna try walking on my hands. I've always wanted to get good at that."

  "So, she made you feel like going out and making something of your life?" Joe asked, causing them both to laugh.

  Ethan's expression shifted as he remembered that evening with Macy. "She and I spent like three hours in her room, looking at her art and talking about life. She said things about God that didn't even sink in until after I was at home and thinking about it later that night."

  "I didn't know Macy was so into God," Joe said.

  "It's just where our conversation went," Ethan said. "It's not like she took me to church or anything."

  Joe laughed. "Maybe she should. Maybe it'd get you domesticated like the rest of us. What'd she say that stuck with you so much?"

  Ethan shook his head. He'd been thinking about everything she had said in the days since he'd seen Macy. "She talked about God knowing the number hairs on her head, and I think of it every time I look up there and see that doll with the innumerable strands of wool for hair. She brought it up when she was telling me about her little niece. Apparently, Isabel was premature. She's tiny, even now. She has a hard time fighting normal childhood infections sometimes, and they'll have to take her to the hospital for a few days to get help. The doctors say it's something she'll probably grow out of as she gets older, but Macy and her sister struggle financially as a result of it. It's not really Macy's responsibility, but she helps out as much as she can. Her sister's got insurance, but it still ends up costing them a lot with deductibles and everything. She wasn’t telling me all this to make me feel bad or help her out. She was explaining how she lived by the idea that God knew the number of hairs on their heads. She said it was something she went back to all the time. She said in scary times or times of uncertainty—in times of hopelessness, she remembered that if God cared to number the hairs on her head and keep count of them, then He was certainly in control of her current situation. She said if God bothered to tell us that He keeps a constant count of something as insignificant as hair, then certainly He was aware of and had ultimately allowed every circumstance in our lives." Ethan absentmindedly smiled as he remembered Macy running her fingers through her hair and telling him God knew every single one. "She said there was a certain happiness found in knowing that to be true, and when she said it, I didn't really understand what she meant. It wasn't till I got home and started to think about it that I got what she was saying." Ethan sighed with a smile and pointed at the doll. "Anyway, when I see that big mop of hair, I think of that and other things she said. And that I need to practice the Rubik's cube."

  Joe laughed. "That's pretty deep."

  "I haven't talked to her since then," Ethan said. "I stayed in her room till the middle of the night, and I didn't even get her number. Pretty weird considering I felt changed by the whole experience."

  "That's exactly why you didn’t get her number," Joe said. "You got scared."

  "I don't know," Ethan said. "Part of me feels like it was a perfect night and I should just leave it alone. I mean, I got life advice that I feel like I'm gonna use forever. I felt like I had gone to a seminar after I hung out with her."

  "Was there nothing physical?" Joe asked, looking surprised.

  Ethan shook his head. "Nope."

  "Did you just not see her like that?"

  "Of course I saw her like that," Ethan said. "You've seen the girl, you know I'd see her like that."

  "Exactly," Joe said. "Yet you still didn't do anything. I think you're scared. She's cute and she's smart, and now she's got you feeling spiritual to boot. She's appealing to all of your senses. I think she's too much for you to handle."

  "You have no idea what you're talking about."

  "So, call her," Joe said. "Lu knew you hadn't called her, so they must have talked about it."

  "What'd Lu tell you?" Ethan asked.

  "I'm not having this conversation with you," Joe said. "We're dudes. Just call her if you want."

  "It's not that easy," Ethan said.

  "Because you're scared," Joe repeated.

  "There's a kid," Ethan said. "Macy's niece. I can tell by the way she looks at me that she isn't okay with me getting too close if it's not always gonna be that way. She's really little, and I don’t know if she's even trying to do it, but the way she looks at me makes me know I have to be delicate with her feelings."

  "That's not Macy's kid," Joe said.

  "Yeah, but she lives there, and she loves Macy. I just don't feel right about it."

  "So you don't want to hang out with her because you know you'll want to stop one day?"

  "It sounds bad when you put it like that, but I guess it's the truth. I really like all three of them," he said. "I wish I could just hang out with her as a friend, but that's really not an option once I'm next to her. I kissed her the other night for about a tenth of a second, and I swear it was an accident that it even happened. I just did it before I knew what I was doing."

  "You are hopelessly in love," Joe said.

  Ethan scowled, and Joe laughed.

  "Seriously, you've been talking about that girl since you came in," he said.

  "I mentioned her because you asked me about the doll," Ethan said in his own defense.

  "You brought her up before I asked about the doll."

  Ethan tried to think about that, but couldn’t remember. "I'm not calling her," he said.

  "So don't," Joe said. "But I like Macy for what it's worth. That girl would keep you on your toes."

  "She's not keeping me anywhere," Ethan said. "It was just an enjoyable night of my life, that's all. A memorable one."

  "I'm hungry, so I won't say any more about how whipped you are," Joe said.

  "Good. I'm hungry, too," Ethan said. "And we need to talk about work."

  The two gentlemen were in a partnership working on a couple of iPhone apps. In addition to being friends and talking about personal stuff, they had a few things to discuss where their business ventures were concerned, so that took over the majority of their conversation while they ate steak at a nearby chophouse.

  "I'll get her number from Lu if you want," Joe said, after they had paid the check.

  "Who's?" Ethan asked, even though he knew exactly who Joe was referring to.

  "Macy."

  Ethan shook his head and shrugged as they stood up to leave. "If you ask Lu for the number, she'll tell Macy I'm calling. Just the act of getting the number traps me into having to call."

  "You want to call," Joe said.

  They walked to the door, and out onto the sidewalk like they were on a mission, because any meandering usually resulted in people stopping Ethan for a handshake or picture. The two of them had already agreed to share a cab since they were headed in the same direction. Ethan told the driver where to go as they got settled in the backseat. A girl dared to wave and knock on the back window of the cab as they pulled away, and Ethan gave her a two-fingered wave through the tinted back window.

  "I'll go ahead and take that number, but you need to tell your wife not to let Macy know she gave it to me. I'm not sure if I'll call, and I don't want her expecting me to."

  "I knew you'd end up asking for it," Joe said. He fished his phone from his pocket and sent a text to his wife. He watched the screen for a few seconds after he sent, it but when she didn't text back right away, he set the phone face down onto his leg. It dinged within a minute, and Joe regarded it, making a somewhat regretful expression as he read.

  "What's it say?" Ethan asked.

  "It says she's with Macy right now."

  "No, no, no," Ethan said. "Abort mission. Tell her never mind. Don't let her tell Macy I'm asking about her."

  "Since when'd you go back to the ninth grade?" Joe asked, teasing Ethan for being so flustered.

  "I don't want her thinking I'll call," Ethan said. "She knows there was something between us, and I don't
want her thinking I'll call."

  Joe stared at his friend with a disbelieving expression. "That makes no sense."

  "Don't get the number," Ethan said, seriously.

  "Too late," Joe said, innocently holding up the phone. "I had already asked her for it before you told me not to."

  Ethan sighed. "Now I have to call her," he said. Ethan, being the skilled actor he was, delivered the words as if he were very disappointed about the whole situation. He knew he sounded really convincing, and his expression made him look annoyed, but the truth was that he didn't feel like he was dreading making the call one bit. On the contrary, he felt the oddest sense of relief at the thought of having to do it.

  Chapter 9

  "Oh my goodness, what is wrong with that boy?" Lu asked, smirking as she stared at her phone.

  "What boy?" I asked.

  "Joe," she said. "He's texting me, asking for your number, but when I ask him why he needs it, he said he changed his mind and didn't need it anymore."

  "What's that mean?" I asked.

  She and I were sitting in her apartment together. I knew Joe was out with one of his friends, but Lu tried not to say the word Ethan around me because she knew I had feelings for him. I hadn't been too keen on discussing him since we spent that whole night together and he hadn't even bothered to get in touch afterward. I knew Joe was most likely hanging out with Ethan while Lu and I were catching up. It was because of this assumed knowledge that my stomach tied into a thousand knots when she mentioned that Joe was asking for my number. I felt a rush of excitement followed by a rush of disappointment when the end of her statement registered in my mind.

  "What's going on?" I asked, since she was sitting on the other side of her living room, staring at her phone with a smile.

  "Joe's cracking me up," she said. She turned over her phone and looked at me, smiling and shaking her head.

  "What?" I asked, feeling insane with curiosity.

  Her expression morphed to one of regret, which made me completely confused and nauseated.

  "What the heck happened?" I asked.