Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 4)

by Brooke St. James

  "All of them," I said. "Ethan bought you four ponies!"

  "What is this, Christmas?" Tabitha asked in a bug-eyed, silly way that had her daughter laughing. "Really, why'd you do it?" she asked, looking at Ethan.

  "They were on sale," he said.

  Tabitha and Isabel thanked him before sitting on the couch to begin unwrapping her loot. I pulled Ethan with me toward the kitchen where I retrieved four plates from the cabinet and proceeded to dish out our selection of Chinese.

  When it was just us girls, we only ordered noodles or rice, but Ethan obviously had more of a distinguished palate, because he ordered a couple of fancy things that I had never even heard of. My sister and niece had just finished unpacking the horses when Ethan and I brought all four plates back into the living room. They thanked us for serving them, and remarked how delicious everything looked. Ethan and I sat on the couch while Tabitha took a chair, and Isabel sat on a pillow with her plate on the coffee table and the ponies lined up around.

  "It looks like they're all eating straw," I said since the colorful ponies were all staring at Isabel's plate, which featured a pile of Chinese noodles (the only item we ordered that I knew was extra mild).

  Isabel giggled at the thought of the ponies eating her noodles, and we watched as she held her fork to one of their mouths to let them taste it.

  "How did he like it?" Tabitha asked.

  "He said it's yummy," Isabel said.

  "Thank you for picking up dinner," Tabitha said to Ethan and me after taking a huge bite. "Who do I need to pay for this?"

  "Ethan, but he said he wanted to get it," I said. "I already tried to fight him about it when we picked it up."

  "Tell Mr. Ethan thank you for dinner," Tabitha said.

  "Thank you fow dinnew," Isabel said in a voice that was so high-pitched that we knew it was coming from one of the ponies. "Thank you," she said in a little deeper voice as she reached out to give a little shake to the second horse standing in line. "Thanks, Mistew Efan," she said in a high voice that was similar to the first. She continued by making the fourth horse thank him in a deep voice. And finally, she looked straight at Ethan and said, "Thanks," in her normal voice with a smile.

  "Oh my goodness, I didn't know these horses had such nice manners, or I would have bought you six or eight of them," he said. He squinted his eyes at me to let me know I was in big trouble for making him only get four.

  "This is plenty," Tabitha assured him. "My goodness, it's like Christmas."

  Ethan had been snacking while we were in the kitchen, so he was the first to finish his meal. He brought his plate to the kitchen, and because I was so nervous and wasn't that hungry, I gave him mine to take with him as well. He came back carrying fortune cookies, and we opened them and read the paper that came inside, having a good laugh at how vague they were.

  Isabel was still working on her noodles and Tabitha had just gone to the kitchen when Ethan leaned back on the couch with a groan, indicating that he was full and satisfied. There was a foot of space between us, and he reached over until his hand came into contact with the side of my leg. I glanced at him and we shared a little smile. My attention shifted to Isabel because I could see from the corner of my eye that she was looking in our direction.

  "Awe you my Aunt Macy's boyfwiend?" she asked Ethan. She stared at his hand, which was still touching my leg and sending chills down my back even though it was barely making contact.

  "Izzy," I said. "It's not nice to put someone on the spot like that."

  "What's the spot?"

  "Talking about things that make people shy."

  "I'm not shy," Ethan promised, crossing his legs out in front of him and putting his hands behind his head in a gesture of relaxation.

  "Because my mom said when we were cleaning up that you wewe a vewy special guest at ouw house. Aunt Macy had a boyfwiend named Nicholas the othew day, and my mom didn't say he was a vewy special guest."

  "First of all, Nicholas was my friend, Isabel, and second, you're putting us on the spot again by saying that."

  "Efan alweady said he's not shy on a spot," Isabel said, looking injured.

  I glanced at Ethan. "Nicholas is my friend from the collective," I said. "He came by a couple of times to help me with some of the outlining on that backdrop."

  "My mom helped hew wif it, too," Isabel added proudly.

  "Hmmm, am I bigger than this Nicholas character?" Ethan asked, smiling at my niece.

  She stared at him thoughtfully before nodding.

  He flexed his muscles casually. "Do you think I could beat him in a fight?"

  "Why do you need to beat him in a fight, silly goose?" Isabel asked with a little giggle.

  Ethan struggled. "I don't guess I do." He glanced at me. "Do I?"

  I shook my head, and he gave me a most gorgeous satisfied grin.

  Chapter 17

  Ethan stayed over at my house until about 10pm that night. Part of the time, Tabitha and Isabel were out in the living room with us, but they went into Tab's room for the night at around 8pm, leaving Ethan and I alone.

  We always said, "Night, love you, hope you have fun," as our way of saying goodnight. It was a variation of, "Bye, love you, hope you have fun," and had, for all the years we lived together, been what Tab and I said to each other before bed.

  Being a fan of such family traditions, Isabel now said it, and she repeated it to me that night before she went to bed. She also said it to Ethan, and I observed as he hugged her and repeated the phrase back to her without hesitation. It gave me a thrill to hear the L word come out of his mouth even though it was directed at my niece and he was mostly just going along with what she was saying.

  Ethan kissed me three different times after they went off to bed, and each time, it felt like there was an underlying promise in it. I would try to be tentative at first, and Ethan would make promises with his eyes and smile that made me give in. I told myself there was a possibility that he'd do what he did the previous two times and leave me hanging, but something had been different this time, there was a sort of resignation in his demeanor that I couldn’t really describe other than to say it was there.

  The following day, I found myself contemplating these things as I went about my chores at S&S. Carol was full-time staff and overseer of the day-to-day functionality of the artist housing part of S&S (the 2nd floor). Cleaning was one of the biggest parts of her job. There was a rotating chore list for the residents, but even with this, Carol had her hands full.

  I came on as part-time staff of S&S with the knowledge that the majority of my time would be spent helping Carol, so it wasn't completely out of the ordinary that I currently had on yellow rubber gloves up to my elbows and was in the middle of scrubbing a toilet.

  Carol was in the stall next to me. We had on the radio for a while, but she turned it down when we realized we were alone. I had told her about hanging out with Ethan the night before, and she had been waiting to hear more about it. I was happy to talk to her. She was older and had some insight, and most importantly, she wasn't a gossiper. I had actually told her about Ethan when he brought me ice skating, and she'd been really good about making me feel better when he didn't call after that date. She had a neat perspective on things, and I enjoyed getting to know her in spite of the fact that I had to help her scrub the toilets.

  Part of me still felt like I should be cautious about what I said about Ethan, but I had such a good time with him the night before that I couldn't help but talk to Carol about it.

  "It's just so sweet that he wanted to get her those ponies," Carol said, as soon as we were alone in the room again.

  "I know," I said.

  "It's hard not to just give up and go rolling down the hill."

  "What hill?" Carol asked.

  I let out a little laugh. "I guess I was imagining falling for him, and I thought of it literally—like I'm running down a hill so quickly that I can't stop. I feel like I'm about to give up trying to stay on my feet and just start roll
ing."

  Carol laughed. "Head over heels, huh?"

  "Exactly. The thing is, there's about a million other girls who feel that way about Ethan. It's kind of a weird sensation, having something everyone else wants. It makes me feel vulnerable. Plus, one look on the internet, and I see everyone he's ever dated—stuff I do not want to see. Its one thing knowing someone has a past, but it's another to have such a clear record of it with documentation."

  "Everyone's got that nowadays," Carol said. "It's not just for famous people. Everyone's lives and pasts are all splattered on Facebook for all of mankind to see."

  "That makes me feel a little better, I guess."

  "Shared misery's half the misery," Carol said.

  "I'm not happy everybody else has trouble with it, I'm just glad I'm not the only one."

  "That's what that phrase means," she said, laughing.

  We both got a kick out of that, and we were still laughing about it when her phone rang. Carol carried around a cordless phone that was part of the S&S landline, and she always, no matter what, tried to answer it. She hated not to answer it, and she started chattering nervously to herself as soon as it began ringing.

  "Ohh, I'm coming," she said breathlessly. I couldn't see her, but I could tell by her voice that she was dealing with taking off her gloves and storing them so she could find her phone and answer it. "Hold on a minute, I'm coming… This is Carol," she said, in a clear, official sounding voice. (pause) "Yes ma'am, she's right here. (pause) Uh-huh. (pause) Okay, well, I'll tell her he's down there. I'm sure she'll be right down."

  I had already come out of my stall and was standing in the doorway of the stall where Carol had been cleaning. I was looking right at her when she hung up the phone and turned to come out. She flinched when she noticed I was standing there.

  "There's a gentleman downstairs asking after you," Carol said.

  "Is it him?"

  Carol shrugged with a confused expression. "Mia was all excited, but I could have sworn she said it was somebody named Dr. Craig."

  "That's Ethan," I said. "Oh my gosh, what's he doing here? How am I supposed to go down there looking like this?"

  "You look fine, sweetie," Carol said.

  I was already in the process of taking off my gloves and stashing my cleaning supplies by the time she finished her sentence.

  "Don't worry about all that," she said, seeing me fuss with the cleaners. I walked directly to the sink where I washed my hands before splashing some water onto my face. I had on a little mascara so I splashed strategically so that I wouldn't cause it to run. I washed and dried my cheeks, forehead, and chin, and I felt better for it.

  I had on a plain white T-shirt. It was cut for a woman with a slim fit and a V-neck, but it was still a plain white T-shirt. I had on a pair of tattered skinny jeans, which were rolled into capris, and I glanced down at my own appearance. I tucked the front of my T-shirt into my jeans just to spruce it up a little, but it was still pretty plain. I knew it would look better with a belt. Carol told me there was a scarf in the lost and found, and I ran into the women's dressing room where I found it and ran it through the loops on my jeans, trying it as a belt.

  My hair had been pulled back, but I tightened and straightened my ponytail, making sure I liked the position of the curly puffball that sat high on the back of my head. I breathed a sigh as I stared into the mirror.

  "See? You look adorable!" Carol said, coming around the corner. Another girl had just come into the bathroom, so Carol lowered her voice when she told me I looked fine and that I better get going since Ethan was waiting.

  I rode the elevator to the gallery on the first floor. I would have a normally taken the stairs, but I was already short of breath. Ethan would be waiting downstairs for me, but I had no idea what else to expect otherwise. I knew Lu was off work today, so I figured Ethan wouldn't be with Joe. I considered a few different possibilities on my elevator ride, but my thoughts were scattered.

  The elevator had reflective surfaces, and I checked my teeth in one of them since it was something I had forgotten to do in the bathroom upstairs. I was still checking my teeth when the door opened, and I snapped to attention in case Ethan was standing right at the door. He wasn't. I couldn’t see him until I had walked several feet into the gallery and looked toward the front desk. He was standing at the desk, carrying on a conversation with three other people who I knew to be S&S artists. I assumed he had come alone.

  He had on jeans and a jacket with a beanie, and my chest felt like it was being tugged toward him. It annoyed me that my friends were standing there staring at him so adoringly, and I had to remind myself that those feelings were just part of falling in love with someone so desirable. Don't get ahead of yourself. Nobody's falling in love here. But it was a good sign that he's trying to see me two days in a row.

  I was having all of these thoughts as Ethan caught sight of me and started heading in my direction. I didn't necessarily want the girls at the desk to overhear our conversation, so I turned toward a nearby alcove close to the windows, and Ethan met me over there. I waved at the girls at the desk so they wouldn't think I was being rude, and they waved back at me, one of them pointing with wide eyes at Ethan, which made me smile.

  "I wanted to buy some of your art, and they said you didn't have anything in here yet." It was the first thing Ethan said when we approached each other.

  "We're putting a bunch of it in next week," I said. I gestured to a huge wall hanging that was featured nearby. "This tapestry sold. It's coming down. And so is this collection. That girl's moving out."

  He stepped closer to me. I could smell him and feel him invading my space. It was like he had some force field of energy surrounding him, and it made my heart beat out of control when I stepped into it. He smiled and I returned it, adding a shrug.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  He shrugged. "I'm going to the barber shop and to pick up a suit because I have this thing tonight. I didn't know if you wanted to come."

  "What is it?"

  "A movie premier."

  "Not like with red carpet and all that."

  He shrugged. "Probably. Do you have something against that color carpet?"

  "Not when other people walk on it."

  He gave me an amused grin. "Why don't you want to walk on it?"

  "I don't know how—especially not at something at big as The Last Heist premier."

  "How'd you know that's where we're going?"

  "Because Jacob Vance is a friend of yours, and you told me you were going to it last night."

  "I did?" he asked. He clearly remembered and was just messing with me. "Well, now I'm asking you to come with me."

  "I don't know what to do at one of those things," I said.

  "Neither does anyone else. You have to go to one to learn," he said.

  "I can't learn at a real one. Don't they have some kind of red carpet training academy?"

  He laughed. "It's nothing. You just get dressed and take a few pictures. They're mostly interested in the stars of the movie," he said. "I'm just going because Jacob invited me in front of my publicist, and she pretty much made me promise both of them I'd go. They'll have some interviews and stuff beforehand, but we'll get to hang out with Jacob during the movie. He doesn't care about watching himself, so we'll talk to him during the screening. They'll have a little party afterward. We'll shake a few hands and pose for a few pictures, and then it will be over."

  "It's crazy even thinking about something like this when I was just upstairs cleaning the bathroom. I'm trying to shift gears. What if I'm too scared to do it? Will you be mad at me?"

  Ethan moved closer to me, staring down his nose as if closely inspecting me—seeing if he thought I was up to the challenge. He looked like he might kiss me when his gaze roamed over my lips, and I felt a crippling wave of desire that made me glance at the girls at the desk before looking back at him. He smiled.

  "I'm not saying you have to come to this one tonight, because I k
now it's really late notice, but you're gonna have to come with me to stuff like this. It's part of my life, so it sort of comes with the deal."

  "What deal?" I whispered.

  He shrugged. "I figured there must be some deal between us, right?" An easy smile touched his lips. "You should call Sarah's mom if you need a dress. Joe said she could help you."

  "When is this?" I asked even though I knew.

  "Tonight," he said. "I was planning on going with a few of the guys, but I want you to come with me. Can you make it happen? You don't have to be ready till five."

  "Five o'clock?" I asked incredulously.

  "How in the world am I gonna…" I trailed off when I realized that I wanted to go with him and would do whatever it took to make it happen. "Zoe knows a hairdresser," I said. "Maybe between her and Sarah's mom, I can make myself presentable by five—wash the Cinderella off of me and get ready for the ball."

  Ethan grinned, taking a step even closer. "You are beautiful just the way you look right now. Just call Rhonda and ask her what you should wear. It might even be something you have, and if not, I'm sure she will. Just be ready by five."

  I took a deep, resigned breath that basically meant I was agreeing.

  "Should I pick you up here or at your place?" he asked.

  "Here," I said, still trying to plan in my mind.

  He stared at my mouth. "I want to kiss you," he said. "Can I?"

  I gave him a tiny grin as I glanced at the front desk and shook my head almost imperceptibly, denying him in a nice way that said I regretted it but we couldn't because we were being watched.

  "Come on. They don't care."

  "Wait till tonight," I whispered. "Aren't you taking me on a hot date?"

  "Yeah, but I thought I was gonna get a kiss just for asking you."

  "You're incredulous."

  "You're beautiful."

  I smiled and then narrowed my eyes. "It's not gonna work," I said.

  "Fine, but I wasn't just trying to flatter you." He took my hand and brought the back of it up to his mouth. His lips were partially open, so his kiss was soft and warm, and I stared at the place where his mouth met my hand, feeling like my insides turned into burning hot liquid.