by Maya Hughes
Alex plopped down on the couch beside her and smacked herself on the forehead.
“I still can’t believe I punched him in the nose!”
Jen snorted. “What guy thinks it’s okay to creep up on a woman in a dark parking lot when she’s all by herself? He’s lucky you didn’t go for a nut shot. Isn’t that what they taught us in class? Go for the soft spots.”
“I’m glad I didn’t; poor guy would have never asked for my number had I kicked him in the balls.”
“With how smitten you make him sound, he probably would have. What’s this movie they’re filming? I’m intrigued now.”
“I don’t really know. He had to be weirdly hush-hush about it and couldn’t tell me much. Maybe we can try to sneak on-set and see what it’s about. At least from the size of the crew I can tell it’s not porn, so there’s a win there.”
“Or it’s going to be the biggest budget porn film ever created, starring Gabe: The Hottie from the Restaurant!” Jen tossed her sketch pad on the couch and stood, striking a superhero, hands-on-the-hips pose.
“Shut up, it’s not that,” Alex said, laughing as she threw a pillow at her. Jen ducked the pillow and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of wine.
“I’ll let you get away with the pillow throwing and even offer you a glass of wine, all because I want pancakes in the morning,” Jen said as she took two glasses out from the cabinet.
“I’m glad you met someone nice, Alex. It’s about damn time,” Jen said, handing over one of the glasses.
“What do you mean about damn time?”
“Oh, you’ve always tried your best to hide out and not make waves. Not trying to draw any attention to yourself.”
Alex had made a vow to herself when she finally made it out of her mom’s house. She would rather be alone than be with someone who mistreated her. Her mom was a magnet for every piece of crap in a fifty-mile radius.
For the most part, she kept her head down, did her school work, and tried to be away from home as much as possible. Jen’s house and school had been her refuges. That was part of the reason She had graduated early, not that it had helped much. At that point, she was still stuck in that house and it was worse, because then she didn’t have school anymore.
Without her mom to fill out the forms, there wasn’t any financial aid she could get, which meant she worked to try to pay for classes. Her mom had been following some guy in a band around across the country, which made life at home easier, but didn’t help when it came to things where you needed a living breathing adult. A class every semester was all she could afford after she paid for gas and insurance for her car, which she needed for work. Then her mom’s newest scumbag addition decided that he might like a younger version of her mother. That had been the final straw. The second that creep walked in on her in the shower, she packed a bag and headed for Jen’s.
Jen and her dad helped her gain emancipation, but she didn’t want to mooch off them, so she worked two jobs and got herself a place. She’d had to put her college plans on hold for a little bit longer. At least she had a lot of credits and they would transfer to the local university once she got her crap together.
Jen moved in with her once she graduated from high school and commuted to college. She loved her for that. She knew Jen could have been on campus partying it up, living the typical college life. Instead, she was holed up in their place and commuted to classes almost every day.
“I remember when you nearly shit a brick when you got that speaking part in the play and asked Mrs. Hendricks to make you a tree instead.” Jen laid down on the couch and propped her feet up on her lap. She picked up her pad again and flipped to a new page.
“I was not going to play the senile old cat lady in that play. Trust me—the tree was a much better choice,” Alex said, pushing Jen’s feet off her lap.
“I’m glad to see you going for it, is all I’m saying. And I can’t wait to meet this guy,” Jen said with a suspiciously sweet expression.
“Don’t think of pulling any funny business while he’s here,” Alex warned, grabbing the pad out of her hands.
“Whatever do you mean?” Jen asked, grabbing for her paper.
“I’m talking threats of bodily harm, threats of legal action, or anything else.”
“You wonder why I don’t introduce you to any guys I may be interested in? It’s because you scare them!” Alex chuckled. “That’s why you’ll be a wonderful lawyer and most feared woman on either coast.”
“Tell me about it,” Jen said, grabbing the pad back and tipping back her glass.
They spent the rest of the night reminiscing about Jen’s antics in high school and Alex’s repeated attempts to bail her out. Their friendship was a weird one, even Alex admitted that, but they were always there for one another and Alex was glad she had her in her life. The night’s festivities continued with massive quantities of cheese and a John Hughes movie.
After two bottles of wine, they both passed out on the couch. She woke at 2 am, Jen was sleeping with her head bent at an odd angle. She woke her up and they both stumbled into their bedrooms.
After brushing her teeth to get rid of the purple stains and clear the taste of furry wild animal poop, Alex lay in bed staring up at the ceiling and picturing Gabe. His bright blue eyes and the way he’d rubbed that soft-looking upper lip were playing on repeat in her mind as she drifted off to sleep. She was totally going to make out with that man, just as soon as the room stopped spinning.
5
Gabe checked his phone one more time to make sure he wasn’t going to be late. Aaron would freak out if he knew that he was out on the streets this early, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Her apartment wasn’t that far from his hotel, which meant he hadn’t had to get a car to drive him there. He hiked up the collar of his coat against the cold, wet morning and picked up his pace.
Standing outside of her squat brick building, he rang the buzzer and waited for a response. He sent a message to Alex to let her know that he was downstairs and then kicked himself for sending the message. Playing it cool was not his strong suit. The intercom crackled.
“On my way, Gabe,” said a familiar voice. “The stupid button to buzz you in doesn’t work anymore. I’ll be down in a second.”
Gabe rocked back and forth on his heels waiting for Alex to appear. She ran down the stairs and pushed through the lobby doors.
“Sorry about that! We’ve been trying to get them to fix these doors for months, but alas, we are stuck with getting a little extra cardio whenever we have a visitor,” she said slightly out of breath.
“It’s no problem; I’m sure the pancakes will make it all well worth it.” He chuckled. She held the door open for him.
“I sure hope so. I left them unguarded with Jen, so we better get back up there before they’re all gone.”
“So, you’re going to be here for a few weeks finishing the movie, but what comes next? I’ve never known anybody who was in that business,” she asked as they climbed the three flights of stairs to her apartment.
“I have to head to LA for a while and do promotions for the movie. It will probably only be a few cities since they don’t think it will do well. Maybe some radio interviews or something like that,” he said as she stopped in front of her apartment door.
“That sounds so fun. It’s going to be a wild ride while it lasts, then. Okay, brace yourself—Jen gets a little territorial when it comes to her pancakes, but she has been warned to be on her best behavior.” She chuckled as she opened the door.
Gabe’s gaze slid around the apartment. It was small, but tidy and smelled faintly like citrus and baking dough, which he attributed to the pancakes. A girl that he assumed must be Jen, Alex’s roommate, was standing at the counter tapping her foot impatiently.
“Hi,” the girl said. “Just so you know, I’m willing to share, but I get the first plate. Rules of hospitality don’t apply on pancake day.” She smiled, but he had the feeling she wasn’t kidding.
&n
bsp; She hastily made the introductions before heading back to the griddle.
“Jen!” She admonished, pointing at two sad little lumps of burnt batter. “Did you try to make pancakes while I was away? This is why you’re not allowed near my griddle. Those things don’t even look edible. How are you so bad at pancakes?”
“I don’t know. I was simply trying to help speed this along, so we could all eat a bit sooner,” she grumbled, then plopped down on the dark green couch.
“Right ... hey Gabe, you want to come over here and help me?” she asked, waving him over with her spatula. “Don’t let her get to you; she gets a bit hangry. Once she’s fed and watered, you’ll be out of danger,” she stage-whispered to him.
“I can hear you,” Jen grumbled.
“You were meant to,” Alex sing-songed back. Gabe let out a laugh at the silliness. The doughy-sweet smell was even stronger in the kitchen and his mouth started to water. Homemade food is hard to come by on set and when on the road, so he was looking forward to it.
“How can I help?”
She stirred the batter and poured two puddles onto the sizzling griddle. “If you grab the bowls out of the fridge I’ll make some plain ones before we work on the mix-ins.”
Gabe went to the small white fridge that was covered in pictures of Alex and Jen. In most of them, they were horsing around, but there were a few formal pictures, too. He could tell they had known each other for a while. Opening the door, he spotted three bowls—one had chocolate chips, one had blueberries and the last one had some chopped-up bananas.
“Here you go,” he said placing the bowls next to the griddle.
“Perfect. Do you have a preference?” she asked.
“I would like a big stack with two of each type, including plain,” Jen called out from the living area. Alex rolled her eyes.
“I know what you want. I was asking Gabe,” Alex called back.
“I know! I was only making sure that you remembered my order.”
“It would be hard to forget it in the ten minutes since you told me last,” Alex said, pulling her hair up into a bun and flicking her spatula at Jen. “She’s such a pain, let me get down to business before she tries to eat her own hand. So, what kind do you prefer?” she repeated.
“They all sound pretty good. Let’s start with one of each.”
“One of each coming up.” She worked efficiently, mixing in some batter with the extra ingredients and cooking the first batch to a golden brown on each side. Gabe’s mouth started to water as the aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate and fruit filled the air. He hadn’t even realized he was moving in closer to Alex until she accidentally elbowed him in the side as she went to flip the first batch of pancakes.
“Not you too,” Alex cried out. “Am I going to have to banish you to the couch along with Jen?”
“Sorry,” Gabe said sheepishly. “They just smell so unbelievable. What in the world do you put in these things?”
“Told you!” Jen called from behind a sketch pad on the couch. “They are so addictive. It’s how Alex keeps me in line. Just the mention of pancakes and I’ll pretty much do anything she asks me to do. Including, but not limited to ex-boyfriend disposal.”
“Don’t mind her,” she said as a plate of the most delicious-smelling pancakes he had ever smelled passed under her nose. She placed them on the counter and Jen vaulted up from the couch and nearly slid into the counter in her haste to get to them. Jen held the plate up to her nose and deeply inhaled the heavenly scent. She handed Jen a fork and knife. The bottle of syrup was already on the counter and Jen drowned her pancakes before digging in.
He stared longingly at the plate when another appeared under his nose. He closed his eyes as he inhaled.
“I think you have another addict,” Jen said with her mouth full, before downing half a glass of milk. He turned to her and nodded his head. She stared at him as he took his first bite, waiting for his reaction. He closed his eyes and moaned at the explosion of flavor in his mouth. He got comfortable on the stool next to Jen and dug into the plate of heavenly pancakes with gusto.
After a few more minutes, she finished making the rest of the pancakes and pulled her plate out of the oven, then sat on the stool next to Gabe. He’d had been skeptical of Jen’s obsession with her pancakes when he first walked in, but now he was a devoted convert and was inhaling them almost as fast as Jen was. She nudged him with her elbow and nodded at him.
“I told you,” she said with pancakes practically falling out of her mouth.
“These are literally the most amazing pancakes I’ve ever had in my life,” he said, shoveling in another fork full. “I’m not even joking. I’m completely serious.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying them,” she said with a grin as they finished up. He swore that his stomach would explode, but he didn’t want to waste his last few bites. Jen was collapsed on the couch clutching her stomach.
“So much pain, but it’s so worth it.”
Alex got up from her seat and moved to collect the plates. Gabe placed a hand on top of hers and she looked up at him quizzically.
“You can’t seriously expect me to let you clean up after all that you just did. I’ll get the dishes,” he said and kissed her on the nose. Gabe’s cheeks flamed at the impulsive move and he hoped that he didn’t overstep. She pulled back a little in shock and then a huge grin spread across her face.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I liked being able to cook for you.”
“Absolutely feel free anytime you want,” he said, moving toward the sink to begin washing the dishes. “Do you want to visit me on set tomorrow? Maybe when you get off work?”
“I’d love to,” she said as she leaned up against the counter. Although he told her he would handle the dishes, she picked up a dish towel and helped him dry and put them away. They spent the couple of hours they had before she had to head to the restaurant just chatting. Jen kept lapsing into and out of a food coma. They lost track of time and he got a call from a production assistant who was looking for him.
“Oh shit, I’m late!” he said, jumping up from his chair and starting to put his shoes back on. “Sorry to rush out of here. I had a really great time.”
“No problem, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He paused beside her as she opened the door.
“I had a really great morning,” he said, touching the side of her face, caressing her smooth skin, and running his thumb over her bottom lip.
“I did too,” she said, looking up at him with her deep brown eyes shining. He leaned in and captured her lips. A shiver ran down his body as he delved deeper into the kiss. Her tongue was doing a dance with his own, causing a hardening in his jeans. This woman was driving him crazy.
“Get a room,” Jen grumbled from behind them. They broke apart with a laugh, breathing deeply. Gabe leaned his forehead on hers, heart pumping.
“I’ll send you a message when I get a chance and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, walking out the door. “Thanks again for breakfast!”
“You’re welcome. See you tomorrow,” Alex said, leaning against the door and watched him walk down the stairs.
6
Alex’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she walked the couple of blocks to Gabe’s set. She hadn’t wanted to waste time changing after work; it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her in her uniform anyway, or as much as jeans and a branded t-shirt could be considered a uniform. She was happy that Ben was lax about things like that when it came to the restaurant. She’d thrown her sweatshirt on for the walk over, since the chilly breeze coming off the water made everything a little bit colder.
The restaurant had been a little busy that night. It wasn’t as busy as the night before when everyone had just arrived, but there were certainly a few crew members there grabbing a bite, and townies who wanted to look at all the outsiders. Once again, her pockets were heavy with tips and she was excited to see just what Gabe did on-set. She showed up to the location he’d specified in his text.
/> There were tons of people wandering around in headsets, carrying equipment and props from one place to another. There was even a few golf carts whizzing by. The place was a flurry of activity. One of the guys in a headset approached her.
“Are you Alex?”
“Yeah, I’m Alex,” she said a little uncertain.
“Okay, I’m Greg. I’m a PA on the set and Gabe sent me to come and get you. Come with me. I’ve got a few things for you to sign and then I’ll take you to Gabe; he’s doing some lighting setups now.”
“Okay,” she said, following her escort through the frenzy of activity. She followed the PA to a trailer, where they had some non-disclosure agreements for her to sign. They also took her phone. She was taken aback at how intense they were about the project. She was happy they’d let her on set at all at this rate.
After signing all the paperwork and getting the locker key for her phone’s temporary prison, she had to have her picture taken for her visitor’s badge. Finally, Greg motioned for her to follow him to a golf cart and took her to an area of the set that wasn’t quite so busy. Two rows of trailers lined the entire walkway; the PA knocked on the third one on the right and Gabe popped his head out.
Her heart gave a little flip and she couldn’t contain the smile that spread across her face. She was happy to see that he looked as dopey as she felt. She stepped out of the cart and the PA smiled and nodded before he sped off, already talking to someone else through his headset.
“You made it,” he said.
“I did,” Alex said, suddenly a little out of breath and lightheaded. He extended a hand and helped her up the two steps into the trailer.
Alex was surprised when she looked around the trailer; it wasn’t at all what she expected. There was a small kitchenette area with a fridge, toaster oven, and sink. A small seating area with a big leather couch ran along one wall with a flat screen tv opposite it. She was looking around and he asked if she’d like a tour.
