To Love Jason Thorn (Page 34)

“What if it’s Jason?” she asked.

That was even worse. “Well, if it’s him, what if he’s angry?”

“At you?” She frowned.

“Doesn’t matter at who.”

Thrusting her mug at me, she rose up. “You’re being ridiculous.”

Both mugs in my hand, I yelled after her. “Char, don’t look! I don’t want to know. Please.”

“Too late,” she said. Keeping her eyes on me, she leaned against the door frame and answered my phone.

“Hi, Jason. No, I’m Olive’s friend, Charlotte.”

Making a sad face at her, I shook my head and whispered, “I’m not here. Out! Out! I’m gone. Say I vanished.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Uh huh. Yes, she is right here. Of course. Take care of yourself.”

I groaned loudly.

She dropped the phone next to me and grabbed her mug from my hand.

“I’m gonna go and try to sleep this headache off. Thanks for the tea. Talk to you later.”

“Traitor,” I announced. “The minute you trust someone, they turn into a traitor. All of you people are traitors!”

She closed her door without a second glance.

Sighing, I steeled myself and reached for my phone.

“Hello?”

“Who is the traitor?” Jason asked in an amused tone.

“All my friends,” I replied tiredly. I closed my eyes, letting my heart do its own thing and flutter at the sound of his soft yet still rumbly voice.

He chuckled. “How are you doing, Olive?”

“Still breathing, so that’s something.”

“You weren’t that drunk yesterday. Still got a hangover?”

“No, no, I’m fine. It’s nothing, really. I’m just having trouble writing.”

“Hmmm. Did you see the photos? Is that why you can’t write?”

I thought about pretending I had no idea what he was talking about, but in the end, I didn’t think I could wing it.

“Yeah, Lucy showed them to me this morning,” I admitted.

“Are you angry at me?”

I frowned and took a sip of my tea. “Why would I be angry at you?”

“For the things they wrote in the article, and well, getting photographed with me. It’s become a part of my life so I’m used to not having any privacy, but you didn’t ask to be plastered all over the internet. Did you talk to your parents? Did they see them?”

“Yeah, no. I’m hoping they won’t come across them. And if they do…well, it was nothing after all, right? I’m sure they already know that. It’s not like we are having a secret relationship like they are saying.”

“Right.”

Drawing my legs up, I rested the mug on my knee. “And, hey, at least they said I was beautiful in the article. That has to be good for my ego, right?” I laughed awkwardly. After all, it had felt good to be called beautiful, especially when standing next to Jason.

“Of course you are beautiful, Olive. You don’t need to hear it from the tabloids to believe that.”

I pretty much melted and became one with the couch.

“Thank you,” I mumbled when I could form words. “Are you angry at me?” I asked when there was a gap of silence.

“Angry at you? Why the hell would I be angry at you?”

“I don’t know.” I leaned forward and put the mug on the small coffee table. “After all that other…stuff that came out, maybe you didn’t want to be seen with…hell, I don’t know.” Silently, I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand…and then hit it again.

“No, sweetheart, I’m not angry at you.”

Sweetheart?

Melted for the second time.

“Now that we’ve established that neither one of us is angry with the other, I wanted to ask you out to dinner,” he said.

“Dinner? Me? Like out, out?”

“Yes. I have something I want to talk to you about and thought maybe we could go out and have a nice dinner together. Better than being cooped up in my house.”

“I don’t think you can ever feel cooped up in your house, Jason. If you do, there is something very wrong with you.” His house was pretty much heaven on this earth, at least for me—especially when he was in it, too.

He was smiling; I could hear it in his words when he spoke. “I’m glad you like my house, Olive. Even though I agree with you, I think for this, I would like to take you out.”

“Should I be scared? Are you going to give me bad news about the movie or something? Because it pretty much sounds like that, and I’m not a big fan of bad surprises.”

“Everything is going great with the movie. The filming starts in a few weeks. You’ll be at the set with me so you can see it for yourself.”

At that, I sat up straighter. “I am? I’ll be on set with you?”

“I thought you’d want to see; was I wrong?”

“No. No. I would love nothing more than to be there. If you can take me with you, I promise I won’t even bother you. Even once would be amazing.”

“We’ll talk about it more tonight at dinner, okay? You’re free?”

“Yes. Yes. Dinner. Tonight?” My schedule was wide open for him. In any case, the only date I had was with my laptop. “Where should I come?”

“I’ll be there around seven o’clock. You think you can be ready?”

I lowered the phone and checked the time. It was almost five o’clock.

“Of course.”

“Great. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart…

Gah… He was my sweetheart.

“Yeah. See you later.”

Hanging up, I ran to Char’s room.

“He’s going to take me to the set!” I announced as soon as I threw open the door. She was on her phone, texting. “Oh, sorry. You busy?”

“No. No. Come in.” She waved me in and pushed the phone under her pillow. “So you’re going to the set. When?”

I walked in and sat at the edge of her bed. “He said the filming would start in a few weeks. God, it all feels so surreal, Char. I think I’m starting to freak out on the inside. It’s actually real and it’s actually happening.” I was already bouncing on the bed.

She smiled. “It definitely is real.”

“He said he wanted to talk to me about something so he’s taking me to dinner tonight. I should get ready. I have to hop in the shower first.” I rose up, but didn’t move. I wanted to ask for her help, but she’d been acting weird lately. One day cold, one day hot… I didn’t know what to make of it, but thought it was the pressure of the last semester.

“When I get out can you help me pick something to wear? I’ve been staring at my laptop the entire day, I feel like a mess.”

“Of course. You go ahead and get into the shower. I’ll be in your room when you get out.”

“Thank you, Char,” I said and kissed her on the cheek.

She smiled. “You don’t have time to get mushy. Go ahead.”

I skipped all the way to my room.

***

That night when Jason picked me up, I was a big ball of energy. I could’ve used a pep talk from Lucy, but she was studying with other girls from her class, and Char was…well other than being sick, she wasn’t the best person to go to when you needed a pep talk.