A Is for Abstinence (18 page)

Can’t wait.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and tried not to frown. I knew she was kidding with the boyfriend comment, but I hated thinking about it all the same. Especially after having met Bryce Carmichael, the F is for Families wonder boy.

I glanced around the studio, wondering what the hold up was.

My managers had put the word out that I was pledging the V is for Virgin abstinence challenge and invited a number of different media people to witness it.
Celebrity Gossip
asked to do a cover and a four-page photo spread and interview. Who knew my abstinence would be such front-page news?

They’d really gone all out for this thing, too—lights and cameras everywhere. They had three separate location setups, crafty, and my own private waiting area. At least there was that. I wasn’t being hounded by the press while I waited. Seriously, what was the deal?

When I started fidgeting, I pulled out my phone again. This dumb thing needed to start already so I wouldn’t just sit here imagining Bryce “P is for Perfect” Carmichael hatching a plan to make the world a better place over margaritas with my girlfriend.

Or Angels’ center fielder Mike Trout, for that matter.

“Nervous?”

I glanced up to see Robin grinning at me.

Curse my stupid restlessness. I hoped I didn’t look like I was scared to everyone else here. All those reporters sitting on the other side of the studio would just love to tell the world I was nervous right now.

I forced myself to sit still. “I’m not worried about the interview.”

“So, you’re just excited to pronounce your abstinence?” she teased.

“Yup. That’s it. How’d you guess?”

Robin’s smile turned to a smirk. “Why does Val have you strung out?”

I grimaced. “That obvious?”

“I know relationship drama when I see it. What’s going on? I thought things went well in Nor Cal.”

Was I really about to have this conversation? I searched the room again wishing someone was ready for me, but everyone was still just standing around.

Robin crossed her arms and gave me a look that said she meant business.

With a sigh, I put my phone away and gestured to the vacant chair next to mine. “Have a seat, put your feet up.”

Robin’s face lit up and she sat down. Watching her fall into her seat was painful. She looked around the room and lowered her voice. “Am I, like, breaking some kind of rule by talking to the talent?”

I smirked. “Not when you know them personally. You’re a welcome distraction.”

“So, what’s going on with you and Val?”

“I hope you checked out crafty,” I replied. “I warned them there’d be a pregnant lady here today. It should be stocked with plenty of peanut butter and pickles.”

Robin laughed and subconsciously rubbed her belly. My avoidance tactic worked, though, and she was distracted. “Sadly, my cravings have been different this time. I’m all about banana pudding and gas station taquitos. Gross, I know, but…”

“Ooh, those pepper jack ones? I love those.”

She laughed again and threw her arm over my shoulder. “Kyle, I believe you might just be a kindred spirit.”

Robin was all right. I leaned over and spoke softly, as if I were sharing a huge secret. “You want to see something cool? Watch this.”

I looked up and waved over the first person I saw. The kid was about eighteen or nineteen and had his hands full of a tangled heap of wires. He looked thrilled to have my attention. “What can I do for you, Mr. Hamilton?”

I winked at Robin and then said, “We have a pregnant lady emergency on our hands. I need someone to run to 7-Eleven and get a couple of those pepper jack taquitos they make and a banana-flavored pudding cup.”

I smirked when the kid flagged down one of his crew members and handed over the wires. “Can you take this to the DP? I’ve got to run an errand for Mr. Hamilton.” He turned back to me and said, “Two taquitos and a banana pudding cup?”

“The pepper jack kind.”

“I’m on it.”

I stopped him before he walked away. “Actually, make it four.” I patted my stomach and smiled. “Sympathy cravings.”

Once the kid was gone, Robin burst into laughter. “Is he really going to do it?”

“Oh yeah. He’ll hurry, too.”

Robin shook her head, saying, “You didn’t have to do that,” but she couldn’t hide her amusement.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. He’s getting paid. Plus I probably just made his whole day. Now he’ll get to go home and tell all his family that he got to meet Kyle Hamilton, and that we bonded over taquitos and pudding.”

When Robin cast me another disbelieving look, I grinned. “There are perks to being the talent.”

“I guess so.” Robin stretched out and let her eyes fall shut. “Unfortunately, bribing me with convenience food isn’t going to get you off the hook. Come on, fess up.”

“You are worse than Cara.” I laughed and decided I’d lost the battle. “There’s nothing wrong. It’s stupid.”

Robin shrugged. “But it’s bugging you.”

“Well, yeah, it’s bugging me. We live six hours apart and we didn’t talk about how the distance thing is going to work before I left. The ball was in her court, and she didn’t say anything. I’ve been gone three days and she still hasn’t brought it up. I’m not usually this needy and stalkerish, it’s just she’s always so busy. What if she can’t manage to pencil me in for a month?”

I was surprised I’d just admitted all that. I felt like an idiot, but Robin didn’t laugh. She was quiet for a minute, then let out a long breath. “I’m not going to lie, that’s always going to be an issue with Val. She and I aren’t as close as we used to be in high school. We’re still good friends. We keep up on Facebook, I see her a couple times a year, and I took over all the V is for Virgin stuff for her when she went to college, so I still work with her quite a bit. I know how she operates. She’s always busy, always got too much on her plate. She lives by the schedule on her tablet. You’ll probably always have to compete for her time.”

I frowned. Wasn’t this girl-talk crap supposed to make you feel better? Wasn’t that why women were always so insistent on talking?

“But,”
Robin said when she saw the look on my face, “she’s always there when you really need her. And, she has a way of working out the impossible. I think she might surprise you.”

I couldn’t ignore the sincerity in Robin’s voice, and it did actually make me feel better. Robin knew Val, and if she thought we’d make it work, then I would have faith, too.

Just then, a door slammed and a pair of heels clacked across the floor in a hurry. I didn’t know why that made Robin smile so big until I heard Val call out, “I’m here! I’m so sorry! There was an accident coming over the Grapevine. Traffic on the freeway was stopped for almost two hours. What can you do?”

I whirled on Robin, feeling a bit like I’d been betrayed. “You knew this whole time she was coming?”

Robin laughed, really enjoying my shock. She patted my leg and winked as she hoisted herself out of her chair. “I arranged it.”

She left me sitting there in bewilderment and hurried over to Val. They hugged and chatted for a minute before Robin pointed my direction, and Val looked over. My mouth must have still been hanging open because Val pursed her lips together in an attempt not to laugh.

I got up to greet her and she met me halfway. “Hey.”

There was a hint of insecurity in her answer. “Surprise?”

I was still a little stunned as I pulled her into my arms and gave her a quick kiss. “You came down to do the interview with me?” My disbelief was starting to melt into gratitude, and I finally managed a smile.

“Actually…” She hesitated, worrying her bottom lip in her teeth. “Bryce talked me into taking the summer off. My parents said I could stay with them until school starts. They were pretty thrilled, actually.”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. “You quit your job?”

She shrugged as if to play it off, but her cheeks turned pink. “I’ve been training a replacement anyway because I knew I was going to have to hand the organization over once I started grad school. I just handed it over a couple months early. Honestly, I could use the break.”

She waited for a response, but I didn’t know what to say. I just kept picturing a giant day planner with its entire schedule erased and replaced with the word
KYLE
in big block letters.

When I couldn’t speak, she started to ramble. “There will still be the random conference call, and I’ve got some maid of honor stuff for Stephanie’s wedding that I’ll have to—”

I cut her off with a kiss. The woman had just quit her job for me. I needed her in my arms. I pulled her close and kissed her until she melted. She looked up at me, face flushed, with a shy smile. “So, it’s okay that I came?”

“Is it okay that my girlfriend wanted to spend the summer in the same city as me?” I pretended to think about it. “I think I’ll survive.”

Her smile became more confident. “And is it okay if I share your spotlight with you today? I had so many people contact me after that escapade in front of my house; I thought doing the interview together would help answer a lot of questions. When Robin mentioned it to your people, they seemed pretty excited.”

“First she steals my fans, then she wants to take over my interview,” I said with a playful sigh. “And you say
I’m
the attention hog.”

Val rolled her eyes and I couldn’t help kissing her again. “Thanks for coming.”

. . . . .

The first thing they did was sit Val and me down for an interview where we announced that we were officially dating. I explained that I’d given up sex for her and that I’d be teaming up with the V is for Virgin campaign and the Not Everybody’s Doing It Foundation. I showed off my bracelet, told them about the percentage of the album sales I’d be donating, and I even sang “Worth Waiting For” unplugged.

Then there was a brief Q & A session. Most of the questions were directed at Val. What she thought of the new song. How we originally met. How she felt when we were reunited. How I’d managed to finally win her over.

“Oh, that’s easy,” she said. “He won me over when I saw the photos four years ago after he was dubbed that year’s Sexiest Man Alive.”

Val pretended to fan herself, and the entire room burst into laughter. I laughed along with them, but on the inside I was shocked. In all the years I’d known her, she’d never once flirted with me. I flirted—all I ever did was hit on her—but she’d never reciprocated. She’d never even once told me she thought I was good-looking. I knew she was attracted to me because she always responded to me on a physical level whether she wanted to or not, but she’d never admitted it out loud before.

“Really, though,” she said when the laughter died down, “I’m not sure when he won me over.”

She looked at me in contemplation and shook her head slightly as she said, “He drove me so crazy, but in a way I always liked him from the first time we met. Underneath the ego, he’s an amazing man. He’s passionate and driven. We’re the same that way; we’ve just always had our eyes on different prizes. He still drives me nuts sometimes, but now that the sex issue isn’t standing in our way”—she lifted a shoulder and blushed—“he’s kind of hard to resist.”

Val smiled at me and I grinned back, trying my hardest to hide the fact that I was struggling with unexpected emotions. This was a side of her she’d never shown me before. I knew she cared about me, and I knew she was this way with others, but I’d personally never experienced the flirty, loving Val who was nice and thought highly of me and complimented me. Until now, she’d always been on her guard with me.

“You’re awfully quiet, Kyle.”

The statement was more of a question and came from someone sitting in the crowd. I wondered how long I’d been sitting there, spaced out.

“I’m just a little shocked,” I joked. “I’m not sure who this incredible woman sitting next to me is, or what happened to the snarky, sarcastic, defensive girl I remember from four years ago.”

Val squeezed my hand and, in a voice dripping with heartfelt sincerity, said, “She grew up.”

Something thumped in my chest and made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. I had to wrap up the interview after that because Val was twisting me all up inside.

They filmed me signing the official V is for Virgin abstinence pledge and I presented the certificate to Val herself. “Here,” I said, acting as if I had just signed my life away and was being tossed into a prison cell. “I am officially abstinent. You win.”

She glowed in a way I’d never seen as she accepted the document with my signature on it. She smiled down at the paper, then threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. “And I’m officially yours,” she said, “so I guess you win, too.”

. . . . .

After the interview, they sent all the press away and took a series of couples photos of Val and me with Val wearing her
V
necklace and me showing off my
A
bracelet. I’d done a lot of photo shoots over the years, but I’d never had as much fun with one as I did with Val that day.