Documentary (16 page)

“Let’s do shots!” Jamie recommended.

“Body shots!” Wes said, swinging his arm around Dylan. “I get new girl!” She caught Kai glaring at him but Wes smiled back at him. It looked like another one of their silent conversations.

“I’ll go get them,” Dylan said, rolling her eyes before she strolled over to the bar with Wes following close behind. She placed the order for a round of
Grey Goose
vodka shots.

“What’s going on?” he asked, bumping her with his
elbow. “You okay?”

Dylan nodded and played with her hair. “Yeah. Do I not seem okay?” Was it that obvious?

“Looked like things got weird with you and Kai earlier…”

“I didn’t peg you for a stalker,” she teased, bumping him back.

“Hot girl radar, my friend. Patented.” Wes leaned with his back against the bar. “I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is, Kai’s wrong and he’s an idiot.”

Dylan burst out laughing. “That simple, huh?”

“He’s been so nervous about you getting here, so don’t buy any bullshit nonchalance from him. He doesn’t mean it. He’s been weird lately, even more so than his usual ‘singers must be tortured souls’ thing.” Wes patted her on the arm.

He started to say something else, but Leko approached him, looking angry. His expression changed briefly when he saw Dylan, but after he smiled at her, he went back to scowling at Wes.

“Just heard Adam Scott and some of his friends are at the door, trying to get in. Can you believe that?” Leko asked before he laughed bitterly. Dylan had heard that name before in relation to Kai but couldn’t remember where.

Wes’ eyes widened. “Does Kai know?” Leko shook his head.

“Chase and J here too?”

Leko shrugged.
“I hope not.”

“Fuck…” Wes growled. “Can we ever just have a nice time? Meet some girls…” Wes puckered his lips at Dylan and she smirked. “…Have some drinks.”

Leko laughed silently. “And you know how security is at this place. A couple hundred will get them in, list or no list. Get Abel. I’d rather we just kill the situation before Kai finds out.”

Wes nodded as Leko walked away. “But if all else fails with Kai, feel free to date a surfer. Not Abel though, or any of them who aren’t named Wesley Abraham Elliott.” He winked before he, too, walked away. Dylan was still laughing when the bartender set down two plastic cups of shooters. 

“Hey, good to see you again,” a woman’s cheery voice said.

After she paid,
Dylan turned to the sound and flashed a friendly smile at the girl from the shaved ice store. “Tiffany, right? You made it. We never
officially
met. I’m Dylan.” She wiped her sweaty palm on her dress before offering her hand.

Tiffany was sitting
with her legs crossed on a bar stool, and her large eyes hinted at a question when they shook hands. Her wishful gaze shot out to the dance floor, and Dylan knew what she wanted without looking.

“I was about to take these shots to my friends. You should come over and meet Kai White,” Dylan said as a reluctant offer.

Tiffany hopped down to the floor. “Could I?” Her eyes rounded with hope at the possibility. “Wow! Two really cool things in the same day! I feel like I’m dreaming, or something. You’re so nice.”

“Yeah, sure. That’s me, Miss Nice.” Dylan pressed out a smile
, as close to casual as she could form, as her throat tightened. Introducing him to another girl would read as her official stance on their status, and she wouldn’t be able to take back what she had said about their work relationship. But she
just
didn’t want to introduce them, period. Not when Tiffany was this stunning. Her tar-black hair was almost down to her waist, and her hazel eyes shimmered beautifully under the lights. She was wearing a silver bandage skirt and a black tube top. Dylan gulped the bunching in her throat down and led the way to the dance floor. The corners of her eyes burned when she remembered she would have to make the introduction in front of an audience. An audience that was apparently rooting for
their
pairing.

             
“This is Tiffany, guys,” Dylan said with a forced smile to Kai, Jamie, Odette and a guy Odette was snuggled against, as she passed around the test tube shooters. “We met earlier today when we went to get snow cones, and I gave her my ticket.”

             
Tiffany flipped her hair off her shoulders and stretched her hand out to Kai alone, who was standing on the opposite side of their small circle. Within a few minutes, Leko, Abel and Wes re-joined the group, looking tense, before they claimed their shots. After snatching up the last shot, the one meant for Dylan, Tiffany went to stand next to Kai without speaking to anyone else.
Of course. Take my guy. Take my drink.
Within seconds, Tiffany and Kai were having a private conversation and detaching from the group. A sharp pain dug into Dylan’s side then slowly coated the inside of her stomach like spilled syrup. She had known Tiffany’s aim, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. Dylan ignored the puzzled glances from Jamie and Odette and gave Leko a nonchalant smile when he cocked an eyebrow, clearly bewildered, too.

“Everything all right at the door?” she whispered.

              Leko nodded twice. “Yeah. Just some douchebag trying to get into something he wasn’t invited to. It’s handled. Wes is a pretty boy, and he doesn’t really like any confrontation that might lead to a fight most of the time, so I knew he’d fix it fast.”

“You wanna dance?” she asked him. She didn’t feel like talking anymore. The girls would inquire, and if she really started talking, she knew she would cry. It was those damn
shots. No, it was watching Kai and Tiffany laugh, and the way he pushed her hair aside to whisper into her ear, and how Tiffany’s hand stroked his stomach when she leaned in to tell him something. It was all the things she couldn’t actually do with him.
Bitch just downed my shot too.

“Yeah. Let’s dance, baby girl.” At least Leko would keep his thoughts to himself. He twirled her around to another part of the room, the scene with Tiffany apparently already (pretended to be) forgotten by him. As they spun, she pressed her face against his shoulder, felt a series of heavy convulsions in her chest and was grateful that she was in a dark room.

Dylan was loaded up on a mix of water and extra-strength Tylenol when she headed out for her morning walk/run. She cranked up a skull-shattering mix by French deejay David Guetta on her iPhone. She needed to either clear her head or drown out her thoughts. Running definitely wasn’t the cure for what she felt—and she felt like shit—but the crisp morning air was therapeutic, and each time her soles connected with the earth, it weakened the edges of her melancholy. The trail was well worn
on the mountain, without a blade of grass poking through, and there were a few pebbles scattered over the dirt, but it bisected a paved path once she was level with the beach. The mountain had a soft enough incline that the run back up wouldn’t be treacherous. Even after partying, she was still on a two-hour time difference, and she was out so early that she caught the tail end of a beautiful sunrise before the sky was fully washed in blue. She ran straight down to the beach and did a somewhat rigorous jog through the sand until she was sweaty enough for her clothes to plaster her skin.

She wanted to outrun the memories of last night. Like Kai and Tiffany strolling hand in hand toward the exit before the end of the night, but Dylan was mostly embarrassed for crying at the party, even if Leko had been the only one to know. She hoped that Jamie and Odette forgot what they saw last night, too, because they were intoxicated.

Or just really good friends.

When she was just too fatigued to continue running, she sat in the sand
and watched a few surfers cope with moderate waves. Maybe one of them could provide the distraction to make her forget about Kai. Dylan fisted shallow ditches in the sand and groaned. She was starting to feel ridiculous. She was hung up on a guy, not in mourning for him, so she knew she needed to tone down the “woe is me” attitude. Dylan turned off the music on her iPhone and dialed Kate. When she answered, she called Winslow on conference. They turned out to be worse than her mother and sister.

“Tell me everything. How’s Kai? How was your first day? Is Hawaii just amazing? Does he have cute friends?” Kate fired off.

“Did you find out more about Erica?” Winslow asked. “Are you calling from Kai’s bed? What was it like? Tell me
everything
!” Dylan demanded that they take turns, but she answered all their questions. Like the amazing friends they were, they reassured and comforted her about what had happened at the party, but Winslow was quick to tell her exactly what she needed to hear.

“I know I teased you about him before, but maybe you should let it go, Dee, before it starts.
There are too many girls around him. He seems like a slut. So do those twins. You’re literally on an island of misfit sluts.”

Dylan stood and brushed her butt off before she stepped back onto the trail. The cool morning air was lifting, but she was so soaked with sweat that it felt like she was wading through cold water.

“Low!” Kate said in a reprimanding tone. “Wanting and liking sex doesn’t make you a slut. And this isn’t the 1950’s—”

“Save your ‘
sexual liberation’ lecture,” Winslow said after a long sigh. “I know I’m the old married lady whose experience is one guy and something battery operated, but I was kidding.”

“Nothing’s wrong with figuring out what you like out there,” Kate continued. “But Kai probably has way more baggage than you need to be bothered with for these few weeks: Erica, his career is sort of in shambles, this fascination with punching. FYI, he beat up another guy
…in an alley. No cosmic fuckery in sight, Dyl. None. I’m sure there are other guys out there. ”

Everything Kate and Winslow was saying made sense, and she had drawn the same conclusion during the run, but certain feelings were the hardest to switch off right away, especially because she had sensed a growing connection with him every time they talked. And she’d hate to lose that.

Dylan turned the key to the house and bumped the door open with her hip. “Yeah, I know. It’s a new day. It’s a silly crush. I’ll get over it.” The words didn’t feel genuine yet, though. She waved to Odette, who looked like a mop of hair on top of a robe on her way back to her room from the bathroom. “Love you both. I’ve got a long day ahead. Bye.”

Dylan jumped straight into the shower, and once out and dressed, she noticed a morning email from Nina requesting her tentative filming schedule, and detailing her expectations for progress updates at the end of each day. She responded affirmatively with her plan and then spent some time fiddling around with the camera. It was a black
Sony
Handycam High-Definition camcorder and probably more than three thousand dollars. This was one of the cameras she had been saving up for, and she would guard it with her life. On her way out, she spotted Jamie’s open bedroom door. Jamie waved her in before she even had a chance to knock out of courtesy. Dylan was surprised that Jamie was awake because she and Odette had left her at the party making out with Abel. Dylan turned the camera on Jamie and she blocked her face immediately.

“You’re evil!” Jamie did her best to dodge the lens. “I look like shit right now.”

Dylan shut it off, laughing. “Sorry. I’ll delete it, but you definitely don’t look like shit. I just wanted to check it out before I used it for real. I’m on my way to Kai’s.” She had told Leko last night not to worry about picking her up. It was 10 A.M., and she was unsure of how Kai’s night had ended—she really didn’t want to think about it—but she wanted to get a jumpstart on collecting video. The more film she had to work with, the better.

Jamie’s yawn died on a sweet smile
, and she collapsed on her bed after she offered Dylan the seat at her desk. “How’s it going?” she asked.

“Good.” Dylan turned around to face her and shrugged. “Nervous about today. I just hope Nina likes it.” An anxious feeling fired through her gut like a bullet train at the thou
ght of Nina picking through her work and scowling at flaws.

Jamie released a labored giggle. “Totally not what I meant and you know it. Kai probably won’t give me the lowdown, so you better.”

“On what?”

“On what last night was all about! The
Tiffany
thing?” Jamie made a face like she had just swallowed a whole ice cube before she bored into her with a searching gaze, pursing her lips. “I thought y’all were…”

“Nothing. We’re just working together.” Dylan’
s voice climbed up an octave. She meant it, and she hadn’t wanted to sound so guilty, but her mind was traitorous.

“So, you’re not going to tell me?” Jamie pouted and batted her lashes, but it was more like extended
blinks because she was so worn out. She might have actually fallen asleep during one.

“I already did. We’re working together and that’s all it is.”

Jamie didn’t look like she was buying it, but Dylan was happy to see that she was too exhausted to put up a fight, and Jamie changed the subject. “I can’t believe you’re leaving soon, but the good news is, Dette and I are going to the Miami date of Kai’s tour for Wintervention.”