Doing It for Love (All About Love #1) (17 page)

Theresa and I walk to Penny’s place, since her penthouse is gorgeous and I could use the exercise. The balloons constantly bop us in the back of the head with the wind blowing around. Though I’d take this over enduring Theresa’s driving. I have to cling to the “oh shit” bar for dear life and say, “Red light,” “Crosswalk,” and “Shitshitshitshit,” whenever she cuts off a semi on the highway.

Jaycee is already there, and she gives me a giant hug when I walk in, almost as if she knows something I don’t. So, of course, I immediately start my interrogation.

“Did you see Landon? Did you do reshoots or see Jace and he was there or something because you tell me right now if you know something I don’t because I’m starting to freak out.”

“Starting?” She chuckles, and Theresa rubs my shoulder before tying the balloons to a singular chair in the middle of Penny’s sitting room.

“You’d freak out, too, if your fiancé suddenly went AWOL.”

I nod vigorously, internally thanking my best friend for having my back. Jaycee peels my fingers from her forearm, which I didn’t realize I had in a death grip.

“He called yesterday to schedule a reshoot for a scene, but that’s all we talked about. I had no idea he’d been dodging you until Theresa invited me to an impromptu bridal shower.”

The words knock the wind out of me. Hearing someone else say he’s avoiding me sends blood rushing through my cheeks. My heart sounds in my ears, and I pray to the high almighty that Landon isn’t leaving me. He can’t be leaving me, right?

A chink of glass brings all our attentions to Penny at the bar, champagne flute filled to the rim. She sticks her arm straight out to me.

“Drink, chill, and you can Landon-bash later.”

I gulp and clear my froggy throat. “How about we bash him now so I get it out of my system? Then I can love him again for the rest of the night.”

Theresa takes the champagne from Penny and raises it. “Okay, I’ll go first.”

Penny fills three more glasses, and we all grab one and follow Theresa’s lead.

“Landon Wangford, my good friend, please stop hurting my
best
friend and learn to use a damn phone.”

“Hear, hear,” I say, nodding and moving my gaze to Jaycee, who’s on Theresa’s left.

“And Landon,” she says, “please stop singing on set, especially when you don’t know the words.”

A smile breaks out on my face. I didn’t know he did that, and really, I don’t fault him for it at all.

“Landon Wangford,” Penny says with a sigh. “You need better friends.”

We all raise our eyebrows at her, and she lifts a shoulder.

“What? He does. Seriously, Jace should’ve kicked his ass out the door and told him to go home and sleep with his gorgeous fiancée. Right? Stupid Jace and his stupid ‘I don’t do commitment’ face.”

I press my lips together and just nod. Apparently her grudge has not dissipated over the last six months since Jace broke it off. At least they’re civil when we all get together.

They all turn to me, and I shake my head. “Oh right, my turn.” I straighten my back, hold my flute out, and take a deep breath.

“Landon, you don’t do laundry. You use my conditioner, making the shampoo/conditioner ratio jacked up. You clip your toenails in the living room. You never make the bed. You leave your socks on the floor every day.
Every day.
Pick up those socks! But I love you, and hell if I can’t stop loving you despite all of those things. So thanks for being irresistible to the point that I can’t even bash on you without remembering why I want to marry you. Damn you and your adorable flaws.”

We all raise our glasses once more before tipping them back to my future husband and all his faults that I can’t help but love him for.

Theresa downs her entire glass and sets it on the bar with a smile.

“Okay…time for games.”

Theresa must’ve looked up bridal shower games on the Internet, because I don’t think either of us has attended something like this, but she has us set for the rest of the night. Penny and I end up modeling toilet paper dresses designed by Theresa and Jaycee, we unscramble a bunch of famous couples, play what she called “Purse Brigade,” which is when we win stuff if we have certain items in our pocketbooks. And now we’re getting ready to play, as she so enthusiastically titled it, “Light Up the Lovers.”

“I’m afraid to even ask,” I say through a laugh when she pulls out a giant poster board.

“Rules are simple…I asked Landon questions—”

“When?”
I shout, making Penny dump half her champagne in her lap.

“A while ago. How do you think I put this together so fast? I’ve been planning your bridal shower and bachelorette party since the day he slipped that beauty on your finger.”

Theresa tapes the poster board against the wall. There are several colorful cards in the middle, all with a category at the top. Then there are giant pictures on each side, one of me and one of Landon, with a string of Christmas lights dangling down.

“Oh boy…”

Theresa stands back to plug in the lights, which don’t go on.

“Okay,” she says like it’s not supposed to work, “I asked Landon to answer questions all about him. Every question you get right, I’ll twist the bulb and light you up. Every question you get wrong, Landon gets a light.”

“What do I get when I win?” I ask, batting a balloon Jaycee tosses at me.

“A surprise. And bragging rights.” She points at Jaycee and Penny. “These are your lifelines. You can only use them once in each category, so choose wisely.”

Penny tips back her flute and pours another. I better use her fast, before she’s too out of her mind to be of any help.

“Okay,” I say, clapping my hands and rubbing them. “I’m ready.”

“Which one you want?” Theresa points to the cards.

I gaze across the categories, immediately dismissing “Parents, Pets, and Siblings” and going for the less scary “Your Body Is a Wonderland.”

Theresa plucks off the top one with a grin. “Name a scar Landon has in a place that’s usually hidden, and describe how he got it.”

“Wow, getting personal right off the bat,” I say, and Theresa shrugs with a coy grin. “Well, if it’s the one I’m thinking…he has a scar on his inner thigh,
really
close to his lovely man jewels, and he got it from one of those stand-up roller coasters. Went down the hill and hit the bottom with a delightful pinching. ‘At least it missed the goods,’ ” I say in my “Landon” voice.

Jaycee snorts in a high-pitched laughter, a helium balloon pinched closed between her fingers. Theresa lights up two Christmas lights on my side for using the exact quote Landon used in his answer, and Penny downs another glass of champagne.

Feeling high on my horse, I quickly pick a question from “Living with Your Lover.”

“If your place caught on fire, what are three things Landon would save?”

My horse lowers on its haunches. I’m stumped silly, but I take a guess. “His laptop.” That one has to be on the list. All his footage is on that thing. That and the hard drive. “Oh! His hard drive. And, um…his Beetlejuice cap. It’s his favorite.”

Theresa smiles and clicks on three lights for Landon.

“I didn’t get
any
?”

“He was actually very romantic for this answer.”

I snort. Landon is rarely romantic in front of anyone else but me. And even then it’s more playful than anything else.

“What were they?”

“You.”

“I didn’t know that was an option!” I laugh.

“The bowling score sheet from the wall.”

I internally sigh. He looks at that thing all the time and says he let me win that night.

Theresa grins at whatever expression is on my face, then says, “And your iPod.”

“My iPod? What a liar!” I laugh. “He hates my music.”

“He said he could see you outside with the bowling scores in one hand, the iPod in the other, and while the place is up in smoke, you’d turn to him and press play on—”

“
You are my fire, the one desire
,” I sing in a perfect Backstreet Boys impression.

Jaycee puts a hand to her chest and says in her very helium-filled voice, “You two are so adorable…and such losers.”

We laugh, and Theresa lights up one of my lights before crossing the room and taking the champagne bottle from Penny, who was about to pour yet another flute. Penny says, “Hey,” but doesn’t put up too much of a fight.

I go through all the categories, including “Parents, Pets, and Siblings,” extremely happy that most of the questions were about Buster. But Landon and I are pretty much tied on the lights, and I’m a bit disappointed because I should’ve aced this game.

“I can’t believe I don’t know his shoe size!” I shout as Theresa lights another Landon bulb. “And I think he’s totally giving all these loving answers because he’s in trouble.”

“I asked before he was in trouble, remember?” Theresa plucks the last card from the board. “Maybe he’s more romantic than you think.”

“Traitor.”

She wrinkles her nose at me and reads the last question. “What is the thing Landon is looking forward to most about your wedding day?”

“Sex,” I joke, then go to wave my hands at her before she lights Landon up, but she twists one of my bulbs instead.

“You win!”

“He said sex? Really?”

She laughs. “Maybe you’ll win that contest, too.”

I give a half-chuckle, but my chest feels a little twang in it, because I’m not sure if he was joking or serious. All his other answers seemed heartfelt and cute. I’d nearly forgotten I haven’t seen him in three days. Now all I can think is, “Am I just a piece of ass?”

“What?” Penny says, shaking her head at me. “You are way more than a piece of ass.”

There I go thinking out loud again.

Jaycee nods. “Landon is so in love with you. You remember when you visited the set? He had something so far up his rear end that day that Jace and I were ready to walk off, but then you showed up and he was finally tolerable. Couldn’t stop smiling. Jace kept asking him if he’d gotten lucky in the prop room and if we needed to sanitize anything.”

“Gross,” I say, while Penny says, “Stupid Jace.”

Theresa kneels in front of me with a giant present. “Landon loves you. Why else would he be taking himself off the market so young?”

I know it’s meant to make me feel better, but it doesn’t. Theresa’s been supportive, my ear, my cheesecake bud, my wedding dress zipper-upper, my party planner, and one kick-ass MOH, and even though I had a feeling she thought Landon and I are young for this, she never once said it until now.

Theresa lifts the gift up, covering her mouth slightly with its bulk. “Open me,” she says, shaking the contents. I laugh and rip the side open, trying to ignore the ugly twang in my chest. I wish she hadn’t confiscated the alcohol.

“Argue naked.”

Theresa relaxes next to me in the back of the cab on the way home, her curly hair tickling the skin near the neckline of my shirt. I grab the phone in her hand and scroll through the feed. She posted a status earlier of “Advice for our soon-to-be bride!” with a lovely candid photo of me stuffing my face with a Toblerone. So much for walking off those calories.

“Did Jace post that?”

“Of course, but so did Helen and Nicki, which solidifies its validity.”

“Big words for you, especially since you’re buzzed.”

“Just buzzed. I only had the one glass.” She takes her phone back. “Do you think Landon will be home?”

“He better be.”

She laughs and scrolls to a comment and deletes it.

“What did that one say?”

“Oh, someone’s being stupid.”

“Was it Jace again?”

She shakes her head. “Someone pulling the ‘get out of it while you can’ card.”

“Cynic?”

“No, more like someone who thinks you should be older to make big decisions like marriage.”

I blow out a sigh, waving the hair that’s fallen from my ponytail away from my face. “Tell me honestly…is there a bet going on how long we’ll last?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“But you think it too, right? That I’m too young to get married.”

She shifts in her seat, adjusting the seat belt. “I don’t think you’re
too
young, I just think you’re young. And before you even give me that look I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’ve told you before that I don’t ever want to get married, but for you and Landon? I can’t picture you without each other.” Her nose wrinkles in a mock-disgusted face, which I shove her for. “Why not start as soon as you can, right?”

“Right.”

“And it’s not like you aren’t doing everything that married couples do already.”

“What do you mean?”

She brushes her hair from her shoulder. “You live together. You share a bank account. You’re not even having sex as much as you used to.”

I smack her arm with a laugh. “I cut him off for a reason.”

“Yeah…to have crazy, hot sex like you had when you first got together, and not the boring ‘we’ve been together forever’ sex you’ve become accustomed to.”

Ouch. I know it’s true, but it sounds so much harsher coming from an outside party. Her words slam into my chest so hard she immediately grabs hold of my arm and says, “I’m sorry. It’s the champagne, the fact that he’s left you high and dry for a few days, and…that I’m going to miss you when you get married.”

I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, shaking my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes, you are.” She toys with the phone case, peeling it from the top then snapping it back on. “It’s going to be different. He’ll be your best friend. He’ll be the one you talk to, spend time with, make decisions with. And you’ll grow old together and have babies and move to LA when he gets famous and I’ll…”

I loop my arm through hers and rest my head on her shoulder. “I’ll always need you. Trust me. Especially when he’s being a dumbass.”

“Like today.”

“And yesterday.”

“And if he’s a dumbass tonight, I got your back.”

I lean up as the cab pulls into our apartment garage. “He’s not replacing you. I just have two best friends.”

She slides across the seat and hands the driver the fare. We carry our heels when we get to the elevator, both sighing in relief as our feet take a rest.

“Thank you for the distraction,” I tell her with a hug outside my door.

“I’m waiting here till I know he’s inside.”

I laugh and unlock the door. The living room light is on and socks are front and center on the carpet. Suddenly my stomach is filled with those devil butterflies.

“He’s here.”

She leans past me and yells, “You better have a good excuse, Landon, or I would advise you to wear a cup next time you see me!”

“Shh…” I say through my giggles. “Good night.”

“Text me.”

I push her out the door and wait till I hear her get inside her place before turning around. Landon’s leaning against the wall in the hallway in his plain black baseball cap, loose tie around his neck, blue button-down sleeves pushed up his arms, and black slacks. I almost ask him why he’s dressed like that, but I don’t want to be the first to say something. After all, I wasn’t the one who went
poof
for three days.

He smiles, and I know the smile. It’s his scared smile.

“Hey.”