Emma hearts LA (14 page)

I spend the rest of the day helping Bex with her recorded audition piece, sitting on the terrace, sketching, and checking my phone to see if Oscar’s called.

I know I should phone him to make sure everything’s all right between us, but I don’t really know what to say. ‘Sorry I freaked out and ran away when you kissed me’?

It doesn’t help when Mum comes home and asks, ‘How’s Oscar?’ like he’s here all the time, like I see him every day.

And then Bex makes it worse by saying, ‘Never mind Oscar – Emma had a date with Alex Hall this morning!’

I tell Mum all about it while we eat dinner and then I go up to the terrace to email Jessie.

I’m about halfway through what promises to be a mammoth email when I hear singing. It sounds like it’s coming from the canal. It sounds like Oscar. I stand up and go over to the fence, holding on with both hands because it’s pretty high up. I can’t see him at first, but along with the singing – I can’t tell what song it is yet – I can hear the sound of a paddle going through the water.

And then he appears. He’s in a kayak and when he sees me he grins and waves. I’m surprised at how pleased I am to see him and his ridiculous, bright orange
BAZINGA
T-shirt.

‘What are you doing?’ I say, sheltering my eyes against the low sun.

‘I’m sorry, Emma,’ he sings, to the tune of ‘O Sole Mio’ – or ‘Just One Cornetto’ – ‘for what I did. I wouldn’t blame you, if you got rid. I know…I got your goat. But let’s have noodles. At Wok the Boat!’

I shake my head. ‘There’s something seriously wrong with you,’ I say.

He nods. ‘I can’t argue. Also, I can’t claim to have written all of that song for this particular occasion. The last part I wrote for an ad. They never used it.’

‘Shocking,’ I say. I can’t stop smiling.

He puts his hand up to his mouth as if he’s speaking to me in an aside and says, ‘So. You know. Are we cool?’

I nod. ‘We’re cool.’

‘And your head’s OK?’

‘My head?’

‘Where you, ah, banged it on my bookcase.’

Even from here I can see him blush.

‘Oh,’ I say. I bite my lip and then smile. ‘I thought it was, but now I’m thinking this must be a hallucination brought on by a concussion.’

‘You’re not the first person to say that about my singing,’ he says. ‘I’ll, er… I’ll paddle off then.’

He tries to turn the kayak using one paddle, but just sort of flails about. It’s utterly ridiculous. Eventually, he manages it and as he goes, says, ‘Tomorrow night? Eight o’clock?’

‘I’ll be there,’ I say. ‘Brain damage permitting.’

He salutes and then, as he starts to paddle, tips a pretend hat and says, ‘Bex. Mrs R.’

I’m still watching Oscar paddle away, badly, when I hear my mum call from downstairs:, ‘Do you want to come down and tell us what that was all about?’

‘I always knew he liked you,’ Mum says. She hasn’t stopped grinning since I told her about the kiss.

‘That’s what Jessie said,’ I say. ‘No one thought to mention it to me?’

‘You really didn’t know?’ Mum says.

‘No!’ I say. ‘And anyway, you heard him. He apologised. It’s not like we’re going out.’

‘Are you mad?’ Bex says. ‘He just asked you out. And you said yes.’

I shake my head. ‘He asked me to go to Wok the Boat, not on a date.’

‘It’s a date,’ Bex says.

‘Come on! It’s not a date. He knows the kiss freaked me out and he wants us to go back to how we were. That was the point of the song!’

‘I think the point of the song was to woo you,’ Mum says, pouring herself a glass of wine.

‘Woo!’ Bex says, waving her hands in a bad ghost impression, and then laughs at her own crap joke.

‘It was not!’ I say. ‘This is Oscar! He doesn’t woo. Or at least he doesn’t woo me.’

‘So you’re saying you’re not interested?’ Mum says.

I blow out a breath. ‘I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it before. Much. But it’s Oscar. He’s my only friend here. I don’t want to mess that up. You’ve always told me that friends are more important than boyfriends.’

‘And they are,’ Mum says. ‘So boyfriends who are also friends are wonderful.’

‘OK,’ I say, ‘but isn’t it better to have a really good friend than a boyfriend who could change his mind and go off with someone else?’

‘Oh, Emma,’ Mum says. ‘Don’t let what happened between me and your dad affect you like that.’

I hadn’t actually been thinking about Dad – I’d been thinking more of friends at school – but, of course, she’s right, that’s exactly what Dad did.

‘You can’t go into something worrying about how it’s going to end,’ Mum says. ‘No one ever knows. If you like someone, you have to take a chance. I’d hate to think you’d be so scared of getting hurt that you wouldn’t risk being with someone.’

‘No, I’m not, really,’ I tell her. Although I’m not sure that’s true.

‘Is it because you like Alex Hall?’ Bex asks. She’s got her phone in her hand and a slightly evil grin on her face. No doubt she’s texting her friends to tell them I’ve just been serenaded from a kayak.

‘No,’ I say. ‘I mean, I do like Alex, but that’s not why I’m not sure about Oscar.’

‘You don’t need to get serious with either of them,’ Mum says. ‘You can just see them both and work out how you feel.’

‘I can’t though, can I? I can’t string Oscar along until I decide whether or not I’m really interested.’

‘That’s not what I said,’ Mum says. ‘I’m just saying it doesn’t need to be so hard. You can just see them. As friends. And if you realise you want to take it further – with either of them – you cross that bridge when you come to it.’

‘Ooh,’ Bex says. ‘Maybe they’ll fight over you!’

I roll my eyes. ‘That’s so not going to happen.’

I don’t know how this happened. The boys I like never like me, but now I’ve got my oldest friend and a proper Hollywood star interested? How am I supposed to deal with that?

I’m on my way to Wok the Boat when my phone rings. No number comes up, but I answer it anyway since sometimes calls from abroad come up that way.

A voice says, ‘Emma?’

Sexy southern accent. Alex.

He says, ‘Is this a good time?’

I head over to the little wall at the side of the path and sit down so I can concentrate. My arms feel weird, tingly.

I say, ‘It’s fine, yeah.’

‘So I had a good time at breakfast yesterday.’

‘Me too.’

There’s a silence and I look up and down the path while I try to think of something to say. A barefoot woman who seems to be dancing to no music is heading straight for me, so I climb over the wall and walk on the sand.

‘Did the press thing go well yesterday?’

‘Yeah, it was fine, you know. Did more today. They all ask the same questions, so…’

‘Right,’ I say. I walk down towards the water.

‘So what are you doing?’

‘I’m just on my way to meet my friend Oscar,’ I tell him. ‘We’re going to get noodles.’

‘I like noodles,’ Alex says. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Wok the Boat in Santa Monica. Do you know it?’

‘I’ve passed it,’ Alex says, ‘but I’ve never been.’

‘It’s really good,’ I say. ‘You should go.’

‘I’ll add it to my bucket list,’ he says and I laugh.

‘So…’ I say. I can see Wok the Boat from here.

‘Yeah, I was just calling to see if you wanted to hang out,’ Alex says, ‘but obviously you’re busy.’

‘Right. Well, yeah. I’d love to. But no, not tonight.’

‘Right.’

I stop and look back at the path. The woman is still dancing. ‘Unless… I mean, you’re welcome to join us, if you’d like to.’

‘Your friend won’t mind?’

I wiggle my feet down into the sand. ‘No. He’d like to meet you, I’m sure.’

Alex says he’ll see me there and I end the call and I stare at the phone. I just invited Alex Hall to come and hang out with me and Oscar. I put the phone back in my pocket, but I can’t seem to make my legs move, so I take it out again, check the time and realise it’s too late to call Jessie.

I walk down to the edge of the water and watch the tiny birds running in and out of the waves. As the water goes out, they run towards the ocean and then as it comes back in, they turn and run back up the sand. They do it over and over again.

I keep thinking about what my dad said about my drawing. That I gave it up to protect myself. Is that what I’m doing now? With Oscar? Am I really worried about losing him as a friend, or am I just scared of getting hurt? Because it would be so much worse to be hurt by Oscar than by someone like Alex. Because Oscar knows me. He’s known me for most of my life. How can I take that risk?

And I like Alex, I really do. What I know of him. He seems funny and charming and of course he’s so sexy. But I’m pretty sure I only invited him tonight because I’m scared to be alone with Oscar. What was I thinking?

When I get to Wok the Boat, Oscar’s behind the desk taking an order. He grins at me and says, ‘I won’t be a minute.’

I hop up on a stool at one of the tables around the edge and flick through a copy of
US Weekly
someone left behind. Only a couple of pages in, there’s a photo of Alex in the stars –
THEY’RE JUST LIKE US!
section. He’s putting petrol in his car and the caption says:
STARS AND CARS! ALEX HALL PULLED OFF THE STELLAR HIGHWAY TO GRAB SOME GAS
.

That’s the other thing about Alex. If I go out with him, I have to deal with the paparazzi and the flirty baristas and everything else that comes with being a celebrity. Particularly here. I don’t know if I could cope.

Oscar comes over and hops up on the stool next to me. He’s wearing the expelliarmus T-shirt I got him at Warner Brothers.

‘I thought you had to wear a Wok the Boat shirt?’ I say.

He looks down at his T-shirt. ‘There was a small health-and-safety incident. Those flames can really leap.’

I frown. ‘Listen,’ I say, ‘I need to tell you something.’

His eyes widen and I can tell he thinks I’m going to bring up the kiss. What I can’t tell is whether or not he wants me to. I find myself glancing down at his mouth and force myself to look back up. ‘I sort of invited Alex here.’

He blinks. ‘Alex Hall? Now?’

‘Yes. I’m really sorry. He phoned when I was walking over and when I said we were having noodles he said he likes noodles and then…’

He looks stunned. ‘Wow. Er, OK. Yeah, that’s no problem.’

‘You really don’t mind? I know I should’ve asked you first. I just didn’t think.’

‘No, that’s fine.’ He hops down off the stool and says, ‘I’d better warn the others. Don’t want any embarrassing hysterical scenes. Sam’s a screamer.’

I know as soon as the door opens that Alex has arrived. I hear the gasp from the other customers and actually feel the atmosphere change in the room. I look up and he’s stopped just inside the door. He’s wearing sunglasses and he’s got his phone to his ear. When he sees me, he grins and I feel my stomach clench. On the one hand, I can’t believe he’s here to meet me. On the other, I still can’t believe I invited him.

‘Hey,’ he says, hopping up on the stool next to me, where Oscar was sitting a little while ago. He smells fantastic, sort of woody with a bit of vanilla.

‘You found it OK?’

He nods. ‘I’ve run past it a few times, but I’ve never been in.’ He grins. ‘It’s a crazy place. How are you?’

I tell him that I’ve spent the day helping Bex with her video audition and he says, ‘I could come and read with her sometime, if she wants.’

‘Seriously?’ I say. ‘That’s so nice of you. She’d love that. I think she’s struggling a bit with doing it by herself, which is why I’ve been reading with her.’

‘No problem,’ he says. ‘It does take some getting used to, but it’s a really important skill to have. So many casting directors ask for videos now. Has she seen Emma Stone’s
Easy A
audition? It’s like a video masterclass.’

‘I’ll tell her. Thank you.’

‘So what’s good here?’ Alex asks. He swivels on the stool to look at the menu up on the wall. He hasn’t taken his sunglasses off.

Once his attention’s off me, I realise that everyone else’s attention is on him and I suddenly feel a bit self-conscious. So how weird must it be to be Alex? No wonder he wants to hide behind something.

‘The pad thai’s great,’ I tell him. ‘And the spring rolls are really good too.’

‘Can we order?’ he says. ‘Or are we waiting for your friend?’

‘Oh,’ I say. ‘He’s here. I’ll introduce you…’

As I look for Oscar, I feel slightly panicky. Everyone’s looking at us and I don’t know what I’m doing. It was a mistake to invite Alex tonight, I know it was. But it’s too late now. Now I just have to get through it.