Emma hearts LA (15 page)

Tabby is standing at the counter, staring at Alex, an unfolded cardboard carton in her hands. Oscar’s standing near the woks with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. As soon as I see him, I feel relieved.

‘That’s my friend Oscar in the dorky T-shirt,’ I tell Alex.

Alex takes his sunglasses off, slides off his stool and heads towards the counter. Oscar comes round the front of the counter and shakes Alex’s hand. ‘The dorky T-shirt you bought me,’ he says to me, smiling.

Something in his expression makes me think he said that on purpose to let Alex know what good friends we are, but Oscar’s not like that. He wouldn’t be possessive about me, I’m sure.

I introduce Alex to Tabby too and just as she’s opening and closing her mouth like a fish, Sam appears through the back door. He says, ‘What’s shakin’?’ and then stops dead, stares at Alex, and says, ‘Holy sh— rimp! You actually came!’

‘Good to meet you, man,’ Alex says, holding out his hand to Sam.

‘I
love
your show!’ Sam grins and pulls Alex into one of those back-slapping hugs boys do.

Alex and I sit back down and Oscar sits on my other side. It’s awkward because we’re sitting at a bar, so we’re all in a row. If I’m looking at Alex, my back is to Oscar and vice versa. I try to shuffle back a bit on my stool, but I’m too scared of falling off it backwards to go too far. I hold on to the edge of the bar, just in case.

Oscar asks Alex about his show and how long he’s been in LA. He tells us about his audition for
Stellar Highway
and that his character’s named Luke as a nod to Luke Skywalker and I see Oscar’s face light up.

‘I just read a brilliant blog post about watching the trilogies in a different order,’ Oscar says. ‘Apparently it works really well. If you skip
Episode I
altogether and start with—’

‘I’m not really a
Star Wars
fan,’ Alex interrupts, and I feel a bit taken aback on Oscar’s behalf. God knows I don’t want to sit here talking about Boba Fett or whatever, but he could’ve at least let him finish his sentence.

Sam brings over the noodles and spring rolls and we spend a few minutes passing the boxes around and sharing the food out between us.

‘What films do you like?’ I ask Alex. ‘If you’re not a
Star Wars
fan.’

He leans on his elbow and rubs the back of his neck. ‘I don’t know. I really liked the Bourne films, you know? Matt Damon’s a cool guy. Have you seen them?’

I shake my head. ‘I liked him in
Ocean’s Eleven,
though.’

Alex nods. ‘Yeah, they were good. And I really like movies like
Captain America
, you know?
Thor
.
X-Men
. I’d love to do something like that.’

He and Oscar talk for a bit about
Captain America
, which I haven’t seen, while I eat the spring rolls and look from one to the other, like I’m watching a tennis match.

Oscar is looking at Alex, but Alex is fiddling with his phone, looking around the room or down at his food. But I know that Oscar’s eye-contact thing can be a bit hard to get used to so I can’t really hold that against him. Not that I’m particularly looking for things to hold against him. At least, I don’t think I am.

It’s funny, if I’d thought about it before, I would have said they had nothing in common, looks-wise, but looking at them either side of me I realise they’re actually quite similar-looking. They both have floppy fringes – although Oscar’s is bright red and Alex’s is brown with some very subtle highlights – and they both have really startling, huge smiles. Alex looks more polished and ‘Hollywood’ but they definitely have a look of each other. They’ve even got similar bluey-grey eyes. Weird.

Once they’ve exhausted the
Captain America
topic, Alex asks me about films and we talk about that for a while until Sam comes over with some more drinks.

‘On the house,’ he says, as he puts them down in front of us.

We thank him and he starts asking Alex about
Stellar Highway
. While Alex talks to Sam, I try to think of something to say to Oscar, but I can’t think of a single thing apart from ‘So. That kiss.’ It’s like an alarm blaring in my brain: KISS! KISS! KISS!

‘I started drawing again,’ I say, after a much longer silence than I’ve had with Oscar for a while.

His face lights up. ‘Seriously? That’s brilliant.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘It feels really good.’ I’m about to say it was seeing the moon drawing in his room that made me want to try, but then I remember that I saw that drawing just before THE KISS so I grab a spring roll and shove it in my mouth instead.

‘You waited for it to cool down,’ he says, smiling. ‘Progress.’

‘I find you can appreciate the taste more if you haven’t just seared the surface off your tongue,’ I say. ‘Tongue’ is a bit closer to KISS than I’m really comfortable with, but it’s too late now.

I look at Oscar out of the corner of my eye. He’s pulling at his bottom lip with a finger and thumb. Is that a nervous thing or a dorky thing like locking his lips? I look up and realise he’s just caught me looking at his mouth. I feel myself blush and swig my drink.

This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid with Oscar. We’ve always been so comfortable together. Even after not seeing each other for years, we just fell back into our friendship so easily and I really liked that. It’s exactly what I’ve missed since Jessie left. But Jessie’s right, isn’t she? The kiss has changed everything, whether we take it any further or not. So does that mean I may as well take it further? Does that mean I’ve got nothing to lose? Or does it mean I’m running the risk of losing Oscar either way?

One of the main tables becomes free when some people leave, looking back at Alex as they go, and we move over to sit there. I sit across from Alex and Oscar sits next to me. It’s better than the bar because we don’t have the awkwardness of sitting in a row, so the conversation flows better. Sam joins us for a while – until Tabby yells at him to get back to work – and I actually have a pretty good time, although I never manage to relax completely and I just can’t stop comparing Oscar and Alex. It’s exhausting.

Once we’ve finished all the food and drained our drinks, Alex says, ‘I think I’d better head off. I’ve got an early call tomorrow, so…’

‘Right,’ I say. ‘I should be getting back too, actually.’

‘Can I give you a ride?’ Alex says.

‘Oh! That would be great, yeah. If you don’t mind.’

He asks Oscar if he wants a lift too, but Oscar says he’s going to stay behind and help Sam and Tabby clean up.

‘You sure?’ Alex says.

‘Absolutely,’ Oscar says, sounding really English in comparison to Alex, ‘but thanks, man.’

I grin at the ‘man’ and Oscar pulls a face at me.

‘Talk tomorrow?’ I say and he nods.

I follow Alex towards the door, but just before we get there, a girl sitting at one of the other tables says, ‘I love you, Alex’ and darts forward to kiss his cheek as her friend snaps a photo on her phone. I think she calls me a bitch but I’m not sure. And then Alex opens the door and I’m blinded by flashes.

‘Whoa!’ Alex says from behind me. ‘When did they turn up?’

He grabs my arm and tugs me to the left, along the front of the restaurant.

The paparazzi are shouting and the flashes and the clicking and whirring of cameras – there’s even what looks like a TV camera there – are really disorientating.

Someone shouts ‘Who’s the girl, Alex?’ and then it’s all I can hear. They keep repeating it: ‘Who’s the girl, Alex?’, ‘Alex, what’s her name?’, ‘What’s your name, honey?’

Alex doesn’t say anything to the photographers, but to me he says, ‘Just keep walking. My car’s not that far.’

The photographers follow us along the path and judging by the sound a few more people have joined in. It’s quite frightening having them behind us – not looking round, just knowing they are there. My heart’s racing. I don’t like it at all. I see the car park ahead and then Alex clicks his key and I see the lights flash on his car: a huge, black SUV. I’m so relieved to get there. Once we’re both in the car, Alex starts the engine and pulls away slowly, but the photographers are still clambering all over the car and the flashes are still going off from every direction. Alex just pulls through them all slowly, and then we’re back on the main road and away from them all.

‘Are you all right?’ he asks me.

My hands are shaking. ‘Yeah. Thanks. But that was horrible.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘I didn’t know they were out there. One of them must have followed me from home.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ I say. ‘What do they even want? A photo of you coming out of a noodle place? Why?’

‘Cos they can make a hell of a lot of money doing it,’ Alex says.

‘Yeah, I get that, but do they have to be so aggressive about it?’

‘Like I said yesterday, you get used to it.’

‘I don’t know if I would want to,’ I say.

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes and then Alex says, ‘So Oscar’s a nice guy.’

‘He’s great,’ I say. And then I can’t think of anything else to say, because he just is. He’s really great. And I know I messed up really badly tonight.

We turn off Washington Boulevard and onto Oscar’s street. I stare at his house as we pass, even though I know there’s no way he can be home yet.

I tell Alex to turn right at the end of the road and he grins at me.

‘Wow!’ Alex says. ‘You live here? On the canals? So cool.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘It is.’

We get to the end of my street and I say, ‘You can just drop me here. If you go down there, you’ll have to reverse out.’

‘Are you sure? I can walk you down.’

‘No, it’s fine, honestly. Thanks, though.’

I open the door and the internal light comes on.

‘Are you really OK?’ Alex says. ‘You seem freaked out.’

‘I am a bit.’ I smile at him. ‘But I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.’

Alex looks concerned and, as I look at him, I realise something.

‘Your eyes,’ I say. ‘They’re different. I noticed earlier, but I wasn’t sure…’

He pulls a face. ‘I wear coloured contacts for the show. I’m supposed to have starlight in me or something. You thought they were real?’

I nod.

He grins. ‘Nah. They’re just for effect.’

‘Right,’ I say. ‘Don’t believe what you see on TV.’

I start to turn to get out of the car, but Alex says, ‘Emma?’

When I turn back to face him, he leans forward and kisses me. My lips tingle, but I think it must be from the chillies in the pad thai because even though Alex Hall is kissing me, all I can think about is Oscar. I pull away and bang my head on the car door. What is with me and kissing? Is every kiss I ever have going to end in a potential concussion?

‘Thank you,’ I say, ridiculously. I almost run back to my house.

When I wake up, it takes me a while to shake off my dreams. I had the most terrible night’s sleep. I kept dreaming I was back in Wok the Boat with the paparazzi outside, hammering on the windows, smashing their way in. I had it over and over again – it started the same each time, but the ending was different. Once the door burst open and the photographers flooded in, grabbing at Alex and me. Once I ran out of the back door with Oscar and we ran down to the beach and the water’s edge. Once Alex and I drove away, but he just kept driving faster and faster until I screamed and then I woke up. It was exhausting.

Sitting up in bed, I switch my phone on and it rings almost instantly. Jessie.

‘Have you seen TMZ?’ she says straight away.

‘No,’ I say. ‘Why?’ But as soon as I say it I realise what it must be. ‘Oh my god, really?’

‘There are about ten photos and a video. Are you all right?’

‘What does it say?’

‘Nothing, really. Just
WHO’S ALEX’S NEW GIRL?
kind of thing. The video looks scary.’

‘It was,’ I say.

‘But you’re OK?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine. Well, I’m freaking out, but I’m fine.’

‘Why are you freaking out?’

I give Jessie all the details about last night. About how I panicked at the thought of being alone with Oscar and invited Alex along. About how it was weird between Oscar and me. About how I thought of Oscar when Alex kissed me. And about the kayak. She didn’t even know about the kayak.

‘You’re such an idiot,’ she says.

‘Thank you. You’re a good friend.’

‘But, Em, it’s obvious you like him!’

I kick the quilt off my legs; it feels claustrophobic.

‘What am I going to do about Alex?’

‘What do you want to do?’

‘I can’t cope with the paparazzi. I don’t want to be on TMZ.’

‘You need to tell him that, then.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. I swing my legs off the bed. My head is banging.

‘Listen,’ Jessie says. ‘I’ve actually got something that might cheer you up.’