HDU (27 page)

U should bring
Liam

Miss u

~

Megan would be arriving to New York in less than
forty-eight hours.
 
Worse, Amanda
had drunkenly responded with an agreement to go to dinner with her.
 
But another fact bothered her by far
the most.
 
Megan was
job-hunting
in the city, or so she
claimed.
 
She had a meeting with “a
possible agent.”
 
Her stay could
very well last forever.
 
Amanda had
certainly won the battle of their last meeting, but she remembered well how Megan
had never been one to go down without a fight.
 
If someone did well, she always had to do better.
 
It was her right to as the prettiest,
most treasured girl from Merit, Missouri – to remain always the most
admired and successful.
 
Amanda’s
adventures in New York were but a challenge for Megan to match and do better.

“Ugh, this week,” Amanda sighed as she flopped down
on Liam’s leather couch, laying on her back.
 
They had returned to his apartment after breakfast because
amidst her Megan-induced panic, she had deemed herself unfit to be around
paparazzi lenses.
 
“Ex-best friend
coming to town.
 
Current best
friend M.I.A, possibly having psychotic episode when I need him most.”

Liam crinkled his brow as he headed over from kitchen,
a mug in his hand.
 
“What do you
even need Ian for?”

“Mental support.
 
He’s kept me sane.”

“And saved all the crazy for himself,
apparently.
 
You’ll do fine without
him,” Liam said, lifting Amanda’s legs so he could also take a seat on the
couch.
 
She blushed when he
released them onto his lap, letting them rest there.
 
“I saw you take on Megan once.
 
I’m sure you can do it again on your homecourt,” he said as
he handed her the mug.
 
The smell
of chamomile and honey wafted up her nose.

“You made this for me?” Amanda couldn’t help cooing.

“So you would calm down and stop moaning.”

She narrowed her eyes at him as she sipped the
tea.
 
Its perfect temperature and
sweetness convinced her not to bother with a retort.

“See, it’s already working,” he said, turning on the television.
 
As he flipped the channels, Amanda rested
her head back.
 
The tea was calming
her stomach.
 
And Liam was right
– she was fine without Ian’s guidance.
 
She was starting to figure things out by herself anyway, especially
in terms of networking and managing her blog.
 
If she could do that and take on the scrutiny that came with
being a heartthrob’s inexplicably plain girlfriend, Amanda was pretty sure she
could take on a basic mean girl from back home.
 
It would just take a little bit of flaunting, which she
would be more than happy to do.
 
After
all, she had fame and Liam on her side – the two things that Megan wanted
most.
 
There really was no reason
to be afraid of her anymore.

Amanda paused as she wrapped her hands around the hot
mug.
 
This could actually be kind of fun.
 

~

look at this
poor face! he’s so jealous he can’t come to dinner tonight LOL!

Amanda awoke late on Wednesday afternoon, and to a
picture message in her phone.
 
It
had been sent about six hours earlier, and despite seeing that it was from
Megan, she was still surprised to find herself groggily staring at a photo of
her ex.
 
In it, Megan posed behind
him, an arm around his waist as he pouted for her iPhone camera.
 
It was annoying that despite posing for
a self-portrait and wearing Megan like a jacket, Amanda still found Brandt
attractive.
 
Ugh
.

“Well
my
boyfriend’s famous, so suck it,” she muttered sardonically as she rolled out of
bed.
 
She decided to distract
herself with her computer, perhaps check to see if there were any further updates
on the Internet about Ian.
 
However
instead of seeing any news on him, Amanda quickly found her own name emblazoned
alongside Liam’s on the first page of Pop Dinner, her go-to site for breaking
news.
 
The headline was underlined,
bolded
and
italicized.

BREAKING: LIAM CHEATING
ON AMANDA WITH SEXY MODEL!

Her first reaction was to laugh it off, though only
until she noticed the accompanying image.
 
She had known the headline would come out soon – people had to be
itching to write it – but she didn’t think it would arrive with a picture
of proof.
 
All she needed to see
was Liam’s lips on the beautiful girl’s cheek and his hand on her behind to
feel utterly humiliated.
 
She
immediately thought about Merit, about Tandy Mueller and all her neighbors from
home probably laughing at the news.
 
Once that emotion passed, she grew furious.
 
She thought of Dylan – someone she could possibly be
having dinner with by now, flirting with relentlessly were she not so carefully
controlling her urges for the sake of her “relationship.”
 
Liam was supposed to doing the same, but
clearly he wasn’t.
 
It’s all ruined
, Amanda thought with
total dismay.

As if on cue, she heard his footsteps in the
hall.
 
Good
, she thought, storming out of her bedroom just in time to see him
coming through the front door.
 
He
didn’t look surprised to see her standing there already.

“Hey,” he said.

Amanda blinked.
 
“
Hey
?” she repeated, hands balled
into fists.
 
“God, Liam.
 
You had to let this happen on the
day
she was coming in?”

“Who?”

“Megan!” she answered incredulously.
 
“This makes me look bad, Liam, it makes
me look just…
stupid
in front of her.
 
In front of everyone! They all
predicted this would happen the moment they got one look at me!”

He took off his jacket and walked to her slowly.
 
“First of all, calm down.”

The suggestion made her practically want to spit.
 
“
Calm
down
? Why should I? I could be out there making our agreement look like a
joke too, and trust me, I
want
to, but
you don’t see me doing it.”
 
He
caught her angry, flailing arms.
 
She tried to free them but he easily contained her.
 
“Don’t touch me,” she grunted, fighting
him.
 
He let her for a moment because
it was completely in vain, but then he got stern.

“Just stop.”
 

“Let
go
of
me.”

“Amanda, the picture is from two years ago.”

What
? She
immediately slowed her thrashing, though her eyes remained narrowed at him.

“They dug it up for a story.
 
It’s what they do, and you can’t react
like this every time,” Liam said, cautiously loosening his grip on her
forearms.
 
She could still feel his
fingers on her pulse point, her heartbeat pounding against them.
 
“Look again if you want.
 
It’s summer in the picture.
 
She’s wearing shorts for Christ’s
sake.”

Amanda paused, her eyes drifting and her muscles relaxing
as she recalled the photo.
 
His
hand had been slipped into the heart-adorned pocket of denim shorts –
shorts that wouldn’t be worn in the current dead of winter.
 
Oh
,
she realized with a sudden embarrassment.
 

“Alright?” Liam asked, holding her cheek to turn her
face back towards him.
 
She
reluctantly met his eye.

“Yeah.
 
I
got it,” she said.

“I haven’t even been with anyone since you came here.”
 

“O
kay
.”
 
Soaking in the information, Amanda
finally covered her face and sighed, letting herself crumble in a heap to the floor.
 
“I just,” she said into her hand.
 
“It’s just Megan – ” She had
gained an edge on their battle before even landing.
 

“I know, but my publicist is on it,” Liam said, scooping
her up from the floor and sitting her on the couch.
 
He peeled her hands off her face.
 
“It’ll blow over in a few hours,” he said.
 
“In the meantime, just don’t go online,
don’t read comments, don’t listen to what anyone has to say.
 
Just hang out here and we can watch a
movie until you have to go to dinner.
 
Do you have your… outfit and your… shoes and stuff picked
out?”

Amanda peered up at him slowly and quizzically.
 
He knelt before her on one knee, his
brows slightly knit, his head cocked to try and meet her eye.
 
Sympathetic was a strange look on him.
 
She couldn’t help the laugh that
bubbled out of her lips and straight at his face.
 
He smirked and promptly stood back up.

“Unless you’re fine, which I take it you are.”

She pressed her fist against her mouth to cease her
giggles.
 
Fully relaxed now, she
began to truly absorb the past few minutes.
 
“Wait a second.
 
You haven’t been with anyone since I got here?”

Liam paused as if he’d forgotten he’d said that.
 
“I was focused on the audition.”

“I didn’t peg you as a guy who could go that long,” Amanda
dared to say.
 
He only laughed
tartly in response.
 
She gazed at
him with awe.
 
“Oh my God, it’s
killing you isn’t it?”

“No,” he answered flatly.

“It totally is though,” Amanda pressed jeeringly.
 
She found herself fascinated with the
topic but she didn’t know why.
 
“I
mean, especially now that you’re done auditioning, it’s got to be on your mind.
 
How long has it
been
exactly?”
 

Liam ran his hand across his face. “Can we not talk
about this, Amanda?”

“Oh, okay.
 
You get to make fun of me for everything in the world but I can’t do it
to you once.”

He considered it.
 
“It’s been six weeks.
 
What else do you need to know?”

Amanda blinked, surprised that her line worked.
 
She tried her luck.
 
“What… frequency were you accustomed to
before that?”

Her wording made him laugh, but his answer remained
reluctant.
 
“It was frequent
enough, Amanda.”

“Daily?” She cocked an eyebrow.
 
He gave a one-shouldered shrug as if to
say, “So?”
 
She raised both
eyebrows.
 
Wow
.
 
“So, haven’t you
been tempted by anyone since?”

“Yes.”

Before she could ask whom, her phone vibrated against
the wooden table.
 
Anticipating
Megan, she forgot the conversation and hastily reached for it.
 
She could just imagine her landing at
JFK to the thrilling news of Liam’s alleged affair.
 
The prospect of Amanda’s second romantic humiliation must
have given her such satisfaction.
 
Amanda clenched her jaw as she flipped open her phone, anticipating a
text full of phony, premature sympathy – but that was not what it
contained.

“What in the
hell
?”
she couldn’t help saying aloud when she opened the message.
 
But the words –
at my hotel!!! can’t wait to see u!!!!
–
weren’t the cause for Amanda’s surprise.
 
It was the image attached.
 
The
Megan in the photo was different than the one pictured in the morning’s
message.
 
This one looked like she
had spent a lot of cash to appear ready for a Maxim cover shoot.
 
She was newly styled with a dramatic
and wavy up-do, a few kittenish locks falling down to frame her slender
face.
 
Combined with a cutout
bandage dress that showed as much cleavage as it could without being a wardrobe
malfunction, she appeared more Hollywood sex symbol than small-town beauty.
 
Amanda felt as if the wind had been
knocked out of her.
 
She hadn’t
known that Megan possessed the capacity to look any hotter.
 

“What?” Liam asked, taking the phone from her limp
hand.
 
Amanda mustered the energy
to look up at him and watch for his reaction, which apparently couldn’t be
contained.

“Jesus
Christ
,”
he exhaled as if someone had just punched him in the stomach.
 
His astonishment made Amanda’s heart
sink along with the rest of her body, which shriveled into the couch.
 
She couldn’t believe herself.
 
How
did I not see it coming
? Of course an even finer Megan would show up in New
York
 
– walking alongside
Amanda was her best chance of gaining exposure.
 
Fame, Amanda realized, was not so much her advantage but a
stepping stool for Megan’s celebrity.
 
The realization made gave her the worst kind of chills.