HDU (34 page)

“I had a ten minute conversation on the phone with
your parents.”

Her eyes shot open.
 
“You
what
?” She
turned to face him and saw that his cheeks were surprisingly red as he covered
his big laugh with his hand.
 
It
made her break out into a smile.
 

“Your dad called while we were in the car and you
were too drunk to talk to him, so… I did.
 
He was cool, he kind of talked to me like we’ve known each other for
years.
 
Just asked about the
weather here and if I was a Yankees or Mets fan.
 
But your mom was a different story…”

“Oh God, I’m sorry about her.”
 
Amanda held her heart.
 
She hadn’t spoken to her parents in a
week or two and she knew how feisty her mother got when she wasn’t provided
updates.
 
“What did she say?”

“She told me that she hasn’t stopped Googling me
since you left home and she wanted to make sure that I’m using protection with
you considering my ‘extensive’ sexual history with ‘loose girls.’”

Amanda’s jaw dropped to what she thought had to be
the floor.
 
She could just have
easily been mortified but instead, she burst into laughter – so hard that
she felt the physical need to roll around in bed.
 
“Oh my God, that’s amazing,” she gasped, clutching her
stomach.
 
Liam laughed at her
reaction and tugged on her T-shirt, bear hugging her so she would stop rolling
around.

“Stop looking so happy.
 
I had no idea how to respond.
 
I was off my game from all the drinking.”

Amanda couldn’t help cackling hysterically, squeezing
tears out of her eyes.
 
Suddenly
she missed her mother.
 
She was
nosy and inappropriate, but she wasn’t as bad as the rest of Merit and at least
she was coming from a place of concern.
 
Amanda missed her father too.
 
It didn’t surprise her at all that he’d been totally unfazed by talking
on the phone with a celebrity.
 
He
was content to just talk about weather and sports – it didn’t matter with
whom.
 
Suddenly, she was dismayed
to realize she’d gone so long without calling or emailing them.
 
But then again, she hadn’t had a single
calm moment in the past few weeks to think about them undisturbed.
 
She never would have thought that her
first moment of peace in a long while would come in Liam’s bed, rolling around
half naked.

“Oh man,” Amanda sighed when she got a hold of her hysterics,
opening her eyes to see that she was in the middle of the huge mattress, Liam
laying beside her with one arm still wrapped around her body.
 
He watched with amusement as she came
down from her giggles.

“Your dad seemed pretty funny.
 
He talks a lot like my brother.”

She shifted and got comfortable, pulling a pillow
under her head.
 
“Logan?”

Liam nodded.
 
“They’re just calm, cool people.
 
Nothing makes them sweat.”

“True.
 
Though if my dad ever met Logan, he’d talk his ear off.”
 
Amanda smiled as she played with a lock
of her hair.
 
“My grandpa fought in
the Korean War so he thinks all the stories he heard growing up makes him an
expert about being in the service.”

Liam picked up a lock of her hair too.
 
“That’s cool, Logan’s the king of
listening to people talk for hours and actually staying interested.
 
He got those genes, I didn’t.”

Amanda bopped his head.
 
“Be prouder of that.”

“I’m not proud, I’m just saying,” he laughed.
 
“He’s just cool like that.
 
Like I told you, Logan’s the man.”

“Too bad my dad will never meet him,” Amanda
lamented, mostly playfully.
 
“Since
we’re breaking up in a week-and-half, or whenever it is you start shooting.
 
Our contract is up.”

It was silent for a moment as Liam seemed to realize
this, pausing with a lock of Amanda’s hair wound around his finger.
 
He shrugged.
 
“Who says we can’t extend it?”

HOW AMANDA
NATHAN BECAME AMERICA’S NEW SWEETHEART

Pop Rock Gossip

By Jessie O.

February 7

We love appointing an “America’s Sweetheart.”
 
Since she’s usually an actress, she has
to be charming, non-controversial, not
too
gorgeous, and most importantly, relatable.
 
They’re hard to find in Hollywood, the breeding ground of
filth and debauchery.
 
That’s why
when we find one, we treasure her.
 
She’s our angel, our princess, our sweetheart – everything we
believe
we
are, but just a little
more glamorous.

Our last sweetheart was Casey Mulreed.
 
Her pixie-like allure and spotless
reputation won our hearts.
 
But
recently, the unthinkable happened – she was exposed as a dry-witted,
sarcastic, vodka-guzzling
substance addict
.
 
The horror! Now Mulreed has been
bounced from sweetheart status to fascinating fuck-up, which is fine because
who doesn’t love one of those? I for one can’t wait to hear more about her
inherited addiction and how she managed to keep it a secret all these years.
 
But back to the point – she has been
bounced from the pristine sweetheart throne, and now someone new has to come
and take a wholesome seat on it.
 

So, why not Amanda Nathan? Ironically, she rose to
stardom partly because of Mulreed herself, a self-proclaimed “close friend” of the
blogger who has usurped her title.
 
That’s right, blogger.
 
Like
myself and perhaps you or your neighbor, Nathan blogs – and not even that
frequently or officially (though certainly, adorably and hilariously).
 
It seems she just does it when she has
the time and it’s not even likely she’s making money on her ad-less
website.
 
Then why is she a good
candidate for America’s new sweetheart? Simply put, it’s for how Hollywood she
isn’t
.

Like many Americans, Amanda Nathan is un-glamorous, a
mediocre dresser, shaky in her career, admittedly insecure, and above a size four
in jeans.
 
She’s one of us but still
elevated enough to be an idol because, let’s be honest, not just anyone can
catch and keep Liam Brody’s eye or survive the constant media attention and scrutiny
of gossip trolls who salivate at the mere sight of a cellulite dimple.
 
Amanda can do it because despite what
she’s said about her insecurity in blog entries, she’s a toughie, and someone
we naturally root for.
 
We love
seeing her attend A-list events with increased confidence every time.
 
We love watching her progress, trying
to imagine that we could walk just as proud as she can among stars who, with
the help of professional stylists and dieticians, are dressed a hundred times
better.
 

Amanda is living proof that normal women have the
chance of running with the best of Hollywood because she has done it herself,
fighting past the mental wear-and-tear of celebrity without the armor of
stunning looks or physique.
 
She
stays poised, doesn’t make stupid remarks, fights past silly controversy, and
drops friends who are obviously getting a little too Hollywood, douchey and
psychotic (re: Ian Marsh).
 
She
just lives her quasi-normal life as a good friend, loyal girlfriend, and
wholesome American girl.
 
She’s
everything we believe we are, but just a teeny, tiny, microscopic, barely
there, itsy
bit
more
glamorous.
 

- Chapter 11 -

Extending the contract by another month was a happy
thing.
 
Both of their careers had
been significantly boosted since being together, so why not go for an
extension? It would be easy.
 
Within a week, Liam would start shooting in Nebraska and Amanda could
easily stay in New York and work on her own career, whatever that may be.
 
She would fly out to location perhaps
twice in the four weeks that he’d be there.
 
The contract would end by the time Liam left for the country
of Jordan, where the film was set to shoot throughout the months of April and
May.
 
Then, Amanda would be a single
woman in the city, which, according to television and movies, was supposed to
be thrilling and rejuvenating or something like that.

But drafting up a new contract still made her stomach
twist and turn.
 
It wasn’t hard to
write – its main message was that Amanda would remain Liam’s girlfriend
throughout the filming of
A Soldier
while retaining the same payment – but she just wished she could be doing
it with Ian.
 
The process flashed her
back to hanging out in his room at the Marriott outside Columbia.
 
They were both so bright and happy then
as they laid down the terms for Liam to agree to.
 
Ian had given Amanda the fees that she should charge in
order to survive comfortably in a place like Manhattan, a place she knew
absolutely nothing of then.

Now, she knew the city well and Ian less.
 
He was lost somewhere in it.
 
The gossip sites suggested he hung out
mostly in the Lower East Side, but Amanda had also read that he’d been dining
in the Meatpacking District with The Edgy Kids, as well as his new “friend,”
the actress Desiree Silver.
 
Amanda
figured Desiree was just an attempt at Natalie Bell’s attention, but she also
didn’t doubt that Ian was sleeping with her.
 
On multiple occasions, Desiree had been photographed leaving
his apartment wearing the same outfit she had donned the night before, but
rumpled.

totally my new
dirty crush
, a comment on HDU had read that morning.
 
Nearly a dozen replied in agreement,
and while Amanda cringed, she could hardly blame her users.
 
Ian posted pictures that even she found
wildly flattering, which said something considering his good looks to begin
with.
 
In addition, he posted
screencaps of his wittiest tweets and most biting responses to people who
bashed him for hurting Casey’s career.
 
It was unsurprising that despite being hated by most of America, Ian had
become suddenly popular on HDU – the users loved people who were disorderly
and audacious, who challenged authority and stirred up juicy drama.
 
They were regarded as the best kind of
entertainment, and no one knew that better than Ian.

Too distracted, Amanda shut her laptop.
 
The new contract could wait until Saturday,
which was the official end of their first one.
 
Liam had his first table read for
A Soldier
that morning, and they had planned on having dinner that
night to renew their agreement.
 
It
was to be the first time they would see each other since Sunday because Liam
had sworn to seclude himself in his apartment for three days of diligent script-reading.
 
Amanda was fine with that – she
needed the time alone to write up a blog entry anyway.
 
After all, she was supposed to have made
a career of her posts but had gotten lazy after realizing that merely going out
and being photographed kept her relevant.

But as she got ready to go out and first grab a
coffee, her phone vibrated with a text from Liam.

Hey.
 
You should buy a dress today
,
we have to go somewhere big tomorrow
.

Amanda frowned as she responded.
 
whaaat.
i was going to get some writing done at home.
 
While she was actually grateful for an excuse not to write,
she knew that if she delayed her entry any longer, she just wouldn’t do it at
all.
 
Ian had been her motivation
to keep a blog in the first place and be famous for something a little more
than nothing.
 
Now, motivation had
to be found elsewhere.

As she fought with herself about the damned blog, Liam’s
response came.
 
That’s very cute but we both know I’m saving
you from a day of staring at your laptop and eventually turning on the TV. Go
out and find a dress for me to buy you because we’re going to the Critic’s
Choice Awards tomorrow. Flying to L.A tonight.

Amanda sucked in a huge gasp.
 
“No
way
!”
she exhaled, nearly crushing her phone in her hand with excitement.
 
She had never been to Los Angeles let
alone a glitzy award show.
 
Her
fingers typed furiously as she asked why they were suddenly attending.
 
Apparently, it was for publicity.
 
Liam’s publicist had last-minute squeezed
him into the lineup of presenters and had even booked him a few interviews to
talk about
A Soldier
before the show.
 
They would fly back to New York on
Friday morning, arriving home in time for Liam to have the rest of the day to
go over lines before his Saturday read through.