Loving Summer (Loving Summer Series) (5 page)

            I start to pull away, but his grip on my hand is tight enough that I grimace. “Drew, that hurts.”

            “Let her go,” Astor says.

            Drew lets my hand drop. I don’t think it’s because of Astor, so much as simple shock at having hurt me. “I’m sorry, Summer, but I really need to talk to you. In private.”

            He says that with a pointed look at Astor. I look at him too and nod my head. “I’ll see you inside, Astor.”

            “Are you sure?” he asks, taking the hand that Drew’s squeezing has hurt and kissing it gently. My heart melts at that point. Astor Fairway was kissing my hand like a knight and I was his lady.

            “I’ll be fine,” I assure him, and Astor heads back inside. Drew pulls me back out of sight of the house before he talks.

            “Listen, Summer, I know why you’re looking at me like that.  I know how you feel about me sleeping around and treating girls like they’re to be used whenever I want sex.”

            “Like I said, it isn’t my business.”

            “That’s not what your face says,” Drew insists. “If you knew what I was going through… did you know that Mom and Dad are getting divorced?”

            I shake my head in surprise. “Rachel didn’t say.”  I’m trying to register the news and wrap my head around it. Mr. and Mrs. Donovan are getting a divorce? It is hard to believe because Mrs. Donovan seems to love Mr. Donovan so much. Finally, I say, “I’m sorry…”

            “It’s why they agreed to us coming here. It gets us out of the way so they can argue as much as they like. Then I’ve got all the pressure everyone puts on me at school to be the best. To be the star…”

            “So you think that you somehow get to have sex with random girls because of that?” I demand.

            Drew grins, like it’s all some big joke, which makes me a little angry. “There’s nothing like it. Though I hear it’s even better if it’s with someone you actually care about.”

            He looks at me intently, and after a second, I get it. “No. No way. I am not sleeping with you, Drew. The thought of that is just…”

            “Just what?” Drew demands, his grin vanishing. “The thought of me and you is that bad? Or is it just that you’d rather have the TV star? You know that’s what he’ll want, right? Guys like him are used to girls throwing themselves at them. I’m just more straightforward about it.”

            “So you’re suddenly here to make sure nothing happens to me?” I ask. Like I believe that. “Just like you were when you were warning me off Nat?”

            Drew looks uncomfortable. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. I thought we were friends?”

            “We are friends,” I assure him, and I go to hug him, because we’re practically family. Drew pulls me into him, holding me tight against him so that I can feel the strength of his muscles under his shirt.

            “You smell really good, Summer,” Drew whispers against my hair. His arms drift down, resting right on top of my butt. “You feel good, too.” His arms tighten around me, and he whispers, “I’m sorry I disappointed you just now, but that’s how I relate to girls, and…”

            “Hey, Summer? Where are you?” Rachel’s voice comes out over the beach, and in just a second or two, I spot her. She spots us too, and she rushes forward, pulling Drew back from me. “Drew, what are you doing? I told you, Summer is off limits.”

            “Off limits?” I stare at Rachel. “What do you mean?”

            “I know what my brother is like,” Rachel said, “and I don’t want you getting hurt by him, so I told him to leave you alone.” She shrugs. “I’m not having him make you another one of his one night stands.”

            “Rachel,” Drew says. “I wouldn’t do that to Summer. We were talking.”

            “Talking, right,” Rachel shoots back. “I’m not blind, Drew. Leave her be.”

            I shake my head. I’m a little angry, and I don’t quite know why. I mean, Rachel is just trying to look out for me, right?

            “Rachel,” I say, “I can handle Drew. Whatever you think of him, I’m not going to sleep with him, and that’s that. Come on, I’m heading back inside.”

            Rachel starts to walk with me, with Drew just behind us. I figure I can at least share the other news.

            “You won’t believe this, but Astor Fairway asked me on a date.”

            “He did what?” Rachel’s even more excited than I am. She’s literally jumping up and down. “That’s great.”

            “I know.” I smile over at her, and I catch sight of Drew. He isn’t smiling. In fact, he looks furious.

Chapter
5

I
meet Astor at Disneyland, by the main gate. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, maybe because I thought I was getting a bit old for the whole Disney thing, but standing there with him, I just
know
that we’re going to have a great day. I mean, I’m going around one of the world’s biggest theme parks with Astor Fairway! Even if I were just going for a walk on the beach with him, the way we did the other night, that would be great. Going here with him is going to be something else.

            I’ve kind of dressed up for the occasion. At least, Rachel and I spent the better part of an hour picking out exactly the right sundress to go in. She was so excited for me that anyone would have thought I was meeting royalty. Though as she pointed out, Astor is
TV
royalty.

            He looks great today, wearing a hooded top I guess so that he can be less conspicuous if he wants to, over lightly faded jeans. It’s such a casual look that he shouldn’t look so gorgeous in it, but I get the feeling Astor would look great wearing just about anything.

            “Why Disneyland?” I ask, as we step out through the main entrance.

            Astor looks at me with a worried expression, like he thinks he might have done something wrong. “If you want to go somewhere else…”

            I shake my head. “No, it’s great. I used to come here with my aunt when I was younger. It’s just… well, I wouldn’t have thought it would be your thing.”

            “Why not?” Astor asks with a smile. “I’ve always liked it here. It’s just fun. It’s not trying to be anything else. There’s something kind of simple about that, and most of the rest of my life is pretty complicated.”

            “So you’ve been here before?” I ask.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here,” Astor says. “Not since I did some filming with them as a kid. But they kind of remember me. I don’t think we’ll have to wait in line too much.”

            I hadn’t thought of that. Of course they’re going to know him here. People know him everywhere. Even while we stand there, I see a few girls looking at him, obviously trying to decide if it’s really him, or if they can bring themselves to come up and start a conversation, especially since he’s with me.

            “You get used to the staring,” he says.

            I look at him. “Do you? I mean, I don’t think
I’d
ever get used to it.”

            “You must have people staring at you all the time,” Astor replies with a smile. “Boys, at least.”

            I can feel myself starting to blush. “Nothing like that.”

            Astor shakes his head. “I find that hard to believe. Are you really telling me that boys aren’t falling over themselves to ask you out?”

            I find myself thinking of Nat, and the way he’s never seemed to notice me the way that I want him to. “No, not really. So, what are we going to do here?”

            “That’s a good question. What are we going to do, Astor?”

            I turn around at the sound of Drew’s voice. He’s there, dressed casually in jeans and a dark t-shirt, looking at me expectantly. Despite my surprise and dismay, I have to admit, he looks hot.

            “Drew,” I say, “what are you doing here?”

            He smiles. “I heard Rachel talking about this place and I realized that I hadn’t been here in years, so I wanted to come by. Then I saw the two of you and I thought I’d come over to say hi.”

            Do I believe that? I don’t know what else to think. I mean, why else would Drew be here?

            “Well, that’s nice,” I say. “You met Astor at the party, didn’t you?”

            “Sure,” Drew says, holding out a hand to Astor. Astor shakes it, and I can see the two looking at one another. There’s something there I’m not sure I like, like they’re in some kind of competition, rather than just two boys meeting.

            “Say, Summer,” Drew says, “how about if I tag along with the two of you? I bet between us, we can remember all the best places to go here.”

            I want to shake my head, because the last thing I want is Drew in the middle of my day with Astor, but it isn’t like I can exactly turn him away either. I mean, he’s one of my closest friends, and we’re staying in the same house. I look over at Astor.

            “It’s fine,” Astor says. I guess he thinks he can’t really say anything else. “Let’s get going.”

            So we start to look around, and sure enough Drew does seem to remember plenty of the best places to go. At least, he’s constantly making suggestions about which rides we should go on, or where we should head next. I have to admit it’s pretty fun being there. There are so many things to see and do that weren’t there the last time I came. We head over to Paradise Pier, and then to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, making our way through the crowds and tagging onto the end of a tour when Drew suggests it. Astor keeps the hood of his top up for most of that one, because obviously, if anyone is going to recognize him…

            “Hey, Astor,” Drew says halfway through, loud enough that everyone else in the tour group hears it. “Have you ever done any filming here? I guess you must have, with some of the shows you’ve been in. What was the last one?”

            “Astor?” a girl in the group says. “Astor Fairway?”

            From there, it’s a feeding frenzy, because obviously everyone assumes that it’s just a part of the tour, and Astor can’t walk away without looking like some kind of spoiled, ungrateful superstar. So he has to stand there signing autographs and letting people take pictures with him for close to twenty minutes. People just seem to assume that he’s going to do it, and don’t seem to think that he might have been there to just enjoy the day like them. They certainly ignore the fact that I’m there with him. One of the girls there even makes a move to kiss him until Astor steps back, laughing, and points out that they haven’t even met properly yet. It’s such a gentle letdown, when there’s a part of me that wants to walk over there and pull her off him physically. But I’m not going to do that, because I know Astor can handle it. Instead, I go over to Drew.

            “What was that about?” I ask.

            “What was what about?” he says, like he hasn’t done anything.

            “You deliberately drew attention to who Astor was. Did you want this to happen?”

            Drew shrugs. “I didn’t know it was meant to be some kind of big secret. You notice that he’s completely forgotten about you, Summer? He’s too busy dealing with his ‘public’.”

            “And if he ignored them, you’d probably say he was some kind of jerk for doing that,” I snap back. “What’s wrong with you, Drew?”

            “There’s nothing wrong with me,” he insists. “I’m just here to have a good time. I thought we all were.”

“And how good a time do you think Astor is having in the middle of a mob of fans?” I ask.

That gets another shrug from Drew. “You think he doesn’t love it really? All that attention? All those girls trying to get as close to him as possible. I’m surprised he didn’t let that one who wanted to kiss him do it.”

I glare at him. “That might be what
you
would have done, but that doesn’t mean he would.”

“
Any
guy would,” Drew argues. “Honestly, Summer, don’t be so naïve. That’s what guys do. If you think Astor Fairway is going to be any different, then you’re fooling yourself.”

“Or maybe you’re the one fooling himself,” I shoot back. “Maybe you want to believe that every other guy is just like you, because that means that you don’t have to worry about the way you are.”

Drew laughs. “I don’t need to worry, Summer. Now, come on, do you want to get something to eat? It looks like Astor’s going to be there for a while yet.”

I shake my head. I’ve had enough of waiting, and I guess that Astor doesn’t like being stuck in the middle of the crowd anyway, so I start to push my way through it. I figure that if he tells them to leave him alone, that’s him looking like a jerk, but if I do it… well, I’m not a famous actor. I don’t care what they think of me. I hook my arm through Astor’s, looking over at him and pitching my voice loud enough for everyone else to hear.

“Hey, Astor,” I say. “When you’re done here, can we go get something to eat, the way we were going to before? I know you’d sign autographs all day, but I’m hungry.”

He smiles his thanks as most of the crowd take the hint, letting the tour guide move them along the tour, and letting me pull him away from them.

“Thanks,” he says. “I never know what to do when that happens. I mean, they only want my autograph because they like what I’m doing, and it’s kind of flattering, but when there are so many people…”

“I can’t imagine,” I reply. I’m still holding onto his arm. That close, I can smell the warm, clean scent of him.

He smiles. “Would you actually like to go get something to eat? It must be nearly lunch.”

“I don’t know about the two of you,” Drew says, “but I’m starving.”

I might not have been prepared to say it before, but after what he’s just pulled, it’s easy now. “Actually, Drew, I was kind of hoping that maybe me and Astor could have some time alone together.”

“You want me to go?” He sounds surprised by that. Surprised, and a little hurt.

“Well, you were originally planning to come here alone, right?” I know that isn’t true, but he can’t really deny it now, and I do want some time with Astor. “How about if I meet you back at the main gate afterwards, and we can head back together.”