Relatively Famous (18 page)

Chapter
24

I feel like shit after leaving Verve again today. I think I’ve been working way too hard. The long hours, coupled with my run, that I had to shorten to just four miles since I’m not at one-hundred percent, have made me an exhausted wreck. Maybe I need another vacation. My mind wanders and I think about St. Bart’s and Drew and now I’m not only tired, but sexually frustrated and lonely too.

Great.

There’s only ten days left until the opening night, and Drew still hasn’t been able to find out if his schedule will allow him to attend the party with me. I can’t even tell if he wants to go or not. If anything, he only wants to be there so he can keep Adam in line.

Such a
Caveman
.

I told Leah to start looking for a dress, and to find a hairdresser for that night if she wants one. I don’t want to leave her hanging until the last minute just because Drew can’t give me an answer.

There’s also only ten days left until Drew’s 30
th
birthday and I’m fairly certain that he won’t be spending it with me. That makes me sad. I don’t even have a California address to send him a gift.

I’m going to tell him my personal history the next time I see him, but I had to cancel the last weekend visit he was supposed to make and his schedule won’t allow him any more cross country trips until his project is complete in two and a half weeks. The exception is if he can persuade Chad to let him come to the party.

I want to tell him about my family for his birthday. He desperately wants to know me better so I think it will make a great ‘gift’, opening up to him and letting him in. I’m nervous and normally, I’d be happy to procrastinate and push off this conversation until he’s back from California permanently. But now that I know how I feel about Drew, I just want to get it over with so we can move on.

He’s not begging for an invite to the party or asking me what celebrities will be there, so I’m satisfied he won’t speed dial TMZ when I tell him about my famous parents. And his only response to finding out Adam Reynolds, international superstar, would be attending was to describe his desire to connect his fist to his face.

Nice
.

Too tired and weak to do anything else tonight, I shed my clothes and drop into my bed. I can’t even keep my eyes open to wait for Drew to Skype.

****

“Isn’t this great Heartbreaker?” Dad
dy grins at me as he drives his little black sports car through the winding roads of the Hollywood Hills.

“It’s amazing Daddy. I love this car, it’s so cool.” I run my hands over the soft black and red leather seat of the Bugatti and look at my dad. He’s so awesome. I’m glad he’s been home for a few weeks this summer. I get to spend time with him and today he’s
taking me to my tennis lesson. Usually my mom’s driver and my bodyguard have to take me. It’s summer break and I don’t start school for two months, and Daddy is filming a movie here in L.A. so I get to see him almost every day.

“So Heartbreaker, how’s your backhand coming? Your teacher said it’s… God damn parasites!” My dad is suddenly yelling and cu
rsing at the rearview mirror. “Hold tight Sydney.” He starts driving faster, weaving in and out of cars when he gets to the main road.

“Daddy, you’re scaring me!
” I clutch the smooth red dashboard and close my eyes.

“Heartbreaker, sit back and make sure
your seatbelt is tight, baby.” Daddy is speaking gently to me but his jaw is clenched tight. It’s the face he makes when he’s really really mad. Like the time I threw one of his scripts into the pool. He turns a corner on a green light so fast I swear I felt my heart leap out of my chest.

“This isn’t the way to my tennis lesson, Daddy. Why are you driving like this?”

“Shhhh, Sydney, it’s okay.” My dad reaches over and gives my hand a squeeze. I feel better just from Daddy telling me it’s okay, but I’m still scared. I look out my window to see where we are and scream. A tan car is next to us and a man with an enormous telephoto lens is hanging out of the front seat snapping pictures of me and driving at the same time.

“Daddy! Daddy! There’s a man, he’s scaring me!” Tears are running down my face and I’m near hysterical at this point. I don’t
think I’ve ever been this afraid in my life, not even when the strange woman tried to snatch me at my elementary school several years ago.

“God damn son of a bitch!” My dad downshifts and tries to get past the tan car but there’s another car in front of us. He slams on the brakes just in time. The tan car, however, doesn’t notice the stopped traffic and swerves into us to avoid rear-ending a pickup. The front of the tan car hits us on my door. My head snaps to the side and then back to smash against the window. I feel a sharp pain in my arm and we’re spinning. The world goes by so fast I can’t see anything; all I can do is hold on and scream. I’m going to die.

Our car comes to a stop when it jumps a curb and crashes into a utility pole that lines the street. I can hear someone screaming and they won’t stop. Daddy is grabbing me, unsnapping my seatbelt and clutching me to his chest. “Hush baby, it’s okay. We’re okay. Shhhh.” That’s when I realize that the screaming is coming from me.

I burst into tears and my entire body
shudders violently. Daddy is still holding me and kissing the top of my head when I hear the clicking. We both look up at the same time and see the photographer standing outside the car on Daddy’s side, taking pictures of us.

“Sit here Sydney, don’t get out of the car, and don’t move.” He looks into my eyes so I nod that I understand. My arm hurts, bad. Then I
notice that my dad has a big gash over his eyebrow and blood is running down his cheek. He looks down at my arm and a dark shadow crosses his face. I want to tell Daddy that he’s bleeding, but he’s gone.

M
y dad jumps out of the car and onto the man with the big camera. He punches the guy in the face, rips the camera from his neck and shoves him to the ground. Daddy opens the back of the camera and removes a small chip then slams the camera ferociously into the ground. I wince when it shatters into a thousand pieces across the pavement. He turns back to the man and jumps on him, pinning him down, slamming his fists into him over and over again, yelling and swearing the entire time.

Two men come running up and grab Daddy’s arms, pulling him off of the photographer. I see blood all over my Daddy and I cry even harder than I had been. Half of his face is covered in cuts and sticky red liquid, and his right hand is swollen and bloody. Daddy is yelling so loud a huge crowd has gathered
to watch. People are taking pictures with their cameras. I don’t even look at the man on the ground; I don’t care if he’s okay.

The crowd has swelled around us when a police car pulls up. People are trying to get to me, but my door won’t open. Strangers are talking to me through the broken wi
ndow so I start screaming for Daddy. Two officers get out and they put handcuffs on my dad. My dad didn’t do anything wrong! I know Daddy said to stay in the car, but I can’t let them take him, who will bring me home? They can’t just leave me here alone with strangers.

“Don’t touch my Daddy!” I yell, but when I try to open the car door, my arm won’t work and it hurts so badly I might pass out. I feel something wet and sticky running down my head behind my ear,
and I see black spots. My last thought is that I love my Daddy so much, then the awful scene around me disappears as I slip away.

****

Waking up just as dawn arrives, my stomach is churning and I feel terrible. I reach over and rub the faint scar on the underside of my right arm. A permanent reminder of that horrifying day.

Why am I covered in sweat and shivering?

From the dream? Or am I sick? I wonder if I need to go to the doctor. This is exactly how I felt when I had the flu last year. Damn, I should have gotten the flu shot that I swore I would get when I was suffering with a 104 fever and was stuck in my bed for four days last winter. Great, I cannot be sick right now. I try to get back to sleep, but it’s no use, I can’t shake the bad dream.

It was my dad’s worst nightmare. He couldn’t protect me from
the crap in his life and it almost killed us both. Dad had a terrible concussion and I had a fractured skull and a shattered arm. I throw back the covers and force myself from bed. There’s a text from Leah time stamped from last night after I had fallen asleep.

Come to café in am, broke up with Carter

Great. What a self-absorbed friend I am. I feel awful that I’ve been too fixated on my own problems to even call Leah over the last week. I get dressed and head out as quickly as I can manage without throwing up. Hopefully I’m not contagious; I don’t want Leah to be sick too.

Richard hails me a cab since I’m too weak to walk today. Minutes later, I get out at the Village Coffee Bar. I order my Kona and a croissant from Ben, even though the thought of eating makes my stomach feel even worse.

Leah is shocked when she sees me. “You look terrible, Syd. You need to get more sleep and stop working so hard.”

“Leah, don’t worry about me, how are you? What happened with Carter? Do you have a minute to chat?” I nod toward my usual table. She looks better than I would after a break up. Well, I’ve never had a break up since I’ve never dated anyone until now, so how the hell do I know what I’d do after a break up?

“Give me five and I’ll be there.” She watches me from the corner of her eye as I take a seat in the corner. A small bite of gingerbread croissant does wonders for my nausea. Waiting to make sure my tender stomach doesn’t reject the food; I sip my coffee as Leah joins me at the small table.

“What the heck Syd? This job is going to kill you! I haven’t seen you in weeks. You’re obviously working yourself to death!” She’s
furious. I knew I looked bad, but not as bad as she’s making it sound.

“
Don’t be so dramatic, Leah. I think I may be coming down with something. Either that or you’re right; I’ve been pulling twelve hour days for I don’t even know how long. Running every morning, not eating all day, I haven’t exactly been the picture of health.”

“Well, you should take a day off if you’re sick. You’ll just make it worse by putting in another long day.” My friend is so good to me.

“What happened with Carter?” I dodge her question and try my best to look concerned and not queasy.

“Eh, it’s not a big deal. We’ve only been dating a few weeks. He’s great, don’t get me wrong, but he’s boring as hell.” She looks at me and smiles, “He’s all work and work related events
. I got sick of competing with his Daddy issues and Carter needing to prove that he can take over the ‘empire’.” She makes a grossed out face, twisting her pretty features into a grimace.

I laugh.
“That’s terrible! You can’t compete with the Media Mogul, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t want to compete with anyone
, Syd. I want someone who puts me as high up on their list of priorities as they are on mine. I’m not going to be number three after a job and their dad.” Leah looks me up and down again, “So, are you going to take a day off or what?”

“I didn’t come here to have you beat me up for my failure to take care of myself. I came here thinking you were wallowing in misery, but you seem like you could care less about Carter.”

“Stop avoiding my question, Sydney.” Leah’s glaring at me with her intense blue eyes.

“You know I have to finish the club for the opening night. There’s not time to take a day off.” I pause, waiting for her to stop scowling before continuing, “I have something to tell you too. I
wanted to let you know, the next time I see Drew I’m going to tell him who I am.” I look at her so I can see her reaction.

Leah doesn’t disa
ppoint, her eyes widen in shock. “You’re going to tell him? Are you sure? You haven’t known him all that long, Syd. I think it’s great, but I want you to one-hundred percent feel good about doing this.”

I let out a huge breath.
“I know I haven’t known him long, but this secret is driving a wedge between us, and I trust him Leah. I think I’m in love with him. Is that crazy?”

Damn, don’t cry Sydney
.

“What! Are you sure?” Her big blue eyes
pop and her mouth falls open. I can’t tell if she’s happy or horrified.

“Yes, I’m sure.” And I am, without a shadow of a doubt, I’m in love with Drew.

“Then I’m happy for you,” she says simply, but cautiously. “You guys have a lot to talk about then. When will you see him?”

“If he comes to the party, then I’ll see him that weekend. If he can’t make it, then abo
ut two weeks from now.” I shrug. I have no idea when he’ll be back.

“If he’s going to the party with you, then you need to have that talk beforehand,” she says firmly.

“Why, what does it matter?”

“Oh,
ummm, well, you don’t want to, you know, have that hanging over you all night.” She can’t form a coherent sentence. But it’s a good point.

“Yeah, it probably would make him happy to finally know my secrets. It drives him nuts that I
hide so much and it’s his birthday so I thought it would make a good gift. Plus, he’ll be way less jealous of Adam if he knows why I would never date him.”

“Uhhh, sure, yeah, good idea Syd. Well, he probably has secrets too.” She says it so matter of fact; it’s easy to believe that I’m not that strange after all.

Maybe there’s hope for me yet.