Laguna Cove

  “No worries,” he said, getting out of the car and handing over his keys. “Anne said she put me on it, so I’m sure I can get you in, too.” He smiled.

  Yeah, only she probably put me on the do-not-let-in-under-any-circumstances list, thought Ellie, following right behind him. It had been pretty awful of her to take advantage of Chris’s good nature by pretending to be so overstressed about school and Surf Fest and her dad and insisting on getting a head start on the science project. And even then, she’d made sure that it took way longer than necessary by pretending to not fully understand the concept, when, if anything, she’d understood it even better than he did. She rolled her eyes just thinking about it. That was definitely an all-new low for her—dumbing it down for a guy.

  And now, as she walked into the party and scanned the room, she was feeling pretty ashamed. Well, at least Duncan won’t be here, since I lied to him, too, she thought.

  Relieved that she hadn’t spotted any of her friends, Ellie grabbed Chris’s hand and pulled him toward the bar. “I really want a drink,” she said, feeling suddenly pleased with herself when she saw the expression on his face. It was nice to be able to shock someone you’d known for years.

  She grabbed a glass of champagne for each of them. Then, turning to hand him one, she was disappointed when he shook his head no. “Just water for me,” he said. “It’s late, I’m tired, and it’s a long drive home.”

  “Fine. More for me,” she said, holding up the two flutes and smiling, but then feeling kind of stupid immediately afterward.

  “Glad you could make it,” she heard someone say, the voice coming from right behind her.

  She turned to see Duncan standing there staring at her. “Duncan, hey. Um, I thought you weren’t gonna show,” she said, sipping her champagne nervously and avoiding his eyes. Oh great, this is my karma, she thought. And there’s no doubt I deserve this.

  “Is that why you showed?” he asked, noticing the two drinks she was holding and giving her an odd look.

  “What? No! Of course not, don’t be silly,” she said, laughing outwardly while feeling totally panicked inside. “Do you want some?” She offered the extra flute, but he shook his head no. “So, who’d you come with?” She took another hefty sip, hoping it would calm her nerves, and get her through this.

  “I drove up with Lola, but I’ve been hanging with Anne,” he said, nodding toward the table where Anne was sitting.

  “Oh.” Ellie glanced quickly at Anne, feeling a stab of guilt at seeing her sitting alone.

  “So where’d Chris go?” Duncan asked, looking around.

  Ellie shrugged, hoping Duncan couldn’t tell how nervous she was. “Duncan, I—” She faltered, and started again. “I know how this looks. But the truth is, we were working on a project, for school, and it was so intense that we just decided to drive up here and blow off a little steam. I was totally going to call you, but then I realized how late it was.” She shrugged, fully aware of how lame she sounded. There was no way he was buying her lousy excuses.

  He just stood there looking at her, not saying anything.

  “Hey.” Chris walked up. “I just saw Anne sitting over there by herself. Why don’t we go join her?” he said, already turning and motioning for them to follow.

  Of course, Ellie thought, as she watched him walk away. It’s always gonna be about Anne. And I’ve been a total fool to think otherwise.

  chapter forty

  Diego is so amazing, Lola thought, smiling as he told yet another hilarious story. Who would have thought her mom would actually introduce her to someone she had so much in common with? They loved the same movies, the same books, the same magazines, the same music, the same television shows, the same celebrities, the same clothing designers—they even liked the same hair products! But more important, they both knew firsthand what it was like to grow up with strict, overbearing parents who had even stricter ideas on how their children should and would live their lives.

  It’s like we’re soul mates, she thought, looking into his gorgeous, dark, and long-lashed eyes. Soul mates who would never, ever sleep together.

  “I can’t wait ’til next fall,” he said, taking a sip of red wine.

  “Why? What’s happening next fall?” she asked.

  “I’ll be going to Columbia, living in my own apartment three thousand miles away from my parents’ watchful eyes. Free at last in New York City! It doesn’t get any better than that.” He smiled.

  “Sounds great,” Lola agreed.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “All I have to do now is lay low, stay under their radar, and just get through my last year of high school,” he said.

  Lola looked at him. He was gorgeous, smart, ambitious, funny, totally presentable, and he’d already won the approval of her parents. In other words, he was perfect.

  “I have an idea,” she said, smiling and leaning toward him.

  chapter forty-one

  Ellie looked at Duncan standing in front of her. He was sweet, nice, cute, funny, athletic—so why couldn’t she like him? There must be something wrong with me, she thought.

  “I think I’m gonna take off,” he said, looking at her and shrugging. “Can you tell Lola and make sure she has a ride home?”

  “Oh. Okay. Sure.” Ellie felt awful about lying to him, and even worse about having been caught. He has no idea how lucky he is that I don’t like him, she thought. Because he definitely deserves someone much nicer than me. “But Duncan, um, you don’t have to go,” she said, wondering if she really did want him to stay or if she was just trying to alleviate her own guilt. Probably the latter.

  “No, I should hit it. I’m surfing in a contest tomorrow and I’ve got a seven-thirty heat.” he told her.

  “Oh, okay, well, good luck,” she said, standing there with her two champagne glasses, one empty, the other completely full.

  As she watched him fumble with his keys, she contemplated asking him for a ride. She too needed to get some sleep if she was going to be in a halfway decent form for Lina tomorrow. But it was pretty obvious he just wanted to get away from her, so she just stood there and watched him walk out the door, wondering how she was going to get home. It’s not like I can ask Chris, she thought, glancing over to see him leaning close to Anne, talking intently, his arm around her shoulder.

  “Just FYI, don’t be fooled by the Colin Farrell lookalike over there,” Jade said, walking up and pointing toward a table in the far corner of the room.

  “Colin Farrell? Are you serious?” Ellie asked, all excited. Not that she was a big fan of his, but she’d yet to see one big name and she’d been here at least twenty minutes.

  “No, I repeat, not Colin. He has the hair, the tats, the sexy smirk, but up close, I’m telling ya, it’s just fool’s gold,” Jade said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “Extremely disappointing. Anyway, have you had any Ben sightings? Know where he might be?”

  “I thought he was with you.” Ellie shrugged and set both champagne glasses on the edge of a nearby table.

  “He was, but then I saw the Colin wannabe and made a mad dash across the room so I could get a closer look. You know how I love my bad boys.” She laughed.

  “And now you can’t locate the one you came with,” Ellie said, smiling.

  “Jeez, I hope he hasn’t had any more to drink,” Jade said, scanning the room with a worried look on her face. “Last time I saw him, he wasn’t looking so great.”

  “Does he have a problem?” Ellie asked, already assuming the answer.

  “Actually, he has a lot of problems,” Jade said. “But he’s going through a really rough time right now, so it’s totally understandable. He’s a really great person though, and I know he’s gonna pull through this. It’s just a matter of time.” She nodded.

  Ellie watched Jade’s eyes search the room, looking for Ben. He may be a nice guy, like Jade had said, but she doubted he’d pull out of it anytime soon. She recognized a downward spiral when she saw one. But it’s not like she could te
ll Jade that. Jade would just get mad and accuse her of being judgmental. Besides, with the way I’ve been handling my own life lately, I really don’t have the right to judge anyone else, she thought.

  “Oh, maybe this is him,” Jade said, grabbing her ringing cell phone and placing her free hand over her other ear. “What happened? … Oh, great. Just stay right there.” She closed her phone and looked at Ellie. “Ben got kicked out and they won’t let him back in.”

  “Why?” Ellie asked, wondering what he could have possibly done to get kicked out of a party like this, where all the normal rules of behavior had seemingly been abandoned.

  “I have no idea, but clearly the party’s over for me. I gotta drive him home,” she said, shaking her head and rifling through her purse for her car keys.

  Ellie looked over at Chris and Anne. It was like they were in their own little world. And while she really didn’t want to ride home with Ben, she was pretty much out of options. “Do you have room for one more?” she asked.

  chapter forty-two

  Anne looked toward the door just in time to see Ellie leave. She was embarrassed to think how ridiculous she’d been, worrying about them studying together. Chris was acting so sweet and affectionate, holding her hand and smiling, and even though it wasn’t turning out anything like the movie version she’d scripted in her head, it was still pretty nice, maybe even better. Because this was real. “I’m so glad you made it here,” she said, leaning toward him and smiling.

  “Sorry it wasn’t sooner, but Ellie was really freaked out about the project. She gets so stressed sometimes.” He shook his head.

  “Hmm.” Anne smiled politely. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Ellie.

  “And she just couldn’t seem to grasp the concept,” he continued. “Which is so weird, because normally she’s a whiz at science. But we had to go over it again and again, until finally I just asked her if we could put it away, ’cause I had to meet you. But then she got all stressed again, so I just decided to invite her.” He shrugged. “I thought she needed to blow off a little steam, you know?”

  Anne just looked at Chris and nodded. She knew he was telling the truth. But she also knew he was completely clueless to the fact that he’d just been totally played. Guys so don’t get girls, she thought. But it’s not like it mattered. He was with her now, and it was obvious that Ellie’s sad little game had failed miserably. “Well, now that you’re here, there’s something I have to ask you,” she said, smiling and leaning toward him.

  “Anything.” He grabbed both her hands.

  “Do you wanna bail soon? This party isn’t really as great as I thought it would be.” She shrugged.

  “Candelabras, an open bar, all the gourmet food you can eat, great music, table-dancing celebrities—and this party isn’t fun enough for you?” he said, in mock surprise. “Just what kind of high-maintenance parties are you used to?”

  “Honestly, I’m not really a party person,” she admitted. “I’m really more the quiet type.”

  “Wanna go someplace quiet?” He smiled.

  chapter forty-three

  Ben was outside, sitting on the hood of Jade’s car and looking pretty messed up. His blue eyes were bloodshot and etched with dark circles, his brown hair was all matted and tangled, and the sleeve of his striped shirt was ripped. “So what happened?” Jade asked, unlocking the door and motioning for him to get in the back.

  “Some asshole kicked me out,” he said, shaking his head and lunging onto the backseat.

  “Well, what did you do?” Ellie asked, turning to look at him.

  “Nothing. I didn’t do anything, okay? That party’s just full of pretentious Hollywood assholes,” he said, looking at her.

  “Well, you must have done something,” Ellie insisted, not believing his version for one second and not willing to let it go, either.

  “Whatever.” He glared at her from the backseat. “Think what you want. But I was just minding my own business.”

  “Okay, you guys. Everybody just relax, okay?” Jade pleaded, merging onto the freeway and turning up her stereo. “Let’s just chill out and listen to some tunes. We’ll be home before you know it.”

  “Whatever,” Ben said from the backseat, rolling his eyes.

  “Fine with me,” Ellie said, folding her arms across her chest and staring out the window. She couldn’t wait to get home and into her nice, warm bed. She leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes, wondering if this was her punishment for the whole Duncan mess. Because ending up spending an hour in the same car as Ben, who was not only snoring way louder than the music, but who totally reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, really did seem like bad karma. Please, just get me home soon, she thought, right before drifting off to sleep.

  “Ellie! Hey, wake up.” Jade tapped her hard on the shoulder.

  “What? Are we home?” Ellie asked, rubbing her eyes and squinting at Jade.

  “Almost, we’re on Newport Coast, but this cop has been following us for like a mile now, and I’m starting to get a little freaked.”

  Ellie turned in her seat and saw the police car following closely behind them. “Were you speeding?” she asked.

  “No. Speed limit the whole way, I swear. I don’t know what his problem is,” she said, glancing nervously at the rearview mirror.

  “You know, I read recently that when a cop wants to find a drunk driver, they look for the guy who’s driving too perfect,” Ellie told her.

  “So what are you suggesting? That I start driving all erratic, so he’ll move on to someone else?” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, I’m not drunk. I haven’t had anything to drink all night.”

  “Don’t worry about it, then. I’m sure it’s nothing,” Ellie said, just about to close her eyes again when the squad car pulled up next to them with siren wailing and lights flashing.

  chapter forty-four

  “Where are you taking me?” Anne asked, struggling to keep up with Chris as he pulled her through the crowd of people. “You act like you know your way around this place or something,” she said.

  “Never been here before in my life.” He looked back at her and smiled. “But I have been in a few restaurants, and I happen to know that the one thing they all have in common, besides food, is a back door. See, I told you!” he said, opening the door and leading her through it.

  They entered into a beautiful lush courtyard lit by glowing white candles and filled with tall flowering trees, colorful hanging plants, and a beautiful mosaic fountain built right in the middle of it all.

  “Wow, this is beautiful. I wonder why nobody’s out here?” Anne said, looking at the empty linen-covered tables and rod iron chairs.

  “Maybe ’cause there’s no bar,” Chris said, putting his arms around her and pulling her toward him.

  His face was so close to hers she could feel his soft breath on her cheek, and just as he was about to kiss her, she whispered, “Shh! Did you hear that?” Her eyes went wide as she looked around cautiously.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Chris mumbled, eyes still closed while he nuzzled her neck. “You’re imagining things.”

  “I’m serious,” she insisted. “Someone’s out here. Listen!”

  Chris reluctantly pulled away and quickly looked around. “Relax; it’s just us,” he said, leaning toward her again, determined to kiss her this time.

  “I know I heard something,” she said, sounding completely paranoid.

  “So what?” Chris shrugged, kissing the side of her neck since she wouldn’t stop talking. “It’s probably just Brad and Jen, avoiding the paparazzi and getting a little fresh air.”

  Anne looked at him and laughed. “Brad and Jen? They are so over.” She shook her head. “You are so out of touch!” she said, finally leaning in to kiss him.

  His hands were wrapped tightly around her waist, while hers were tangled in his soft, shaggy hair when someone walked up behind them and said, “Anne? Is that you?”

  Oh God, oh no, don’
t let it be … , she thought, pulling away from Chris and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Then, slowly looking up, she saw her dad and Brooke standing there, his lips holding traces of Brooke’s frosty peach lipstick.

  Oh sick, they both came out here for the same reason! Which meant she’d been making out just steps away from her dad! It didn’t get any grosser than that.

  “Um, Chris and I were just talking,” she said, immediately realizing how totally lame it sounded. “I mean, we were just getting some air … because … you know … it’s so stuffy in there.” She pointed toward the restaurant. Oh yeah, that was convincing, she thought, glancing briefly at Chris, who looked as embarrassed as she felt.

  “Well, now that you’ve gotten some air, what do you say we all go back inside?” her dad said, giving them a stern parental look.

  Oh please, like you’re any better, Anne thought. You’re the parent! You’re the one who should be setting the example!

  But she didn’t say that. Instead she just gave him a sheepish look and said, “Um, okay.”

  chapter forty-five

  “Oh, great,” Jade said, shaking her head as she pulled over to the side of the road and came to a complete stop.

  “What do you think he wants?” Ellie asked nervously.

  “Well, I think we’re about to find out.” Jade rolled down her window and smiled politely. “Hi, officer. Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “Did you know that your left taillight is out?” he said, pointing his flashlight into the car, going from Jade to Ellie, then focusing on Ben, who was sprawled out in the back, sound asleep, and not wearing a seat belt.

  “Oh, really? Um, no, I had no idea,” Jade said, cautiously.

  “Can I see your license and registration, please?”

  Jade reached for her wallet with hands that were shaking so bad she could barely open it. “Here,” she said, handing over her license while Ellie searched through the mess of papers in the glove compartment, looking for the registration.