“What about my job at the bar, though?” I say at last, as a sudden thought strikes me. “I can’t just walk out on it and leave them in the lurch, can I? I’m supposed to be working tonight, actually.”
I glance at my watch, surprised to see how much time has passed since I’ve been here. Summer will kill me if I’m late for work again.
“It’s okay,” Asher says smoothly, “You’re obviously not going to be able to go back there if you decide to go ahead with this, but don’t worry. We’ll speak to Joe. We’ll make sure he’s compensated for the loss of his best barmaid.”
He raises one elegant eyebrow to register his skepticism at the idea of me being someone’s “best” anything, but I choose to ignore it.
“Wait. There’s a Joe?” I ask incredulously. “A real one? I thought ‘Joe’s Bar’ was just some random name?”
What a day of surprises. Next they’ll be telling me Weird Ben, my so-called roommate, is actually an International Man of Mystery. Or that Jett Carter might one day want to date me for real.
I nibble my fingernails thoughtfully, before realizing what I’m doing, and abruptly sitting on my hands to stop myself. “So unladylike, Lexie,” I hear Mum say in my head. “No wonder your hands are so ugly when you insist on biting your fingers like a hamster all the time.”
Mum.
A shiver runs down the full length of my body as I realize she’s probably seen the photos of me and Jett by now.Everyonewill have. Everyone here. Everyone back home. Everyone who knows me, and everyone who hates me, and all the people who think I’m just a silly girl who ran away in disgrace, and who they’ll never hear of again.
Imagine the looks on all their faces if they find out I’m dating the most famous man in the world, though?
Not that I’m going to say yes, obviously.
That would be crazy.
And wrong, in the way that any kind of lie is wrong.
And… quite possibly illegal, if Asher’s seriously suggesting Jett’s family could somehow pay someone to make my visa problems go away?
No, agreeing to this insane scheme would directly contravene my promise to Be Good, in so many ways that I don’t even want to think about counting them.
Then again, I suppose youcouldargue I’ve broken that promise already, by getting myself into this situation in the first place.
What if this is my way of making it right?
What if this is my golden opportunity to get my life back on track again?
What if this is the thing that allows me to go back home? To crawl out from underneath the dark cloud that descended on me after the events of last summer, and to emerge as a whole new Lexie? A better one? Anormalone?
I take a deep breath as I look at the three figures on the sofa. Three people I didn’t even know until this morning, but who are about to change my life dramatically — although whether for better or for worse is something that still remains to be seen.
“Okay,” I say impulsively, “I’ll do it. But on one condition.”
On the couch, three sets of eyebrows rise simultaneously in surprise.
“He has to shave off the beard,” I say, nodding at Jett. “Because there’s just no way anyone’s going to believe I’d date someonethathairy.”
Chapter 11
Iwake up the next morning in a suite at the Beverly Hilton, and, yup, this is officially the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Weirder even than Edna’s singing.
Weirder than the masquerade ball where my life dramatically imploded last summer. (Like I say, it’s a loooong story…)
Even weirder than the time Bella McGowan tried to persuade the Community Council to do one of those nude calendars for charity, but Old Jimmy was the only one who was up for it. (That’s a long story too, now I come to think of it. I should start writing this stuff down.)
Are you getting that this is weird? Because this, my friends, isseriouslyweird.
Since this time yesterday, I’ve gained over 80,000 new Instagram followers.
