“Only after Mom threatened him,” she laughed.
“Whatever works. Hey, so Mom mentioned the dishwasher broke last week. If they need any money, I can—”
Sarah cut me off. “Jace, you know they won’t take it. Anyway, it’s fine. They already got one of Dad’s friends around to fix it. So don’t worry.”
“Ok, ok,” I conceded.
There was a solid beat of silence from her end. “So …”
Uh oh. I knew exactly what came after that sound. There was only ever one reason Sarah said, “So …” like that. And it was right before she asked about my love life.
“How is Katie? Or is it Felicity? I can hardly keep up these days.” And there it was.
“Sarah …”
“What?” She said with fake innocence, probably twirling a strand of her shoulder-length bob like she always did.
“Don’t start, okay. We’ve talked about this. I’m not leading anyone on. In fact, I’m very honest about-”
“Only wanting in their pants?”
“That’s not how it is at all.”
“That’s exactly how it is.”
“Sarah.”
“Okay, okay. Fine.” She sighed. “If you want to go whoring around Hollywood, who am I to stop you. Don’t even get me started on the fact you’ve slept with your co-star.”
“I don’t need to get you started. I’ve heard all your thoughts on it before, and you’ll remember it started and ended over a year ago; we’re good friends now.”
And a good thing, too. Liv was a nice girl and sexy enough that she’d landed hottest actress titles in most teen magazines. We dated for a short while when we first met on set, but despite her good looks and my respect for her as an actor, it had never worked out between us. And it had nothing to do with the five-year age gap.
I work hard and I love what I do, but I’d never enjoyed talking about work all the time. If I was going to be in a relationship, I wanted someone who brought something different to the conversation. So that pretty much ruled out the cast, the crew, and most of the industry. And was exactly why I preferred one-night stands.
The good thing in my line of work was that casual encounters were business as usual. No one working a full-time TV schedule could commit to anything else unless you managed to be one of the rare couples who could work and date. Too many egos, too many hours together, and depending on the show, too many conflicting emotions. And God forbid the audience didn’t like the pairing. The PR team loved the free promotion that came with dating rumors but hated established relationships in case it didn’t work out. So, relationships became the exception, not the rule.
Luckily, once the show had taken off, I had no time for a proper relationship, so I’d never had to worry about what I would do if the right person ever came along.
Work was my priority right now, and that suited me just fine.
“I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about my virtue,” I playfully replied.
“Please. You haven’t had any virtue since you were caught with your tongue down Ashley Johnson’s throat in middle school. I just … worry, is all.”
“What are you worried about?” Only my baby sister would feel the need to worry about me. Our family had a serious case of overprotectiveness. It didn’t bother me; I was as bad as the rest of them.
“Jackson, don’t you want a girlfriend? In the last five years, I can’t remember you seeing anyone for longer than a weekend. Don’t you want what Matt and I have?”
“A life sentence?” I joked.
“Come on, be serious.”
“Ok, maybe someday I might want to settle down.” Someday far, far off in the future. “But I’m happy with the life I have right now. You really don’t have to worry; I’m just enjoying myself, safely. Besides, the show keeps me so busy that I barely get a moment to myself, so even if I wanted something serious right now, which I don’t, it wouldn’t be fair to put someone else through that.”
“I know, Jackson. I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“I think that’s my job, sis.”
