She plucks a tissue out of her pocket and blows. “Of course I know that. I saw you fully embrace your Best Kiss win. I meanafter.”
I swallow. “A party at the Roosevelt. Britney threw it. You didn’t miss much.” Except my getting drunk and trying to make out with your boyfriend.
Alexis shakes her head. She motions for me to follow her through the sunlit living room into her bedroom. Like her, her house is all color and light. Not overly designed but not supercasual, either. You get the sense that there are couches for sitting on and couches for looking at.
I’ve never been in her bedroom before, and it’s more feminine than I would have imagined. Cream and pink silk curtains and a white bedspread with teal and pink stenciled flowers. A black silk nightgown hangs from one of her bedposts, and I imagine her slipping it on, Jordan gawking.
“You need to see this,” she says. She motions me over to the desk by the window. On it sits a paper-thin laptop. My eyes land on the screen.
Oh. My. God.
The images on the screen are grainy—obviously taken with a camera phone—but still instantly recognizable. Me and Jordan. Pressed up against the side of the Roosevelt. His hands on my hips and mine on his shoulders. His lips by my ear so it looks like he’s kissing my neck. My eyes are closed.LOCKED’SLOVETRIANGLELEAPSOFF THESCREEN.
No no no no no no.
I launch closer to see the website—they’re on Perez. Which means they’re everywhere. But I already knew that. This is where the paparazzo got his questions. They think I’m cheating on Rainer with Jordan.
“Someone sent in photos to TMZ,” Alexis says. “It’s not good.”
I look at her. Her expression is unreadable.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I say. “Nothing happened, I swear.” Is that even true? I shake my head. “I’m a shitty friend, and a shitty girlfriend, and—oh God.” Rainer has seen these pictures.
I sit down on the edge of her bed. All of a sudden, my legs have given out. My chest is tight, and I can’t seem to get enough air.
“Alexis—please, just let me explain.”
“This is bad,” she says. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
I put my head in my hands. Alexis is dating Jordan. She is about to tear my head off, and I deserve nothing less. “I know,” I say. “I know. I never meant for—nothing happened; you have to believe me.”
Alexis squints at me. “I don’t,” she says. “But there’s an upside to this.”
I peel my fingers down. “What?”
Alexis comes and sits next to me. She pulls out another tissue and fluffs her bangs. “I’m not mad at you. Paige, Jordan and I aren’t dating.”
I look at her.What?“You broke up already?”
“We were never dating.”
When I don’t say anything, she continues. “I don’t know how to explain this—when the studio saw you and Rainer getting close on set, and then the whole thing happened with Rainer’s dad and Brit… our reps decided it would be a good idea, if…”
“Your relationship with Jordan was a publicity stunt?”
Her face is pale. She nods. “To offset the tension.” She’s raising her shoulders up, likeThere you go. This happens.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask.
Alexis shakes her head. “Jordan’s a friend. We knew it would be a good way to keep any questions from being raised. You know, about the two of you?”
“Oh,” I say, picking at my freshly done MTV manicure.
“Which is what you want,” Alexis says. “Well, what you wanted.”
None of this is what I wanted. I look down at my hands. “Thanks for telling me.”
Alexis smiles. “I probably should have made you guilt-suffer a bit longer.” Then she laughs, a needed moment of levity, and says: “But did you really think we were actually dating? We have no chemistry!”
