Hewie chuckled, flashing two rows of perfect teeth and a tongue piercing, and I tried not to notice how good-looking he was. He wasn’t really my type, but a girl would have to be dead to not at least notice. “I think you’ve finally met your match, Brodes.”
Holy fuck. Okay, now I knew how he’d managed to become the lead singer of the hottest band to grace the world in five years. The deep rasp of his voice was enough to send goose bumps across my skin.
“I didn’t realize you were in college,” I said to Hewie. “Weren’t you touring a few months ago?”
Brodie groaned. “No fucking fair winning her over with the rock-star thing. I won an Academy Award and an Emmy last year. Doesn’t that count for something?”
I had no idea how this was my life, flirting with famous people, when only a few months ago I’d been in hospitals and rehab, trying to recover from the attack.
Dexter patted Brodie’s arm. “It counts to your mom, bro.”
Brodie dropped his head back. “Well, fuck. She wasn’t even that proud of me. Guess I’m on my own then.”
Hewie ignored them both and leaned toward me. “I’ve been making music since I was kid, and as much as I love it and couldn’t live without the buzz, I also wanted to experience a normal life. At least for a while. Brodes convinced me to give college a try, and the dean is cool for me to pop in and out asneeded, so I haven’t even had to give up touring. Just cut back a bit.”
All three of them were rich, famous boys playing at normal life. It shouldn’t be amusing, and yet I found myself enjoying my time with them during lunch.
Who knew they’d be so likable? Connor could really take a page out of their books.
Maybe I’d suggest it the next time we crossed paths, because no matter the deal we’d struck today, we lived in the same fucking house—it was the literal definition of forced proximity.
There was no way to avoid him forever.
18
EVELYN
As ahead as I was with my assignments—largely thanks to my inability to sleep properly—I really didn’t have much to fill my time with when I wasn’t in classes. At least, that was my excuse when Brodie asked if I’d spend Friday afternoon with him running lines for his callback on the audition he’d attended over the weekend.
Initially we were sitting in the living room to read the script, but about an hour after we started, Connor and Haze came in and turned on the Xbox to playCall of Dutywith some guys online, on the other side of the world. After relocating to Brodie’s room, I couldn’t stop myself from snooping through his things a bit.
“Evie babe, what happened to running lines with me?” Brodie teased, lying across his bed like a big old snack.
I tried not to look directly at him because I kept getting stupid little butterflies when he met my eyes. Damn actors and their ability to make youfeel thingsthat weren’t necessarily true.
“When’s your callback?” I asked, flicking through one of the many, many highlighted and annotated scripts on his desk—after having already gained his permission, of course.
Brodie sighed. “Next Friday. Which is not ideal because I have a work thing the following night out in LA but…whatever.” He seemed out of sorts about it, though. Like he didn’t really think he’d be getting the part.
I frowned, putting the script back down to give him my attention. “Who else are they considering for the role? If you can tell me.”
“It’s between me, Travis Peters, Braxton Crumpet, and Seven Harrison.” He pouted, and it was way too fucking endearing.
“That seems like an odd mix. Those actors are like ten or fifteen plus years older than you, and the character is meant to be your age, isn’t he?” I moved back over to perch on the edge of his bed, picking up the script once more.
Brodie sighed again, the dramatic beast. “Yeah…they’re thinking about maybe aging the characters up for the sake of the movie. I dunno…I’m not getting my hopes up. The casting director mentioned my role inBloodstoneat least ten times, so I feel like he’s having a hard time seeing me as anything else.”
“That casting director sounds like a fucking moron,” I informed him with a nod. “You’d be incredible in this role and they’d be stupid to try and age up a bunch of snowboarding badasses to their late thirties. Wouldn’t that put them at risk of knee injuries and shit?”
He barked a laugh at that. “You’re probably right. And this isn’t the be-all and end-all… I just really love the script and think it’d be an exciting change of pace, you know?”
I nodded, leaning back on one of the pillows to read the script again. “Where did you want to start from?”
Brodie cleared his throat, shifting his position somewhat so he faced me. “Can I ask you a question, Evie?”
“Sure, ask away. We’re all locked into our house of secrets, remember?”
“True…” he murmured, thoughtful. “So…what’s going on with you and Ethan?”
