I couldn’t help but think the warning was directed at a few people in particular – Aiden and Brody, for one, considering their history and the fact that Aiden had never forgiven him for what he did to Cade. Xavi, too, had enough of a reputation by now.
And…
Was Keaton staring meaningfully atme?
No way! I wasn’t a troublemaker!
I was…
Yeah, okay. Maybe. I nodded at him as I lifted my glass along with everyone else.
“To Olly and Keaton’s bachelor party!” Xavi called out, obviously taking his duties as best man seriously. We all echoed him and laughed, and I felt a better atmosphere settling over the table. We were going to have fun this weekend.
A waiter approached the top end of the table and started taking orders, and I glanced at the guy who’d sat next to me on the other side. I gathered he worked with Olly; he wasn’t as pretty as some of the others, but at least I could speak to him instead of Xavi or Brody. “I’m Ace, by the way,” I told him, sticking out my hand.
“John,” he said, nodding as he gave my hand the briefest and limpest little shake. I almost laughed out loud. Talk about forgettable. “I’m Olly’s accounts manager.”
“Right,” I nodded, because that explained everything. “I’m Ace Park. I went to college with them.”
“What do you do for a living?” he asked politely. Without the meal already served to distract us, he was looking at me with an intensity that made me feel like I was being put on the spot.
“Uh,” I said. I had to think for a minute about how to sum up what I did. I kind of didn’t do one specific thing. “I guess I’m an artist and a scriptwriter.”
“Oh, so you work with Keaton now?” he asked. He was obviously well aware of the fact that Keaton was a filmmaker. Like a real, bona fide, actually had a critically-acclaimed short film out there already kind of filmmaker.
As much as I was sure Keaton would have bought any script I produced just to make me feel better, I hadn’t wanted to put him in that position.
“No, actually,” I said. “We studied filmmaking together, so a lot of people we went to college with are in the industry now.”
“Oh, right,” he nodded. “So, did you move out to Hollywood already?”
“No,” I said, finding myself getting heavier and heavier under the weight of his questions. “Uh, actually, Crowhill Cove is starting to be an up-and-coming place for the film industry. So, yeah. I stayed there after graduation.”
“Oh,” John nodded as if this was interesting.
The truth was, I didn’t have enough money to move to Hollywood. Selling the odd bit of art online and working with student film productions while I waited for something that would make my name wasn’t exactly paying the bills. Keaton had actually paid for me to come on this trip, something that I was carrying around like an albatross of secret shame around my neck.
No job or prospects. No money. Living in a shitty one-bed apartment. No wonder I didn’t have a boyfriend, either.
I glanced up at the other end of the table as the waiter asked John what he wanted and, mercifully, freed me from the conversation. Keaton and Olly looked so happy. Right opposite them were Aiden and Cade, looking at each other lovingly.
I was so alone.
God.
Maybe tonight I’d see about convincing Xavi to give casual another try, after all.
Brody
“So, how do you know Olly and Keaton?” I asked the man sitting to my left, thinking I might as well try. Xavi and Taeho had some weird, awkward thing going on that I didn’t want to get between, and Ace clearly had no interest in talking to me. It was this, or sit there silently.
“I work with Olly,” the guy said. His voice was curt. He picked up his glass and took a swig as if he wanted an excuse not to say anything else.
Was I imagining it?
“Oh, yeah?” I asked. I needed to keep the conversation going. “I’m a friend of Keaton’s – I worked with him on a short film.”
“I know who you are,” he replied, side-eyeing me. “I saw the video.”
