“Well, I’d like you to know what to expect from now on.” I sat first and patted the spot next to me.
He eased his lanky body down and rested one arm around me. “Sounds good. Sounds good. You know, I like you in Converse shoes and jeans. You were a tomboy growing up, weren’t you?”
“Something like that. Anyway, Justin. Let’s just get this out. I was trying to avoid the need for this conversation, but since Alan’s using the footage of you coming onto me, let’s talk about it.”
“Talk about what?” Justin got a teasing gleam in his eye. “My on-camera crush on you? You know it’s all in fun.”
I breathed in deep, resisting the urge to throttle him. “Did Alan tell you to have an on-camera crush on me?” I kept eye contact until he squirmed.
“No. I mean, he didn’t tell me not to.”
“Well, don’t then. Quit hitting on me. On camera and off.”
There was a long pause while we both felt uncomfortable. I’d been told in no uncertain terms not to do this, but Alan had left me with little choice. I didn’t want Justin to have any confusion about how I felt about things after tonight.
Justin chewed on his thumbnail, staring out across the park. “So what’s the deal with you and Doug then? Did Alan tell him to have an on-camera crush on you?”
“No, he did not.”
Justin studied my face, probably trying to figure out if I was telling the truth.
This was the part where I needed to be careful. Justin was no dummy, no matter what he liked to portray when it suited him. I’d analyzed him to death, and it always came back to the same conclusion. This wasn’t about any real interest in me. Yeah, Justin thought I was attractive, and I’d been playing hard to get, which ramped up his competitive nature, but his pursuit of me was mostly an ego thing. He’d put himself out there for me with no results. If I didn’t give in, it reflected on his image. And if Alan hadn’t made it blatantly obvious in the first episode, maybe he would have let it go. Now he wouldn’t.
Justin’s eyes narrowed. “Did Alan tell you to have an on-camera crush on Doug?”
The longer I waited to answer, the bigger Justin’s smirk grew.
He finally threw back his head and laughed. “I get it now, why you spend so much time with Doug. Oh, man. You really will do anything for this show.”
“You shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I mean, I like Doug. I do. But wow, Willa. All right. I’ll leave you and Dougy alone. I wish you every TV happiness.”
Justin got up and headed back to my car. I unlocked it with my key fob and we both got in, driving back in silence to Alan’s house. This was bad. This was so bad. I felt disloyal to Doug for not defending him, and I felt like I’d shredded the agreement I’d made with Alan. But anything else I said in an attempt to fix it would only give Justin more information. He already had too much.
Justin tapped the dashboard. “Does Doug know you’ve been … um, assigned to him?” Justin didn’t look concerned. In fact, the whole situation seemed amusing to him now.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this between me and you.” Justin could insinuate whatever he wanted from that.
Justin saluted. “Will do. See you tomorrow, princess.” He got out of my SUV and strolled over to his Porsche.
I waited until he left, breathing in and out while I gripped my steering wheel. I’d said as little as possible, but it was still too much. Had I overreacted about this whole thing? Justin was so good at acting like he didn’t care. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe it really was about creating an image for the camera, and he didn’t have any real interest in me. But then why had he continued to go out of his way to approach me, on and off set?
I jumped at a knock on my passenger window and put a hand to my chest. It was Doug.
Rolling down my window, I glared at him. “You scared me to death. What are you still doing here?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Of course he had. The one person in my life who would forever inconvenience himself to make sure I was okay. I didn’t deserve him.
“Can we go talk at your place?” I asked. “Let’s not talk here. I bet Alan’s up there watching us with binoculars.”
Doug shifted his shoulders. “Actually, I promised Owen and Tracey I’d stop by their house and give them a show recap. You wanna come with me?”
I was tempted, but with everything so uncertain right now, it hurt my head to try to keep track of how I should act at any given moment. What could I say if they asked about Justin? Or Doug and me?
“I’d better not. I should go home anyway. Dot needs me.” I rubbed my aching forehead.
