A few days before my acting coach at school got me an audition for the movie, we started dating. Then I got the part and had to leave, and she got a place at uni. The timing was bad, so we slid straight back into a friendship.
“On that note,” Mum says, “I’ll clear the plates and get dessert. Andrew, can you help?”
Dad nods and takes our plates.
“For the record, I don’t need to pay for it,” I tell Indie once my parents are out of the room.
She rolls my favourite dark eyes at me. “Yeah, I’ve seen the articles.”
“Articles?”
“You’re not dumb, Hollywood.”
I shake my head. “I think only one in every fifty stories published in the media is true.”
“Oh, really? So, someone has been out partying with a Spencer Lowe mask on?”
“That doesn’t mean I’m sleeping with every girl I’m photographed with. We’ve been friends for years and never slept together.”
How I have wanted to, though. One look is all it takes to get me hot under the collar. In the weeks we were together, when I could kiss her, I was walking around with blue balls. Nothing gets me off faster than thinking about Indie.
She turns away and takes a sip of her wine.
That conversation is over.
“How is everything? Are Wren and Mila okay?” I ask.
“They’re good,” she says. When she turns back, her eyes are smiling again. “I’m going out with them tomorrow. Do you want to come?”
I arch a brow, trying not to smile. “I’m invited to girls’ night?”
“It’s not really girls’ night. Brody is coming.”
“Brody? Oh, Wren’s husband. The one she married by mistake?”
“That’s the one. Gosh, that was a dramatic time.”
“What happened?”
“She was on holiday with her siblings and friends to Vegas. She got drunk and married Brody. There was a lot of drama.”
“Because she married her brother’s mate.”
Indie nods. “Yeah, it was messy. They’re sickeningly happy now, though.”
“Have I met him before?”
“Maybe.”
It’s unlikely. Indie keeps different parts of her life filed separately. I’ve met Wren and Mila a few times before, very briefly. I’ve never met her parents. I get the impression no one has. I’ve never even been inside her house.
Mum and Dad worried about her all through high school, wondering what the deal with her parents is. She either shuts down or talks around the issue whenever it’s raised. I’m still waiting for the day she opens up. But then I left her to film a movie, so why would she confide in me?
It’s kind of like the way I let messaging her slip. The longer it went on, the harder it was to contact her. The only way I could bare missing her was to pretend that I had no one back home.
“Where are we going tomorrow?” I ask, itching to reach over and pull her onto my lap. I can smell her perfume and it’s driving me crazy.
“Indoor, adult crazy golf. With cocktails.”
“What’s adult about it?”
She deadpans. “Cocktails.”
I chuckle. “Right.”
“I can’t believe you’re back already.” Her voice is a sigh.
“Believe it. I’ve missed home.”
“Oh, please. I’ve seen pictures of your place in LA. It’s amazing.”
“But it’s not home.”
“You should get your parents over there to visit more often if you’re homesick.”
I can read between the lines. “It’s not just my parents I miss.” Being away from her is like trying to breathe with only half a lung.
She runs her finger around the rim of her wineglass. “You could always come home more often, Spence.”
“There aren’t always long enough breaks when I’m filming. It takes almost a day of travelling to get home.”
That’s what we’re separated by. A day. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime.
She presses her lips together, and I read the indecision in her eyes. Does she give in and admit that it’s easier for her to come to me, or does she tell me why it’s so hard for her? It’s not just uni. She gets a week or two off every term.
What is keeping you from me?
I know she doesn’t have a lot of money, but I would pay. Hell, I would fly her out every weekend if she agreed.
“I want to come to a lecture with you,” I tell her.
Now, she laughs. “There are some women in my class who would be all over you. You’d never be able to pay attention.”
“I do my job with dozens of people staring at me.”
Why doesn’t she want me there? It’s not like I care about the course. I want to witness her in that environment. I want more than what she allows me to see. Damn it, I want it all. Maybe I can convince her to take the course online and come with me. We could get up every morning and have coffee on the balcony, watching the ocean, before I had to go to work.
Fuck’s sake. That’s the shit you do with a girlfriend. She broke up with me.
“All right,” she relents. “You can come to one lecture. I actually have to learn this stuff.”
Holding my palms up, I smirk. “As if I would do anything to distract you.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’ll be invisible.”
I’ll never be invisible. “Absolutely.”
“Do you think your parents really have a dessert?”
“I’m sure as soon as we stop talking, they’ll bring it in. Right, Mum?”
She walks back into the room with Dad trailing behind her. “What’s that, honey?”
“Oh, please.” They were eavesdropping.
“Who wants cheesecake?” she asks with so much enthusiasm, she sounds like a cheerleader.
Indie laughs. “Sounds good.”
I have missed the sound of her laugher more than anything.
Five
Indie
I don’t want to leave but I can’t stay here forever.
We’ve had dinner, dessert, and coffee. The thought of leaving to go home makes me feel a little dizzy. I don’t have long left with him. After the premiere in LA, he’ll get another job out there, and I will come home. I’m lucky to go. I wasn’t sure if I’d get to.
Our lives are going in two different directions. It’s been like that for a while. I hate
