Scarlett squeezed Jane’s hand and turned to Gaby. “Madison’s probably getting an emergency Botox treatment,” she said, too low for anyone else to hear. “I guess her mom never told her that being a manipulative, lying bitch can cause wrinkles.”
“Funny,” Gaby said, giggling awkwardly. She was obviously uncomfortable poking fun at Madison. Gaby and Madison were close, or they used to be, anyway. Jane wasn’t sure where things stood between them these days. Jane wondered if Gaby felt weird being friends with Madison, even though Madison hadn’t done anything to her personally, because Gaby was friends with Jane and Scarlett, too, and maybe she was worried about seeming disloyal to one or the other side?
Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw Dana, one of the PopTV producers, hurrying across the lawn toward them, clipboard in hand. The woman looked super-stressed, as usual. And she was dressed in all black again, except her outfit was more tailored and less faded than her standard attire. She had even put on makeup, which was saying a lot, considering that the most Jane had ever seen on her face were the remains of her morning muffin.
“Okay, everyone, thanks, but I need to talk to the girls,” Dana said loudly, ushering Jane, Scarlett, and Gaby toward the end of the press line and off the red carpet. “Listen up, ladies. In”—she squinted at her watch—”ten minutes, Alli’s going to take you over to the back terrace so you can get miked for the intro segment kicking off the party. There will be people to touch up your hair and makeup. As soon as we’re done shooting that, we’ll move you over to the statue garden for a segment leading into the first commercial break. And then … let’s see … Jane, I’m going to need you to do another segment, to introduce Aja. Everyone’s lines will be up on the teleprompters, so don’t worry about that.”
“Why can’t I introduce Aja? She’s, like, my favorite singer ever!” Gaby complained.
“That’s fine with me,” Jane offered.
Dana gave Gaby an impatient look. Gaby pouted and mumbled, “Okay, whateverrrrr.”
“Ten minutes, all right?” Dana reminded them. “Alli will … What, Ramon?” she barked into her headset. “What do you mean Hannah’s got the flu? Well, is she throwing up? We need her to—” Dana hurried away. Hannah Stratton, who worked with Jane at Fiona Chen Events, was on the show from time to time. She and Jane were good friends, on and off camera. Jane hoped she was okay.
“Sorry about Aja,” Jane apologized to Gaby, who simply shrugged and snatched a glass of champagne off someone’s tray.
Jane felt bad (especially since she was pretty sure that it was another guest’s partially consumed champagne Gaby had just taken from a busboy, not a waiter). Jane wished that Dana and Trevor wouldn’t treat her as the star of L.A. Candy, since the show was supposed to be about the everyday lives of all four girls, equally. In the beginning, Dana had explained to Jane that viewers seemed to relate to her the most. But why? Okay, so maybe Scar intimidated people by being so beautiful (without even trying) and rocket-scientist smart. And maybe Madison used way too much makeup and hair bleach for the average viewer. What about Gaby, though? Why wasn’t she relatable? She was nice, funny, cute, and had a cool job at a PR firm called Ruby Slipper.
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you guys!” Gaby said suddenly. She handed her empty champagne glass to a random party guest, who glared at her, and fished through her black beaded clutch. “Here,” she said, holding out a business card. “This woman came up to me before. She said she’s a publicist, and she wants to talk about repping me.”
Scarlett took the card from Gaby, and she and Jane studied it. It read, ANNABELLE WEISS, followed by an address on La Cienega Boulevard and some other contact info.
“She sounds—” Jane began.
“Sketchy,” Scarlett finished.
Jane made a face. “Scar! I was about to say great. I love, love, love my publicist! Gaby, you should have one, too. So should you, Scar.”
“Why, so I can get into more trashy tabloids, talking about my cayenne-pepper-and-celery-juice diet?” Scarlett said.
“You mean your Chinese-takeout-and-pizza diet?” Jane teased her. “Seriously, Sam totally turned my image around after … you know …” She hesitated, not wanting to say the words “Gossip scandal” out loud. The subject still pained her. “She got a lot of really good articles about me in the magazines,” she went on. “And she, uh, talked to all the reporters about me and Jesse so I didn’t have to.” Actually, she didn’t feel much like saying the word “Jesse” out loud, either.
“You mean when he started getting wasted all the time and hooking up with other girls?” Gaby said. Gaby was like that—no filter. She wasn’t trying to be mean; she just blurted out whatever she was thinking, without thinking.
Scarlett ignored Gaby’s comment and motioned to Jane, indicating that she look behind her. Caleb! Her high school boyfriend had made it to the party.
“Come on, Garcia. Let’s go check out the hors d’oeuvres,” Scarlett said, shrugging and smiling at Jane as she led Gaby toward one of the catering tables.
“Janie!”
Jane found herself face-to-face with Caleb. She hadn’t seen him in a few weeks, not since she found out that he’d recently moved to L.A. He was as gorgeous as ever, especially in his dark red button-down shirt and jeans.
“Caleb! I’m glad you could come! Is Naveen here?” Jane had also invited Naveen Singh, another high school classmate and Caleb’s best friend.
“Naveen had to go to Boston for some family thing,” Caleb said with a smile. “God, it’s great to see you!”
Caleb started to give her a hug. Jane glanced around quickly, making sure they were alone. She didn’t need photographers catching her having a mini-reunion with her ex. Or worse, Trevor or one of the other producers, who would surely seize on Caleb as a potential TV “love interest” for Jane. She and Caleb had split up almost a year ago, and in any case, she was taking a break from boys. She didn’t need the drama after what she’d been through recently.
Since no one seemed to be paying attention, Jane let Caleb scoop her up in his arms, which felt unexpectedly warm and familiar. And strong—probably because he used to be on the swim team, and wasn’t he working in construction these days?
“You look amazing in that dress,” he whispered in her ear.
Jane blushed. “Thanks. I—”
Someone’s cell began buzzing. It took Jane a second to realize that it was hers. She wriggled out of Caleb’s embrace and peeked at the screen. BRADEN CALLING. Ohmi-god, Braden? Why was he calling her? He’d emailed her a couple of times after her breakup with Jesse, to check in on her, but that had been it.
She and Braden had always been friends, and at the same time way more than friends, although the timing had never worked out for them to actually date. But why was her heart racing so fast at the thought of hearing his voice?
“I, uh, have to get this,” Jane told Caleb. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”
“No worries. I can just hang out here and wait,” Caleb said.
Jane turned her back to him and hit Talk. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jane. It’s Braden.”
“Hey. Where are you?”
“Well, I’m sitting here flipping through channels and seeing your face. They’re showing these commercials for your party tonight.”
“You mean the ‘teasers’?”
“Yeah, those. Sorry I couldn’t make it, by the way. I just wanted to call and, you know, wish you luck. Not that you need it. You look great, Jane. I mean it.”
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