AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Speaking of dogs, where is your dog Smurf?” I asked. There was an awkward silence. “Is everything okay with Smurf?” I asked, wondering if I had totally put my foot in my mouth.
“Smurf is staying with a friend,” said Bellamy.
“Farrah, right? Smurf is at Farrah’s house?” Sherifaye volunteered.
“Yep. Farrah’s house,” said Bellamy. “Anyway, I loved the way Emma handled the whole situation. From the first night, she really stood out as being cooler than the other girls. Able to roll with crazy situations. Here for me. Not so concerned about the things happening in the house. Less into the drama. More confident.”
“Oh, thank you. I am here for you,” I said, considering my plan to expose Alanna as a bitchy fraud. It hadn’t occurred to me it might be an uncool move. Perhaps I should let go of that small dream.
“Well, Emma, we’re very pleased that you’re here with us,” said Bellamy’s mother. “We’d like you to join us at our favorite restaurant, the Fireside Grille. They have plenty of nice vegetarian dishes.”
“Oh, how thoughtful,” I said.
“We’ll take the convertible so we have a little time together, just the two of us,” said Bellamy.
“Super,” I said. Even if they were nice, I was relieved to have a small break from his family.
“Luca,” Bellamy said to the nearest cameraman, “the convertible only has two seats, so it will be just me and Emma. I hope that’s not a problem.”
“Oh. Huh. Did you hear that, Irene?” Luca said. “Are you cool with them driving to the restaurant without a camera close on them?”
“I don’t care. Ask someone else.”
“Hey,” Luca said to a producer, “are you cool with Bellamy and Emma driving in a two seat car without a cameraman?”
“Sure. It’s not far from here. Just as long as you’re close enough to show them driving in the car.”
“Cool,” said Luca.
So the next thing I knew, Bellamy and I were driving down his parents’ driveway, alone.
“I’m impressed that you keep managing this,” I said.
“We’re not really alone. Look behind us.”
I turned around in my seat and saw a huge SUV driven by his dad inches behind us. Luca sat in the front passenger seat, waving at us, a camera pointed right at us. Another carload of crewmembers was inching down the driveway behind them.
“It’s still a nice change of pace,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Hold on,” he said, and the next thing I knew, we were flying down the driveway. When we got to the hi
ghway and saw that no one was coming, Bellamy turned right, barely slowing down. He turned up the radio as loud as it would go and adjusted the speakers until he presumed them to be pointing at our microphones. He shrugged and smiled like Maybe that will work. I smiled back at his cute little trick.
Safe in an elusive cloud of temporary invisibility, Bellamy reached in his pocket, took out a folded note, and pressed it into my palm. Read in the bathroom at the restaurant it said in tiny letters. The rush of excitement that comes with an unexpected surprise gave me a little jolt. I’d never seen Bellamy’s handwriting before. I’d always felt that receiving something handwritten from someone was like having a little piece of them. I slid the note into my pocket.
“Hey,” said Bellamy.
“What?” Our eyes met and we smiled. I had butterflies in my stomach. Actually, they felt more like moths flapping around. I was dying to know what the note said.
“I’m crazy about you,” he said.
“I’m crazy about you, too,” I said, tingling with the adrenaline rush of driving fast and breaking rules and the words that were being spoken. And I meant it; I was crazy about him, or at least this experience. It was getting hard to tell the difference. Yet there was something still holding me back. Some part of me that couldn’t jump all the way into the pool.
“I wasn’t sure.”
