“I asked you, Jules!” Mom yells again, making me feel as if I’m the worst person in the world.
I sigh, willing myself to become invisible. I turn when I hear Kayden coughing, worry filling me up. “You’re breaking out,” I whimper, seeing his neck turn red just from a few bites of the pizza.
Dad pushes his chair away from the table in a hurry. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Kayden shakes his head back and forth. “I’ll be fine.” He sips at my water on the table and continues to cough.
Standing from his seat, Dad moves toward the kitchen. “I’ll grab some allergy pills.” And he’s gone. Mom’s still fuming; I can almost see the smoke blowing from her ears.
“Julie Anne, I asked you!”
“No, it’s my fault,” Kayden coughs and tries to smile. “I probably confused her and…” He’s choking on his words and stands from the table. “Excuse me really fast.”
He hurries out of the room, toward the bathroom, and everything blurs as tears fill my eyes. I look up and see Danny smirking. I pull my napkin off my lap and toss it on the table.
“Yeah, Daniel, keep laughing, because a person having an allergic reaction is funny.” Running in Kayden’s direction, I sigh and knock on the bathroom door. Dad sees me and hands me a glass of water and allergy pills, which I thank him for as I continue to knock.
Opening the door, he grins as he’s holds a wet cloth around his neck. “I’m so sorry, Sunshine. I should be good in a few. I’m sorry. Shit!” he mutters under his breath, and I step into the bathroom closing the door behind me, locking us inside. He’s pissed at himself for eating something that’s deadly to him. I know it’s awful, and I know I’m probably going to hell…but I find him extremely sexy right now. Pushing the glass of water toward him, I place the pills in the palm of his hand and he downs them quickly.
Gesturing to the toilet seat, I order him to sit down and he tells me he’s all right. “Please, Kay?” I beg, and he narrows his somewhat puffy eyes on me, and sits. Taking the cloth from his hands, I kneel in from of him and start holding it against his neck.
“I should’ve asked,” I say, feeling awful.
“Yeah, you should have. You’re a terrible, heartless person,” he laughs, closing his eyes. “So what happened exactly? With the whole Danny-and-Lisa situation?”
I sit back on my heels and rest my hands in my lap as he opens his eyes and finds my stare. “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.”
Wiggling my nose, I debate running away, avoiding speaking the memories out loud. But the way he takes my hands and holds them, even when people aren’t watching, makes me feel as if it’s not only information that he wants to know for character study. It seems as if he simply wants to know about me.
“We dated for three years. And well, as you know, for Danny being a Hollywood god, that’s a pretty long relationship. I loved him. Even though he only semi-liked me. When I told him I was thinking of giving up on the acting thing after not instantly breaking into the industry like Lisa, well…” My eyes shift to the floor, reliving the moment that changed everything.
“He never told me he wasn’t okay with it. He always put on a smile and kissed me like he meant it. But then again, he’s Danny Everson, one of the best actors out there. And right around that time, he was just hitting it big. Then, for Easter, we were all up here at the cabin—his family, my family. Just another holiday in my mind. You couldn’t believe my surprise when I found my sister making out with Danny in this bathroom. Apparently they fell for each other when they were co-stars in The Neverlanders.”
“It was a terrible movie.” The corners of his mouth turn up in a smirk, and a warm wave courses through my being.
“It was a fantastic film,” I disagree, but I secretly like the fact that he said it was bad just to protect my feelings.
“You’re right. I own a copy. But if you want, I’ll burn it. I will burn the living crap out of it.” His fingers brush under my eyes, and I realize I’m crying. The tears are streaming down my face. Clearing my throat, I go back to patting Kayden’s neck, studying his reddened skin instead of his sad eyes staring at me. I chuckle and shake my head back and forth. “It would have been our fourth year anniversary when Lisa announced she was pregnant with Olivia.”
“That’s messed up.”
“You know what’s even worse?” I whisper. “When we were kids, I told her I wanted to name my first kid Olivia after Olivia Newton John because I love the movie Grease more than life. And I just sat there for a moment wondering why Mom was crying happy tears. Why Dad was pouring everyone drinks and cheering. And why wasn’t I enough?”