Caitlyn sipped her Protein Buzz smoothie and leaned back in her chair. “What movie? Will Jaina be there?”
Melinda chuckled. “Yep. The girlfriend’ll be there. And it’s that sequel everyone’s been talking about. Roughhousing Frequency II.”
Caitlyn wrinkled her nose. “Maybe we could just go to the party.”
“Okay, even if that guy you hate is in the movie, it can’t be that bad. Plus it’s free, and it’s at one of those theatres where you can order drinks. Just ignore him!”
“I don’t hate him. I just think he’s overrated.” Caitlyn set her cup down and wiped the condensation from her fingers. “Does he have to be in everything lately?”
“That’s what happens when your career takes off. I mean, that actor whose face looks like a potato was in everything for a while. At least Emrys Sébire is a total hottie.”
“What would you know about a guy being a hottie?”
“Just because I have a girlfriend, who is hot by the way, doesn’t mean I’m blind. I swear to God that man is contracted to lose his shirt three times per movie and offer up an ass shot at least once.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she didn’t know that Emrys was attractive. He was just a lot more built than he’d been when she’d known him. And she’d never expected that after their wonderful time in France and all their promises to call and visit, the next time she’d see him would be three years later on the big screen.
She didn’t know what had hurt her more: the empty, silent days following her flight home when she’d still clung to the hope that Emrys would pick up his phone or answer one of her emails, or seeing his face one day during the previews to some stupid romantic comedy and finding out that everything he’d told her about himself had been a lie. Emrys had said that he was also a student. That he was from England. That he wanted to wrest as much happiness as he could from life, marry a nice girl, and settle down with children someday.
Once Emrys had started appearing in movies and his fans got busy on his Wikipedia page, the details about his life spread far and wide. He was not a student when he’d met her; he was from some small country in Europe called Cabeau, and he was the prince of the country.
Caitlyn had spent many nights praying for Emrys to come back into her life. Now it seemed like she couldn’t be rid of him. He was at once everywhere and completely out of her reach. Every time she saw him in the tabloids, it was like he was taking her heart in his hand and giving it another crushing squeeze. Caitlyn had told him absolutely everything about herself. He’d known the names of her parents, how her cousin had lived with them when his parents kicked him out of the house, the story of how her grandparents had met, and the name of the little independent coffee shop where she’d gotten her first job. Emrys had known her class schedule for the summer abroad program, and he knew enough about her academic program to guess that now she was working as an independent web designer.
But everything Emrys had ever told her was a lie. Caitlyn guessed that she shouldn’t be so shocked that he ended up as an actor.
“We don’t have to go if it really bothers you,” Melinda offered. “I just thought it would be fun to have someplace fancy to go.”
“No. You’re right. It would.” Caitlyn brushed back some stray tendrils of hair now starting to curl. “But I’m gonna need a couple of mojitos before the previews even roll because that asshole will probably be in half of them.”
Melinda squeezed Caitlyn’s hand. “Awesome. Luckily, no one in New York drives.”
“Then why the hell is there so much traffic?”
“No one smart in New York drives.”
After they had gotten back to Melinda’s apartment and Melinda headed off to work, Caitlyn showered and then settled in with her laptop, her to-do list, and a bag of chocolates that she dipped into whenever she crossed an item off her to-do list. As she worked, though, her mind kept wandering back to Emrys. Not movie star prince Emrys. The sweet, charming boy who had taken her by the hand when she’d been so fresh and new to the ideas of love and sex. He’d drawn her out of her shell and introduced her to so many things in such a short time, but then had been gone just as abruptly. It had taken her almost six months to realize it would never be him when she picked up the phone. It was more than two years before she’d given up hope that one day, maybe, he’d get in touch with her and give her a heartfelt apology and an explanation.
Caitlyn scratched the head of a little purring black cat. Marbles or Snowball. She couldn’t tell the difference between the two cats yet.