“Lee—”
“I’m missing something here. Are you, like, a famous stunt double or something? You always did look familiar, I guess.”
“I’m an action star, Lee.”
“Star? I know I don’t watch a lot of movies—”
“Baby most of your movies are from the late nineties.”
“I’d rather read. Still, I’ve never heard of a Eugene that stars in action movies.”
“I’m Travis Drake, sweetheart.”
I stare as it all starts to crash over me. He lied. He lied to me. That’s why he wants to talk tonight. He wants to come clean about it. He lied.
“Why did you lie to me?” I ask, quietly. I’m afraid to speak any louder in case the dam of tears breaks free while I’m looking at him. My heart feels like a vice is squeezing it.
“Technically, I didn’t at first. I just didn’t correct you when you mistook me for your date.” Instead of apologizing, having accountability or anything someone should do when confronted with their bullshit, he puts it all on me because I jumped to conclusions? His words sink in, and I instantly need to be anywhere but here.
“You need to leave.” The calm in my voice, with the undertone of raw emotion surprises him as he stares at me.
“I’m going to call my agent and get the paparazzi cleared up out there so we can both leave.”
“Agent…actors have agents…the woman from the restaurant is your agent,” I’m slowly piecing it all together and feeling so completely stupid.
Travis goes to the counter to grab up the landline speaking quickly to someone on the line. I make a beeline for the door, rushing out, not wanting to be near him or his lies any longer, even if it means braving the crowd of crazed people outside.
Seventeen
Lee
Sitting on Denise’s couch eating ice cream while watching one of Travis’s old movies, is not good for my ongoing battle of the bulge—or my heart. I’m seething mad while my heart aches. Since I don’t really watch action movies, or watch much television in general, I wouldn’t have recognized him for being famous. Plus, he’s different in person. Still, I’m feeling freaking stupid. It doesn’t help that I know I put my heart out there when his stories never lined up quite right. From the beginning, my instincts were screaming that something was wrong. Of course, I thought it had to do with another woman in his life. Never, in a thousand years, would I have imagined it was something like this.
What was he doing with me? Was I just a way for him to jump back into the spotlight? To get his name out there again so he can get his dream job? The entertainment news has asked that very question. This morning in Denise’s newspaper, I opened it to see grainy pictures of me and Travis everywhere. I’d been so happy moments before this picture. Now, I look at myself and see a woman whose world is falling apart around her. My gaze moves back to the opened paper—and headline.
“Who’s this mystery woman Drake’s seeing? A homemade video shows him getting very friendly with her in the back of an LA taxi. Was the homemade video a ploy he used to get himself back into the limelight, after falling out as one of Hollywood’s top stars? “
My cell rings and it’s Travis calling again. He’s called almost constantly since I ran out of my house, and I refuse to answer it. Whatever he has to say won’t make me feel any better. I’ve been through a lot of crap in my life and every single time it has boiled down to lies. I can’t handle a liar. Without trust, what can you build your relationship on? Still, for some reason, I want to vent, not to Denise for the millionth time, but to him. He hurt me and needs to understand that.
Denise and I both look at my phone before the impulse to answer it takes over. Sometimes I would cry when I thought about talking to him and other times anger boiled over. Luckily, this time it’s anger.
“What do you want?” I snap into my phone once I click accept.
It takes a lot to make me mad and even more so to get me upset enough to let someone have it. Usually, I just silently back away. I know answering his call won’t change a thing, but I can’t help it. He’s affected me in ways I hate to even think about.
“Please, I just want to talk, Lee,” he says, quietly. Of course, he’s calm. He wasn’t lied to and left heartbroken.
“You’re a liar, Travis. So, tell me why I would listen to whatever you have to say?” I try my hardest to stay calm, but my voice is rising as I go. “Thanks to you, the whole world knows I got off in a taxicab and the damn rag magazines even have grainy pictures of it!” By the end, I’m screaming.