KATE
I tried notto pay attention to what was going on between Drew and Gwen on their weekend getaway. Tried not to be jealous that Gwen got to spend so much time alone with him. But I couldn't help but overhear a few things here and there as they sounded through the laptop Alexis had given me.
Gwen seemed happy to forgive Drew for breaking up with her the week before, but she wasn't exactly nice to him. Quite a few times I heard Gwen making fun of Drew, commenting on how he ate his food, or nitpicking him about the way he said certain things, or bringing up things she'd seen on the episode from that week.
For someone trying to marry him for his money, she was doing a terrible job of being the doting girlfriend.
Maybe she has no people skills at all?
Or maybe that was part of her plan? Make him think he was chasing after her?
"Your date with Elana was interesting to watch," Gwen commented. "I had no idea you were so afraid of heights. I had to tell my friends, who were watching it with me, that you were way more macho in real life."
Gwen would say condescending stuff like that, but Drew just took it, never putting her in her place. It was sad. I wanted to run into the safe house and give Gwen a piece of my mind.
But just when I was about to grab my bag and drive the few miles away, I reminded myself that Gwen would get what was coming her way.
And it would be on national TV.
When I picked up Drew early Sunday morning, I fed Gwen the story Alexis had given me about Drew doing more pickups. Drew made a show of being annoyed, his acting not very good—which was an encouraging thing for me when I thought about how he'd acted during our epic kiss. Thankfully, Gwen was too busy pretending to be sad about it to notice his bad acting.
"Thanks for coming over so early." Drew sighed once we had pulled onto the road. "I was about to blow the whole thing."
"No problem. Once I saw you from the hidden camera in the kitchen, I knew you were awake and figured I'd come rescue you. From the tidbits I heard, it didn't sound like the best weekend."
Drew's jaw flexed. "Did you hear much then?"
I shrugged as I turned a corner. "Not much, but enough to know what a witch Gwen is. I don't know how you didn't slap her…I totally wanted to. In fact, I would have slapped her this morning if I didn't have to worry about giving the hidden cameras away."
"Yeah, that's probably best."
"And by the way…" I took my eyes off the road for a second to glance at him. "All those things she was ragging on you for are ridiculous. You're way better than she could ever hope to deserve."
"Thanks." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
I was so going to smack that woman.
"So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" I asked, hoping he'd want to hang out.
Drew shrugged. "Nothing much. Probably just take it easy. I'm actually a little worried that Dion might check the office to make sure I'm really there."
"You think he'd do that?"
"Maybe. When you're sneaking around, you tend to be paranoid."
"Hmm." I thought about what he'd just said. Would we need to go in to the studio just in case?
As if reading my thoughts, he asked, "You don't happen to have keys to the studio, do you?"
“No.” I shook my head and gripped the steering wheel. "Alexis trusts me…but not enough to hand over the keys." And we couldn't have anyone else unlock it for us since as far as the rest of the studio was concerned, Drew and Gwen were still a happy couple working toward an engagement.
"I guess you can just take me back home, then," Drew said.
"Where you'll sit and wonder what I'm seeing and overhearing from Dion and Gwen?"
"Well, I didn't want to just invite myself over to your house. I do try not to be a burden."
He was about the furthest thing from a burden. "Do you want to come over?" I asked. "I'm sure my parents would love to have you come for family dinner again. They all loved having you there two weeks ago."