Chapter 4
8:13.
8:14.
8:17.
I
think I'm losing my mind.
Zac couldn't stop his leg from bouncing up and down as he
stared at the clock on his cell phone. Janelle was supposed to arrive
at any minute, and he couldn't think of anything except her eyes.
Those deep, beautiful green eyes.
"How's it going, dude?"
Corbin said, plopping down next her. "Nervous?"
Zac
shrugged. "Nah, not really," he replied. Liar.
Corbin snorted. "Yeah…right. Carol told me how you could
barely form complete sentences when you met this chick."
"What chick?" Ashley asked as she and Vanessa joined them.
"Who else have we been talking about for days?" Vanessa said,
and then took a bite of a blueberry muffin. "So what, you're
gonna show her around the set and then you guys go off on your wild
and crazy adventure?" she asked after swallowing.
"Yeah," Zac
answered. "I don't know what we're doing afterwards." 8:22.
"Hey guys." Lucas walked over, dropped his backpack, and
grabbed a donut from the buffet table on the way over to their group.
"What's up?"
"We're waiting for Janelle," Ashley
said with a smile.
"Oh yeah…today's the day, huh?"
Lucas said, hitting Zac on the shoulder and laughing.
"Today's what day?" Monique said walking up from behind.
"God!" Zac exclaimed. He shot up from his chair and faced them
all. "Yes, today is the day I'm spending the entire day with the
most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Yes, I'm nervous. No, I don't
know where we're going. And yes, I know that I'm freaking out
right now, and none of you are helping matters much." Corbin opened
his mouth to speak, but Zac put up a hand to stop him. "And no
Corbin, I will not ask her for any of her friends' phone numbers!"
As Corbin slumped back into his chair with a frown, Monique
raised an eyebrow. "Okay…well, if that's the case, then you
should probably know that there was a really nice car out front a
couple of minutes ago," she said, then leaned over to see around
him, and then leaned back, "and the girl who was inside that nice
car is standing behind you."
Zac blinked, and then turned
around. Whoa.
"Whoa," Corbin said. Lucas didn't say anything, but they
both slowly stood up as they saw Janelle at the entrance to the HSM 2
set. She was talking to Carol, and Carol pointed over to their group.
Janelle nodded and started walking toward them.
Zac swallowed
audibly, his hands sweaty all over again. Oh
my God.
Her
long, dark, wavy hair swung loose around her shoulders in time with
her steps. There was excitement and a hint of nerves glimmering in
her big green eyes. His eyes traveled down her pink t-shirt with the
words 'Pretty in Pink' in white script, and further down to watch
the way her hips swayed in a white jeanskirt. Zac blinked, and kicked
himself mentally. Dude,
don't be a perv.
He glanced quickly at her painted pink toes in white flipflops and
looked back at her face as she stopped in front of him.
She
smiled. "Hi."
He let out a breath he didn't know he had
been holding. "Hi," he replied. He turned and heard himself
introducing Janelle to his castmates, and then engaging in
unimportant small talk. He then turned to her and smiled. "Ready to
go?"
She smiled up at him. "Yeah, let's go." They
both said their goodbyes to the group and walked away. "So, where
are we going?" Janelle asked.
"I don't know…I think
Carol has some spots planned. Ever been to Utah?"
"No.
You must be an expert on it by now," she said with a smile.
"Hey you two, let's get moving!"
By now they had
exited the set, and Carol had called to them from in front of a black
van. Janelle raised an eyebrow. "What's all this?" she asked.
Carol smiled as they walked over to her. "It's for the camera
crew."
Janelle turned to Zac with a confused look on her
face, and he shoved his hands in his pockets with a sheepish smile.
"Popstar wants some shots of our day together…you know, to put in
the magazine."
Janelle rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah…duh. I
knew that." Carol opened the door to the van and motioned for them
to get inside. "This should be an interesting day," Janelle said
as she climbed in.
Zac had to close his eyes for a second to
resist looking at her behind before following her in. You're
telling me.
Zac smiled as Janelle threw another piece of her hot
dog bun to the group of noisy white ducks that had gathered around
her from the moment she had dropped her first hotdog. Her
embarrassment had turned to laughter as she picked it up and began
feeding it to the ducks. Zac was leaning against a park bench a few
feet away, just watching her. Suddenly, as Janelle was crouched down
petting a few of the ducks, one of them jumped up, almost as if to
settle in her lap. Janelle gasped and jumped up, startled.
"Hey!" she protested with a shriek. Janelle turned to see Zac
almost doubled over with laughter. "What's so funny?" she
asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Zac shrugged. "Hey,
you can't blame him for trying."
Janelle straightened
her clothing and walked over to take her replacement hot dog from
him. "I'm just not that type of girl," she said in an offended
voice, but the twinkle in her eyes said otherwise.
Carol
came over, still chuckling. "Janelle, that was great!"
Janelle stopped with the new hot dog halfway to her mouth, and turned
to Carol with a stricken expression. "O-m-g, you didn't get a
picture of that, did you? If you put that in the magazine, I'll
die!"
"Relax honey, we won't put it in," Carol said.
"Where to next?"
"I want some ice cream," Janelle
said. Her cheeks got a little pink as she acknowledged the hot dog
still in her hand. "Hey, a girl's gotta have some sugar."
Zac smiled. "I agree. I think I saw a Maggie Moo's a little
while ago."
Later on as the two of them were eating their
ice cream, Janelle fixed Zac with an assessing stare.
"What?"
he asked.
She shrugged. "I'm jus wondering what you're
thinking."
Zac shook his head. "You don't want to
know."
"Yes I do," Janelle insisted, leaning closer to
him. "Hit me."
Zac swirled his spoon around in his ice
cream dish while trying to get up the courage to actually ask the
question that had been bugging him all day. "Okay…I've been
wondering how a girl like you could possibly be single."
Janelle blushed. "Well…it's complicated."
"What
is?" Crap,
she has a boyfriend.
"Dating." Janelle scooped up a spoonful of ice cream. "I
find it all a bit too stressful."
"Really?" Zac said,
cocking an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm sure you remember what
it's like in high school," Janelle said after swallowing.
"Everyone's always in everyone else's business, especially in
girl world."
"Girl world?"
"Yeah. You'd be
surprised how true 'Mean Girls' really is in real life…you
know, the movie? Plus, it's tough sometimes to distinguish between
the guys who really want to get to know you and the ones who just
wanna score." She slapped her hand over her mouth and winced.
"Omg, that was kinda rude, wasn't it?"
Zac
shook his head. "Nah, not really."
Janelle bit her lip,
and then looked around. "Hey, where's Carol?"
Zac
looked around and shrugged. "I dunno. Why?"
Janelle
smiled and grabbed her purse. "Let's go."
"Go where?"
Zac said, standing as she did. "We have to wait for—"
"Do you really wanna hang out with adults all day? Come on, where's
your sense of adventure?" Janelle teased, smiling at him over her
shoulder as she walked towards the door.
"Well, when you
put it that way…" Zac said to himself, and hurried to catch up
with her. They both cautiously stuck their heads out of the door and
looked in both directions. The vans were sitting at the curb, and
most of the cameramen were standing around it.
"We need a
diversion," Janelle whispered.
Almost immediately after she had
spoken, one camera man shouted and pointed across the street. A short
blonde woman, dressed all in black, was coming out of a store, and
was immediately surrounded with press, including the Popstar
cameramen who rushed over to try to get a picture of her.
"Who's that?" Janelle asked.
"Who cares? Now's our
chance!" Zac grabbed her hand and pulled her down the sidewalk in
the other direction.
"That was sneaky!" Janelle
exclaimed. "You're a bad influence."
"Me? This was
your idea!" Zac exclaimed, and squeezed her hand as she laughed.
"Come on, let's get a
taxi."
"Let's take five, people."
Vanessa got up and
walked over to the refreshment table. As she opened a bottle of
water, she motioned Ashley over. "Ash, what time is it?"
Ashley dug her phone out of her back pocket and checked the
screen. "It's 4:22. It was 4:15 the last time you asked...after
a very painful poke in the ribs, I'll have you know."
"Oh...okay."
Ashley raised an eyebrow. "What's
with you? You seem kinda antsy."
Vanessa shrugged with
one shoulder. "Nothing...how do you think Zac's sight-seeing
thing is going?"
Ashley took a bite out of a chocolate
chip cookie. "I dunno," she answered.
"Shouldn't
they be back by now/ I mean...is there that much to see in Utah?"
Ashley swallowed. "Not really, but-" She stopped
suddenly, put the cookie down and crossed her arms, giving Vanessa a
wary look. "Why?"
Vanessa took another swig from
her water bottle. "No reason, I'm just saying..."
"Okay people, let's finish up!"
Vanessa walked
hurriedly back to her seat, but Ashley stood looking after her.
"Hmm."
"I am really, really sorry," Janelle said. "I
didn't know it would be that bad."
Zac shook his head.
"How could you have known? How could anyone have known?"
Janelle tossed her empty soda cup into a nearby trashcan as they
walked away from the movie theater. "I knew it wouldn't be the
greatest movie in the world...most epic movies aren't really that
good but...there was no real plot."
"Blood
everywhere, but no real plot," Zac agreed, putting his hands
deep into his pockets. "I hate when that happens."
"Wow, that was disappointing," Janelle said. "Oh
well...where to now?" As the pair prepared to cross a busy
intersection, Janelle put her right hand in the crook of Zac's elbow,
and a really intense tingle ran up and down Zac's spine and rattled
around in his brain.
Zac opened his mouth to answer, but his cell
phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and winced. "It's
Carol."
Janelle bit her lip. "Are you gonna answer
it?"
Zac stared at the blinking screen for a moment,
then put it back in his pocket. "I'd rather not."
"Good choice." Janelle moved closer to him as they walked
down the crowded street in downtown Salt Lake City. Apparently, it
was the part of town dedicated to shopping. "Ooh, I need a new
pair of sunglasses!" Janelle pulled Zac into a store. For the
next hour and a half, they both wandered from store to store, mostly
window-shopping, but Janelle bought a few things for herself and her
friends. In one clothing boutique, Janelle held up a pink, orange and
white striped shirt up to Zac's body, then stepped back to give it an
accessing look. "I like it."
Zac raised an eyebrow.
"I hate it."
"Oh come on! It takes a real man
to wear pink."
"Oh yeah? What do fake men wear?"
"Uh...I don't know...every color you're wearing right now?"
"Ha ha, very funny," Zac said, poking her in the ribs.
She giggled and put the shirt back. "Come on, I have an
idea," Zac said. He lead Janelle out of the store and raised his
hand to hail a taxi. "Where are we going?" she asked.
Zac
grinned at her as a taxi came to a stop in front of them. "You'll
see."
Minutes later, the taxi stopped. Janelle jumped
out and gasped. "Oh my god!"
Zac paid the driver
and stood beside her. "I dunno...I had a hunch that since you
live in Texas, this may be a good place to bring you, even if it's
only a lake."
"It's beautiful," Janelle said,
then took his arm and dragged him down to the sand. "Come on!"
The two of them went down to the sand and stood for a while,
gazing out onto the Great Salt Lake as the water shone in the evening
sunlight. After a while, Janelle turned to Zac. "Thank you...for
everything. This whole day has been...amazing."
Zac
smiled. "Yeah...it has. And I want you to know that even though
this may be the last day I ever spend without the company of two very
big bodyguards as a direct result of how pissed Carol is gonna be
about our disappearance, I'm glad I'm spending my last day of freedom
with you." He saw a faint blush tint her cheeks and the tingle
ran up and down his spine once more. He took a deep breath and
reached for her hand. "Come on."
The two of them began
to walk down the beach, their hands swinging between them. "So,
can I ask you a question without it being weird?"
Janelle shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
"Is there
any chance your friend Tori likes younger guys?"
Janelle
grinned. "Oh, there's a very
good chance."
