PoV: RORY
I make them all wait until we've ordered at the ice cream parlor downtown (my treat, thanks to all the movie-money I have now that Kyle is a safe distance away) before talking about it. By the time everyone's gotten their ice cream and taken a seat in the booth, Annabelle looks like she's about to explode. I don't think her butt hits the vinyl before she opens her mouth.
"Okay, spill! I'm dying over here!" Amanda laughs, and Sari just shakes her head through a mouthful of Strawberry Surprise. The surprise is that it's vegan ice cream. Not a very good surprise, in my opinion.
Annabelle isn't finished yet, though. "What did he want? Are you getting a raise? Could you get me a raise? Are his eyes even dreamier up close?"
"Slow down, or you'll choke," I warn. But I'm not mean enough to make them wait any longer. I tell—then retell twice—my encounter with Jake Harrison, making sure not to leave out a single detail for their sake. Although, there aren't very many to leave out.
"Wait, so, hold on; you're saying he asked you what your name was, and then…and then he told you you were tough?" Sari clarifies. Amanda just watches us amusedly but quietly from her end of the booth. She's yet to say anything.
"Mm-hmm." I swallow a mouthful of Breakfast Cereal Medley ice cream, my personal favorite. "And then he said 'see you around.'"
Finally satisfied with the information they've been given, Annabelle and Sari move on to the analysis. "Omigod!" Sari starts, and I have to nearly knock her cell phone from her hands to keep her from spreading the story around. I don't know why, but I really don't want word getting out that Jake Harrison and I are suddenly buddy-buddy. I feel like it's a fact best kept to myself for now.
Annabelle grins wickedly. "Rory, he totally likes you."
Now I'm the one who's nearly choking. "What? Uh, maybe in some alternate universe where he's not a movie star or I'm even worthy of his attention, but you're just romanticizing it."
"He talked to you!"
"He asked me what my name was! That doesn't automatically translate to him liking me!" I argue.
"He never asked me what my name is," Annabelle points out. Sari nods in agreement. I look desperately over to Amanda, hoping she'll back me up.
She just shrugs. "I don't know what the guy's thinking any better than you do. Why is it so crazy that he would like you?"
I gesture to myself. "Hello? Look at me. Boring hair, dorky glasses, training bra? Why would the hottest movie star in the country like me when he could have someone like Madison Waters?" I explain.
"Because Madison Waters is only a pretty face," Amanda says. "I don't think they're a great match other than to look at." She eyes me as if to say "remember that stuff you told me during the school dance scene a few days ago?" Then she shrugs again. "I don't blame him for wanting something more than that."
I frown, perplexed. "Okay…and, I'm supposed to be the 'more?'"
"Of course you are!" Sari exclaims. "You're so smart, and kind, and funny. You're an amazing friend. Any guy, Jake Harrison or not, would be lucky to have you."
"Aw, thanks Sari," I say genuinely. "But you didn't have to say all that."
"I did," she assures me. Annabelle nods, as if to agree. Amanda is watching us again like she's trying to decipher a code we didn't even know we were speaking in.
"But back to Jake Harrison," Annabelle says matter-of-factly. "Say he does like you. What then?"
"I wake up and realize it was all a dream?"
She rolls her eyes. "I'm serious. Would you date him if you could?"
The prospect is so fantastical that I'm honestly unsure how to respond. "I've never even been allowed to have a boy as a regular friend, and all of a sudden I'm dating a teen movie star? That's just not how that works," I say.
"So then be his friend," Amanda pipes up again, a certainty in her voice telling me this is advice she's familiar with. "Don't worry about whether he like-likes you or not. Just focus on finding out who he really is, since most of us probably don't know."
The way she puts it takes all the stress out of the idea. "I guess that could work…but when would I even find a chance to talk to him? The movie finishes shooting in eight days, and then he's going back to Hollywood."
"Maybe he could stay?" The hope in Annabelle's eyes is so profound I almost wish he could stay just to make her dreams come true.
"Yeah. Didn't he just turn down a role recently?" Amanda adds. I can see Annabelle trying to fit that snippet of info into her timeline of events, but she quickly abandons it.
"I mean…" What would I even say to get him to stay? Do I want him to stay? How will I know if that's what I want?
Angelina's words float through my mind. You won't get what you want until you see what you need. "Look, I don't know anything yet for sure. I'll try to catch him tomorrow and hopefully it will be less awkward this time."
"Sounds like a plan," Sari says excitedly. Amanda smiles levelly, but there's an excitement in her eyes that's unmistakeable. I don't know why I wasn't friends with her before now.
"I can't believe this is really happening!" Annabelle shrieks.
And frankly, neither can I.
