I wrap one arm around Ariela and the other around her and, just like I used to, say, “It’s time to party.”
Dallas joins our group hug. “You girls getting up on the bar to dance, for old times sake?”
“Hell yes,” both Keatyn and Ariela say then go running up to the bar.
As Dallas and I watch them dance with some other girls they’ve coaxed up with them, he says, “Why did she come? Did she know you were here?”
“She came for the same reason I did. To put the past behind her.”
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12TH
Hotel Suite - Connecticut
GRACIE
“You made Homecoming amazing,” Baylor tells me as he drops me off at the hotel suite. “I’m so glad you surprised me.”
“Even though it caused you some girl trouble?” I tease. My back is against the door, my chin raised. I’ve been hoping all night that he’d kiss me already.
He touches my cheek. “You have a little bruise.”
“I have a magazine cover shoot tomorrow.”
“What will you tell them?”
“That I got in a wicked cat fight over an adorable boy.”
“You think I’m adorable?” he asks, his lips moving closer. “Girls don’t usually say that about me.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that. What do they usually say?”
He shrugs, looks shy. “I don’t know.”
“I know what they say, Baylor. They say you’re hot. You’re a Hawthorne. You’re an amazing quarterback. You drive an expensive car. I hear the same things. She’s hot. She’s Tommy Steven’s and Abby Johnston’s daughter. She’s rich. She was nominated for an Academy Award. She blah blah blah. They say things that aren’t so nice too. I think you’re adorable because you were a gentleman who offered me his seat. Because you send me texts that actually have substance and not just ask me what’s up. Because you opened the car door for me. Because you asked my sister what my favorite color was and then went out and bought me flowers. And because I loved the way you held me when we danced.”
He grabs my face and kisses me. Unexpectedly hard. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back just as hard. So hard I don’t have time to breathe. Or maybe it’s that the kiss took my breath away.
“Wow,” I say, when he ends the kiss and looks into my eyes.
“The perfect ending to the perfect night,” he says. “Goodbye, Gracie.”
“Goodbye,” I say sadly, not wanting him to leave.
“You look sad,” he says. “You come to Eastbrooke and there will be a lot more of those.”
“And if I can’t?”
“I may decide to go to school in California,” he says with a grin then he pushes my chin up with his finger and gives me one more kiss before he leaves.
I walk into the suite and flop on the bed next to Keatyn in a happy daze.
“How was your night?” she asks.
“Amazing. I really see why you loved it here.”
“So, do you like Eastbrooke or do you like Baylor?”
“Both.”
“If you decide to give up acting and go to school, don’t do it for a boy, Gracie. Do it for yourself.”
“When I visited, Keatyn, I did it because I wanted to. Not because of a boy. I didn’t know at the time that Brady would sleep with Kylie and I didn’t know I would meet Baylor. You’re the reason I’ve been thinking about it.”
“I am?”
“Not just you, but all of you. Maggie, Riley, Dallas. You have amazing friends. Even before Kylie hooked up with Brady, I knew she wasn’t the same kind of friend. I don’t have any friends.”
“You don’t? What about Dylan and Tabitha? You grew up together on The Gracie Experiment.”
“We were best friends on set, but then as soon as I quit and went on to do movies, they sort of stopped being my friends.”
“They haven’t really gone on to do anything else, have they?”
“Dylan does some commercials, but that’s about it. Do you think that’s why? It’s like they decided they don’t like me anymore.”
“Sometimes that happens in this business.”
“I heard them talking behind my back one time. About how I only got to switch to movies because of who I am. That I’m not even that good of an actress.”
“Well, obviously you are. You were nominated for an Academy Award already. That’s pretty unusual and not something they give out just because you’re related to someone famous. Your dad’s never been nominated.”
“I know. He told me that. It’s a hard choice. I love acting. It’s always been something I felt compelled to do.”
“You used to do shows for us when you were little,” she says. “You would make Pooh dance. And you wanted to rename him Mr. Bear because he didn’t want to be named after poop.”
“I’ve seen the videos. Pretty funny, huh?”
“Well, it just shows that you’ve been working on your craft for a long time. Not to mention the acting lessons you take too.”
“I want to keep getting better, but I also wish I could just be normal.”
“Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you can’t be normal. You act in public. You’re yourself in private.”