Page 50 of Tangled Up In You

“Baby,” she said as she pulled away.

“Darlin’, I’m not able to hear you say no or laugh it off. So, don’t say anything, okay? We’ll just enjoy the view.” He turned back to gaze upon the lights.

“But the answer is yes,” she said.

He was slow to understand and turned to her with a look he knew expressed his disbelief. “For definite?” he asked.

She nodded and smiled, tears once again filling her eyes.

Their next kiss was filled with a mixture of giddiness and awe at the audacity of what they had done.

28

SOPHIE

It was the distinctly noticeable noise one makes when trying to be quiet that woke Sophie the next morning. Gavin was dressing while on his cell phone as he looked out the hotel window, his voice hushed but insistent.

Staying as still as she could, Sophie wondered if this meant he had taken to heart the out she’d tried to give him before they fell asleep. After returning to the Chateau Marmont, he had ordered champagne through room service. It was yet another example of how easily they were able to drink despite being underage—a nice benefit of Gavin’s fame, she supposed. They had enjoyed the entire bottle together in celebration of their engagement.

But as they lay together on the verge of sleep, Sophie’s more prudent nature finally came to the forefront. She knew that agreeing to marry Gavin was reckless. She would be twenty in July, but that didn’t mean she was ready for marriage. Marriage to a rock star, no less. Her more fantastical side wanted to dive deep into the sheer romance of the evening they had shared overlooking the city lights. But she also feared that he had been giving into that good feeling too, and that the practicalities of what he was proposing hadn’t been even remotely considered.

“Gavin,” she had said softly. Her head was nestled into the crook of his arm, her naked body pressed against his.

“Hmm?”

“I know that this—us—feels good. But it doesn’t have to be marriage. I mean, I’m not going to hold you to that. Everything has happened so fast. I understand if you want to just see how things go.”

He shifted slightly but didn’t respond.

“Baby?”

“Let’s talk later, darlin’,” he said in a sleepy mumble.

Now he was busy making some sort of plan and she realized she’d better get up. But doing so seemed like waking herself from the best dream she had ever had, and so she stayed curled up in bed instead.

“Darlin’? Wake up for me,” Gavin said.

She reluctantly opened her eyes and saw him crouched down by the bed, watching her. His face was covered in stubble from the last few days, giving his usual disheveled appearance an even sexier edge.

“I need your help with something.” He held up a piece of paper with scribbled notes. “Will you drive me?”

Sophie was preoccupiedas she followed Gavin’s directions, driving through West Hollywood and along Santa Monica Boulevard. As they neared Beverly Hills, palm trees began to neatly line the streets against the backdrop of the clear morning sky.

Meanwhile, Gavin toyed with the radio and when he heard “Last Night” followed by “All My Life,” and “Fell In Love With A Girl,” he regaled Sophie with his theory that they were experiencing a rich period in music with the likes of The Strokes, Foo Fighters, and The White Stripes, respectively, making their mark. “Clocks” by Coldplay came on and that sent him off on a rant about how close Chris Martin was to being a good front man but that he was clearly lacking confidence. He declared “Toxicity” by System of a Down too heavy-handed, but thought Chris Cornell’s effort with Audioslave was one of the better transitions of a singer into a new band that he had seen.

As Gavin’s commentary went on, Sophie’s doubts about his commitment to her grew. He hadn’t mentioned their engagement once, and seemed more interested in this random errand than making the most of their last full day together.

“Here. Turn here,” he told her.

When she realized that he was taking her down Rodeo Drive, she rolled her eyes. When had he become the kind of person who wanted to do this kind of sightseeing?

“Park around here. Any spot is good.”

It was still early, not yet ten in the morning, and only a handful of people were on the sidewalk. She found a vacant metered spot and pulled over.

“You know, nothing’s going to be open yet,” she said as he took her hand and led her down the street.

“Guess what? Turns out my limited celebrity actually has some perks.”

---