Page 54 of #Starstruck

Although I hadn’t had the chance to hear his reply, I got to read it.

The next day was Gavin’s birthday. He and Lexi had made plans to go to the fanciest restaurant in town, La Bella Vita. It was only three o’clock in the afternoon, but Lexi had started getting ready.

“It’s so unfair. He’ll take a shower and shave while I have to do all this.” She gestured to her body, then went back to putting her hair in curlers.

“At least he’ll appreciate it.”

“He will. Hey, did I tell you I ran into Ron on campus today?” Ron was this cheating jerk Lexi had dated for about three weeks until she’d caught him on a date with another girl. “He had the audacity to tell me I’d made a mistake breaking up with him because I’d never find anyone like him again. I was all, ‘That’s the point, moron!’”

Before I could agree with her, the doorbell rang. I knew it couldn’t be Gavin yet, and we weren’t expecting anyone else. I looked through the peephole and saw a huge bouquet of flowers. “Lexi! I think there’s a present for you!”

I opened the door, and the delivery man smiled at me. “I’m looking for Zoe Miller.”

“That’s me,” I said in shock because he was holding a vase of white roses bigger than our TV.

“Can you sign for these?” He handed me a pad, and I gave him my signature. He had a manila envelope clamped under his arm and gave that to me. I was surprised at how heavy the vase was when he put it in my hands.

“Thanks!” I said. I’d never gotten flowers before.

“That’s not all. I’ll be right back.”

If that delivery dude came back with car keys, Chase was in trouble. I set the flowers down on the kitchen table just as Lexi entered the room. “Are those for me? Gavin’s not supposed to send me gifts on his birthday!”

“Actually, they’re for me.” I opened the card with my name on it and read.

I didn’t know what you liked.

There was a soft knock at the door, and the delivery man carried in two more giant bouquets of flowers. One was purple tiger lilies, and the other was bright-yellow sunflowers. I told him to put them in the kitchen and noticed he wasn’t alone. Two other men followed behind him, carrying tulips and daffodils and daisies and other flowers I didn’t recognize but were beautiful.

They had to make one more trip to bring all the flowers inside. We were running out of places to put them.

“Does your man have a trust fund?” Lexi asked in awe, deeply breathing in the scent of the roses.

“He could.” Not technically a lie. Chase could have family money beyond his acting earnings.

“Why can’t more men be romantic like this?”

I was only half paying attention, overwhelmed at the gesture. “Mormons can’t be romantic?”

“No, I said more men. Not Mormons.”

“Your boyfriend is very romantic.”

“I know.” There was a wistfulness in her tone. “But nobody’s ever bought out a flower shop for me.”

Nobody ever had for me, either. But Lexi already knew that.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, catching my expression. “I’m super happy for you. But a tiny bit jealous, too.”

“Makes sense.” It was how I’d felt about Lexi for most of our lives. “I’ve got some reading I need to do.”

“And I’ve got some painful waxing I need to do.”

I took the manila envelope into our room and slid the script out. The front saidSpectrum. The pages were the color of goldenrod, and I opened it and began to read. At first it took some getting used to, with phrases like INT.—RICK’S ROOM and camera directions, but once I understood it, it was almost like reading a book. I could see all of it in my head.

The second I finished, I jumped up and shut the bedroom door so Lexi wouldn’t hear me call Chase.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey.” His voice was warm and so clear it made me miss him all over again.

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