Page 55 of #Starstruck

“Thank you for the flowers. They’re amazing, and I absolutely love them, and nobody’s ever done anything like that for me before. And you have to make this movie. You are going to kill it and win every award in the entire universe.”

“Even the Martian Academy Awards?”

“Especially that one.”

“You liked the flowers?”

“Liked them? Cartwheels might have been involved.”

“I wish I’d been there to see that.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I didn’t know which ones were your favorite.”

I lay back on my bed. “Pink tulips are my favorite. My grandmother always had them at the house. She said they reminded her of Pennsylvania. They took a lot of work. Like, she had to keep them in the fridge before she planted them. But she thought it was worth it. So did I.”

“Noted. Speaking of things we weren’t talking about, a good friend of mine is getting married this Saturday. Would you like to go with me?”

“To a wedding?” My question ended in a squeak. “Isn’t that more of a girlfriend kind of event? For people who are dating?”

He stayed quiet for so long I thought we’d lost the connection. “What do you think we’ve been doing here?”

“You keep calling ithanging out. I thought that’s all it was. If you feel differently, that’s news to me.”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “This is more of an in-person conversation. I’ve been putting in extra hours so we can finish early. We should be done shooting by Friday evening, and I plan on being home by Saturday afternoon. I can send a car to pick you up. What do you say?”

A whole week earlier than I’d thought? My heart twirled around inside my chest, deliriously happy. “Okay. I’ll see you on Saturday.”

My first fizzy, thrilled thought after we hung up was,Yes! Chase thinks we’re dating!

And my second overwhelming, intimidating thought was,Oh no! Chase thinks we’re dating.

He would have expectations.

I was seriously out of my depth.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Chase tweeted that early this morning and then followed it with a text to me that said:

After my heart stopped racing and all my goose bumps went away, I realized what the problem was. His words didn’t match his actions. He flirted, said hot things, claimed he was interested.

But everything in his body language, how he kept me at a distance physically, told me the exact opposite.

It wasn’t a problem I could have solved right then, so I just focused on getting ready for his friend’s wedding. Chase’s text had settled deep in my stomach, causing an ache and light-headedness that made me more than a bit accident prone.

I’d told Lexi I had a date for a wedding, and she practically shook with excitement. “That is huge! He’s claiming you in front of the entire world!”

I wanted to believe her, but her optimism only made things worse. I dropped makeup brushes more than once and almost burned Lexi with a curling iron when she was helping me put up my hair.

“Careful! Don’t brand me with that thing. You must really like this guy. I’ve never seen you so clumsy. You are completely and totally twitterpated.”

If only she knew how on the nose her proclamation was, given that Chase and I had met on Twitter.

Because I didn’t own anything fancy enough to wear to a formal wedding with a movie star, I enlisted Lexi’s help. She got on the phone to every single female friend she’d ever had and tracked down the perfect dress for me. It was pale silvery-gray chiffon, and the bodice and three-quarter sleeves were made out of sheer fabric with matching gray lace overlay to cover everything important. The skirt swished when I moved. The bodice was a bit too big for me, but Lexi used her years spent in theaters to discreetly stitch it into place. “This color makes your eyes pop. I can take the stitches out when you get home, and Joslyn will never even notice. Just don’t take it off.”

Ha. Fat chance of that.

She went through my shoes until she found a pair of fancy high heels with delicate silver straps I’d never even worn. Shoes she’d practically forced me to buy two years ago because they were on clearance and in my size, a rare occurrence. “Aha! I knew I hadn’t imagined these beauties.”

“These are going to kill my feet. I’ve never worn them before.”

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