Page 67 of #Starstruck

He got up on his knees and slid off his leather jacket. “I don’t know. Doesn’t seem very 1950s appropriate to me. The making out, not the car.”

“I’ve seenGrease. Very era appropriate.” I crooked my index finger, beckoning him to join me.

A second later he was sitting next to me in the back seat. “Okay. You convinced me. Even though they made that movie in the 1970s.”

I giggled, sliding my arms around his neck as he pulled me close. “Here’s a preview.” I leaned in to kiss him and fell into the delicious heat and taste of him, loving the way he made my pulse thump and my spine melt.

“Nice trailer,” he murmured against my lips. “I’m very much looking forward to the feature-length version.”

With a smile, I showed him the whole movie.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Life proceeded as normal over the following weeks. Well, as normal as it could be when your boyfriend starred in major motion pictures. I went to school, did my job, volunteered at the Foundation, and spent whatever free time I had with Chase. He had an unpredictable schedule, so we squeezed in time together whenever we could. We stayed in mostly. Played video games, watched movies and TV (especiallyJeopardy!, although as soon as the theme music played, Chase would call out “Who is Alex Trebek?” every time we watched), and spent a lot of time kissing until we were breathless.

I didn’t spend as much time with Lexi or my family as I normally did, but they seemed to understand. Especially Lexi.

The one serious problem I had was that I didn’t want our nights to end. I hated leaving him. And Chase didn’t make things better by telling me how much he wanted me to stay. Not to fool around or take things further than I wanted but just because we loved being together.

If this was how addiction worked, I was beginning to understand how hard it had been for him. I had teased him about going to Zoe rehab, but I might seriously need Chase Covington rehab.

One morning after another late night with my boyfriend, Lexi pulled me out of bed. “Come on, Chase Covington is onThe Helen Show.”

“Yeah, I ...” My voice trailed off as I realized what I had almost admitted to. That I knew he had already filmed the interview that aired that day. He had started a press tour for his newly released movie,Shadow of Time, and would have to leave for Europe soon. I was dreading it.

I grabbed my bowl of Lucky Charms while Lexi commanded the commercials to hurry up. “They had Amelia Swan on earlier, and you should be glad the TV is still in one piece. Skank. They’re doing the press tour for that new time-traveling movie where he comes from the present to the 1940s to stop World War II, and she’s the stupid tramp he falls in love with.”

They showed a clip from the movie, with Chase looking extraordinarily dashing in a mid-twentieth-century army uniform, saying goodbye to Amelia Swan’s character. Then he crushed her against his mouth and kissed her desperately.

I dropped my spoon. It was like somebody had punched me in the gut. Hard.

Lexi muttered some unkind things under her breath. I was starting to share in her hatred of Amelia.

“Please welcome Chase Covington to the show!”

Chase walked in, and the audience went bonkers. Like, I expected underwear to start flying through the air given how they screamed. He flashed them my favorite charming grin, waving as he went over to Helen and hugged her hello.

“So it must be rough to be so unattractive that nobody can stand to look at you,” Helen teased, and Chase laughed as the audience of women started screaming all over again.

“How are things? How are you?” the hostess asked once the hysterics died down.

“Good. Good. And you?”

“Nobody is watching right now to find out what’s going on in my life. They want to know about this.” Helen pointed at the screen behind them, and I stopped breathing when I saw the picture. It was one of the Disneyland photos. Not our private ones, but one taken by somebody in the crowd.

“About Disneyland? I highly recommend it,” Chase said.

“That’s not what I meant. Is it?” she asked the audience, and they all started screaming again. Helen waved her hands, trying to get them to calm down. “I mean, is this your girlfriend? Are you seeing someone? Do you have a significant other? Is there someone special in your life? If I knew another language, I would ask you in that.”

The audience chuckled, and Chase didn’t hesitate. The genuine smile never left his face. “I’m not seeing anyone. I don’t have a girlfriend or a significant other. There’s no one special in my life. Sorry to disappoint you.”

That earned him more screams, whistles, and catcalls. A concrete brick settled in the pit of my stomach, and it was like someone had sucked all the oxygen from the room, making it impossible to breathe.

“If you don’t mind me asking, since that’s kind of my job, who is the girl in the pictures?”

“Just someone who used to work for me.” He sounded so nonchalant.

My brain reminded me,Chase lies about personal things in interviews. But my heart said,He doesn’t feel about you the way you feel about him.

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