Page 80 of Witch You Would
“You what?” Sam exclaimed. “What the fuck, Ed!”
“Shh!” I said.
“I’m not saying he’s right, or that you should listen to him,” Edsaid, pushing his glasses up his nose. “But if Gil does end up doing this new thing, how is that going to change his personal life? What is he going to have to compromise for his career?”
“Yes. That. It’s not just Penelope. I don’t know what’s going to happen with her.”
“You know what you want to happen,” Sam interrupted.
“Yeah. It’s more... do I want the future where I have my own TV show, but the only dating I ever do is fake? As Leandro?And how long will that go on?”
“It might not be like that,” Ed said.
“It might not,” I agreed. “And this is just a screen test. It isn’t a contract. Lots of shows die before they go anywhere.But I need to figure my shit out, you know? Get my priorities straight so I can set boundaries.”
Ed popped shredded carrot garnish into his mouth. “You don’t have to rush anything.”
“I need to talk to Penelope, though,” I said. “Before things go any further with us. I can’t keep messing around with her,pretending to be Leandro. I want her to like me, not a character.”
Sam took a big gulp of her drink. “So, just curious, what’s she like?”
“Here’s the wild thing: you met her at the park.”
“Angry girl, right?” Sam asked.
“Yeah! She’s not actually angry. She’s really smart, and fun, and—”
“She’s right over there,” Sam said.
I turned so fast, I knocked my drink into my lap. Penelope stood near the doorway between the hotel lobby and the restaurant,staring at me like she’d seen a ghost. But she couldn’t have figured out... could she?
She took one step back, then another, her eyes locked on mine. I stood up, wet beer soaking my jeans. She spun around and ran for the elevator.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I muttered, tripping through the crowded restaurant as I hurried to catch up. Behind me, Sam yelled, “Don’tfuck this up!”
Had I, though? Was it already too late?
I bolted through the lobby, past Alina at her desk, my heart pumping faster than my legs. The doors of the elevator were startingto close when I threw myself between them, and they opened again. Penelope stood inside, backed into the corner, hugging herselftightly.
“Hey,” I said.
She just stared at me.
I took a deep breath and let it out. “I need to tell you something.”
The doors slid shut behind me.
Chapter 17
Penelope
I’d imagined meeting Gil so many times, in so many ways, and not a single one of them involved being trapped in an elevatorwith him after finding out he was Leandro Presto.
Seeing him in the restaurant, at first I had refused to believe the obvious. It had been shocking enough for the guy I’d crushedon for so long to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Then I realized he was sitting with Leandro’s crew, talking and drinkingand being normal. And then! He did the thing! Where he tried to smooth down his mustache, except he didn’t have a mustache,so he just rubbed his upper lip where the mustache should be. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it.
I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it before. But Leandro’s hair was almost black and slicked back, instead of dark brown andcurly. His big safety glasses hid his eyes, and he had that mustache, and the ridiculous shirts... This just proved I didn’tknow Gil at all. I didn’t really know either of them, apparently. Either of him.
How? Why? I had so many questions, so many emotions slithering over each other like snakes in a basket. My mouth struggledto make words happen, so we just stood there in the elevator until it dinged and the doors opened.
