Page 43 of Becoming Cinderella

“Carter! Just the girl I wanted to see.” She grabs some papers off her desk and walks over to me, pulling me into her room.

“Hey, I uh, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

She lets go of me and sits on her floor, crossing her legs at the ankles as she plops down a small stack of papers in front of her.

“Okay, but first sit. I’ve got something important to show you.”

I sit down across from her, picking up the first piece of paper with an old article from a magazine printed on it. “What is this?”

“I’ve done some research.”

“On Matt Damon?” I pick up another paper. “And Nicholas Cage? Penn, really, what is this?”

“Celebrities who dated fans. Well, these ones married their fans actually.”

I look up at her, surprised, before shuffling through the other papers she had printed out.

“There were even more who just dated their fans, but I didn’t print them all out. See, look here.” She grabs a paper. “Billie Joe Armstrong, you know, from Green Day? He met his wife at one of his concerts. Patrick Dempsey met his wife when she cut his hair. Heck, Prince William met Kate Middleton at school. It’s even rumored that Kate had posters of Will when she was a teenager. Sound familiar?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me as I turn my attention back to the article on Matt Damon meeting his wife in a bar.

“Penn, why are you showing me this?” My voice comes out rough, like it’s caught in my throat.

“Because I know you think that you and Liam would never work out based on the separate worlds you come from.”

“I want to date Jared, remember? He’s the one I’ve been in love with for years.” Ever since Penn walked in on Liam and I during rehearsal she’s relentless about Liam and I and her totally imaginary mutual crush developing between us.

She gives her head a small shake. “Carter, I know you. You’re trying not to let Liam in because you know he’s going to leave, but I think you like him. No, I know you like him.”

I let out a humorless laugh and toss the Matt Damon paper back onto her pile. “Liam Taylor is famous.” I stop as soon as those words leave my mouth. No. He’s more than that word. “He is the best guy I’ve ever known. He’s thoughtful, sincere, and funny. But that doesn’t mean I’m in love with him. Before he came to town, that was just a crush. A silly celebrity crush. Everyone has one. Besides, weren’t you concerned I would just get my heartbroken if I liked him?” I stop, a little taken aback by my own words. It wasn’t that long ago I was telling Liam that Jared was the best guy I knew. And while Jared is one of the best guys I know, Liam is too.

“Yeah, that sounds like me. But that was before I realized how much I think you really like Liam. The boy Liam, not the celebrity Liam. Plus, Carter?” She leans in towards me like she’s going to tell me a secret. “You’ve had a permanent smile on your face since you met him. Why deny yourself the happiness because you’re scared of what might happen in the end?”

She grabs my hands and squeezes before releasing them and sitting back on her hands.

“Penn, I appreciate what you’re saying and what you’ve done, I do, but I like Jared.”

Penn gives me a look that says she doesn’t believe me. “Okay, okay. Fine. You’re not in love with him. Just keep these, okay?” She pushes the papers toward me. “Some light reading is all.” She bites her bottom lip and I know she wants to say more, so I wait for her to do so. “Don’t you think you’ve created an image of Jared in your head too? One he won’t be able to live up to? He’s your average teenage boy with flaws, but I’m not sure you see them.” She’s speaking softly, like this will cushion the words she’s saying.

“Do you?” It comes out barely as a whisper as I try to think of things about Jared that I don’t look at through a pair of rose-colored glasses.

“He smacks his gum,” she answers quickly which makes me laugh.

“Is that it?”

“You know what?” Penn pushes herself to her feet and extends her hand out to me to help me up too. “Maybe I’m not the best person for this conversation. Are you hungry? I’m hungry. Let’s go get some food.” She grabs her car keys off her dresser and starts walking towards her door.

I watch her as she looks anywhere but my eyes. What is with the sudden change in attitude?

“Penn, wait.” I stay rooted to her floor, making her come back into her room. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Talking about boys just works up my appetite. Now come on.” She waves me towards her as she turns back down her hallway.

Something is off and I know her well enough to know there’s something she’s not telling me.

“Hello? Carter, come on!” She calls from down the hall.

Looks like the Jared confession will have to wait for another day. Penn clearly doesn’t want to discuss it anymore, and with all the butterfly-inducing moments happening with Liam lately, for once I could do with a break from talking about boys too.

Chapter Twelve

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