This was LAX after all. Loads of famous people came in and out of this airport.
Deciding not to feed her inner gremlins, she yanked her cap off and stuffed it into the pocket of the seat in front of her. Lily was categorically a nobody. If it wasn’t for the fact that she’d dated an actor, then she would be as anonymous as any other person on the street. It wasn’t like most people had a clue who wrote the movies or TV shows they watched. Unless you were Shonda Rhimes, of course.
Maybe she was making a mountain out of a molehill. It was probably all in her head. In fact, maybe—
“Hey, aren’t you the #breakupgate woman?” The flight attendant was back, and she leaned against the seat in the row ahead of Lily. “I swear, I thought there was something familiar about you. And then it hit me! You were dating Brock Silvers.”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t all in her head. This time she didn’t even try to “y’all” her way out of the conversation. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Can I ask…” The woman leaned forward, eyes all but twinkling with delight. “What was he like? You know… in bed?”
Lily’s mouth popped open. What kind of question was that? Who in their right mind asked a complete stranger about their sex life? It was rude, insulting and…
She looked up at the woman and sighed. Didn’t everyone want to know if a Hollywood hunk had the same kind of magnetism in real life as they did on screen? Sure, most people would have the decency to wonder about it without actually asking. But what the heck did she owe Brock now?
A big fat nothing, that’s what.
“Not great,” Lily said, holding up her hand and wriggling her little finger. “If you know what I mean.”
Okay, it was definitely not her finest moment. Lily had been raised better than to be nasty about people behind their back, even if they totally and one hundred percent deserved it. She felt immediately guilty about the snide comment. But why wasn’t he having to deal with this kind of scrutiny? Apparently, he’d already started dating someone else. A model, no less.
It had only been a month.
Three whole years together and he’d moved on within a month. It stung.
“I don’t believe it.” The flight attendant shook her head. “I saw him in Wave of Love. You’re telling me that scene where he comes out of the water in those board-shorts was CGI? No way.”
Lily sighed. She should have kept her mouth shut. “I’m afraid I can’t say anything more than that. Confidentiality clauses, you know.”
“It must have been amazing to date someone famous when you’re…” The woman trailed off as if realising her mouth had run away with her. “Well, normal. I don’t mean that in a bad way.”
Normal.
Some people might have found the word insulting, but Lily couldn’t deny it was true. She knew she didn’t measure up to the high-gloss women who had graced Brock’s arm on the red carpet before—and since—her relationship with him. All the actresses, models, and social media influencers were all some form of the tanned, fit, pouty “look” the media had decided was ideal. Lily herself was pasty-white and refused to use fake tan because she hated the smell. Plus, she liked creamy pasta way too much to ever fit into a sample-size dress.
Seriously, what was the point of life without carbonara?
Add to that her natural awkwardness, and she really wasn’t sure what attracted Brock to her in the first place. He used to say it was that he found her funny and smart, and he liked that she wasn’t from “that world.” That she was real and honest and authentic.
Lies. All of it.
“Looks aren’t everything,” Lily replied with a tight smile.
“People say that, sure. But you can’t seriously tell me that you didn’t date him because of the way he looked.” The flight attendant raised a sceptical eyebrow.
Nobody ever believed her when she told them the truth—that she’d been swept away by how Brock made her feel. Yes, he had abs and a killer smile. And yes, you could probably bounce a coin on his backside. But Lily had always cared about the interior of a person—their heart and soul, their thoughts and opinions and their goodness—more than the way someone looked.
He’d struck her as kind and thoughtful. Humble.
But that was the danger of dating an actor. They lied for a living. And the more successful they were, the better they lied.
“I mean, I get it. I’ve been dumped too,” the flight attendant said. “It sucks. I can’t imagine having it happen with the entire country watching, when it was clear you thought he was about to propose.”
Heat crawled up into Lily’s cheeks. How could she have been so naive? The morning show had invited Lily and Brock to talk about making movies together. The usual questions were flung at her—like how she coped seeing him “fall in love” with other women on set, and Lily had given her standard answer of knowing the difference between real life and fiction.
Then he’d broken up with her in the middle of it all.
Later, he’d called her to say that it was all for publicity. An idea orchestrated by his agent, apparently. He didn’t really want to break up with her, but he’d been struggling to land any “real” movies—like the movies she wrote were just silly fluff pieces—and that he thought shedding his “romantic lead” image would help. He’d even had the gall to say he didn’t understand why she was so upset.
Needless to say, she’d hung up on him. He’d called incessantly for three more days before giving up and moving on to someone else. Jerk.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake ever again,” Lily said with conviction.
Love was going to be her job… not her life.
That’s when she saw Sean standing behind the flight attendant in the aisle, his brows furrowed. Oh boy. How did she not notice he was there before? Had he overheard that whole exchange? Had she heard him make the comment about Brock’s…? Ugh. Double karma.
This is why you need to keep your big mouth shut and take the high road.
The brief flash of satisfaction now was almost always never worth the consequences that followed.
The flight attendant moved on to help another passenger. Sean’s pale eyes sparkled with amusement and the delicious smirk that had taunted her throughout high school danced on his lips.
Please keep walking, please keep walking, please keep walking.
“Looks like we’re going to be neighbours,” he said with a roguish smile as he pointed to the empty seat next to her.
She nodded. “Of course we are.”
Because this, it seemed, was how her life was destined to go. Not one of her poor decisions would ever slip past people, unnoticed. Oh no. It looked like every single mistake she’d ever made was being shoved into her face over and over and over.
And falling in love with her best friend’s boyfriend back in high school had definitely been a mistake.
Lily didn’t look thrilled that they were going to be sitting together. But she’d always been like that—acting indifferent toward him. Frankly, if it wasn’t for finding a short story she’d written about him back in the last week of high school, he would never have known she harboured a crush on him.