My body turns slowly in a circle and I sigh. A long, pitiful sigh. I miss Beck. He’s been at all my competitions, and not only is he not here with me, he’s not really accessible either. Sitting on the edge of my bed still in the towel, I think about how strange it is that my boyfriend is at a live taping of the Eileen Delarosa Show.
I’m sure even if it’s over now, he’s out with Griff and their sisters, but I figure I could at least text him, let him know how much I miss him.
My phone isn’t in any of the pockets of the clothes I was wearing earlier, or in the small purse I’d brought with me to the bar. I let out another long sigh as I realize I must have left my phone at the bar. I enjoyed hanging with the other women at the competition, but I’m not real excited about trucking it back there. My pajamas are looking mighty appealing.
The sound of a phone ringing nearly has me jumping out of my skin as I stand over my suitcase, contemplating if it’s worth the trip back to the bar to rescue my phone. It takes a few seconds before I realize it’s the room phone.
“Hello?” I answer with a frown.
“Jordan.” It’s Beck, and I can’t quite detect what I’m hearing in his voice. Well, I can, but it’s weird.
“Why do you sound like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’ve been holding your breath for hours? Are you okay? Did something happen on the show?”
“I’m good, nothing happened, but I did get a call from Camila Gonzales from your phone. And I’ve been worrying something happened to you.”
I sit back down on the bed. “Oh.” Man, the way he said my name, he sounded so distressed. Or like he had been distressed, and now he could breathe again. “Why were you so worried? I just left it at the bar.”
“I’m not exactly sure. I probably overreacted. But with the online bullying you’ve had in the past, and with it being Camila of all people who had your phone, I started to think something might have happened to you. Besides, you didn’t answer the first time I called your room.”
“Oh, I was in the shower. I just got out.”
There’s music and voices in the background on his end and I’m about to ask where he is, but he asks me a very distracting question. “So, are you still in a towel?” It’s not so much the question, but the way his voice drops an octave.
“Yeah, I am actually. I had just realized I didn’t have my phone and was trying to decide whether to get in my pajamas and find it tomorrow or get dressed to go back to the bar to retrieve it.”
“Stay here for now and talk to me. Maybe someone can bring it by your room later. Camila said most of them are staying at the same hotel, that’s how I found you.”
I lie back in bed, happy with this plan. “It’s only you I want to talk to anyway. Yes it’d be cool to have my friends here, but it’s you I’m really missing.”
“I wish I was there with you right now. How did today go?”
I tell him about the competition so far, how everyone went out to eat and then to a bar. “I didn’t have to feel too out of place either and got to order a drink. The drinking age is only nineteen in Canada.”
“Camila hasn’t been giving you a hard time?”
“No, actually she’s been pretty friendly. But not in a weird way, I don’t think? We ended up sitting across from each other at dinner, and she kind of opened up about why she was here instead of at Apexx like she originally planned.”
“Oh yeah? What’d she tell you?”
“It was sad actually. She said everyone on the Shred Live cast, except you of course, would be there, and that she was worried they’d gang up on her.”
“Gang up on her?” He sounds skeptical.
“She said Donnie Guzman has been overly friendly with her and she made the mistake of going to some public events with him, like the Brazen opening. She didn’t feel like she could say no, but they were never dating. Anyway, she knows everyone thinks she got special treatment with the judging on the show because of him, but claims that if she did, it wasn’t intentional on her part.”
“Huh. That’s not what she told me.”
“What she told you? When?”
“Just now, when I talked to her from your phone. I asked why she wasn’t at Apexx and she said she figured dropping out at the last minute would piss off Donnie. She claims she can’t shake him off and he won’t leave her alone.”
“Maybe both stories are true. But I don’t really care about Camila. Not anymore. I mean, there was some hype after the season finale when everyone thought you two had some secret affair, but it died off pretty quickly. As long as she’s not giving me a hard time, her trying so hard to get in your pants on Shred Live is water under the bridge.”
“You forgive easily, Jordan.”
“It’s not worth my energy.” I let my towel drop, since I’m not wet anymore. “But now I’m thinking about your pants and getting inside them.” I love knowing that’s only for me, even if I don’t currently have access to it.
Beck’s voice is strained when he responds. “You can’t say things like that, Jordan. Not right now.”
“Why not? Where are you, anyway?”
“I’m hiding on a patio chair at the hotel pool.”
“You could go up to your room?” I’ve actually got no idea what I’m proposing but my skin is suddenly very hot.
“I could, but currently I’m watching Naomi and Summer float around together in string bikinis, while a college basketball team drinking at the pool bar checks them out. The guys are waiting for a chance to pounce, and I have a feeling if Griff or I are distracted, the girls will be happy to receive the attention.”
I have to laugh at the image he’s painted. I’m sure their sisters just wish Griff and Beck would leave so they can flirt with older guys. “Fine, I should call my phone and ask Camila or whoever has it now to hold onto it for me until tomorrow, or drop it at the front desk if she’s staying here.”
My skin is still tight and achy when we hang up. It’s kind of astonishing to me that Beck’s voice alone can get me into this state. It’s not like we were talking about anything sexy.
When I call my phone, Camila answers, telling me she’s at the same hotel and can drop it at my room. “It’s fine, I’m actually about to go to sleep. Would you mind leaving it at the front desk?”
“You sure? I’m already on my way back. I’ll just be five minutes.”
“Okay, if it’s not too much trouble. Thanks.”
Maybe I should be more wary of Camila after her hostility toward me and her behavior on Shred Live, but it’s so much easier to think the best of people. At least, for me it is. As I finish up brushing my teeth, there’s a knock on my door and Camila is on the other side.
She hands me my phone with a tight smile.
“Thanks.” It comes out a little bit like a question, and I’m not sure why.
“Hey, can we talk for just a minute? I know you’re about to go to sleep but I have some things I feel like really need to be said.”
Studying her, I try to decide if I’m being naïve by giving her my time. I already kept things on peaceful, friendly terms during dinner, letting her pour her heart out about the shunning she’s experienced from the Shred Live cast.