Foolish Games Page 11

  “Umm, I don’t even remember,” I mumbled while watching Harrison who continued to block off anyone who attempted to approach us.

  “You asked if this was optional,” Hawkins reminded me.

  Exhaling loudly, I asked, “Why are we here, exactly?”

  “So you can write something accurate about me for once.” He aimed a smile at me and then instantly dropped it.

  “Oh, I doubt anyone who knows you thinks what I’ve written wasn’t true.” I shot back.

  “See, that’s what I don’t understand. Where do you get off thinking you know me well enough to say anything about me?”

  “Because of the way you treated me in the elevator,” I explained. “It’s not exactly rocket science to come to the conclusion that you’re full of yourself.”

  “Arrogant…you said arrogant,” he corrected me. “And what was the other descriptive adjective that makes me assume you must have the extensive vocabulary of a fourth grader?” He paused before continuing, “Oh, that’s right, smug. You said I was smug.”

  “Exactly, thanks for proving my point.”

  “I’m smug because I wasn’t interested in hooking up with you?” he asked skeptically.

  “First of all, it was the way you handled the situation, like I wasn’t standing there right beside you, but most of all it was the way you assumed that I would want to hook up with you in the first place.”

  “And I’m smug…you’re not exactly hard to figure out either, you know.”

  “Oh, really,” I said with an edge, thinking, this ought to be good.

  “You and those precious rules of yours,” he said.

  “What about them?” I chose to humor him.

  “You see, I have my own set of rules, too, I guess you could say.” He shrugged. “They may not be as extreme, or as self-indulgent, as yours, but I understand them. And yours…well, yours are about not losing control.”

  “Like what? Please enlighten me—”

  “You don’t drink, well, not unless Kosic encourages it.” He smirked, clearly knowing how this would get underneath my skin.

  “What if I’m just waiting for Lizzie to bring me over one?”

  “You’d be waiting here till hell freezes over.” He nodded over at Lizzie, who was working the same man for drink after drink at the bar. “She only cares what she can get for herself, if you hadn’t noticed?”

  “Wow, you figured out that I don’t drink. I’m just an open book to you, aren’t I?”

  “No, actually, you’re not,” he admitted.

  “Really, what haven’t you figured out yet?”

  “Why are you following us around on this tour?” He looked over at me intently.

  “I had the money, the means, and the vehicle.” I kept it vague on purpose.

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m here, too,” he stated. “Okay, if you don’t want to answer that one, how about telling me why are you hanging out with that one?” He gestured towards the bar where Lizzie was still getting her fill.

  “What do you mean? We’ve been best friends for…forever.”

  “Ah, huh,” he hummed. “If you say so.”

  “I could ask you, why you’re hanging out with girls like that?” I stared over at Jack and Coke.

  “It’s purely physical.” He winked.

  I scrutinized the girls. “That just doesn’t seem like enough to do it for you.”

  “And you would know what does it for me?” he asked suggestively as his eyes twinkled with mischief.

  My face suddenly flushed.

  “At least they’re not going to kiss and blog.” He grinned.

  “That’s because they’re illiterate and probably can’t even spell. I bet you even had to arrange them around you so that it would read,” I waved my hand over at the girls, “Jack and Coke.”

  “Damn it, how did you know?”

  “They just went back to Coke and Jack.” I nodded towards the girls.

  He followed my gaze and sure enough they were arranged the wrong way. Hawkins had a good laugh at that. These girls weren’t his type and we both knew it.

  “So what else do you want to know?” He looked amused with our twenty/twenty questions.

  “Why do you look so miserable all the time?” I genuinely wanted to know.

  “I look miserable to you?” The smile quickly faded from his face.

  “It’s just…I don’t think you got into the music business for the same reasons as Warren.”

  “Careful what you say,” he warned. “Warren is my friend.”

  “What I mean is, you don’t come across as the typical rock star that’s only in it for the girls and the drugs,” I ventured a guess.

  “Maybe not, but you’re wrong about Warren. He’s a decent, good guy who makes pitiful choices. I don’t know how your friend managed to claw her way in,” I caught him glaring up at Lizzie at the bar, “but he’s in love with her and she is—”

  “Not,” I finished his thought.

  “Yep.” His jaw tensed as he stared down at the ground. We were quiet for a moment. Both of us seemingly surprised that we shared the same view point on the matter. “Well, this went better than I thought it would,” he admitted. “I didn’t think you’d be able to handle it. I’m pretty direct and usually make most girls cry.”

  “There’s always tomorrow.”

  “There is.” He patted my knee. “Thanks for the pep talk.”

  “With that said, let the games begin.” He sighed. The amusement in his expression returned in full force again as he gently knocked his shoulder into mine.

  “I completely agree, how else are you going to get paid?”

  He bit his lip while shaking his head and then turned to lock eyes with mine. “Wow, I can honestly say that I have never met a girl like you before.”

  “Am I supposed to be offended?”

  “Very, I have met a lot of people.” He flashed a megawatt smile. “Well, I really have to get back to my Jack and Coke. Why don’t you just kick back with a beer and enjoy the rest of your night? Hell, I’ll even buy you your first drink.” He pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. “Anything to help you unwind.”

  “And the second hit goes to Hawkins,” I said under my breath while watching him head over to the bar. He only had to flick two of his fingers to get the bartender’s attention. Soon he was back with two bottles of beer in his hands. After I stood up and took the bottle out of courtesy, we said cheers, but he watched my reaction as we both took a swig of beer. With my poker face perfectly in place I revealed nothing of the utter disgust that was foaming in my mouth. Yet, his eyes still looked humored with me somehow.

  Lizzie came at us with a running start, demonstrating how drunk she was. Hawkins’ jaw clenched at the sight of her. “I’m sure with this one,” he pointed to her, “something will be tweet worthy by the end of the night.”

  Lizzie wrapped an arm around my shoulder. Her sequined light blue dress made her look like she had been paid to entertain the crowd, a lot like the other dancers. “If it isn’t the one and only J.T. Hawkins,” Lizzie sang.

  “Try to enjoy yourself.” Hawkins forced a smile for me before quickly leaving.

  “He’s no fun, is he?” Lizzie sulked.

  “I bet those girls would disagree,” I said sarcastically as I watched Hawkins walk back over to them.

  “Let’s see if we can get a seat in this place.” I changed the subject when I realized the pillow we had once occupied was now taken by a group of giddy girls.

  “He was sitting right here!” one of the girls exclaimed while cheesing really big.

  Rolling my eyes, I turned around and began to move through the crowd. I didn’t realize that I had already lost Lizzie to some tall, dark and handsome Italian guy until halfway over to a vacant spot. Feeling out of place, I whispered to myself, “Where’s Riley?”

  “I don’t know where Riley is,” a familiar voice said behind me, “but I’m enjoying the view.”

  Turning around
, I spotted Kosic smiling at me. He was dressed in a white button down shirt and dark jeans. His short, dark hair was stylishly tousled.

  “There is a lot to look at.” Laughing, I gestured at the belly dancers around us.

  “But yet, my eyes are only on you.” His green eyes twinkled and I beamed up at him.

  “Do you want to sit down with me?” He motioned over to a large, silver pillow.

  “Gladly.”

  We sank into a comfortable side by side position. Strangely, it didn’t feel as intimate as it had with Hawkins. But I didn’t have much time to think about it because now that we were seated, I realized that I had an even closer view of Hawkins with the girls. Hawkins glanced over at us before he downed the rest of his drink. For a fleeting second, I thought that I saw a flash of fury in his eyes when ours locked for just a brief moment before he turned back to the girls and said something that made them laugh. He snuggled in between Jack and Coke while laughing, too.

  Looking back at Kosic, I noticed his eyes move from me to Hawkins. “Did Hawkins invite you here tonight?”

  “No,” I confessed. “Not in the way that you mean.”

  “Really? Could have fooled me.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “What?”

  “You two just looked,” he paused, “chummy.”

  “Yeah, well, we’re not,” pausing myself, I said, “umm, chummy.”

  “For a minute there, I thought I wasn’t even going to get a chance to talk to you. If I were him, I wouldn’t have left you alone to go sit with those girls.”

  “They have more to offer,” I added jokingly.

  “I like girls who are, umm, real.”

  “Kosic!”

  “What?” He smiled. “I mean girls who are deep, worldly, you know, real.”

  “Ah, huh.” I smiled.

  “Besides, I have to look out for you,” he said. “After all, you’re still my best friend’s little sister.”

  “Look out for me from whom? Hawkins?”

  “Yeah, you don’t want him to start tweeting about you the way he does about Lizzie, do you?”

  Laughing for a moment, I agreed, “That would be,” I nodded, “a travesty.”

  “Things might get physical if I ever find out that he has,” Kosic warned.

  “Why? I can handle myself,” I stressed. “You know I did grow up, Kosic, since I last saw you.”

  “There will always be a side of me that feels,” he looked into my eyes, “protective of you.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fire thrower come dangerously close to us. The flame was closer to Kosic so I pulled him over to me, but somewhere in the confusion he misunderstood my intentions and kissed me. I came up breathless and thoroughly embarrassed by the sudden public display of affection. Kosic just stared with a shocked and slightly hurt expression as I pointed in the direction of the fire thrower behind him. He turned around and saw the man over his shoulder before he recoiled into me again.

  My eyes flashed over to Hawkins who mirrored my expression of surprise by the turn of events. Suddenly, the paparazzi moved in, partially blocking our view from each other. They snapped photos of Hawkins with the infamous Jack and Coke girls, but his eyes stayed fixed on me as the cameras flashed around him. A cool, hard expression suddenly crossed his face before he looked away, leaning back and wrapping his arms around the girls for the cameras.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kosic said, bringing me back to the situation at hand.

  “No, it’s okay,” I lied. “I did grab on to you,” I reminded him.

  “I thought that it was a bit forward for you, but hell, I rolled with it.” He laughed.

  Although I was laughing for Kosic’s benefit, I scanned the crowd looking for Lizzie now that the paparazzi were in the club. My stomach flip-flopped with fear when I saw Lizzie mounting a small circular platform intended to be used as a stage for the fire throwers.

  “Sorry, excuse me,” I apologized to Kosic before I was up and off the pillow.

  Lizzie started dancing around as the paparazzi moved in for the kill. Pushing people out of my way left and right, I rushed to grab her. By the time I made it to her, the dress had slipped off her chest. Flashes of lights went off against the night sky like techno-lighting. Lizzie flipped her long blonde hair around until she realized the real reason everyone was looking up at her. She hiked the dress back up but continued to shimmy up and down on the small platform.

  “Lizzie, dismount!” I shouted. “Lizzie, get down!” But, she just continued to ignore me as the paparazzi cameras fired away.

  “Hey, you,” one of the men yelled at me. “You’re blocking my shot.”

  Hesitantly, I looked up at Lizzie once more, trying to gauge how with it she was, but it wasn’t until she started posing for the shots that I had my answer. Sinking into the sea of cameras, I wished that I was with Riley in the van right now. Someone tapped my shoulder from behind and I turned around to look at a waiter who was carrying a tray filled with shots of alcohol.

  “Compliments of that gentleman over there.” He pointed to Hawkins who raised his drink, though I could tell he still wasn’t happy with me.

  “He says, and I quote, ‘That you’re going to need them.’”

  6. TWEETING

  The next morning I was up and out of my hotel bed before the others. It was hard to sleep after last night’s fiasco. Although the conversation with Hawkins was unexpectedly refreshing, I knew that he could use the information against me in any one of his tweets. Still, no one could have prepared us for what Lizzie had done. Beyond annoyed, I wanted to whack a pillow over her head as she snored next to Riley, but I restrained myself.

  After my shower, I deliberated over which Grimm Brothers Band t-shirt to wear. My choices were somewhat limited until we could get to a laundry mat. Accidentally, I picked up the shirt with Hawkins face plastered across it and quickly tossed it to the side. That was going to be strictly for sleeping. I settled on an inconspicuous navy blue t-shirt that had a small sun design with a tribal boarder around it on the front and a list of tour dates on the back. The shirt matched well with a pair of dark jeans and after packing up the rest of my belongings, I headed for the door.

  After walking down the hallway towards the elevator, I pressed the down button, and seconds later the doors opened. Slouching against the wall, I thought about last night. As a kid, I spent some considerable time daydreaming about the day when Kosic would kiss me, but I realized it didn’t get me as fired up as Hawkins’ reaction to it did. I didn’t like it, Hawkins didn’t like it, and I liked knowing that Hawkins didn’t like it.

  And of course the other problem was, after what Lizzie did last night, how was I going to defend myself/Lizzie to the world? To the world, we just pranced around and flashed our boobs in front of a dozen or so paparazzi. What was I going to write? It’s one thing to do something stupid and have to explain it. It was a whole other ball game to explain someone else’s stupidity.

  Ding! The elevator doors opened and my taste buds were intoxicated by the aroma of baked cinnamon buns. I walked out of the elevator and smiled politely to the receptionist behind the front desk to my left. Not glancing around, I headed to the deserted breakfast tables to drop my bags off before going over to a counter filled with fresh baked goods. Once my plate was filled with enough food to feed my eyes and way too much for my stomach, I sat down in the back dining area.

  Between the pure spite in Hawkins’ eyes after the mix up with Kosic and Lizzie’s striping incident, all I wanted to do was go back to bed, pull the covers over my head and hide. Unfortunately, I was wide awake and needed to start thinking about my comeback. I thought of some possible excuses for Lizzie’s behavior. Maybe, someone had grabbed the dress from behind and pulled it down? Rolling my eyes, I thought, if that was true then why did she/I pose for the photos? Lizzie and I were now connected and that alone was scary. The room was starting to fill up. A couple came in with a toddler and two strollers so I gave
up my seat. With the rest of my powdered donuts wrapped up, I headed away from the breakfast area.

  Skipping the coffee for obvious reasons, I didn’t need to be climbing the ceiling by lunch time, I walked over to a small cheery desk stationed in front of the elevator. At the computer, I printed out the next couple sets of MapQuest directions.

  While I had some time on the computer, I skimmed through some information about Senator Nicholas Johnson for when my mom put it together that Lizzie McIntyre on Entertainment Tonight was our Lizzie—her best friend’s daughter. I sighed, it was only a matter of time. When I finished, I walked out of the hotel with the computer papers folded in my hand.

  I had the time and no one was rushing me, so I decided to give the van some TLC. The first thing I did was check the air in the tires which really just looked like I was kicking the shit out of them because I found it instantly therapeutic. It wasn’t until I went to unlock my door that I was truly brought out of my thoughts when I realized that the door was already open.

  “That’s weird.”

  The doors were always kept locked and I made sure everyone else locked them as well. They thought it was because of the thick stash of cash under my seat, but really, I just wanted to keep the last thing that represented my dad safe. Though I could tell that the van was undisturbed, my heart raced as I quickly reached under the seat to feel for the thick manila envelope. Breathing a sigh of relief when I found it, I then got in the van and checked under Riley’s seat where we kept our stack of tickets and noticed that they seemed untouched, too. Had Riley just left the door unlocked? I tried to shrug it off as the only reasonable explanation.

  Once my heart had stopped its rapid beating, I put the van in drive and made a quick run to the nearest gas station. After filling up, I loaded up on snacks for the road trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. My arms were full of chips, sweets, and drinks when I looked down in horror at the magazine display in front of the register. There on the cover of US Magazine was a picture of Lizzie swinging her hair around with her dress down around her waist. The picture was blurred across the upper part of her torso where her chest would have been. In bold print underneath the picture was the headline “Lizzie McIntyre will do anything for the spotlight.”