And They Told Me I Couldn't Act

TAKE 15

IT IS WITH a heavy heart I have to inform you that I do not cope well when Adam freaking Lautner has his motherfucking arm on my shoulders. His sweaty, muscular arm. My cheeks are flushed as though I've been running. 

I need to think.

I barely left Harry Wolfe's home, I'm a short distance away. 

But I can't think.

Adam Lautner's arm is on my shoulders, comfortably rested, and he's smiling, amused. "You're not at all like what I thought Harry Wolfe would go for," he says lips tilted slightly. "Between the two of us, he's always been a bit of a recluse."

Before I can process anything, Adam Lautner's ringing the doorbell. "He's a strange sort," Adam says, in that conversational tone of his, "I just hope you'll bare with his strangeness."

The door opens, and Harry Wolfe is there looking mildly annoyed to spot me back on the porch. His expression doesn't change when his eyes roll over to the purple-haired singer next to me.

"Adam," his voice is short, irate.

It's so shocking that I'm momentarily pushed out of the starstruck daze I'd been in. Harry Wolfe and Adam Lautner were the best of buds. They'd been in so many interviews together and sat next to each other in award shows, so why is the hostility also directed at Adam Lautner?

"I brought your girlfriend over," he says cheerily as ever, "doesn't that score some brownie points?"

"Hardly," He scoffs, "Vanessa would have called me if she was lost."

And Harry Wolfe, he's awful at lying. Our disastrous photoshoot is mere proof of this man's inability to lie and act. He's so awful at it there's no way this heat is because of some oppressed love for what I thought was his best friend. 

When I glance at him, I find Harry's green eyes already on me, frustrated because we both know why I've left and now I've ended up here and there's no way either of us will confess about why I'd left. 

"Thanks for helping me find my way," I say to Adam Lautner, gingerly and also, I'll admit, reluctantly stepping away from him. "I'll see you around?"

I don't hear Adam's response because Harry Wolfe grabs me by the arm and yanks me into his house and slams the door. Then for added impact, he locks the door - loudly.

"I -" I try to explain but he holds up his hand.

"I can guess," he says softly. "He'll probably be hanging around the neighbourhood." He glances back at the kitchen and the living room then lets out a breath. "It can't be helped."

Then he begins walking away, back to the living room.

Okay, so I guess, I'll hide in my room, but how was I going to sneak away without attracting the sight of Harry Wolfe's mum?

"Aren't you coming?" He asks.

I blink once. Twice.

"Vanessa," that irate way of saying my name.

"Right."

I guess it's because I knew how badly Harry Wolfe didn't want me near his mum that my thoughts immediately go to evade, evade, evade. So, the switch in his tone makes my mind feel more tangled than I'd admit.

I take a shaky step forward and then let my feet lead me straight to the dining room where Harry Wolfe's mother is seated.

"Have you sorted things out with Priscilla?" She asks surprised.