“Filming finished early?” he asked, forcing himself to hug Jessica back, then set her on her feet so he could look at her.
“You know how these things go,” she said, waving whatever she felt about that away. That was not how things usually went, but before he could ask further questions, she turned to head into the kitchen. “Have you eaten dinner? I have some take-out that I can reheat for you.”
Drew watched her, his heart feeling heavier by the second. He was definitely going to have to discuss everything with her. Specifically the whole thing about how they had kind of already broken up, but they needed to make it official, because he was ready to move on.
Fuck, was he ready to move on? Being with Lee had changed everything in him, but he didn’t know Lee well enough to know how he felt about it. Lee’d said he hadn’t dated anyone in a while as part of one of their many conversations over the last couple weeks, but he had mentioned hooking up now and then. Maybe that’s all he was?
He didn’t like just being a hook-up. He didn’t like it at all. And that unnerved him.
“Babe?” Jessica asked when Drew had stood immobile for too long. “Dinner?” She held up a Chinese take-out container and gestured to the microwave.
Drew shook his head, partly in answer to her and partly to clear it. “The studio fed us dinner since things ran late.”
“Well, that’s good, because this isn’t the best Chinese I’ve ever had,” Jessica said with a smirk, tossing the container in the trash instead of putting it back in the fridge.
Drew wasn’t hungry—he didn’t think he could eat just then if his life depended on it—but he needed a drink, since his mouth had gone completely dry.
“Don’t you want to hear what it was like filming with Darius Carter?” Jessica asked with a puckish look as she leaned against the counter, almost striking a pose.
“Yeah, sure,” Drew smiled. The whole reason Jessica had been so excited about the film that had whisked her back to L.A. was because she got to share screen time with Hollywood legend Darius Carter.
“He was so fabulous,” Jessica said, grabbing Drew’s hand just after he’d taken a long drink of water from the tap and dragging him back toward the couch. Drew sloshed water from the glass onto his shirt as she did. “He’s so nice and was really kind to me during our scenes. He complimented my acting and told me I had a real future in the business.”
“That’s great,” Drew said, trying and failing to be completely casual once they were on the couch together. “That’s what you want, right? A future in this business?”
“Oh yeah,” she said, eyes going wide. “That’s what I want more than anything.” She only paused for a moment before smiling again and saying, “Darius asked about you, you know.”
“Did he?”
“Yep. He’s so impressed by your career trajectory and the way you seem so humble.”
Drew frowned for half a second before smiling. Jessica was talking about him like she didn’t really know him.
“I told him you’ve always been that way, of course,” she went on. “And he was doubly impressed when I told him about your partnership with that British fashion designer, Ryan Hawthorne, and your upcoming movie with Simon Underhill.”
“Neither of those things have been finalized yet,” Drew warned her, anxiety rising. “It’s not a great idea to go around telling people about things that haven’t happened yet.”
Jessica should have known that. Keeping your lips zipped was Hollywood 101.
“I know, but he’s a big star, too. He’s not going to tell anyone.” Jessica brushed the whole thing away with a wave of her hand. “Darius asked about you and Lee, too, by the way,” she added with a sly look.
The sparkle in her eyes threw Drew for a loop. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she was as big of a fangirl over him and Lee as any of the people they’d taken selfies with in the last few weeks.
“About Lee,” Drew said, shifting uncomfortably, but needing to clear the air about the whole thing as quickly as possible.
“You two haven’t fake broken up, have you?” Jessica asked, fixing him with a disapproving stare.
“No, we haven’t,” Drew said. “Kind of the opposite.”
“Good,” Jessica pushed right over everything else he wanted to say. “Things are going great with you two together. The nastiness on social media has died down, and even Judith thinks I’ll have a better chance booking future roles now that the threat of everything blowing up when people discover I’m your girlfriend is gone.”
Drew was stunned into silence by the speed with which Jessica had made one of the most difficult things he’d had to deal with in years all about herself. More than that, as she pushed up off the couch and headed into the kitchen, saying, “I’m superjetlagged and I need coffee, but you don’t have the kind I like, so I’m going to head out to that corner shop and get some more.”
She grabbed her purse from the counter and slung it over her shoulder.
As she did, Drew stood and shifted to stand where she’d have to go through him to get to the door. “Jess, we need to talk.”
“Why?” Jessica asked checking in her purse for something instead of looking at him. “Is something the matter? Oh!” She stopped searching and glanced up at him, eyes wide. “Did you have your meeting with Simon Underhill? Is he going to cast you in his next film?”