Confessions of a Bad Boy(19)

Will looks at me with awe in his eyes.

“Again…great!”

“The thing is, I’m supposed to be bringing my girlfriend along.”

Will knits his eyebrows together and looks at me suspiciously.

“But you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“That’s the problem. My boss is a family man, so I’ve been pretending to be a good little boy all this time – that meant inventing a fictional girl that I love deeply and am incredibly loyal to.”

After laughing for what feels like an eternity, Will drains his beer and slaps a palm on my back.

“Sorry, Nate,” he says, with typically British politeness. “I don’t mean to laugh. It’s just…well…again, what’s the problem?”

I shoot him a confused look.

“If I may,” Will says, putting his beer bottle down on the bar and directing his full attention towards me. “You are good at precisely two things. One: Meeting women, and seducing them into doing all manner of things they never thought they’d be doing. And two: Managing the egos and whims of people in the film industry – not least actors and actresses. Put those two elements together, and I believe you’ll find there’s quite an obvious solution to this predicament.”

“It’s not a matter of finding some random girl to stand-in, Will. My boss met ‘Tessa’ a few days ago, only it wasn’t Tessa, it was…an old friend. That’s who Robinson’s expecting.”

Will shrugs. “So take her.”

I shake my head miserably. “She’s not exactly supportive of my…extracurricular activities. Trust me, there’s no way I can get her to agree to fake being my girlfriend for two days. Likely all I’d get for asking is a kick in the balls.”

Will nods. “I see your problem now.”

I groan slowly. We order a couple more beers and I start flicking through my phone contacts, looking for the number of a girl I’d met a week before – I’m going to need a hell of a stress-reliever tonight.

“Hands off, Nate. This one’s all mine,” Will says, nudging me in the ribs. I look up.

“Jessie?”

She hears me call her name and flashes me a smile before making her way over from the entrance. In her tight yoga pants, hugging the sweet curve of her hips and thighs, and her bright-blue sports bra revealing the toned flatness of her midriff she looks out of place in the night-ambience of the bar. Still, even with a thin layer of sweat on her, dorky headphones around her neck, and her hair tied back, she’s the hottest girl there. Because she’s real.

Will sighs and rolls his eyes at me.

“I should have known. Is there a hot girl you haven’t already slept with?”

I glower at him quickly.

“She’s my best friend’s little sister. And we haven’t slept together. I mean, we did, but it was a one-off, and we said we’d never talk about so don’t start saying anything to her—”

“Hey!” Jessie smiles, inserting herself between me and Will, effectively cutting off my explanation.

“Jessie! What are you doing here?”

“I was just out for a run and dropped by your office to see you. The receptionist told me you’d be here,” she says, before turning to notice Will. “Hey! You’re the guy who used to be on that goofy kid’s show!”

“That’s not its official name,” Will drones. “But yes.”

“Wow. I think every girl in my high school had your picture up in their locker.”

“Did you?” Will says, leaning in a little.

“No way! Your hair looked like roadkill in that show. I had much better taste than that – no offense.”

I tense up a little, knowing how sensitive he is about his teen idol days. But instead of getting offended, Will just throws his head back and laughs. “None taken. I said the same thing to the set hairdresser.”

Jessie grins. “You look much better now.”

“Thank you. I must say, the ‘hot and sweaty’ look suits you as well.”

“Hold on,” I say, interrupting the exchange before I start cringing too much to talk. “You ran all the way here from my office?”

“Well…” Jessie says, drawing the word out and glancing at Will quickly as if to say ‘let’s talk in private.’

“He’s cool,” I say.

“I’m very cool, you should get to know—” Will says, before I raise a hand to stop him.

“I wanted to pay you back,” Jessie says uncomfortably, pulling out some folded dollars from the arm band that her phone’s attached to, “for the…um…bail money. I got paid, so…”

“Come on,” I say, pushing her hand away. “It’s cool. Forget it.”

“No way, Nate. I don’t work sixteen-hour days to have someone else pay my way. I’m leaving the money here,” she says, putting the money on the bar. “You can take it or leave it.”

“A woman of principle,” Will says. “I like it.”

“Okay,” I sigh, peeling a bill from the crumpled-up and sweaty twenties. “But let me get you a drink at least.”

She smiles but then shakes her head. “I shouldn’t be drinking in the middle of a run.”