Geekerella (Starfield #1)(25)

I cough. Twice. Gail looks between Jessica Stone and me, widens her eyes, and finally gets it. Her ears go even redder.

“Oh. Oh.” She grabs her backpack and makes a hasty retreat. “I…um. I’ll be around if you need me, Dare.”

After the door closes, Jessica Stone turns her eyes—which are super, freakishly, ice-water blue—to me. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

My tongue ties into ten hundred knots. She can intrude as much as she wants. I mean, not intrude—like, let me politely be in her presence for the rest of my life—but intruding works too. Into my life. As much as she wants.

Is that weird? It’s probably weird. But it’s Jessica Stone.

Damn it, man, don’t fanboy.

“I have a bad habit of doing that,” she goes on. “Just barging in places. My therapist says I have no sense of personal space. Really, you can tell me to leave if you want. I’m Jess, by the way.”

“N-n-n—” I stammer, then bite the inside of my cheek. Stay. Cool. I try again, channeling Sebastian, my character on Seaside Cove. “No, Gail really was just legging—leaving.”

Her eyes widen, and for a moment I worry she’s about to take one of her heels and shove it through my eye socket like she did in Huntress Rising, but then she throws her head back and laughs. It’s a no-holds-barred laugh, the kind where if I get her laughing too much I guarantee she’ll snort. The edges of her eyes crinkle when she smiles. She’s beautiful in all the traditional ways—obviously the legs—but her personality helps, and her acting chops. She could quote Shakespeare in circles around me and I’d be none the wiser. It’s a respect thing, I decide, not a fanboy thing.

Her laughter dies down and she shakes her head. “You’re cute. No wonder they chose you for the lead. Equal parts dorky and sexy. A winning combo. If I were a guy, I’d be nervous. You’ll start taking all the good roles.”

I look back at the mirror, still fiddling with the lapel of my uniform. “Nervous? I’m the one who should be nervous. You’ll make me look like a sham. You were amazing in Huntress. You were Sylvia. You channeled her perfectly from the comic books.”

She shrugs. “Thank you. But I never actually read them.”

“You didn’t?”

“No time,” she says simply. She cocks her head and surveys my uniform. “How come the men get to wear pants while I have to wear these stupid things?” She motions to her mile-high heels.

“Sexism?” I offer. Jess smiles. With me, not at me, this time.

“Sadly,” she says. “It’s just ludicrous.”

“Yeah,” I say in agreement. “Because, I mean, the Federation never puts its female officers in heels, so it’s not even canon, right?”

Jess gives me a blank look. “No,” she says, not unkindly. “Because they expect me to run in them.”

“Oh,” I say. “Right. Of course.”

“In heels! With all those physical stunts! Seriously, I was telling Nicky”—our costume director—“didn’t you see the Golden Globes? Heels and I don’t have a great track record. But he told me to put them on anyway.” She looks down at her manicured nails and shrugs. “It’ll be hell. But it’s not like I didn’t know that when I signed up. Just a means to an end, you know?”

“To…what end?” I ask.

Jess looks up. “To something better.”

“Better than Starfield?” I say before I can stop myself. Jess opens her mouth, then shuts it.

“So you’re a fan, huh?” she says.

I shrug, even though it’s pretty obvious now that I am. “And you’re not?”

She snorts. “I’m a fan of paychecks.” I must look disappointed because she rushes to add, “Not that I don’t respect the Starfield fans! They’re the ones who’re going to propel this thing, after all.” She indulges me with another gloriously perfect smile. “And this kind of bigbudget stuff—well, it’s not art but it’s fun, you know? At least at first. It’s new, it’s shiny, it’s colorful. Before you get bored. And move on to the next one.” She fixes me with an intense look, and suddenly I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same thing anymore. “You know what I’m saying, Darien?”

Oh. Right. That. I shift uncomfortably. Another brilliant idea to drum up publicity—keep it in the air that Jess and I are, well, a thing. Which might explain why I’m so freaking nervous to meet her.

“Gail—my handler—she mentioned that we’re dating, yeah,” I say.

“For the twenty-three days we’re filming,” Jess corrects. “And that’s it. I don’t want anything after, okay? Unless we become good friends and then I might kiss you at the premiere.”

“I’m not sure I can kiss someone who isn’t a Stargunner,” I joke.

One side of her mauve lips twists up. “Maybe you can convert me.”

“On the Federation’s starwings, I’ll try.” I give her the promise-sworn salute.

“Dork.” She laughs. “No wonder you got cast for this role. You’re born for it.”

Born for it. The phrase makes my stomach curl—as if there isn’t enough already riding on this. I quickly look away. “Ha, right.”