Just the Sexiest Man Alive(51)
“This thing with Scott Casey.”
“What thing with Scott Casey?”
Deciding this could go on all day, Jason changed tactics.
“Okay, you got me.” He grinned sheepishly. “Ha ha, very funny. When did you and Taylor come up with this . . . what? This little trick to put me in my place?” Ready to be a good sport, Jason wagged a finger at him. “Very clever.”
Jeremy folded his hands politely on the table.
“Jason. I have no f**king clue what you’re talking about.”
Jason’s face fell. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Jeremy said. “I haven’t seen Taylor since the night of your party.”
With this news, Jason slumped into the empty chair at Jeremy’s table. He fell silent for a moment, then peered over at his friend in shock. “Then she really does have a date with Scott Casey.”
Jeremy blinked at this. “Taylor’s dating Scott Casey?” He began to laugh. He held up one hand, clutching his side with the other. “Wait, wait.” He gasped for breath. “This really is too good. I gotta write this down to use one day.”
Jeremy turned to his computer, reading out loud as he typed. “ ‘And then the evil, arrogant movie star learned that lying does not pay.’ ”
Jason glared silently as Jeremy leaned back in his chair, still chuckling.
“Ahhh . . . Scott Casey . . . now that’s classic.”
“Are you finished?”
Jeremy peered over innocently. “They say he’s the It Guy, you know.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed warningly.
“All right, all right, I’m done,” Jeremy finally acquiesced. “Tell me how this happened.”
Jason leapt out of his chair. “The hell if I know! Last night, I went over to Taylor’s apartment to tell her about Naomi, but the next thing I know, she’s talking about Scott Casey and how they have some date on Saturday.” Jason pointed. “He picked her up at my party.” Then he punched the air. “I knew I should’ve thrown that little punk out the minute I saw him.”
“Wow. That’s not exactly how you saw this playing out, is it?”
“No, it isn’t,” Jason retorted. He paced angrily. “What can she seriously see in that guy? He’s as dull as a lamppost.”
“A slightly younger lamppost,” Jeremy quipped.
Jason looked over, stung. That hit below the belt.
Jeremy immediately held up his hands in contrition. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” He got up and followed Jason over to the pool table. “So what’s your game plan now?” he asked as Jason picked up a cue stick.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t think straight. Something’s off.”
“Did you sleep last night?”
“Barely.”
“Are you mad at Taylor?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
Jeremy leaned against the pool table and lit up a cigarette as Jason racked the balls for a game. “Do you have any right to be?”
Jason glared at Jeremy for this. But after a moment, his expression softened.
“Probably not,” he acknowledged.
Jeremy nodded, rubbing his four-day stubble like a detective on the case.
“Yep, I’ve seen these symptoms before . . .” he mused. “I believe it’s called ‘jealousy.’ Something common men unlike yourself experience from time to time.”
“Yeah, well, it sucks,” Jason replied pissily. He aimed his stick at the cue ball and took a shot. He whiffed, missed the ball entirely, and hit the pool table face-first.
Jeremy barely stifled his smile. Ahhh . . . if only the paparazzi could capture moments like this.
“So I guess this means you and Taylor are friends now,” he said.
Jason scoffed emphatically while rubbing his nose. “Please—I’m never just ‘the friend.’ ”
“Scott Casey might beg to differ with you on that.”
Jason pointed at him. “You say his name again, and I swear I’ll get you fired off that vampire flick of yours.”
Jeremy was highly offended by this.
“Hey—let’s get something straight. It’s a vampire/alien/ zombie/warlock hybrid flick.”
Nineteen
AND JUST LIKE that, everything had changed.
On an impulse after losing three straight games of pool at Reilly’s Tavern, Jason had declared to Jeremy that they were going out for the evening. But now, as he sat in one of the booths at Hyde, he found that his heart just wasn’t into the whole West Hollywood nightclub scene that night.
Because everything had changed.
The bar was packed. Underneath the candles that hung from the club’s copper ceiling, Jeremy and the other guys they had come with—friends from Around—argued over which Ben Affleck/Michael Bay collaboration ranked higher in the biggest cinematic disasters of all time, Pearl Harbor or Armageddon .
Jason heard Jeremy’s irate shout over the music, obviously voting for the latter.
“Come on—that scene with the animal crackers? Are you kidding me with that shit? I almost gagged up my Jujyfruits.”
Now normally, Jason would have been tempted to enter this fray, especially since he not only enjoyed any opportunity to contradict Jeremy, but also because he personally thought that Pearl Harbor should be placed on the American Medical Association’s list of potential causes of eye cancer.