Page 20 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

“Um, I don’t even believe you. I knew you were crushing on Ryker before all this movie stuff went down.”

“Except I wasn’t. I was dating Austin, remember?”

Maddie busted out laughing. “Oh yeah, I remember. You always spent all your time with Ryker and practically ignored Austin.”

“That’s just because we’re writing a fan fiction together. As friends.”

“Is that what you still are?”

I hesitated. “Yes.”

“Hm. That sounded convincing.”

“You’re so snarky. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I pushed past her to get an apple from the fruit basket on the table. “You should have seen him with Gabi. That’s who the media will beshippingor whatever you call it.”

“You’re jealous!” Maddie started laughing so hard she almost fell off her stool.

“Calm down. You’re going to get nail polish everywhere, and then I’m going to have to clean it up. Because you’re not exactly known for cleaning up your messes around here.”

“You’re cranky. You just need to chill out, Shannon.”

I rubbed my forehead. Maybe I did. I didn’t know what had gotten into me lately. Everything was changing so fast I could hardly keep up with it.

The problem was, Iwasjealous. Ryker was going off to California to go see the world. UCLA had been my dream school, and although I’d been accepted, I couldn’t begin to afford the out-of-state tuition. UNC was in a bigger city than Sweet Mountain, but it wasn’t as much of a change as UCLA would be. I’d be in the state with basically the same culture. More or less. UCLA would have been like another planet compared to Sweet Mountain. And I could have gone to the beach on the weekends, and the weather would be amazing year-round.

I’d convinced myself that UNC would be just as good as UCLA because Ryker would be there with me. But now that was a thing of the past. And heading to UNC by myself didn’t sound nearly as appealing. I felt awful for feeling jealous of Ryker. It officially made me a terrible friend.

I trudged back to my room and opened my computer. I needed to write to get all these feelings out, or I would go mad.

* * *

Rykerand I drove to school the next morning. It wasn’t unusual for us to ride to school together from time to time. But today we traveled with a trail of paparazzi in cars behind us. When I suggested I ride with him earlier that morning, he tried to warn me that we’d be bombarded with the media, but I didn’t realize how bad it would actually be.

“Do you think the media is going to try to say there’s some romance in the air with you and Gabi?” I asked.

“I would be surprised if they didn’t,” Ryker said in a matter-of-fact voice.

“I guess that makes sense. You’re about to film a pretty romantic movie with her. Everyone will want to think it’s real.”

“It’s just the nature of the beast. I don’t pay too much attention to all that nonsense. If there’s a problem with the media, my agent will let me know what to do. That’s his job.”

“Do you think she’s pretty?”

“Of course, she’s Gabi Richardson. Everyone thinks she’s pretty. Any girl cast as Cinderella in a big movie is required to look pretty,” he said in a businesslike voice. Just like any guy cast as Prince Charming was required to look hot. But I wasn’t about to admit that to Ryker.

The truth was, he was incredible looking, and I was beginning to see it more and more every day. How had I gone this long without seeing that? I guessed it wasn’t that I didn’t see it, I just didn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t sure that was always going to be the case between us. I’d felt something strong with Ryker in his room the other day, and I was having a hard time forgetting about it.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that you’re going to have to kiss her and stuff?”

“I kissed Camille. It’s just part of being an actor. Sometimes you have to kiss people. Does it bother you?”

“Me? Why should I care? You can kiss whoever you want. I was just curious.”

“Were you trying to ask if I’m crushing on Gabi?”

“No. I know you’re not crushing on Gabi,” I said quickly.

“You’re allowed to know how I feel about Gabi. You’re my best friend.”

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