Page 71 of Fresh Start
Luke turned to me and frowned.
“Want to tell me what just happened? Why did we kick Dawson fucking Eldred out? Shouldn’t we be inviting him in?”
“Because I can’t stand the look of him,” I said.
“That makes one of us,” Luke replied and crossed his arms. I gave him the sternest look I could muster, but he insisted. “So, you two...”
“Yeah, us two were a thing. But not anymore,” I said and sat down at the bottom of the stairs.
Luke approached me and sat down next to me.
“I know it’s nosy of me, especially considering we haven’t had a relationship in forever, but I want to know,” he said.
I looked into my brother’s eyes and found only warmth.
“You know I didn’t want to leave you behind. None of you,” I said. “And I told Andy, so I’m going to tell you. I’m going to make it up to you. All of you. Starting with being there for you all.”
Luke smiled, and he patted my knee.
“That’s cool. Now tell me what happened with Dawson,” he said, and I laughed.
“Gee. Youarenosy, aren’t you,” I said.
Summer ran up to us from the back holding the phone in her hands, and she passed it to me.
“It’s Milo,” she said.
Crap. Was this bad news? Wasn’t no news supposed to be good news? I took the phone from her and got up to speak to him.
Like Nathan suggested, I called him last night, in the middle of the night in London, and he got out of bed to get this mess sorted. I hadn’t heard back from him since then.
“I gotta take this,” I said to Luke.
“Okay, but you owe me a love story,” he said, and I walked upstairs.
“Hey, Milo. Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?” I said.
“It’s terrible,” he confirmed. “They want to see you. Like now.”
“What do you mean now?” I asked.
I closed the door of my room, the room I had grown up in and hung way too many posters in, and sat on the bed.
“I mean now. I’ve been talking to them about the part and if you’re still the only one they’re talking with, but all the casting manager was willing to tell me is that they want you in their offices this afternoon,” he said.
“But the meeting isn’t until next week. And it’s already ten. How am I going to get to LA by this afternoon?”
My heart started racing, and now I was truly panicking.
Why did they have to move the meeting again? To the last minute, no less. Were they trying to make me fail them? Would they turn around to tell me they didn’t need me anymore when I didn’t turn up for the appointment?
“That’s why I’ve only just called you back now. I’ve arranged for a private jet to fly you over there. You gotta go to Newport News airport ASAP. I’ve just emailed you the details,” he said.
“Fuck,” I shouted, and I heard Yaya from outside the room shout about language. “Okay. I gotta go. I need to get ready. And I haven’t even prepared anything.”
“You don’t need to prepare. It’s a meeting. Not an audition. Come on, sweetheart. Don’t shut down on me now,” Milo said, and I hung up to get ready.
I’d already had a shower, so I pulled a small bag out of the closet and packed a couple pairs of socks, some underwear, deodorant, and my laptop. The suit Dawson had bought me stared back at me during this process, and I couldn’t help but stare back.
