Page 27 of Northern Stars

Hailee owed me more than she knew.

I’d never been so irritated showing up to a party before. Sure, it wasn’t my first party. I’d been to a handful of gatherings in Los Angeles, but it was my first high school party. I was excited to see how much Hailee hated the party. That would be the most entertaining part of the evening.

As we walked into the house party, it was well underway. Carlton burst into the living room with his arms wide open. “Hello, party people!” he shouted. He went left, I went right, and I’d hoped we wouldn’t run into one another again.

I spent the first thirty to forty-five minutes of the party taking photos with people and having them record videos of me saying hi to their random family members. The joys of being semi-famous. The second hour was spent with me talking about what acting was like and the different celebrities I’d interacted with. I’d turned down about fifty drink offers. The last thing I needed was for someone to post a picture of me drinking underage. My father made sure that I was very aware of my surroundings since I was a public figure. Underage drinking was not something I needed to get caught doing.

Even though I knew all the people at the house party, I was playing a role of sorts. They weren’t allowed true access to me because the more people I let in, the more people could turn on me or use information against me. Another tactic I’d learned from father dearest. The only people I could be myself around were my family and Hailee—who pretty much was family.

As I sat on the living room coffee table, going on and on about how sweet and great everyone was in La La Land—a lie, but I didn’t need my schoolmates knowing about my Hollywood enemies—Cara stepped into the crowd surrounding me.

“How about you all get off his dick so I can slide on it,” she said, winking my way.

Well damn.

A quite forward approach.

Cara looked striking. It wasn’t shocking. Cara had been beautiful since grade school. She was my first ever crush. She moved with a confidence a lot of people couldn’t carry and just seemed to always get anything she wanted without much effort. Her biggest downfall? She wasn’t Hailee.

Cara held her hand out toward me and tilted her head. “Do you want a tour of the property?” she asked me.

“Uh, yeah. Okay.”

The tour led us to her bedroom, and she locked the door behind her. The music from downstairs was still loud as ever, and Cara pulled out a bottle of liquor from behind her bed. She took a swig from it and then held it out toward me.

I shook my head. “No thanks.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be a pussy, Aiden. I know you’ve partied it up in Hollywood.”

It was the opposite of that. I worked, I had a teacher who homeschooled me, and then I worked some more. The last thing my father would’ve allowed me to do was to go off to some Hollywood parties—unless networking was involved. Each party I’d gone to was a business trip. Plus, I was given an opportunity of a lifetime. I wasn’t going to blow it for some booze and bad decisions.

Which unfortunately made my current situation a lot less appealing than I’d hoped it would be. Aiden from five years ago would’ve been freaking out about being in Cara’s bedroom with the door locked. The Aiden I currently was? I was on the brink of a panic attack, thinking about what would’ve happened if my father had found out about this situation. It would look scandalous, and the tabloids loved a good scandal. I wished I could’ve shut off my father’s stern judgments from every decision I’d made, but he was the Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder telling me not to make bad choices.

Plus, he was proud of me. Damn him and his pride.

“Maybe we should head back downstairs,” I offered, standing up from her bed, where she’d placed me. She walked over to me, stumbling a bit before taking a seat. On my lap.Oh boy.

“Or we can have some alone time.”

It was clear she had a bit to drink. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why? Are you and that Hannah girl screwing?”

“Hannah?”

“Yeah. That girl who follows you around like crazy.”

“You mean Hailee?”

“Sure, okay.” She picked up the bottle of alcohol and took another swig. “Are you two fucking?”

“What? No. We aren’t. She’s my best friend.”

Have I thought about the possibility of having sex with Hailee? Sure. Yeah. Often. Twice a day. Maybe three times on the weekends. Whatever.

Cara scrunched up her nose. “Why, though?”

“Why is my best friend my best friend?”

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