Page 41 of First Impressions of You

Winter chooses this exact moment to walk by and stops when he hears Graham’s name. He can’t stop himself. Olivia notices the awkwardness between us and decides she wants none of that, so she leaves to go find her friends from the front gate team, taking Cece with her.

“Are you friends with Graham now?” he asks, sounding irritated.

I scoff. “What if I am?”

“You…” He rakes a hand through his hair and scratches the back of his neck. “Just be careful around him.”

I snort a laugh. One of those short, loud sounds that come from deep within. He cocks his head at me. But I don’t say anything because if I bring up this topic, I’ll end up saying more than I should after promising Graham I’d keep his secret.

Colin, of all people, shows up to save me from the growing silence between us. “Olivia told me you were here with Davis.”

That explains why he looks like he ran here. I think Winter’s got himself a fanboy, and right now, I could use a buffer. Even if it’s Colin.

“Why don’t we go grab a table?”

Quickly, the table fills up. Cece and my sisters have joined us, my friend sitting on my left, Julia right across from me with Cam to her right and Olivia on his other side. But it’s more than that. Almost every cast member has followed suit, some even choosing to stand up around our table just so they can be close to us.

To Winter, I quickly realize.

He’s got a magnetism about him that just draws people in. I bet it has more to do with his fame than his charming personality.

Because he definitely doesn’t have one of those.

He becomes a target within a couple of minutes, questions being thrown at him at such speed I almost feel sorry for the guy.

“How was working with Vin Diesel when he was a guest on the show?”

“Is it true that Victoria Justice was supposed to play your love interest but she rejected the role?”

“Did you hook up with Ali Hoang?”

“Fucking hell, no,” he says so quickly and emphatically all questions come to a halt. “She played my sister in the show. And she’s like a real sister to me.”

“My bad,” Matthew apologizes, bringing his hands up, palm out. He actually looks like he’s not sorry at all, but he also knows better than to be on Winter’s bad side.

“So, what about you?” It takes me a while to realize that the question is directed to me, but it takes me just a second to recognize the owner of that high-pitched voice. It’s one of the girls that auditioned for Melina. The one that made the comment about diversity hires.

What is she doing here?

“What about me?” All eyes have shifted from Winter to me, including his, and I don’t like the weight of this attention. It feels different than the one offered to him. He was being admired. I’m being scrutinized.

“Where have you worked before? Anything we might’ve seen?”

“If you’ve been to Movieland in the past six months, you might’ve seen me in the front gate.” That earns me laughter from some of the growing audience around our table. Fellow front gate friends holler and clap as if I just scored for our team.

“Isn’t it weird, though,” the girl insists, “that they’d hire someone who doesn’t have any experience for the lead?” She drops her eyes to my body, slowly moving them up. “I wonder if there was any other reason for them to hire you.”

“There is,” Winter says next to me, and I prepare for his commentary, which can’t be good. His knee moves when he turn to her, and the brief contact is enough to send my body aflame. I move away, refusing to accept the way my body reacts to his. “They hired her because she’s a good actress.”

My jaw drops as I turn to him, but he quickly places a finger under my chin and closes my mouth.

“What?” he whispers, just for me to hear. “It’s true.”

“So, are you staying in the country forever now? How does it work?” The question comes from a guy I used to work with at the front gate.

“Well—” I start answering, but Olivia cuts me off.

“Of course. We’re all looking for husbands so we can stay,” she says, delivering the joke with a straight face. “Julia’s gotten ahead of us, but we’re all gonna get there someday.”

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