Page 18 of The Stars Over Hollywood

Finally, her senses caught up with her, and Tracy broke the kiss, taking a step back as she took a deep breath, her eyes searching Hayden’s.

“What just happened?” Tracy breathed. “I thought you were straight.”

Hayden stared at her, her cheeks flushed. “I’m not.”

Tracy struggled to put her confusion into words. “I don’t—”

“It’s new,” Hayden said wrapping her arms around herself as she spoke. “I didn’t know. I only told Lara on the flight back from Spain.”

“Okay,” Tracy said, her mind still catching up with this information. So, she hadn’t been seeing things when she thought Hayden had checked her out yesterday. “When did you know or how did you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Hayden’s lips slid into an easy smile, and she shook her head slightly as she spoke. “I don’t know if I should say.” She sighed, that smile still lingering. “But I guess after that, there’s no point pretending. I don’t know how it took me so long to realize. But do you remember when we were dancing? Outside by the fire pit?”

Tracy nodded, the memory coming back to her in a flash. She remembered exactly what it felt like to have Hayden so close, and she could still recall the sweet scent of her perfume.

“Something happened in that moment,” Hayden said softly. “It just felt… Good. Too good. Being in your arms like that, swaying to the music. It just hit me. The way I felt in that moment… It was something that I’d never really felt before, and then it didn’t take me long to realize what that actually meant, which was why I practically ran away. I just had to think, to get away for a few minutes.”

Tracy shook her head. “And we ended up talking about me.” She still couldn’t believe that she’d opened up to Hayden like that, and now she felt almost embarrassed, because they should have been talking about her.

“No, it was actually perfect,” Hayden said. “I wasn’t in anyway able to talk about it then. And I’m glad I didn’t, because I needed the last week to really process it.”

“I had no idea,” Tracy said still in disbelief.

“I’m sorry for just kissing you. I know you probably don’t think of me like that… You were just happy for me, and I kind of ruined it I guess by jumping on you.”

“I kissed you back.” Tracy pursed her lips. “And I only thought the same thing about you yesterday. I thought I saw you checking me out, when we went swimming, and I dismissed it, because I thought there was no way that you would be interested in me.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“I seem incapable of being discreet around you,” Hayden said with a chuckle.

“What do you mean?” Tracy asked, putting her arm on the railing as she looked out at the water, glistening in the moonlight.

“When I told Lara… She said she saw the way I’d been looking at you. And I thought there was no way that you could have noticed me yesterday. I really hadn’t meant to do that, to check you out, but I’d never seen you in a bikini before, and…” Hayden ran her hand through her hair as she looked away. “So, Lara assumed we were seeing each other. Which I told her we weren’t. That nothing had happened.”

“I’m sure Charlotte knew too.” She’d always been the most observant of them, always the first to pick up on something that just about everyone else missed.

“Well, apparently, she thought I was gay from when we worked together.”

“Oh yeah?” Tracy asked with a smile.

“I do remember telling Lara that I’d have a crush on her even though I was straight, and I somehow just kept going with that assumption that I was straight. That surely, I would know something like that about myself at this point. I feel so late to all of this.”

“Please don’t tell me you feel old, because I’ll have to ask you to leave.” Tracy reached for Hayden’s hand, gently tugging her closer. “And I really don’t want you to.”

“Good. I don’t want to either.”

“So, you’d really be asking Charlotte out if she was single, wouldn’t you?”

Hayden shook her head. “No. Honestly. It really was more about admiration than attraction, but the attraction part did exist. It just took me a long time to accept it. But no, not anymore, thankfully. That would be the end of my friendship with both of them, with Lara especially. And it turns out, I seem to have an even bigger crush on one of Charlotte’s friends. I think she’s single though, so maybe it’s not that bad?”

Tracy bit back a laugh. “Can I assume you’re talking about me?”

“Yes.” Hayden smiled. “But I would completely understand if you weren’t interested. And I think we can still be friends if that’s the case.”

“Well, it’s not.” Tracy knew she shouldn’t. But she kissed her anyway, leaning in, slowly brushing her lips over Hayden’s, savoring the softness of them, the way they seemed to fit so perfectly against her own.“That’s why you asked me,” Tracy murmured between kisses, without fully pulling away. “After I found you, after that dance.” She leaned back far enough to meet Hayden’s eyes. “You asked me when I knew I was gay. I should have realized why you were asking.”

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