A Little Less than Famous Read online

  "I'm flattered, Jake, really. But no thank you," I said.

  "Wait. Really?" Jake looked confused. This was definitely not the answer he had been expecting.

  I almost burst out laughing again. "Yes, really." I looked over his shoulder and saw Crystal coming in. "And on that note, I must be going." I turned around, took off my apron and grabbed my backpack from underneath the counter.

  "Wait, where are you going?" Jake asked, alarmed, standing up.

  "I have to go to school," I said, slowly. "I don't make thousands of dollars an episode. I have to go to school so I don't end up as a welcome girl at Wal-Mart." I stepped aside to let Crystal behind the counter. "Hey Crys."

  "Hey McKinley," she said, slowly, looking curiously at Jake. "Hey, aren't you..."

  "No, I'm not," Jake interrupted her. "McKinley..."

  "Okay!" I said. "I'm going to school now." I hurried past both of them and out to my car. I drove out of the parking lot before anyone, especially Jake Kennedy, could follow.

  Getting to school was a relief. I had one three-hour history class to lose myself in. I slid into a seat near the front and pulled my notebook out of my backpack. I zoned out, waiting for class to start until I noticed someone come in to talk to my professor, engaging him in an enthusiastic conversation. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," I muttered, under my breath. I jumped out of my seat and nearly sprinted to the front.

  My professor, a man of about fifty, who had seemed pretentious from the very first day of class, was smiling, something that I had yet to see him do. "Well, I'd be happy to let you join the class today. I didn't know you were so interested in history."

  Jake flashed that million-dollar smile. "I love history, sir. And my friend here said it was a great class."

  The two of them turned to look at me and I placed a fake smile on my face. I was good at these; I could put that smile on my face in seconds flat and no one knew it wasn’t real.

  "Well, thank you, miss...” the professor said, glancing down at the roster sheet.

  "Evans," I supplied. "McKinley Evans."

  The professor glanced down at the roster and then back up at us. "Well, you two better get to your seats."

  I spun around and stormed back to my seat, Jake close at my heels, reminding me of the way a puppy follows its owner. "What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed under my breath, aware that several people were staring in our direction.

  "Well, you took off so quickly," Jake whispered back.

  "You're following me!" I accused him. "Aren't you?"

  "Is it obvious?" Jake asked, his eyebrow raised.

  "Why?" I asked, my eyes on the notes being written on the board. "It’s kind of creeping me out."

  "You know, most girls would be really happy right now if they were you."

  "Okay, I am not most girls," I stated, quickly, disgusted at his arrogance.

  "Miss Evans. Mr. Kennedy, can we keep it down please?" Of course my professor knew who Jake Kennedy was, even though I’m sure his viewing tastes leaned more toward CNN and less towards crime soaps like Crime Scene.

  I turned away from Jake and ignored him the rest of class, just taking notes. Every once in awhile I could see Jake trying to get my attention but I kept my eyes on the lecture notes. As soon as we were dismissed, I threw my notebook back in my backpack and started heading to the door.

  "McKinley, hold on, wait up."

  I was filled with a feeling...not fear, but anxiety. I had an automatic distrust of people and I felt a certain amount of unease at the fact that Jake Kennedy was following me. One, I'd never had any guy actually follow me and two, why on earth was the famous guy who could have any girl in the world following me? Did he really have nothing better to do?

  I turned around to face him. "You need to leave me alone, seriously, Jake. You following me is kind of weird, even if the slightest bit flattering, and," I paused and most of my anger disappeared. "Amanda really likes you. I know that she doesn't really know you..."

  "Exactly," Jake cut in. "Amanda knows absolutely nothing about me so how is it that she’s so convinced that the two of us will make a good couple?"

  "And me?" I asked. "How am I any different?"

  "Because you don't fawn over me like every other girl...like Amanda," Jake explained. "And it only makes me want to get to know you more."

  I opened my mouth to respond and then shut it, frowning. I was saved from having to respond by a girl walking up to us. Thinking that she needed to get past us-we were blocking the door fairly well-I stepped aside. She ignored me and looked right at Jake.

  "Um, hi. Are you Jake Kennedy?" she asked, breathlessly.

  "No, I'm..."

  "Yeah, he is," I interrupted. I looked over her shoulder back into the classroom. "Hey guys, its Jake Kennedy."

  A few girls actually shrieked and suddenly Jake was surrounded by a bunch of people, mostly girls but a few boys as well. I allowed myself a small victory smile before slipping away.

  * * * * * *

  "McKinley."

  I looked up from my homework. "Hi, Luke."

  Luke came over and sat on my bed. He had changed so little in the seventeen years I had lived with him. He had the same dark brown hair; so dark it was almost black, and blue-gray eyes. He still had a small mole under his left eye and he was still pretty fit from lifting all the heavy boxes on delivery days because he trusted no one else to do it. The only thing I noticed was that he was older; his hair was thinning slightly and he had small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

  He picked up the book sitting on my nightstand and flipped through it before looking at me. "Your grandma emailed me again today, said you haven't responded to any of her emails."

  I made a face but didn't answer.

  "She's your only family, McKinley."

  "You're my family," I mumbled.

  He smiled, patting my knee. "Thank you. But you know what I mean. She's your only actual family that we know of."

  I sighed. "I know. I get that. It’s just...where was she twenty-two years ago?"

  Luke ran a hand through his hair and sat back. "Be fair, McKinley. She didn't know your name, for one thing. She didn't even know if you were a boy or a girl. She thought you were still with your mother and she definitely had no idea who I was. She was just looking for a child about your age, born to Corinna Evans, in around November of 1990. That's really not a lot to go on, especially since Corinna has been gone since '95."

  "And probably changed her name," I said, looking up at him, as if waiting for him to contradict me. I knew that Luke and Uncle had looked for my mom for years, not because they hated having me around, but because they felt that they could at least say they tried. No sign of her ever showed up. She had never had any bank accounts, not trusting people with the little money she ever had and no matter what they tried, she just seemed to not even exist.

  "Exactly. So give her a break, McKinley. She just wants to get to know you. And she's on the other side of the country, in North Carolina for heaven's sake. Its not like she's asking you to go to her knitting club with her every Thursday afternoon. It’s just writing an email. She's your grandmother."

  "All right, all right. I'll email her," I said, resigned.

  "Now?"

  "No," I answered. Luke raised his eyebrows at me. "By the end of the weekend, I promise."

  "Are you ready to go?" Amanda said, suddenly peeking into my room.

  "Yeah, let's do this," I said, picking up my phone from the bedside table and slipping into my back pocket. I kissed Luke on the top of his head. "I'll be back later tonight."

  * * * * * *

  "You know, I think you were right," Amanda said.

  "Hmm?" I said, vaguely. I had a beer in my hand and I was watching Gabriel play beer pong against one of his friends. It was one of Gabriel's favorite things to do at parties and he usually was pretty wasted by the end of the night. I liked a drink here and there but I didn't like getting drunk. I'd had enough of that in high school.


  "You were right about this party. It's very lame," Amanda said, making a face. "I'm so bored."

  "At least you look cute," I said, trying to make her feel better. She had an off-the-shoulder yellow blouse and dark jeans paired with ballet flats.

  "Thanks. I do, don’t I?” she said brightly. “Fat lot of good it is doing me, there are no good prospects here." She looked over at me. "You look super cute, too."

  "Well, thanks, Amanda," I said. I'd put on a sparkly white loose fitting tank with black skinny jeans and black knee-high boots. The weather was still unbearably hot, but this was usual for California in August and wearing pants wasn’t so abnormal.

  "Hey babe," Gabriel said, coming over and wrapping his arms around my waist. "Did you see me win against Todd?"

  I stepped away, carefully so that his arms slid off my waist in a less than obvious way. "Yeah, I did." He leaned down for a kiss and I met him half way. I was such a sucker for a kiss and I was not afraid to admit. "And it's McKinley, remember? Not babe."

  "Right" Gabriel said, his smile becoming a little strained. "You need another beer?"

  "No, I'm okay for right now," I answered, taking a sip. I started picking at the bottle label.

  "I could use one," Amanda said, holding up her bottle. Gabriel nodded and squeezed my hand before making his way to the coolers. "If you don't want him, I'll take him."

  "Nah," I said, shaking my head. "I think I'll keep him for now. The sex is good at least."

  " I could tell you were a romantic when I met you."

  Amanda and I both turned around at the same time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amanda's mouth fall open in surprise. "You have got to be kidding me," I said, flatly.

  "Oh, wow, hi. Hi Jake. Jake Kennedy," Amanda breathed excitedly. She turned to me. "Ohmygod, McKinley, did you invite him?"

  I didn't answer. I was glaring at Jake, but I had to admit that the presence of him in front of me caused butterflies to emerge in my stomach. He was dressed casually in jeans, a dark shirt and a leather jacket. "Hey McKinley," he said, "how's the party?"

  "How the hell did you know I was here?" I blurted out.

  "Luke? The owner of the diner? He told me you were going to be here," he explained.

  "Luke told you?" I asked suspiciously. "How did you talk to Luke?"

  "I went to the diner and asked for you. I told him that I was a friend of yours from school and he sent me here."

  "You know, that's kind of shady," I said. "Why were you looking for me, anyway? Wait, don't answer that."

  Jake shuffled back and forth and for the first time, I noticed legitimate vulnerability from him, not something that could be read from a script. For some reason I felt a sudden tug, an urge to put my arms around him and this angered me. He looked back up at me. "Did you want to take a walk?"

  "Um, n..."

  "Yes, she does," Amanda interrupted. She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "Please, go talk to him! Talk to him about me, please." She leaned back. "Go, go, take a walk, I'll keep Gabriel distracted."

  "Gabriel?" Jake questioned.

  "Her boyfriend," Amanda supplied, pushing me gently towards him.

  "He is not my boyfriend," I said, automatically. I took a deep breath. "Gabriel isn't going to notice I'm gone anyhow. Yeah, we can go for a walk."

  We made our way through the house, squeezing past people. A couple times, I felt Jake's hand on my back and I could feel myself tense against it. We finally made it to the front door and let ourselves out.

  "Do you actually mind if we just sit?" Jake asked. "I'm really exhausted. It was a long shoot today."

  "Um, sure," I said, walking over to a low wall separating Will's yard from the neighbor’s and sat down. "So..."

  "So...you like living with Luke?"

  I stared at him for a second. "How did you know...”

  "He told me."

  "Oh," I said, for lack of anything better to say. I let the silence sit for a moment. "Yeah, I do. Like living with Luke. I have for most of my life."

  "Where are your parents?"

  I drew in a breath. "My dad died when I was two years old."

  "And your mom?"

  "I don't know."

  "You don't know?" Jake asked curiously. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

  "I just don't know, okay?" I snapped. I looked at his wounded face and sighed. "She left me at the diner when I was five. Luke took me in when she never came back for me."

  "Oh, I'm sorry," Jake said, looking extremely sorry for asking.

  "Its fine. I really don't think about it anymore.” I paused. "What about your parents?"

  Jake sighed, leaning back on his hands. "My mom is a second grade teacher in Anaheim and my dad is an accountant."

  "Wow." I laughed. "So suburban."

  He laughed. "I know. I don't think either one of them expected me to be...well..."

  "Famous?" I supplied.

  He smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah. It was way unexpected."

  "How did it happen anyway?" I asked. "I don't really know how it works."

  "It was...so random. Someone approached us at the beach one day, said I'd be good at commercials. My mom thought it was hilarious but my dad was really curious. He called, got me agent and in less than a month, I was lined up for a commercial and some print work. Less than a year after that, I was doing random soap opera work and then when I was 12, my agent lined up the audition at Crime Scene to play Cam Daniel's son. I never thought I'd actually get it. Or that the show would continue to last so long."

  "Longest running detective show on television," I remarked, casually, looking up at the sky.

  "Oh, are you a fan?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

  "No, actually, I do not watch your show," I said, wryly, trying to hide the bit of amusement I felt at the question. "Amanda is a big fan. You would make her whole night if you gave her an autograph." And ask her out. That’s what I really should’ve said, but I didn’t.

  Jake laughed. "I think I can do that."

  "Does it feel weird giving your autograph out?" I asked. "I mean, I can't imagine signing my name for anyone. The only people who want my signature are those people who sit outside grocery stores."

  Jake laughed again. "I always try to avoid making eye contact with those people."

  We fell silent and I could feel the awkwardness creeping in around us. I heard different calls of laughter from the backyard and I searched through my mental catalog of something to talk about with this boy, this boy who graced magazine covers and billboards. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

  "Kind of awkward, isn't it?" Jake asked.

  "A little," I admitted. "I'm not really sure what to say to you. I mean, you're a big celebrity. I work at a diner."

  "Yeah, I guess. I'm not that big of a celebrity," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  I raised my eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah? I'm thinking all those movies you've done says different."

  "Yeah but how many of those movies were actually good?"

  I frowned. Jake Kennedy was known for terrible action movies known more explosions and nonsensical plot lines. Jake may have been voted People Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year but he was not known for his superb acting skills or for picking good movies to work on.

  "Oh, come on, don't be too harsh on yourself," I said, feeling like a lie to Jake Kennedy was completely absurd. "You are pretty kick ass as Mikey on Crime Scene."

  "So you do watch the show, huh?" Jake said, teasing.

  "Everyone with a television watches that show, Jake," I said, laughing. "And now while I watch it for Cam Daniels, everyone else obsesses over you and all the cases you try to solve. Girls drool for you and get jealous every time your on-again, off-again relationship with Andrea Tremaine is on again."

  Jake's face clouded over at the mention of his ex-girlfriend.

  "Hey Jake?"

  He turned to me, his blue eyes burning. "Yeah?"

  "Can I
ask you a question?"

  "Sure." He swallowed hard. "Of course."

  "What happened with Andrea Tremaine?"

  He pulled back. "What do you mean? What makes you think anything happened?"

  "Um because you look like you just found out Christmas was cancelled every time her name comes up?"