Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [14]
“Wait, back up. Haven’t you watched the season premiere yet? The thing about you supposedly blaming her for supposedly telling Jesse that stuff? Which is crap? She said that to Gaby, too.”
“She did?” Jane had missed the PopTV screening of that episode, and she hadn’t gotten around to watching it on TiVo yet.
“Yeah. I think that’s how she . . . or, more likely, Trevor . . . decided to play this one out. I mean, he has to come up with some explanation about why you moved out of her apartment, right? Because he can’t air the actual explanation, which is that Madison sold those photos to Gossip and lied about it.”
“Huh.” Jane’s phone buzzed, interrupting them. She glanced at it and saw that it was a text from Caleb. “It’s just, uh, Caleb,” she said out loud.
“What does he want?” Scarlett said suspiciously.
Jane gave Scarlett a look. She knew Scar liked Caleb but didn’t completely trust him, not after he broke up with Jane last spring.
“Cuz I saw the way he was looking at you at the party Monday night,” Scarlett went on.
“I don’t know what you’re—oh, he says he wants you and me to meet up with him and Naveen this weekend,” Jane said, reading the text.
“Naveen?”
Scarlett and Naveen had hooked up in high school, and Jane had always suspected that Scar kind of liked him, even though she would never admit that.
“What do you think?” Jane asked her.
“I think Caleb wants to get back together with you,” Scarlett said.
“No, I meant, what do you think about meeting up with them?”
Scarlett shrugged and said nothing.
Jane picked up her pizza slice and took a bite, wondering why she felt so flustered. Was Scarlett right? Did Caleb want to get back together with her? He did kind of flirt with her at the season premiere party, and he acted jealous when she was on the phone with Braden. But she had no interest in getting back together with him, even if she was dating these days. Which she definitely wasn’t. Besides, their breakup had been really hard on her, and it had taken her forever to get over him. They were in the perfect place now, as friends.
“He’s new in town and he just wants to hang out, that’s all,” Jane said after a moment.
Now it was Scarlett’s turn to give Jane an are you serious? look.
Chapter 5
The Opposite of a Nobody
Madison sipped her soy chai latte and stared out at the unfamiliar Ventura Boulevard streetscape from beneath her oversize shades. Across the way from her café table was a high-rise office building, a McDonald’s, and a car wash flanked by two tired-looking palm trees. Depressing. Of course, Madison had no interest in returning to this place—or to the Valley, for that matter—in the near future. This had simply seemed to be the safest spot for her to meet the private detective today, away from paparazzi, who tended not to travel to this particular neighborhood.
“Another latte?” Her waitress, a young, not very pretty girl, had materialized by her side.
“I’m good, thanks.” Madison glanced distractedly at her BlackBerry.
“Are you . . . you’re on TV, aren’t you? Are you an actress?”
Madison froze, wondering how to respond. She seriously didn’t want to be recognized—not today. “Yeah, I wish,” she said, forcing a laugh. “People tell me that all the time. I was on Idol once, though. During the audition part. I got cut after one round. Maybe you recognize me from that?”
“Ohmigod, I love that show!” the girl gushed.
“Yeah, me too. Sorry, I’ve got to get this,” Madison said, pretending to be taking a call. “Hello? Oh, hey!”
The girl left to wait on another customer, and Madison set her phone down on the table. Where was he, anyway? He was five minutes late, and she didn’t like to be kept waiting. She also didn’t like having to use lame stories to fake being a nobody.
Because she was the opposite of a nobody these days. Fans came up to her on the street begging for autographs. Her appointment book was jammed with magazine interviews and press shoots. Someone from the PopTV publicity department had contacted her just today, saying that the Maxim people wanted