Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [28]
Gaby beamed. “Really? Thanks! You look great, too! It’s probably cuz of your new boyfriend, right? Dr. Hottie?” She winked at Scarlett.
“Gaby! I don’t have a new boyfriend!” Scarlett glared at her friend and then at the cameras. “So have you been to this place before? What’s good?” she said, hoping to change the subject fast.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m just gonna have a tiny, itty-bitty salad and a big, huge glass of water with a slice of lemon. I’m trying to lose ten pounds,” Gaby said, shrugging.
“What? Why? You look fine the way you are.”
“Because. I need to drop two dress sizes.”
“You do not!”
Gaby shrugged again. The waitress came by to take their orders; Scarlett decided on a veggie burger and a side of sweet potato fries. “So. How’s work?” she asked Gaby.
“Lame. How’s school?”
“The usual.” For a moment, Scarlett considered telling Gaby about her college transfer applications. Gaby was surprisingly good at listening and giving advice. But it would not be smart to have that convo in front of the cameras, unless Scarlett wanted the whole world to listen in. This had to stay strictly confidential until she decided what to do, and after she talked to Jane and Liam about it. She would have to get Gaby’s take on it later, when the microphones were off. “Hey, did you hear Jane’s organizing Aja’s engagement party? You’re a big fan, right?”
Gaby started to reply, then glanced down at something in her lap. Her ugly dog? Her phone?
“Jane and Madison are organizing it together,” Gaby said after a moment. “That must be super-awkward. I mean, Jane still blames Madison for Jesse finding out about her secret hook-up with that guy.”
WTF? “Gaby? Why are you talking about this?” Scarlett whispered.
“Madison’s apologized, like, a million times, but Jane won’t even speak to her! And now they have to work together!” Gaby said loudly.
Scarlett frowned. This didn’t sound like Gaby—this sounded like Dana and one of her famous text-messaged stage directions. Scarlett had seen Dana talking to one of the camera guys earlier, so she was definitely on the premises.
Gaby was smiling eagerly at Scarlett, waiting for her response. Scarlett smiled back, trying to mask her confusion. What was up with Gaby? Usually, she was nice, fun, chatty, and most of all, herself. Today, she was acting—and looking—like someone else altogether. Like a tool.
“Do you think Jane and Madison will ever bury the hatchet?” Gaby persisted.
Scarlett thought for a moment, then said, “Hey, Gaby, can I borrow your phone? I need to make a super-important call, and my battery’s dead,” she lied.
“What? Oh, sure.” Gaby slid her phone across the table.
The waitress came by with their food and drinks, and Gaby began picking at her mini-salad. Scarlett held Gaby’s phone under the table, pretending to dial a number but instead carefully extracting the battery. She held the phone up to her ear. “Hey, your battery’s dead, too!”
“It is?” Gaby looked alarmed. “But it was totally fine a second ago!”
“Yeah, these things can be soooo temperamental. Guess we’ll just have to manage without our phones for a while.”
Gaby peered around the restaurant with a worried expression. Scarlett tried not to smirk as she took a bite of her veggie burger. Yum. Now, maybe she and Gaby could have a normal conversation.
That is, if Gaby would go back to being Gaby.
“So who’s the guy?” Liam said casually.
“What are you talking about?” Scarlett put her bare feet up on the dashboard and admired her dark purple toenails. After lunch, she and Gaby had decided to go to a salon for pedicures. Fortunately, Gaby had started acting a little more normal once she and Scarlett were away from the cameras. Although Scarlett hadn’t been able to get any answers out of her as to why she was behaving so strangely. She wasn’t too forthcoming about her new publicist, Annabelle, either. Perhaps these things were related . . .
Liam was driving them to their favorite sunset-watching spot on Venice