Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [49]
“Hopefully by the end of May? The family’s been living in a one-bedroom apartment for the last two years . . . and there’s five of them. So they’re pretty excited.”
“Wow, I’m sure.”
The waitress came back with their drinks. Caleb picked up his beer and glanced around. “Nice place. Guess the owner likes white.”
“Well it is called Villa Blanca.”
“Blanca. White. Got it.”
“Hey, speaking of . . . remember the Valentine’s Day dance, senior year? I wore that white dress I bought at Forever 21, and—”
“Oh, yeah, the super-short one. You looked hot in that,” Caleb cut in.
Jane blushed. “Caleb! It wasn’t that short. Anyway . . . you were trying to dance to that Soulja Boy song, and you kind of spazzed and ended up spilling punch all over my dress.”
“I did not spaz. Jenn Nussbaum bumped into me,” Caleb said, pretending to be hurt.
Jane laughed. “Maybe. Or maybe she was just trying to get close, cuz she had a huge crush on you.”
“She did not.”
“She absolutely did, and you know it. Half the girls at the school had a crush on you.”
“Well, I didn’t notice, cuz you’re the only girl I had a crush on.”
He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. Jane smiled and dropped her gaze. It was true; Caleb used to be one of the most desirable guys at their school. For a long time after they began dating, she used to wonder, Why me? There are so many girls who are prettier. Self-esteem wasn’t exactly one of Jane’s strong suits. Over the years, Scar had tried to get her to stop being so hard on herself. And it was working. Kind of. Slowly, gradually, Jane was starting to feel better about herself, more confident.
She lifted her gaze and stared into Caleb’s chocolate brown eyes and thought, I deserve a sweet, smart, handsome guy like you, who likes me for who I am.
The image of Braden flitted through her mind. Braden might have been the perfect guy for her . . . if only he had given her some indication that he cared about her that way. Oh, well. Too late, Braden James . . .
“What are you thinking about?” Caleb asked her. “Looks kinda intense, whatever it is.”
Jane laced her fingers through his. “I’m just happy to be out with you.”
“Yeah? Me too.”
For the rest of the hour, Jane and Caleb continued to bring up funny memories from high school: Jane getting the hiccups during opening night of the drama club’s The Mousetrap . . . Caleb accidentally kicking a soccer ball into the referee’s face during a match (the ref was unhurt but really mad). As the waitress cleared their plates, Jane glanced at her watch and realized that it was after one o’clock.
“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go,” Jane said apologetically. “I have a meeting at two.”
“Yeah, I’ve gotta go, too. Those steel beams are calling out to me.”
“Jane! Caleb!”
Dana was approaching their table. “Change of plans. We’re not gonna film your exit, because there are, like, two dozen paparazzi out there,” she explained.
Them again? Jane frowned. They were in rare form today.
“We tried to talk to them, but they won’t go away,” Dana went on. “So. You can take off your mike packs now, and Jane . . . we’ll see you tomorrow for your scene with Scarlett, and then Thursday at Playground. Caleb, you’ll be there, too, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. Bye, you two. Nice job today.”
Jane and Caleb extracted their mike packs and handed them to one of the sound guys. As Jane rose to go, she said, “Hey, Caleb? Since there are so many photographers outside, we should probably leave separately. You want to go first, and I’ll go a few minutes after? Better yet, I’ll see if the restaurant will let us leave out the back.”
“Wait. Why?” Caleb asked her, running a hand through his hair. “Aren’t we supposed to be photographed together and stuff? It’s good publicity for the show, right?”
“Yeah, but . . . it’s gonna be a zoo out there, and I don’t want to be late for my meeting. Besides, they were all over us at La Dolce Vita last Thursday and at the Makeover premiere last night.” Not to mention the fact that they were all over her at the café earlier. Enough was