Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [83]
“Where are you going?” Braden said, trailing after her. “Are you hungry? We could grab some breakfast.”
Jane turned and gazed at Braden. “I’ve gotta go,” she said quietly. “Good-bye, Braden.”
Braden frowned. “Wait. What’s wrong? What did I do?”
Jane smiled sadly at him. “Nothing. Thanks for last night. But I don’t think we’re going to be doing that again.” She added, “Oh, and let me give you a heads-up. As soon as I walk out that door, you’re gonna decide you want me back. You might even tell yourself that you’re in love with me. But you’re not. You never will be.”
With that, she left.
Chapter 34
Becoming Nobodies
“So here’s to your amazing new job,” Scarlett said, lifting her glass of champagne.
Jane lifted her glass, too. “And here’s to your amazing new college. Columbia’s not gonna know what hit them,” she joked.
“Ha-ha. By the way, Liam and I just ordered a sofa bed for the living room. It’s got your name written on it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m gonna be sleeping there a lot, so don’t even bother changing the sheets.”
Scarlett giggled. “Ew.”
Jane took a sip of her champagne and glanced around the trendy new Rodeo Drive restaurant, checking out the other people there, worried that she might start crying if she didn’t distract herself, quick. Outside the window, the air shimmered with the late July heat wave . . . candy-colored convertibles glided by . . . and a row of palm trees swayed slightly in the nearly stagnant breeze. Summer in L.A. Had it really been a whole year since she and Scar moved here from Santa Barbara?
In a few days, Scarlett and Liam were flying out to New York: Scar for her Columbia University orientation, and Liam to work for a film production company. They had already lined up an apartment in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
As for Jane, she was going to start her new job next week, with RSVP, a small but high-profile event-planning firm with offices in L.A. and New York. Unlike Fiona, the owner of RSVP had zero interest in being part of a reality show. Jane was really excited about working for him and also having the opportunity to travel to Manhattan for business—and be a total third wheel in Scar’s and Liam’s lives.
Hannah was coming with Jane to RSVP. She and Oliver had also quit the show and were still together. Jane had dinner with them last week, and was pleased to see how happy they were.
Someday, I’m gonna have what they have . . . and what Scar and Liam have, too, Jane thought. Someday, I’m gonna find a wonderful guy who loves me for me. Not a Jesse or a Caleb or a Braden, but someone way better.
In any case . . . L.A. Candy was behind her now. Shooting had wrapped in May, and the Season 2 finale had aired in June. Just as Jane had predicted, Trevor had pulled out all the stops to try to get her to change her mind: pleading, cajoling, offering her larger and larger sums of money, and at one point even losing his cool and yelling at her, which was so unlike him. She knew how high the stakes were for him; the show was his baby. He had finally backed off, but she suspected deep down that he was never going to give up. Fine—whatever. Let him keep pleading and cajoling and negotiating and yelling. Jane wasn’t interested in coming back, not now, not ever.
Besides, Trevor had his hands full at the moment. In the aftermath of Las Vegas, he had scrambled to rewrite and restructure everyone’s story lines. Madison had “left Fiona Chen Events and moved out of the city.” In reality, Madison had gone through a brief, intense period of total media humiliation about her sister’s revelation in Las Vegas. That was followed by a wave of “Before” and “After” photos that (ironically) ended up impressing a lot of people, landing Madison her own reality show—a makeover show—with one of PopTV’s competitors. Even more surprisingly, Madison recently started a charity to give scholarships to underprivileged girls. The Madelyn Wardell Foundation awarded its first scholarship last week to a girl who grew up in the same