Behind the Scenes

Chapter 24

KATE

Pushing up from the bed, I returned to my previous action that I had abandoned only moments before. It was the third time in the last twenty minutes I had done this back and forth, and each time I decided to stop, choosing to lay on my comfortable bed and let the tension fade away, it lasted only seconds before I was back to pacing across the floor.

It would seem, however, that third time was a charm for making Ashley scream at me.

"For the love of God, would you please stop pacing!" she shouted from her bed, fisting her hair in exaggerated exasperation. "You're going to wear a path in the carpet, or I'm going to punch you in the throat."

I rolled my eyes at her, but did not stop my back and forth motion across the front of the room. My fingers were at my mouth, teeth gnawing at my nails as my racing thoughts controlled every part of me.

Noticing my high strung demeanor, Ashley sighed before tossing her book to the side and sitting up cross legged on her bed. She watched me for a few moments, before speaking.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's not the crowd," I said, shaking my head. "I mean, it is a little, but-"

"I know," she interrupted, giving me a knowing smile. "It's about Harry."

Her assured tone caused me to stop in my tracks. Of course, I found her grinning at me in the way she always did when she knew everything I didn't want to tell her or even admit to myself. As much as there were times I loved how well she knew me, this was not one of them.

When she took in my deer in the headlights expression, she laughed out loud.

"Did you really think no one noticed how you two have been with each other lately?" she asked with a raise of her brow. "Come on, Katie. He's pretty transparent and you're a shit actress."

I didn't even bother feigning insult at her comment, before sitting on the edge of my bed to face her. She watched me expectantly, making it obvious she knew things had changed between Harry and I, but waiting for me to be the one to elaborate. Ashley had never been one to tell all, even when she knew all. Usually, like now, she would let you know she was on to you, but left it up to you to be forthcoming with the rest. It was a tactic, I knew, to fill in the gaps between her intuition and observations, against the hidden motivations and feelings behind it all.

Shaking my head, I dropped my gaze to the floor between us.

"I don't even know," I admitted with a shrug. "I mean, he's still the arrogant, egotistical jerk I met in the bookstore. He loves nothing more than to taunt me, to remind me over and over that he thinks love and romance is bullshit, and practically flaunt himself at me because he knows I wrote the entire story about him. It is like a game to him, trying to get to me, and it pisses me off."

"But lately, things have been different." I continued. "He's been showing me more of himself without all the bluster and mask he wears for the rest of the world. Its like he wants to be himself with me, but sometimes he doesn't know how. Like he's lost the ability to really know who he is, since he has been pretending for so long."

"Well, it's clear that he cares about you," she interjected, turning to face me. "He practically ran out the door tonight when the crowd started to swarm out."

A smile ghosted at my lips, my eyes still downcast.

"And I know something happened between you," she continued, her blatant statement gaining my full attention. Raising her hands, she shook her head. "I'm not asking for all the sexy details. But I know you. I know how you act when you like someone, and when things go a little...step further. You've gone from the starry eyed fan girl to actually looking at him with connection for weeks."