Miss Matched

Chapter 7

Chaos reigns at the studio. There's a hubbub created by my mother over the fact that they were supposed to re-design the set between the last season and this one. Astrid is in town, Nicky's flight and hotel are scheduled for later this week, and I haven't been able to reach Samantha. Phil is demanding to meet with me in five-minutes to go over the details for the first date, and I left my notebook on the coffee table of the set, but now it's missing.

I grab one of the runners, a tall, pale guy with freckles, who is chicken running sans noggin because Felicity just went off on him. "Have you seen my notebook? It's blue paisley and was on the coffee table over there."

"Notebook? I, I, I don't know anything about any notebook." He scurries away.

Poor guy. He probably thinks I'm my mother's daughter—a drama princess with fangs. I'm not, but I am starting to panic. I remember most of what's been planned and what's still in the works, but I'd like to make a good impression with Phil on my first day. As I bop around the set, searching frantically, Kendra, one of the make-up artists, grabs me by my upper arm and gives it a pull. "Your mom wants to speak with you in make-up."

"Felicity?"

Her brows crease.

"Sorry, of course I knew who you meant. Tell her I can't right now. I'm meeting with Phil in five," I look at my watch, "no, four minutes."

"I'm not telling Felicity you won't come. Do it yourself."

I roll my eyes and sigh, following Kendra through a labyrinth of equipment, cameras, and props.

Felicity sits in a hairdresser's chair, her bob curled around huge rollers, and her make-up close to finished. Kendra goes to work, lining her lips. Sitting on my mom's lap is my blue paisley notebook. She waives Kendra away and picks it up. "You shouldn't leave this laying around. Snoops love to spill details of the show in advance to gossip columnists."

I thwack myself in the forehead. "Sorry."

"That's all right. Now, you've done a good job, but I had one suggestion." She flips the pages of the notebook.

"Can we talk about it later? I'm supposed to be in Phil's office." I look at my watch again. "Now."

"Phil can wait. Listen, one of the things Astrid mentioned on her application was that she wanted to ride horses on a beach, and you told me that would be the centerpiece of the beach date, but I don't see notes on it. It would look incredibly romantic even though horses smell." Felicity wrinkles her nose.

"I looked into it. No horses allowed on the beach where we're shooting. There's some kind of ordinance."

"Easy. Just pay somebody off." She hands me the notebook. "Now go. Phil hates it when people are late."

Oh geez, oh geez, oh sweet baby Jesus. I'm going to be fired on my first day. I run back through the maze, trying to remember the way but take a wrong turn somewhere and have to backtrack. Finally, Phil's office is in sight and I sprint the last few yards across the set, running smack into something big.

"Frederica!" The big guy grasps both of my upper arms and I look up at–

Chiseled. He's got dark stubble on his cheeks and dimpled chin, making him, incredibly, hotter. I didn't think it was possible. What's even weirder is that my heart is hammering at about two thousand beats per minute.

"Hi! Antonio!" I'm so stunned, I'm surprised I manage to get that much out. Although I knew I would see him today, I'm not ready for it. Not ready for the racing heart, not ready for how good he looks, not ready for how much I care about how I look to him. I redo my ponytail because it's falling out from all my running around.