LITMIR.BIZ

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as she came to stand behind Jamie while he looked at himself in the mirror. Peeking over his shoulder, she smoothed the shirt down over his ribs. His curls were wild but his cheeks were flushed. He would be breaking hearts all over the house this evening, and the dark charcoal shirt looked almost as good on him as it did on Gee. Jamie didn’t quite have his breadth of shoulder but… Dan was going to be a very lucky man.

      ‘Ems, I’ve got the ice!’ Gee shouted up the stairs as the front door opened and then slammed.

      ‘Housemate?’ Jamie asked.

      ‘Housemate. Come on.’

      He followed her downstairs, where she could hear Gee in the kitchen.

      Please let him be okay about the top, she thought, as they clattered down the stairs to the kitchen.

      ‘I’ve put it in the freezer,’ Gee said with his back to them. ‘More ice than you can shake a stick at. Enough for you to make as many of those fancy arse cocktails as you want.’

      ‘Thanks,’ she said as he turned around. She twisted her fingers together hoping he wasn’t going to get pissy with her.

      She knew the moment Jamie clocked who Gee was from the way he froze beside her, his muscles locking.

      ‘Hi, I’m Gee, the housemate,’ he said with his disarmingly charming smile, one that he’d been using on unsuspecting members of the public for years. She tensed to see if Jamie was going to parrot the usual nonsense people said when they saw Gee.

      ‘I’m… J… J… Jamie,’ he stuttered.

      It seemed he wasn’t going to ask the usual ‘didn’t you used to be Gee Knightley?’ that everyone always asked. Jamie went up in her estimation. Maybe this would work.

      ‘Good to meet you, Jamie. I see Emma’s been helping you feel at home. If you’ll excuse me I’m off to get changed before everyone else arrives. Although it looks like I’ll have to find a different shirt.’

      How did he wink at Jamie with one eye and seemingly glare at her with the other? Maybe he learnt that at boyband school?

      ‘Oh.’ Jamie looked down at his shirt. ‘Shit, man. I’m so sorry.’ He began to take it off.

      ‘No, you can wear it. Just give it back to Emma afterwards,’ Gee said sweetly and pulled on the hem of the shirt, so it came back down and left the kitchen.

      ‘Oh my god, I just almost stripped in front of Gee Knightley,’ Jamie said loudly.

      ‘Nothing I haven’t seen before,’ Gee called from upstairs.

      Emma wondered whether Jamie was going to self-combust with the way his face glowed.

Chapter Ten

      ‘How could you not tell me your housemate was Gee Knightley?’ Jame whispered.

      ‘I’ve known him ten years, and lived with him for nine of those. I kind of forget,’ she lied.

      But how did you bring up the fact that your best friend and housemate occasionally featured on E!’s Where Are They Now or Top 25 Hottest Boyband Members segments? Every so often The Daily Planet featured pap shots of him looking dishevelled if there was a slow news day and tried to make out he was a drug addict. Usually it was due to an all-nighter in the studio but The Daily Planet had never let anything like the truth get in the way of a good headline. She should know. The Daily Planet was the first outlet they usually used to try and seed any new fauxmance.

      Yeah, and it wasn’t something you threw out in conversation, who you lived with. Even if you worked in the music business. In fact, it was actually less likely if you worked in the business.

      ‘But he’s Gee Knightley,’ Jamie said urgently as if Emma didn’t understand the concept. ‘And I’m wearing his shirt.’ His voice was squeaky but his hand stroked his shirt

      ‘As long as you don’t spill anything over it, I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ she said sharply. And another one has fallen for the Knightley charm, she thought unkindly.

      The doorbell went.

      Showtime, she thought as she smiled at Jamie and went to get the door. Soon Dan would arrive and then the big plan of the night could start.

      By the time Gee came back down to the kitchen, the work crowd had started in on the drinks. Ice was tinkling in glasses, tops were being popped on bottles and cans and someone was even making use of the cocktail shaker.

      And if there was a brief pause in noise, the ice cubes even falling silent as he came downstairs, it was a very small glitch in the soundscape. They were all used to being around celebrities, of course, that was their job. Even those who hadn’t been in the public eye for years. Emma felt her chest tighten, was this fair, maybe she shouldn’t have subjected Gee to this in his own house?

      She kept a watch on them as they all tried to play it cool, some going as far as ignoring Gee, except for an initial widening of their eyes.

      She found Jamie hiding in the corner and he wouldn’t come out.

      ‘I should change back into my own shirt,’ he insisted. ‘What happens if I get a drink down it, I could ruin Gee Knightley’s shirt.’

      For the love of…

      ‘You’re ruining my plan,’ she said to Gee as she passed him on the way to the stairs to open the door again to more party guests. He was making stilted conversation with a wide-eyed Max and his boyfriend.

      ‘Plan?’ he said turning away from them and frowned at her before sighing. ‘Of course, you have a plan.’ He all but smacked his forehead with his hand. ‘I should’ve guessed. Who is the unfortunate victim this evening?’ he asked looking round the room. ‘Don’t tell me it’s that nice boy you gave my favourite top to? Really Emma, you do know he doesn’t play for your team?’

      ‘Of course I do. Why does everyone think I don’t notice these things?’ Emma groused. Why did Gee always think she was clueless about what was going on around her? It was insulting.

      ‘Just checking. I don’t think I want to know what you’re cooking up, but I don’t want you to get hurt, Ems.’ He grasped her upper arm and squeezed it.

      ‘I won’t,’ she said. ‘Remember I have the plan. Another year before dating and anyway I don’t get hurt.’ Hurt only happened to people who didn’t plan.

      ‘Yeah, of course, how could I forget,’ Gee said and then took a long draw from the bottle of beer he was holding.

      She walked upstairs, as the doorbell rang again, and wondered why Gee had looked so stern. She probably shouldn’t have forced him into the party. She really would buy him the nice peanut butter.

      ‘Dan! You made it,’ she said as she opened the door to her work colleague. She wanted to add, ‘at last’, considering it was nearly an hour since the party officially started. Instead she said, ‘I’m so glad you could make it.’

      ‘I wouldn’t miss a chance to hang out with you, Ems,’ he said and leant forward to kiss her on both cheeks. She tried not to flinch as his wet lips touched her skin. Had he not heard of air kissing?

      ‘I bought this for you.’ He thrust a bottle gift bag into her hands. Ribbon spilled off it, glittery tissue paper foamed from the top.

      ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have.’ She said. Wet lips aside, it was, well, very sweet. Dan was obviously the thoughtful type. Jamie was going to be in for a treat, she thought. Okay she was rocking this matchmaking thing.

      ‘This way.’ She gestured with the bottle bag, letting the ribbons bounce. ‘We’re all in the kitchen. Everyone always says it’s the best place to be at parties so I figured we’d just have the party in it to start with. Save everyone time.’

      Dan’s

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