LITMIR.BIZ

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to see which friend, producer, boss, coworker, or reporter was hounding her now.

      Jane stopped when she recognized the number, which was still familiar to her after seven months of not seeing it appear on her screen.

      It was Caleb. Caleb Hunt.

      Caleb had been her first love and her first real boyfriend. They’d dated for a couple of years in high school. When he left to go to Yale the summer before last, they’d decided to try a long-distance relationship. She had been fine with it. He hadn’t. At the end of his freshman year, he’d told her that he wanted to take a break. He’d spent the summer volunteering in New Orleans while she prepared to move to L.A. with Scar—and while she tried to get over him. Which hadn’t been easy, although meeting Braden, then Jesse, had certainly helped.

      Jane hadn’t seen—or heard from—Caleb since their breakup back in May. Why was he calling her now?

      Don’t pick up, Jane told herself. Just let it go to voice mail. But then she remembered her mailbox was full. She grabbed the phone on the fifth ring and pressed Talk. “Hello?”

      “Janie?” Caleb was the only person who ever called her that, besides Scar. “Hey. Am I catching you at a bad time?”

      “Oh, hi, Caleb,” Jane said casually. Although casual was the last thing she was feeling. The sound of his voice could still make her heart race, after all this time. “Nope, I’m just hanging out.”

      “You home for the holidays?”

      “Yeah. Are you?”

      “For now. I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Vail, though.”

      “Sounds fun.”

      “Hope so. Listen, Janie,” Caleb said. “I’m calling because I’d heard some stuff, and I was worried about you. Are you doing okay?”

      Jane realized that Caleb had seen the Gossip pictures. Along with everyone who had internet access or a TV set or who stood in grocery store checkout lines. “Oh, thanks, Caleb,” she said, meaning it. “Yeah, I’m doing okay.”

      “You want me to beat anybody up?”

      Jane laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”

      “Just say the word.”

      “Thanks. How’s Yale?”

      There was a pause. “It’s…you know,” Caleb said after a moment.

      What does that even mean? Jane thought.

      “How’s Hollywood?” Caleb asked her.

      “It’s…you know,” Jane mimicked him.

      Caleb laughed. “Yeah, funny. So I guess you’re with this Braden guy now?”

      Why was he asking her this? “No, we’re not together.”

      “Oh. So you’re still with that Jesse guy?”

      “Um, not exactly. It’s kinda complicated.”

      “It always is with you, Roberts.”

      “You seeing anybody?” Jane asked him, wondering why they were quizzing each other on their love lives.

      “Not exactly. It’s kinda complicated.” This time Caleb was mimicking her.

      “Ha, ha.”

      Someone banged on her door. “Helllooooo?” It was Nora. “Everyone’s waiting for you! We’re gonna watch Twilight on Blu-ray!”

      “Be there in a sec!” Jane called out. “I gotta go,” she said into the phone.

      “Nora-Bora’s being a pain in the butt, huh?”

      “Yeah, kinda. I haven’t seen them in a while.”

      “No worries. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Call me if you need anything. Merry Christmas, Janie.”

      “Merry Christmas, Caleb.”

      As Jane clicked off and put her phone back on her nightstand, she wondered about his parting words: I’ll talk to you soon. They hadn’t talked at all in seven whole months. Why would they be talking anytime soon? And why was she supposed to call him if she “needed anything”? Had something changed? Of course, she was on TV now, but Caleb didn’t care about that kind of stuff. He wasn’t the type to track down an old girlfriend for a chance to be closer to a so-called celebrity.

      Forget “kinda complicated”; everything in Jane’s life was downright confusing.

       8 YOU’RE TWO OF MY BEST FRIENDS

      Scarlett sat cross-legged on her bed, clicking through channels, wondering what to do with the rest of her evening. She’d always hated Sundays. Sundays meant weekend over, back to school, back to work. These days, Sundays also meant receiving the upcoming week’s shooting schedule from Dana. This week, Scarlett was scheduled to meet Gaby for lunch at La Crêperie…and at Kinara for a spa day…and at the Standard for a launch party for the Marley twins’ new perfume.

      It was two days after Christmas, and Jane and Madison were still not back. Which was why Trevor and Dana were (obviously) continuing to scrape the bottom of the barrel and force Scarlett and Gaby into social situations just so they had something to tape. She knew they were desperate for material, since the season finale was coming up in a month or so—and season finales were supposed to be full of drama and cliff-hangers, not scenes of faux friends eating crepes or getting mani-pedis. But that wasn’t Scarlett’s problem.

      If only Jane would come home already. Then everything would return to normal. Well, sort of normal. How long did she plan on staying in Santa Barbara (or wherever she was these days)? How long did she plan on not picking up her phone or answering her emails?

      “Scar?”

      Scarlett muted her TV. Jane? She jumped to her feet and ran into the hallway. “Janie?” she called out.

      “Yeah, it’s me!” Jane’s voice came from somewhere in the front of the apartment.

      Scarlett ran down the hall and found Jane in the living room. She had obviously just walked through the door. Dressed in a pale yellow top and skinny jeans, her hair tied back in a messy knot, she was holding an overnight bag in one hand and a big shopping bag in the other filled to the brim with what appeared to be Christmas presents and Tupperware containers of homemade cookies. She looked kind of lost, like a little girl all alone at a train station.

      “Janie! Ohmigod!” Scarlett rushed up to her and gave her a big hug. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been so worried about you! Ohmigod, I am so happy to see you!” She hugged her again.

      Jane hugged her back. “I’m glad to see you, too! Did you have a good Christmas?”

      “What? No, it was lame. I’ll tell you later. First, what about you? Are you all right?” Scarlett had a million questions to ask her; she didn’t know where to begin.

      Jane shrugged wearily. “I guess.” She set her bags on the floor and walked over to the couch, sinking down.

      Scarlett was right behind her. “Where did that psycho take you in Mexico? What did she say to you? Did she—”

      Jane pulled back, her blue eyes wide. “Uh, Scar?” she said slowly. “I know you don’t like Madison, and I respect that, even though I don’t really understand it. But she’s been a really good friend to me. So I’d appreciate it if—”

      “Friend?” Scarlett cut in, practically shouting. She took a deep breath and forced herself to lower the volume. “Janie? Listen carefully to me, okay? I’m really, really sorry to have to tell you this, but Madison is the one who gave those pictures of you and Braden to Gossip.”

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