The Last Thing (3 page)

“Go get yourself a drink, Quinn. I need to deal with
something for a minute.” I gave her a pleading look that begged her not to
leave me alone, but her sights were set on Barrett, who eyed her from the
hallway. I let it go. I walked towards the bar, feeling a little out of place
among all of the attractive people. Most of the girls wore dresses and none of
the men wore jeans. They all looked perfectly put together for the public eye.
I sucked in my stomach and held my head high as I walked past, but it didn’t
help. I cursed myself for wearing the high tops. I was stupid to think I could
mingle among the upper crust. How could I blend in and be unnoticeable when I
stuck out like a sore thumb? When I reached the bar, a man in a white shirt and
pants with black, slicked back hair leaned forward to speak to me.

“What will it be, pretty lady?”

I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol in months. It was part of
my treatment. I was supposed to keep a clear mind, but screw clear minds
tonight.

“Give me whatever is the strongest.” He gave me a subtle wink
and pulled out a cup full of ice. He poured some brown liquid in it and pushed
it towards me. 

I silently sipped on the liquid, almost gagging as it hit my
taste buds. It was strong and revolting. Perfect. I scanned the crowd for
Ginger, but I couldn't find her. Should I leave and walk home? Maybe I could
give it a few extra minutes. I wanted a fresh start to ease the pain, and the
only way to do that was by leaving the old Quinn behind. New Quinn is going to
stay and get a few free drinks. I walked to the side of the bar, away from the
crowd. I wanted to be on the outside spying in.

“Nice shoes,” a deep voice said from beside me. I almost spit
my drink out in surprise. Only two inches away from my face stood a man with chocolate
colored eyes and short brown hair that stuck up all over his head as if he had
just rolled out of bed. I detected some sort of Hispanic descent in his good
looks. He wore a pair of khakis and a tight long-sleeved black t-shirt. He
actually seemed normal compared to all the Barbie and Ken dolls around me, and
it made me feel at ease. I took a step back so that our faces weren’t so close.
“Yeah, I reckon heels aren’t really my thing,” I replied and took another sip
from my cup. He chuckled and folded his hands across his chest, one hand
stroking his chin as if he were studying me.

“Whiskey...high tops...no French manicure...”

 He picked up one of my hands and studied it. Shocked by the
way my heart sped when he touched me, I pulled it out of his grasp. I could
feel my face turning red, but I willed my breathing to slow down and hoped that
he couldn’t see me blush under all of the makeup. He was quite literally the
most striking man I’d ever laid eyes on. The reaction from my body was pure agony.
I wanted him, needed him. My loneliness was getting the best of me.
No
.
You
don’t need him as a distraction. You need a job, a hobby. He is the last thing
you need. You’re having a whiskey reaction.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said. I forced myself
to look away from his smirk, and finished off the drink in my hand. I turned
around and asked the bartender to fill me up again. The drink had already
started to affect me, make me loosen up, but I needed a little more to help me
with the anxiety.

Say something. Don’t just stand there!

“Don’t worry about it,” I mumbled and picked up my filled glass.
I was surprised that he was still standing there; I allowed myself to sneak
another peek from the corner of my eye. From the way he carried himself he was a
bit older than me, maybe in his mid-twenties. The way he laughed and his body
language told me that he was charismatic, a charmer. This guy was persistent!

“I’m Chase,” he said, holding out his hand. I reluctantly
took it, afraid that he could see how unnerved I was.

 “Quinn, nice to meet you.” He didn’t seem to notice my hand
trembling as he lifted it up to his lips to place a light kiss on it. He gave
me a slight wink that made me go weak in the knees. I was glad that I had high
tops on my feet to steady me.
Toughen up, Quinn. You can talk to a guy. But only
talk.
I took another big gulp of my liquid courage.

“So Quinn, how do you know Gillian?” He reached out to pick a
piece of lint off my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes in on him. Why was he
touching me?

“Oh, I don’t know her. I’m here with a friend.” I forced
myself to look into his eyes, to show him I wasn’t intimidated.

“Who?” he asked

 “Ginger Teague,” I told him. He continued with his inquisition,
to which I gave short answers.

“You a party crasher?”

I raised an eyebrow and answered, “No, I was invited.”

“An actress?”   

  “No.”

“Model?”

 I scoffed at his question; as if I had the looks to be a
model. “Uh, no...” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Who are you then? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.
I wouldn’t forget your face.”

I didn’t know what to say. It had been so long since I’d had
any male attention. He probably wouldn’t give me the time of day if he found
out who I was or how much baggage I carried.

“Interesting, huh?”

“What?” I asked

“This party. I bet you’ve never been so star struck.”

Is this guy for real?

“I don’t know who any of these people are.”

“Well then, it’s high time you found out.” He leaned in close
and motioned toward the three blonde girls Ginger had introduced me to earlier.

“Those three bimbos are twiddle dee, dumb, and twit.”

I spit my drink back out into my cup, almost choking from
laughter.

 “Did you call her a twit?”

“Damn straight. Though I’m not sure if it’s from her lack of
common sense or her twitter addiction.”

This was kind of fun. My eyes scanned the room for our next
victim

“What about him?” I pointed toward an older balding man with
a twenty-something on his arm.

“Ah, yes. That is Jordan one of our writers. The girl on his
arm just screwed her way up to a leading character.”

“Isn’t that a bit… unethical?”

“Everyone in Hollywood is unethical, my dear.”

That was my cue to leave. I didn’t need guys like him.

“As much as I want to continue on with this flirty banter, I
really must get going.” I boldly stuck my drink in his empty hand and spun
around on my heels. I couldn’t believe that I had the guts to walk away from
such a gorgeous guy. The drink running through my veins had definitely helped.

Ginger stood amongst the crowd only a few yards away. As I
walked past her, she pulled me close and walked with me.

“I didn’t want to interrupt…but were you talking to Chase Crowley?”
she asked once we were out of earshot.

 I didn’t know who Chase Crowley was, but I wanted to, no
matter what my rational brain told me.

“Just talking, who is he?” I asked her. She giggled and turned
around to stare at Chase. I let myself sneak a peek as well. He was still in
the same spot, sipping away on the drink I’d shoved in his hands. His eyes were
set straight on me, and he raised his glass when I turned around. When the cup
hit his lips, a traitorous heat spread through my body.

 “I don’t know him all that well, he kind of keeps to himself,
but he’s on
Timelines
. He’s also one of Barrett’s friends. He never
dates, but I hear he’s amazing in bed…” Her eyes grew huge as realization
dawned over her. “Oh honey, you should totally hook up with him,” she urged.

 I gave her a disappointed look. One-night stands were not my
thing, but from the way my body was reacting, I wanted it to be my thing, very
badly.

 “Are you kidding me? I don’t do one-night stands,” I reminded
her.

 “Correction. You
didn’t
do one-night stands. Maybe
you need to let loose and have some fun.”

 “I need another drink.” I stole the drink from her hand and
finished it off. My throat screamed in pain.

“Oh, come on. I’m not saying you have to sleep with the guy. Just
let loose and have some fun. Flirt a little.”

“I wouldn’t know what to say.”

“Just say this.” She stuck her nose in the air and batted her
eyelashes slightly.

“Hi, my name is Quinn.”

“I’d rather go home.”

 “One more hour.”

“Fine.”

“Oh, Quinn, you’re in for a treat. Chase is so hot. If he
weren’t friends with Barrett, I would be all over that like butter. I need to
go get a new drink. You need to get past everything and have a good time. Go…”
Ginger smacked me on the ass, causing me to jump forward. Chase was still
staring at me, a twinkle in his eye. I hesitated and took a step back; I wanted
to go back over and talk to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. Was this
a betrayal to Bash? I stood there like an idiot, staring back at him. Our eyes
locked for a single, heart-wrenching minute. It was like a scene in the movies
when two characters lock eyes and time seems to slow down. It was just him and
me. No one else. There was a magnetic attraction between us that only grew
stronger. I found myself imagining what his lips tasted like and licked my own
in yearning.

People always left. Relationships never lasted. They only
caused complications. It was better this way.

 He put down the drink and started walking towards me. As if
on cue, I took another step back and broke our gaze. This was not what I came
here for. I came here to get away from love, not to fall right into the arms of
an actor, the first guy who turned my way. I spun around and hurried through
the hallway toward the closest exit. I threw the French doors open, and let
them slam loudly behind me.

Chase

It was rare that a girl didn’t trip over herself to get in my
pants. Whoever she was, she intrigued me. She kept me at an arm’s length, however,
with her short answers and hot and cold attitude.

After she had run off, I made my way through the crowd almost
knocking over a few partygoers in the process.

“Watch it!” yelled a random girl. Tucker’s eyes turned dark
as the girl knocked into him causing his beer to splash all over his
ridiculously tight shirt.

“My bad.” I looked for a towel to help clean up.

“Don’t sweat it. The party has just begun. Come now, be my
wingman.”

He put his arm around me to try and steer me towards a group
of girls. I didn’t have time for chitchat. I wanted to find the brunette and
see what her problem was. Tucker was a ladies’ man, and boy, did he love it.
They went crazy over his boyish good looks and dark hair.

“Maybe later, dude.”

“Come on!” Tucker popped open an extra beer and forced it
into my hands.
What was with people giving me drinks tonight?

“Fine
.
One drink.” Quinn could wait. After all, she
was just some random girl. She wasn’t going anywhere. Another co-star, Barrett,
walked up beside us in his stupid shepherd’s robe. This guy took method acting
to a whole new level.

“Chase, Tucker, my men, exactly who I was looking for. I have
three majorly hot blondes who want to take a dip in the hot tub out back,” he
said. Tucker gave him a whoop followed by a high five. A blonde, a hot tub, and
an ice-cold beer in my hand would normally be the end to my perfect night, but
tonight that wasn’t doing it for me. It got old, the same things every night.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved easy women, but right now, my
body craved the taste of someone different.

“What about Ginger?” Tucker asked.

“Ginger? Ginger doesn’t control me,” Barrett said. He puffed
out his chest a little bit before nodding his head at a female passerby. “Let’s
go.”

 “You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later,” I told
them. I set my beer down on a nearby glass table before scanning the room for
my next game. I didn’t see her anywhere, so she must have ran outside.

“Don’t even think about it,” Barrett warned.

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw you and Quinn talking earlier. Ginger has been chatting
non-stop about her for weeks. She just moved here, and Ginger is very insistent
that no one screw with her.”

“I’m not gonna screw with her,” I said with a disgusted tone.

“I’m just saying. I don’t wanna go down that path.”

“What path? I just wanna see what her problem is.”

Barrett shrugged and put an arm around Tucker’s neck. “Your
loss, man. Catch you later.”

They both must have strutted off, but I wasn’t paying them
any attention. The only thing I could focus on was getting outside. Before I
could make it, another obstacle presented itself.

“Are you Chase Crowley?” said a girl with a short blonde
pixie cut and a knockout figure.

“Yeah. Do I know you?” Normally I wasn’t rude to pretty young
ladies, but everyone at the party was frustrating me.