She shook her head. “I want to yell at you because we’ve seen him so many times online and on TV, but I’m also the girl who has to remind you where we know people from everywhere we go. You really, really suck at faces. But Walker Rhodes? How do you forget that face, no matter how much you suck at remembering people?”
It was so frustrating, having to defend myself when she knew how horrible I was with faces. “It was over ten years ago, and we were just kids. He looked totally different then. Keri, he was just a boy, but now he’s a grown-ass man. A really hot, grown-ass man.”
Keri jumped up from the couch and started pacing in small circles. “Madison. You do realize how amazing this is, don’t you? This is the kind of thing they write movies about. I’m going to write a movie about this. Yeah. Maybe I’ll become a screenwriter and your story will be the first one I write.”
“Keri!” I practically screeched.
“Don’t worry, I’m kidding. Kind of,” she said as she scrunched up her face while she thought. “It’s not a horrible idea. You’d know the writer, so the story would be incredibly flattering on your behalf.”
“Oh my gosh, shut up!”
Her pacing continued and I swore I could see the wheels turning in her mind. “So, did he know? That night at the concert, when he pulled you onstage?”
I nodded. “He said he recognized me right away.”
“This all makes so much sense. I mean, the way he’s been acting. The way he was with you at his concert. All of it.” Keri sat back down on the couch, her hands folded in her lap. “So, how do you feel?”
I sucked in a breath and tried to stop the smile from forming on my lips. “I can’t believe it’s him. I can’t believe he recognized me. When I think about him, I feel like he’s always been a part of me. You know?”
A smile spread across her face. “I don’t think we ever get over our first loves completely. We move on, of course, but I think a part of them is always with us.”
“I think if you would have asked me that question a few days ago, my answer would have been completely different. I would have told you I was fine, and that he rarely, if ever, crossed my mind.”
“And now?”
“I can’t imagine ever not being with him again.” The words slipped out before my mind had the sense to stop them. “But that’s crazy, right?”
“It is.” Keri reached out a hand and placed it on my knee. “But it kind of isn’t. You two have a past that bonds you. No one can tell you how to feel about it.”
“It’s so weird, though. Seeing him and realizing who he is…there is just this immediate comfort and trust. I know there’s a lot we don’t know about each other anymore, and I’m sure we’ve both changed, but when I look at him, all I see is the boy I fell in love with at the beach all those years ago.” I wiped at the lone tear that fell from my eye.
“I get that,” Keri said as she nodded. “This is a stupid example, but it’s like when I go to a club and I happen to run into someone that I knew from high school. Sometimes I want to be around that person because it feels like I’ve known them forever. And there’s this connection there that this person knows me differently than anyone else in the room does.”
“Even if that’s not entirely true?” I asked, for her sake as much as my own.
“Yeah, I guess. It’s just more of a feeling of familiarity and comfort.”
“So then, what if all I’m feeling is exactly that and it’s not real? What if I’m just feeling lost in the moment, or all caught up in the sweetness of our innocent past?”
Keri moved her hand and smacked my knee. “Is that what you really think it is?”
I looked away. “Not really.”
“Thank God, ’cause I didn’t want to have to punch you. Stop being dumb and call the guy. Or better yet, invite him over so I can make an ass of myself again.”
Chuckling, I smiled at her. “I told him I’d call him tomorrow.”
“Well, is that him who keeps blowing up your phone?” She looked pointedly at my phone, referring to the few times it had lit up during our conversation.
I reached for the phone and glanced at it. “Text messages.”
Her lips curved into a sly smile. “I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
“Yes, you are.”
“You’re right, I am.” She sucked in a breath. “You better text him back. This is Walker Rhodes we’re talking about. Which, speaking of…” She raised a hand in the air and crinkled her brow. “What about this reputation of his? Please tell me you asked him about it, because I don’t think I could take my roomie being tabloid fodder. And you know you will be. How are you going to handle that?”
“I’ll be fine. I don’t care about the tabloids.” Sitting here in the safety of my living room, imagining potential future tabloid articles didn’t bother me. I figured I could handle anything they dished out, if they dished at all.
“You say that now.”
I nodded in agreement. “I do. So when I start freaking out, remind me that I don’t care.”
She giggled. “Done.”
I filled her in on all the details of Walker’s past and the things he had confessed to me about his friends and his mom. She nodded vigorously, insisting that it all made perfect and total sense. Keri hopped on the Walker train before tickets were even available for purchase. She loved this entire scenario which was now my life, and refused to feel bad about that fact.
“Honestly, Madison, I know you may not see it right now, but this is all pretty amazing. Your story is romantic as hell, and when people find out about it, they’re all going to storm the beaches of Malibu in search of their own summer romances. I couldn’t have scripted anything this perfect if I tried. No one could.”
I closed my eyes and smiled. “Trust me, Ker, I think it’s pretty amazing myself. Part of me still can’t believe it.”
“Well, believe it.”
After giving her a squeeze good night and thanking her for buying dinner, I stretched my arms over my head and sauntered into the kitchen, discarding my trash before heading toward my room.
“Madison?” Keri’s voice made me pause and I angled my head back toward her. “You’ll get another job. I’ll help you look, okay? And I’ll talk to my dad to see if he knows anyone who needs an assistant.”
“Thank you.” I pursed my lips together as I continued down the dimly lit hall, the realization that I could only deal with one thing at a time hitting me square in the face.
“Now go get your man!” Her voice trailed down the hall and I went to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.
Glancing at the clock, I noted the time; a little after ten p.m. It was too late to look for work, but it wasn’t too late to deal with Walker. My heart flipped inside my chest. I could feel it dancing away—probably to one of his songs—as I pressed the buttons to call his number.
He answered on the second ring. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“What are you talking about?” I giggled into the phone.
“I told you that I’d be going nuts until I talked to you. You’re driving me crazy.”
“And I told you I’d call you tomorrow. It’s not even tomorrow yet.”
“It’s almost tomorrow.”
I laughed and glanced at my clock again. “Not even close.”
“You haven’t answered a single text.”
“I was talking to Keri about everything.”
Walker’s tone turned even more serious. “Listen to me, Madison. I can’t have you running away from me. I know you needed some time today to process and work through everything, but don’t push me away. I don’t like it. I want to be the one you run to, not the one you run from.”
My defenses prickled at his bossiness. I didn’t normally like being told what to do, but in this case, I found myself liking his demands. “I’m not running away from you. I just needed a minute to work through my own head.”