Summer Rain

[10] Curiosity

Dedicated to ClaryLovesCookies for her comment/reaction last chapter. Thank you, it really made me laugh
Picture of Shawn on the side --->

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(Unedited)

I can't stand the way,

 You're smiling.

I can't stand the way,

I'm lying.

I know, I know, I know,

 You got the key.


~Curiosity- Carly Rae Jepsen



To be honest, I almost wish I had fainted.

Not because I like banging my head against hardwood floors or looking weak or anything, but because the moments that followed Rory's 'magic trick' were pretty awkward. It felt like everyone was watching me. Rory and Kallie were looking between me and Kaden, checking our expressions. Kaden was also looking at me and checking my expressions. He didn't look too surprised at the news, probably because he had already had to fake date before. Which kind of makes me wonder exactly how many Hollywood 'couples' are actually real.

After a moment of everyone staring at each other and me having a staring contest with an owl decoration on the wall, Rory spoke up, "I know it won't be easy. And if it were up to me I wouldn't force you guys to do this. But it's not up to me."

"What did Summer Productions say?" Kaden asked.

"That it had to be one of the released six characters. And that it couldn't be you and Nadia since you guys have already been rumored to have dated."

"So how'd it end up as us?" I asked slowly.

"Sahra recently broke up with Grayson Harrington so she's out. James is dating Cassandra Keller," Rory explained. It was just a little funny how if they had just given her the part they wouldn't have to worry about making a fake couple since James and her were together. "And Xavier refuses to date because he has a girlfriend back home." Hmm, long distance. I don't know how long they've been together, or how far she is, but maybe long distance can work in the fame industry. Did it even matter, though? Clark and Bells were over and an example that it could work wouldn't help. It'd probably do the opposite of help, actually.

"How long are we doing this for?" Kaden asked.

She shrugged. "Until the movie comes out, probably."

"So, around three months," Kallie said.

"You might have to stage a breakup in between or something, then get back together," Rory told us. "They haven't given me a lot of instructions."

I winced slightly. "Great." I shot a glance at Kaden. Looks like we're gonna be pretending on screen and off now. Well, it's always fun to pretend you're back together with an ex, right? Even though the world doesn't exactly know that he's an ex.

Rory shot me a sympathetic smile. "It'll just be a couple interviews, photo shoots and dates. Do you have a manager?" she asked, changing the subject.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Agent?"

"No?" The answer came out more like a question. Why was she doing this now? Did it have something to do with the fake dating stuff?

"Publicist?"

"No-" I started to reply, then cut myself off when an idea came to me. "Sort of."

"Sort of?" Rory asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know someone who might be able to. I'll ask her."

"Great, because Clark needs someone to work with him." I just smiled weakly. Oh god, I hope Bells doesn't kill me. "I think we're done here, then."

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked Kallie as Kaden and Rory left the room.

"Is that possible for later? We're moving locations now," Brett said, poking his head into the room.

Kallie looked between us for a couple seconds before her eyes settled on me. "Come on, you can ride with me, we can talk in the car," she told me, grabbing a set of keys off her desk. "We'll meet you there." She gave Brett a quick kiss, then led me down a hallway.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we stepped out a set of doors.

"New location, the sets are finished," she told me once we reached her car. It was an adorable, blue Volkswagen Beetle Convertible. "So, what's up?" she asked, starting the car.

I stayed silent for a moment, watching her pull out of the parking lot. "Kallie, why'd you pick me for Alyssa?"

She whipped around to look at me, almost jerking the car to a stop. "What?" I didn't respond, just raised an eyebrow at her, knowing she had heard me. "Well, I didn't expect that one of all the ones you could've asked."

"You had Cassandra Keller wanting the part. And Gemma Travers. And Jillian King. Why me? If you're still playing some kind of matchmaker game... It's not going to work. It ended. It's over," I told her with a bitter smile, doing my best to keep my voice steady.

Kallie sighed and spun the steering wheel to the right, making the car take a sharp turn. "It's not that." Another sharp turn. Thank you whoever made seat belts. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you've always tried. When you were five, you got us married by a real priest," I pointed out.

She shrugged. "I was five. The fact that I could get a sister was tempting," she said, in a casual tone, like we were talking about the weather, not getting married at five years old.

"What about all those times you tried to get us to like each other? And the challenges?"

"You make him happy, Raine, as cliché as that may sound." And in that moment, there was nothing I wanted to do more than glare at my heart. I wanted to tell it to stop doing those stupid clenching things before I had a heart attack. To tell it to stop caring about these minuscule things that probably weren't true.

"How would you know?" She didn't answer. "How much does Rory know?" I asked, changing the subject. I wanted to keep asking, but at the same time I didn't. I didn't want to hear those cliché little things. I didn't want to even risk believing they were true. It hurt the first time. And the second. I wasn't going for a third round.

"Just that you guys were together, then broke up, then together, then broke up again," Kallie answered as she pulled to a stop at a red light.

My eyes widened and I almost choked on air. That was twice. Which meant... "You know?" I asked, the question coming out barely above a whisper. Was that how she 'knew' I made him 'happy'?

She sighed and turned to meet my eyes. "I've known for a while now."

"How long?" I asked as the light turned green.

"January, eleventh grade." The car jerked forward.

"He told you?" I asked, eyes wide. I wasn't mad or anything, just surprised. We had kept it pretty secret, so I didn't think he would tell after. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure why we kept it so secret. It probably would've been easier to just be out with it, but no, we just hadn't done it the normal way.

"I'm his twin. I know when something big is bothering him."

"But it had already been over a year since..." I trailed off, not really knowing how to say it. The breakup? It ended?

"What was in January, Raine?" Kallie asked flatly.

"First kiss, first date, first time we got together," I rattled off slowly, turning to stare out the window. "I don't get it," I said when Kallie didn't reply. "He's Kaden Fleming. Heir to one of the most- possibly the most- successful law firm in the world. He's been on dozens of magazine covers. And know he's a celebrity with thousands of fan girls." I'll be honest, I hadn't realized exactly how famous Kaden was until I listed all those points.

"So?" Kallie asked when I didn't continue.

"Why me? Out of all the girls who love him, why me?"

"You're really going to ask that? You really want to be cliché now?" I didn't answer, just raised an eyebrow at her. "Why does there have to be a reason? Why can't good things just happen to you?"

"Good things happen to good people and the ones who work hard. I've done neither," I told her flatly.

"You're a good person, Raine."

"Can you really tell me I'm a good person after how I ended it the first time?"

No answer.

I bit the inside of my lip almost hard enough to make it bleed as I watched cars pass by. I couldn't say I regretted it. It had been my decision, and just like Kaden the second time around, I had been scared. Only when I had done it, he hadn't ran.

This wasn't some fairytale. We had both screwed up. Massively. Multiple times.

"You know what's sad?" Kallie asked, a while later, as she pulled into the parking lot of a wide building. "You think everything's your fault."

That's because it is. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could Kallie lifted a hand in the universal sign for 'stop'.

"And he thinks everything's his."

"How is that sad?" I choke out, jerking forward slightly as Kallie parked.

She looked at me sadly. "Because, neither of you guys have really moved on. But at the same time, you guys don't want to try again."

I didn't answer, instead just pushed open the door and climbed out of the car. "You never told me why you picked me, by the way," I said, returning to what I had originally wanted to know.

"I'll admit, Summer Productions did want Cassandra, Gemma or Jillian. And it would've been better publicity," she paused. I waited for a moment, but she didn't continue.

"So why?" I asked. As I waited for her to answer, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Bells with the new address. She had said she would drop by this afternoon, so I didn't want her going to theatre and I finding no one there.

"Don't freak out when you hear me say this," Kallie said as I pocketed my phone.

"You're making me a bit scared," I admitted, pulling open the door as we arrived at the building.

"When I wrote the story," she paused again. "It would've been weird having someone other than you as Alyssa."

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. "You didn't," I said, opening my eyes.

"Call Me Cupid was inspired by you and Kaden," Kallie confirmed. "Besides, what if I just missed my best friend?"

"Kal-" Before I could finish, someone else cut in.

"Hey, ready to start filming?" Brett asked from behind us, obviously oblivious to the seriousness of our conversation.

"Yep," I replied cheerfully, pasting on my best fake smile. He bought it.

I guess there are some benefits to being an actress.

***

Filming wasn't too bad.

The place was a huge. It was divided into rooms, almost. There was a large room for the school, one side being a hallway, the other being a classroom and a gym. Apparently there was also Alyssa's room and Colton's room somewhere in the building, but we hadn't gotten to explore. There was a room for makeup and clothes and one for technical equipment. We all also got a small room for ourselves. Sort of like trailers, but inside.

We had only filmed scenes that took place in the hallway of the school or in a classroom, and they had been scenes need the beginning, so it wasn't bad. I don't think I could've survived if Brett or Kallie had asked us to do some sort of love scene. Not after the conversation with Kallie. It was a harsh reminder of just how much messed up things had happened.

Bells had arrived an hour later, but I hadn't seen much of her since Rory had pulled her and Clark into her office. Yeah, I hope Bells doesn't kill me.

Eventually, after a couple hours of filming, we were finished for the day. People had already started leaving, so half an hour later, there was only me, Bells, Brett, Kallie, Clark, Kaden and a couple stragglers left.

"Hey, do you guys all wanna go out for dinner or something?" Kallie asked before any of us got the chance to leave. We all exchanged awkward glances, Kallie and possibly Brett were the only ones who seemed  okay with this idea. "Come on, it'll be just like old times," she coaxed.

Yeah, I doubt that.

-READ ME-

Ew, I don't like the second part, but I don't know how else to sum it up, so I'll leave it for now, I guess...
March break it over. Which means updates are most likely gonna slow down. D:

Vote, if you think this dinner will be interesting.
Comment, if feel bad for Raine. Or Kaden. Or Kallie.
Fan, if you wanna know why Raine blames herself.

Teaser: "How about a challenge? Just for the sake of it."
Update: I'll try for Friday or Saturday, but I don't know how that'll work out. Latest Monday.
Question: Any guesses on exactly how Raine ended it the first time?

~JJ :)

PS. Random note: Exactly a year ago, I joined Wattpad. Also, tomorrow is Something about Summer/Summer Rain/ After Rain's 1 year anniversary. :3