Interlude

Halle James

I’ve been in love with David A. Dawson since I met him on the set of Star Academy. Yep. That David A. Dawson. Nation’s best high school quarterback, model, and movie star ... named one of the top ten ‘Best Looking Teen Male Actors’ by Screen Junkies.

I’ve grown up in the business, being the daughter of Rita James, America’s Sweetheart and two-time Academy Award winner. I even went to one of those high schools where all the teen actors go, so I thought I was immune to the draw of a hot actor. Because of who I was, they all seemed to try to go out with me. Luckily, my mom set me straight when I was young, and I’d had firsthand experience watching my mom deal with men who were only interested in our money or what my mom could do for them.

My brother Trip was actually the first one to spot him. Fortunately for me, Trip and I don’t normally have the same taste in men. He goes for the more nerdy type, and I prefer mine to have more muscles. That was why my brother had been dating Craig Wild, which is how we’d gotten parts in the movie.

Trip was gushing about this new guy who was in makeup getting tattoos put on for his part. I went to see what had my brother so hot and bothered, and forgot to breathe. Do you ever have a premonition about something? I’m not talking about going to see a psychic or having your cards read, I’m talking about that feeling that washes over you that causes the hair to stand up on your arms and you get goose bumps. You just know something. Well, I knew that this boy with muscles upon muscles who’d taken my breath away was going to be the love of my life.

I made it a point to monopolize all his free time while the movie was made. When it was over, I was devastated, because he was going home to some small town in the middle of the country. Trip sat me down to see if this was serious or not. He was the one that suggested I become a stalker and track him down in New York.

David was perfect without even trying, without even being aware. He helped me realize that our timing wasn’t right. If he’d asked, I would’ve dragged him back to my hotel room and let him have his way with me. He was too much of a gentleman for that. Trip said it was a Midwestern thing. If he had been a Hollywood boy, he would have used me and forgotten about me. It made me love him even more.

I’d accepted that I might not see him ever again, when my brother needed to go into rehab. He arranged to get out of LA so there wouldn’t be the normal distractions, or so he explained to my mom. He suggested that it would also be good for me to get out of LA. I didn’t figure out until we were packing to move that we were going to be in the same town as David.

I’d been working on my mom from a different angle. She’d found a project she wanted to work on with me called The Secret Circle. I’d suggested that David have a role in the movie. I think she was amused that I had a crush on the guy. I thought I was being sly about it, but she told me later that she’d known when word got back that I was with him while filming Star Academy.

Mom was smart enough to know that both her children had conspired to get me and David together, so she didn’t object when Trip had suggested the move.

When I first moved, I was a little off-balance. You have to realize that I’d moved from the hills overlooking LA to a small five-acre farm in the middle of nowhere. They didn’t even have a Starbucks!

I was happy when my mom suggested that I try out for cheerleading. I met several of David’s girl friends. What they told me was eye-opening. First, he was a loveable slut. He somehow managed to date almost every girl on the cheerleading squad, and to my amazement, they all were fine with it. I also heard that his best friend had just died in a swimming accident and the girl he thought was ‘the one’ had dumped him.

When I first saw him after we moved, it was in his eyes. The poor guy was a mess. Talk about terrible timing: become the ultimate stalker and move halfway across the country, only to find that the object of your obsession was emotionally unavailable.

Honestly, it was the best thing that could have happened. I’d had this whole fantasy that when he saw me, he’d realize that I was what was missing in his life, and we’d go off into the sunset, happily ever after. Seeing his eyes brought me up short; it made me slow down and look around to see where things might go. It allowed me to get to know him better, and we became friends, and eventually, lovers.

Chapter 1 »