Read Online The Road to L.A. by Gina Buchanan - Free Book Online Page B

a pillow at him.  She made sure to aim for his head, but Jake had no problem dodging the pillow.
                  “You seriously suck!  I’m trying to give you a compliment,” Carly said.  She feigned anger by crossing her arms across her chest and frowning at him.  She couldn’t hold the frown for much longer, though, and they both ended up laughing.  After the laughter had subsided, they continued to gaze warmly at each other.  Carly could feel the sudden tension in the room.  She wanted so desperately to look away from him but found it difficult to do so.  It was as if some powerful force compelled the both of them to maintain this visual grip.  Carly let out a small sigh of relief when the telephone suddenly rang and he hopped up to go answer it in the den.  She sat with her back against the wall and wondered to herself what had just happened.  She thought back to that night in the woods, when Jake had held her in his arms.  He had had that same look in his eyes just now.  She quickly shook those thoughts away as Jake reappeared with the telephone in his right hand and two cans of soda in his left. 
                  “Thought you might be thirsty,” he said, tossing one of the cans to her.
    Carly popped the lid and asked, “Who was that?”
                  “Susan.  She’s going to the studio with me tonight,” Jake said.
                  “Susan’s going with you?” Carly repeated to herself.
    She felt a pang of jealousy. And it was eating away at her even though she tried desperately to suppress it.
    “Jake, I thought Susan wasn’t your type?  That's what you had said at the diner.  So why are you with her?” 
    She immediately wanted to kick herself for blurting out the thought that’d been incessantly nagging her for the past few weeks.  She wondered why she couldn’t just keep her thoughts to herself.  She was already dreading his answer to her brazen outburst.  
                  “You and Amanda have been acting so strange lately,” Jake commented while sifting through music sheets on his desk. 
    You’ve been acting equally strange, Carly thought to herself.
                  “Come to think of it,” Jake added, “ever since I started dating Susan, you guys have been acting like a bunch of crazy chicks.” 
    The telephone rang again, and Carly breathed a sigh of relief.  Again, the damn telephone had saved her.  Jake answered it immediately.  But before he could continue the conversation with the person on the other end of the line he mouthed to Carly, “This conversation is not over.” 
    He left the room, leaving Carly to ponder whether she should escape now.  It was a cowardly move, though, and she refused to be a coward.  She would just have to come up with a harmless explanation for her outburst.  Perhaps she could tell him about her sincere belief that he could do better than Susan.  Heck, she would probably be a way better match for him than Susan, Carly thought.  There was that dreaded feeling again.  That jealousy thing just kept resurfacing no matter how hard she wished it away.  She didn’t want to think of Jake as more than just a friend.  Or did she?  Carly lied down on Jake’s bed.  She put her face in his pillow and breathed in the wonderful scent that was indubitably his.  She failed to hear him re-enter the room.
    “That was Amanda,” he commented, seating himself next to Carly on the bed. “It’s just like I said.  You guys are acting so weird.”
                  “Huh?” Carly asked.  She lifted her face out of the pillow. 
                  “It was Amanda,” Jake reiterated.  “She was acting weird on the phone.”
                  “How so?” Carly asked, genuinely interested.
                  “I told her I was at the house working on some tunes and that you were keeping me company.  Then I asked her what