Away From the Spotlight by Tamara Carlisle Page A

surprised as I was that he was such a skilled actor.  Had he not been lying to me for the past few weeks , ma king me think that he was actually interested in someone like me?  T hen again, if he and Katherine were really in love, the role probably didn ’t take much acting on his part .
    We stopped the movie intermittently to clean up dishes, take restroom breaks , and get more sodas .  Our mom called at one point to see how my spaghetti dinner had gone over .  I didn’t want to get into what was going on, so I just re sponded, “Great, Mom.  Thanks.”
    By the time the movie was over it was well after nine o’clock.
    I studied for a little while and then c ouldn’t help myself.  I decided finally to turn on my cell phone.  I had three missed calls and a text message from Will from this morning.  “B home 2nite.  Can I come over?”  I turned my phone off again .
    I grabbed my Con stitutional Law II textbook again and star ted reading.  About a half- hou r later, I heard the doorbell ri ng.  I froze.  I was pretty sure who it was at this late hour.  I could hear my sister’s footsteps headed toward the front door since her room was on the opposite side of the apartment from mine and close to the front door.  I didn’t have time to stop her.  I wanted to hide.  I could hear Kelly let him in and say, “Nice to meet you” fairly enthusiastically .
    Will knocked on my door .  A s I was saying, “Go away,” he walked into my roo m and shut the door behind him.
    I stood up defiantly on the opposite side of my bed from the door.  He walked toward me, but stopped when he noticed that I was backing away from him and couldn’t go any f u rther .  I then got a good look at him.  He looked like a male fashion model, although a little haggard from what was probably a long day and a long flight .  H e was wearing black pants, a white shirt and a red crushed- velvet jacket .  He appeared to have had his hair professionally coiffed and to be wearing some makeup.
    “Listen to me ,” he pleaded .  “ I don’t know what you read, but I only have one girlfriend : you . ”
    The fact that he looked particularly perfect didn’t sway my anger.  “Why should I believe you when you ’ ve done nothing but lie to me?”  With that, I sat down on the bed facing away from him and started tearing up.
    “Because I’m telling you the truth .  The tabloids have been inventin g a relationship between Katherine and me for years .  We go out in public together from time-to-time to various events to promote our movies .  W e have our third film together opening soon and the final one in the series starts shooting this autumn .  But we never dated.  When I met her, she was still a teenager , and I wasn ’ t.  We are like brother and sister.  Besides , she ’ s had a serious boyfriend forever .”
    I was unmoved.
    “Do you want to talk to Katherine ?  She ’ ll tell you.”  Will took out his cell p hone and made a call.
    As I said, “No,” he spoke into the phone, “Katherine, I ’ m so glad you picked up .  I need you to talk to Shannon for me . . . yes, she’s the one I told you about . . . she read one of th ose stupid tabloids and believes it . . . I know . . . can you tell her that?”
    He p laced the phone in my hand and moved my hand to my ear. “ Shannon , are you there?” I heard over the phone.
    “Yes,” I said, more than slightly embarrassed.  I recognized the voice from the movie I had wat ched only about an hour before.
    “W ill’s telling you the truth.  I’ m here with my boyfriend, Mark.  Say ‘ hi, ’ Mark.”  I heard , “Hi , ” in the background. “Will and I are just friends .  He’ s like my big brother.  We see each other because we’re friends and we work together .  T hat’s it , I swear.  From what I’ve heard, he really cares about you .”
    I merely said, “Thank you,” not knowing what else to say and handed the phone back to Will.
    “Thanks,