Forcing Gravity by Monica Alexander

Logan, ” he said, and the way my name rolled off his tongue made me want to fan myself with my hand.
    I resisted the urge to do just that, and w e appraised each other for a minute, each of us seemingly wondering what to say next.
    “How do you know Garrett?” I asked , wondering if he actually knew Garrett.
    I t would n’t be odd to see a celebrity of his stature at a random party without knowing the host . Jason Brady wouldn’t be turned away from any door he tried to enter.
    “I just met him last week, actually,” Jase sai d, leaning back against the arm of the couch . “We’re doing a movie together , so the director wanted to get all the primary actors together for a meeting before we start filming . He seems like a cool guy.”
    I smiled. “He is. I’ve known him since I was a kid.”
    “You’re not dating him are you ?” Jase asked, and I thought it was so cute how he asked like he was just curious, but I could tell he was really fishing and had to take a few deep breaths.
    Jason Brady was fishing for information on whether or not I was single . Could I actually get away with standing up and doing a happy dance without him thinking I was insane? Yeah, probably not.
    “No, we’re just friends,” I confirmed.
    I had a feeling Jase didn’t read the tabloids, so he probably hadn’t seen me in my fifteen minutes of fame alongside Garrett . No sense in dredging up things that weren’t true.
    “That’s good to know,” Jase said , his bottom lip twitching just slightly . “I mean, in case anyone asks, I’ll know what to tell them.”
    Smooth , I thought, fighting the urge to grin. For as hot as Jase was, he wasn’t very good at flirting.
    “ I appreciate that ,” I said confidently , enjoying th e fact that this guy, who was an A-List celebrity, was nervous and fumbling around me.
    “So tell me about yourself ,” he said then, lifting his elbow to the back of the couch and leaning his head against his hand in such a casual way that it started to make me feel at ease. “You’re not from L.A., are you?”
    “How did you guess?” I asked, laughing as I thought of how obviously out of place I looked.
    “You don’t seem as pretentious as everyone else around here,” he said, catching me completely off-guard.
    That was not what I expected him to say at all, but with that one statement, I completely let down my guard and started to tell him about my life in Florida and my dad and how I’d moved to L.A. for school. I left out my mom, because I just didn’t feel like talking about her and because I didn’t necessarily want him to know who she was anyway. But it was incredibly easy to talk to him, and for some strange reason, I felt completely comfortable around him even though I knew it shouldn’t .
    He smiled when I stopped talking and eyed me thoughtfully. “You’ll like USC.”
    “I hope so.”
    “My older sister , Tara, goes there. She’s a senior , but she loves it so much she’s planning to stay for grad school. I honestly think she’s trying to avoid having to go out into the real world and look for a job, but don’t tell her I said that.”
    I smiled. “I won’t. How about you? Did you go to college?”
    I could pretend I didn’t know the answer to my question . He didn’t need to know that I ’d read countless articles about him, had seen most of his movies, and that I was a tabloid junkie and had just read about his twenty -five favorite things the week before – Star Wars (the original trilogy), the L.A. Dodgers, beignets from Café Du Monde in New Orleans and taking flying lessons – just to name a few. I wasn’t a stalker, I just had a good memory, especially when the subject was interesting.
    “No, I didn’t go to college,” he said resignedly. “I wanted to, but my work keeps me pretty busy. ”
    “I can imagine. It’s been non-stop for Garrett for the past two years. I mean, when he’s not filming, he’s doing press tours or auditioning or prepping for a