Zak appeared, with my group following him. He hadn’t heard my pronouncement, so I jumped out of the pool, grabbed him, and tossed him in. I grinned at everyone else, and clothes started to come off. My Japanese friends all gaped at what they were seeing. I would wager a large amount of money they’d never been skinny-dipping.
Zak got with the program and was soon naked with the rest of us. I would guess there were twenty people in the pool acting crazy. There was some inappropriate touching, but nothing that was over the line. It was more accidental as we horsed around and acted like young people.
Bec came back, took one look, and stomped her foot.
“You two, get out of the pool,” she ordered, pointing at Zak and me.
Someone must have tattled. I took my sweet time crawling out of the pool and drying off. I looked Bec in the eye the whole time, daring her eyes to leave mine. To her credit, she stared me down. I got dressed, then bounded up to her, and kissed her on the cheek.
“Best party ever,” I declared and then wandered back towards the house where the main party was.
Zak soon joined me. He must have had dry clothes in the pool house. I could see him hiding his grin as Bec glared at both of us. I rolled my eyes at Zak and then saw that Bec was smiling.
“You dumbasses. If you’re lucky, you won’t be on Hollywood Central come tomorrow. I caught a girl hustling out and stopped her. I made her delete the video and then kicked her out. She’s probably not the only one, though,” Bec said.
Other celebrities got away with running around naked; why shouldn’t I? That was my first thought. ‘Shit’ was the second. Not that my bare butt hadn’t been in the press before. I sent Frank a text.
‘
He texted me back.
‘
If he wasn’t worried, I wasn’t either.
I broke down and grabbed a beer. It didn’t take long for Misaki, my big sister, to find me.
“Of all the wild things I thought I might see at an American party, seeing a pool full of nude people wasn’t on the list.”
“How is everyone taking it?” I asked.
“You’re their hero. Kana and Haru are trying to get the courage to go join them.”
“Tell them if they would rather, they can come over some evening to my place and do it in my pool.”
“I just might. I might join you if you get naked, too,” she baited me.
“If you do it, I will,” I promised.
“David?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for bringing us. I’m sure that we will be telling stories for the rest of our lives about the crazy American actor who took us to a party and ran around naked. I’d worried that you were going to be a diva. But I find that I am starting to really like you,” Misaki said.
◊◊◊
I decided just to cut loose and have fun. Zak put on some music, and soon I was dancing with Adrienne. When a slow song came on, Tyler cut in. Before I could grab another beer, Teresa caught me and pulled me onto the dance floor.
“Adrienne had a talk with me. I think I need to clear the air about a few things,” she said, catching me off guard.
“Like what?” I asked.
“First of all, I’m nothing like my mom.”
I stopped and looked around.
“Let’s grab a drink and go talk,” I suggested.
We stepped inside to the living room.
“I know that you know my mom married for money. My mother and I are from Brazil. She attracted a lot of attention when she was younger than I am. Mom found herself pregnant with me when she was too young. She was from a Catholic family, and it broke my grandmother’s heart when she found out.
“My mama decided to move in with my great-aunt. When Mom was in her twenties, she met my stepdad, who was in Brazil on business. Long story short, they were married six months later, and we moved here,” she said and looked at me to see my reaction.
“How old were you when you came here?” I asked.
“Five. I don’t really remember Brazil. My mother never wants to go back. We were dirt poor, as you can imagine a single mom would be. She is constantly on me about finding the right guy to marry. Mom doesn’t want me ever to suffer like she did,” she said and got lost in her thoughts.
She took a long pull on her beer and then looked up at me.
“I decided a long time ago that I didn’t need a man to support me. I guess it was my rebellion against my mom. What it did was make me realize that if I got an education, I could support myself.”
“So, what was the deal with you getting the job at my place?” I asked.
She gave me a sideways glance and barked out a laugh.
“You seriously can’t figure that out?” she asked.
I raised my eyebrows.
“What is it about me that made you do that …” I asked and then closed my eyes.
I mainly hung around my friends and people who knew me
“Never mind, I can probably imagine,” I finished.
“You are both my worst nightmare and wildest dream. My mother thinks you are perfect for me and was so impressed I thought of getting the job so I could be closer to you. My mother’s approval is a huge negative, if you must know.”
