Starstruck - Book Two by Gemma Brooks Read Free Book Online Page A

was
starting to bother me more and more.
     
    “Can I order a drink and stay for a while?” I asked with a
smile. I just wanted things to be like old times.
     
    “The usual?” she asked as she grabbed a clear plastic cup.
     
    “Actually, just a small iced coffee with skim milk and sugar
free vanilla syrup,” I said.
     
    She stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language for
a few seconds before she began preparing my drink. I’d given up the full fat,
full whip, sugar-laced drinks weeks ago.
     
    She sat the drink in front of me with a straw and watched me
carefully as I took small sips.
     
    “Your face,” she said. “It’s so gaunt. It looks so
different. You look like a completely different person, Brynn.”
     
    She shook her head. Piper clearly disapproved of my new
look.
     
    “I’m just getting healthier, Piper,” I retorted. “I’m sorry
you don’t like that.”
     
    She shrugged. “Just concerned. That’s all. Did Hudson want
you to lose weight?”
     
    “No!” I snapped. “He has nothing to do with any of this.”
     
    “People don’t just drop all that weight like that,” she
said. “I don’t think you realize how dramatic of a weight loss you have. You
weren’t that big to begin with.”
     
    I shrugged. “I know one thing, the tabloids have stopped
calling me Hudson’s fat ass, corn fed mystery girl.”
     
    I laughed as I sipped my drink, but Piper apparently didn’t
think it was funny.
     
    “The comments are not nearly as mean,” I said. “Not anymore.
That’s for sure.”
     
    “Your hair. It’s different too,” she said as she reached
across and ran her fingers through a few strands. “It’s lighter. Softer.”
     
    “Thanks,” I said. “If you come out to LA sometime, I’ll take
you to Hudson’s people. He hooked me up.”
     
    “So Hudson gave you this makeover?” she asked.
     
    “No, no,” I reiterated. “After the whole tabloid thing a few
weeks ago, I told him I didn’t feel like I fit in. He introduced me to his
stylist and some hair and makeup people and they gave me a tiny little
makeover.”
     
    “So Hudson did give you this makeover,” she stated
again.
     
    “Whatever, Piper,” I said with a sigh. She was really
starting to get on my nerves. I couldn’t fathom why she’d be so offended by my
transformation. I was pretty proud of the way I looked personally. “So how’s
Luke?”
     
    “Fine, I guess?” Piper asked. Her words stung. “Why do you
care? He finally admitted he liked you and you didn’t even respond.”
     
    “I care because I care,” I snipped. “I don’t have to have a
reason.”
     
    “He’s doing okay,” she said. “He mostly works in the fields
all day and goes to the bars at night.”
     
    My face cringed. “Sounds pretty pathetic.”
     
    “He’s still hurting, Brynn,” she said. “What happened last
month, I don’t think he ever saw that coming.”
     
    “Of course not,” I said. “Neither did I. No one could’ve
predicted that.”
     
    “Are you going to leave him alone while you’re here?” she
asked.
     
    I crinkled my nose at her funny question. “Why would you ask
that?”
     
    “It would just really upset him to see you now,” she said as
her eyes shifted down. “To see you looking so…different.”
     
    “I kind of did want to see him while I was here,” I said.
     
    “But why?” Piper asked. “Haven’t you hurt him enough? Leave
the poor guy alone.”
     
    I wanted to ask her whose side she was on, but I was afraid
of her answer.
     
    “He was my best friend for a long time. I miss him. I still
want him in my life,” I said.
     
    Piper stopped what she was doing and looked up, her big,
blue eyes locked with mine and the most serious expression covered her face.
     
    “Maybe he doesn’t want that,” she said. “Maybe he’s written
you off.”
     
    “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “It’s not my fault Luke
couldn’t have forgiven me any sooner. He waited