Page 59 of If the Stars Align

“I’m in shock too,” he says. “I want to fly you out here to celebrate, okay? I’m going to buy you a ticket as soon as I get my schedule.”

I nod. “I would love that…thank you,” I say with a hand over my hammering heart. “Um, I’m meeting with my TA early tomorrow morning, so I have to get some sleep. But I’ll talk to you soon, okay? I’mreallyhappy for you, Dex. You deserve this.”

“Thanks,” he says with a smile in his voice. The half-smile I love so much.

I hang up and stare at the wall for a while. I don’t have an early meeting, I just didn’t know how much longer I could pretend that I’m not terrified of what this means for our relationship.

I wish there were someone I could talk to. I haven’t heard from Mia in weeks. Sam is taking a gap year to travel, and I’m pretty sure she’s in Thailand. Claire and I haven’t spoken much since we graduated. I obviously can’t talk to my mom.

I’ve made small talk with a few women I’ve met so far in law school, but we’re definitely not at the point where I feel comfortable talking to them about my love life. The closest friend I have in Bloomington is Jeremy.

I pick up my phone. I scroll to his number, which he added to my contacts earlier today, when we met up to study. My finger hovers over his name.

But I decide to go to sleep.

“How was your weekend?” Jeremy asks when he sits down next to me in Criminal Law.

“It was good,” I tell him. “I flew to LA to visit my boyfriend.”

Dex started his new job two weeks ago. And getting a glimpse at his life in LA was even harder than I expected. He took me to see the studio and the set. I met his co-stars, who are all insanely gorgeous. He introduced me to everyone as his girlfriend, but still, I couldn’t help feeling threatened. I was a fish out of water among these impossibly beautiful people. But Dex wasn’t. He fit in perfectly. And, more importantly, he looked so comfortable and happy. Meanwhile, it was everything I could do not to run away screaming. What does it mean for our future if I can’t see myself in his world?

But when it was the two of us, alone…the fireworks…

I can’t think about that now, though. Jeremy’s nodding at me.

“The actor,” he says. “How’s he doing out there?”

“He’s doing really well, actually. He’s going to be on a soapopera.”

Jeremy raises an eyebrow. “Asoap opera,” he repeats slowly. “You’re joking, right?”

I shake my head. “It’s true. He got a starring role onPassions.”

Jeremy chuckles into his coffee tumbler, then takes a long sip. “A soap star, huh?” He clears his throat. “I bet he’s a real dreamboat. Rock-hard abs? Smoldering eyes? Is he harboring a deep dark secret?”

I laugh. Jeremy has a pretty sarcastic sense of humor, so I’m not surprised by his response. “Pretty much,” I reply. “Not the deep dark secret part. But the abs and the eyes? Definitely.”

Jeremy smirks as our professor walks in and the din around the classroom settles to a hush.

About a month after I visit Dex in LA, his episodes begin airing on TV.

And right away, people start talking about him.

There are interviews on entertainment shows and in soap opera magazines. They call him things like “sexy newcomer” and “hunky soap star.” No surprise there. But it does surprise me that they refer to him as “Dex Oliver.”

“Yeah, my agent thought that Oliver Dexter sounded like an accountant,” he says to me, laughing over the phone.

God, I wish he were an accountant. Like Evan. Mia’s so lucky.

The next thing I know, I’m at the Starbucks in downtown Bloomington one morning, waiting to order a chai latte, whenI hear two undergrads in line ahead of me talking about Dex.

MyDex.

“So I have a new crush,” one girl says to the other.

“Oh my god, the cute guy who sits next to you in Econ, right? I knew it!”

“Nope.” She giggles. “Dex Oliver. He’s so hot…I’d literally let him doanythingto me.”