Celebrities Don’t Date Bookworms (Texting the Boyband #1)

Chapter 18

eighteen

“I know something you don’t know,” I said to Sloane in a sing-song voice the next day.

“Don’t do that,” she said. The video and audio of the FaceTime call kept buffering, and her voice sounded ridiculous coming out of the speakers, which was not how I wanted to give her this news, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I wouldn’t be able to see her for the rest of the weekend, and I didn’t want to have to tell her at school, but I didn’t think I could keep it hidden for the whole school day.

“Do what?”

“Gloat. Just tell me.”

“Fine.” I cleared my throat. “Hudson and I are… dating.”

“What?” she screeched. Even though a second ago, I’d been wishing that I could tell her in person, I was suddenly very happy I was doing it over the phone because it saved me from having to hear that scream in person .

I grinned. “Oh, come on, you can’t be that surprised.”

“I’m—” She tilted her head back and forth. “Okay, yeah, you’re right. But still—tell me everything!”

So, I did. I told her about the group chat, about the way I fell for Bay without realizing he was Hudson, and what happened once I found out. And finally, I told her about what we’d done on Friday, about how he’d kissed me, and how he came by yesterday. By the end of it, Sloane looked like she was torn between saying I told you so and how could you not tell me any of this? In the end, she landed on just squealing, “Megan!”

“I know!” I squealed back. “Oh, and Hudson’s taking me to his house this afternoon so I can tell you all about it.”

“You better!” Sloane said. Some alarm went off on her side of the phone, and she sighed. “I have to go. I still haven’t done the English essay.”

“The one due tomorrow?”

“That’s the one. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah, see you later.”

The video froze, then went dark as she hung up. I closed FaceTime and glanced at the time. I had an hour until Hudson was coming to pick me up and pretty much nothing to do until then. I opened Twitter and glanced through all the activity that had happened since that morning. I only followed a few people, so there wasn’t much .

Call Me Jude @judeturner

Question: what would be your preferred way for someone to profess their love to you?

Hudson @hudsonshaw

Awww does Jude have a crush?

Call Me Jude @judeturner

@hudsonshaw shut up I didn't ask you

#1 Jude Fan @abbydoodle

Hudson and Jude's chemistry is divine

Take Five Fangirls @iloveyouhudson

I am not convinced Hudson and Jude aren't in love

T5 for Life @ilovetakefive

#Judson is real

I laughed at all the replies from fans who were so certain that Hudson and Jude were in love. If only they knew. As I kept scrolling, I saw that Sloane had tweeted a second ago. So much for her needing to focus on her schoolwork. I wasn’t surprised in the slightest, but it was funny.

Sloane @its_sloane

How do you drop subtle hints to someone that you like them

Why Are You Following Me @meganwhite0202

Depends. How oblivious are they?

Sloane @its_sloane

@meganwhite0202 asks the most oblivious girl in the world

Why Are You Following Me @meganwhite0202

@its_sloane what is that supposed to mean

Sloane @its_sloane

@meganwhite0202 I think we both know

Sloane @its_sloane

@hudsonshaw want to chime in here bud?

I almost screamed aloud when I saw her last tweet. I immediately opened my messages.

Megan

Sloane I am going to kill you

Sloane

Come on everyone will think it's a joke

Megan

Will they?

I already have enough people harassing me about how I know the boys without saying rumors going around

Sloane

Does it count as a rumor if it's true?

Megan

SLOANE

Sloane

If I delete it now, it'll look suspicious

Megan

You know, having texted him for the last few weeks I can say you and Jude really are made for each other

Also talk to him because his tweet was obviously about you

Sloane

I don't want to be the one to bring it up

Megan

Would you rather keep making subtle tweets about each other without expressing your real feelings?

Sloane

If it means I don't have to say anything

Then yes

Megan

You're ridiculous

Sloane

And you don't really have a foot to stand on here

I was happy to see when I went back over to her tweet that the mention of Hudson had been buried in the thread of all her cheerleader friends giving their own tips. Hopefully, nobody would notice it—especially anybody who knew us.

One day, everyone would know. But that day wasn’t today.

“This is not your house.”

“I promise you it is.”

I shook my head as I looked at the expansive mansion in front of me. Even calling it a house seemed wrong. It was more like a palace. I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering I knew the area he lived in and how much money he must have been making, but I still couldn’t believe it now that I was actually standing here.

“No way,” I repeated.

“Come on,” Hudson said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. I barely got the chance to look around before he pulled me up the stairs and down the hall.

“Wait, I want to look around,” I said.

“Shh, I don’t know who’s in the house!” Hudson said. He pushed me into a room, looking around the hallway as he did so, then slammed the door shut behind us. “I don’t want any of the boys seeing that I brought you up here.”

“Don’t want them getting suspicious?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck and looking up into his eyes. His hands landed on my hips, almost sliding into my jeans’ back pockets.

“Definitely not,” he murmured. He tilted his head forward, resting it against mine. Our noses brushed against each other, tickling me a little.

“So…” I said. “What do you think we can do without them hearing?”

“I think we could manage something,” Hudson whispered. He pushed me backward, and I squealed in surprise as I fell onto his queen-sized bed. His sheets were silky and smooth. For a second, I felt like I would slide off, but then Hudson was basically on top of me, his lips pressed against mine.

“I like this idea,” I murmured.

“Me too,” he whispered back. He cupped his hand on my face and kept kissing me. His mouth tasted minty again, and it made me wonder whether he was always chewing on gum or if he was prepared for me to come by doing so. Either way, I wasn’t complaining.

We moved up the bed so I could lie on the pillows instead of the bed. The pillows were in a bit of an awkward vertical position, though, so I had to push a couple of them to the side so they were out of the way. I thought it was a good enough plan until I heard something crash to the floor. Hudson broke away from me and looked up.

“What was that?” I asked.

“The pillow just knocked my lamp over,” Hudson said. “It’s fine.”

“Okay,” I said. He seemed unconcerned about it, so I trusted him. “Back to our regularly scheduled programming?”

Hudson smiled and leaned toward me again. Before he reached me, though, both of our phones dinged loudly. Hudson sighed and sat up.

“I’m guessing that’s the group chat,” he said. He grabbed his phone from the end of the bed, and I did the same. Before looking at the group chat, I quickly set it to silent. If things continued the way they were going, I didn’t really want to be interrupted every couple of seconds by my phone going off. “Oh, crap.”

“What?”

“Look at Luca’s text.”

Group name: I promise this isn’t a group chat, Dad

Members: Ni-Ni, Bay, Sharky, Tis Moi Luca, Eggo, Not Zesty

Tis Moi, Luca

Did anybody else just hear a weird crash from upstairs??

“How should we play it?” Hudson asked.

“Maybe we can distract them,” I said. “Like we did when they asked why you were gone the other night.”

“Worth a try,” Hudson said.

Eggo

No

Tis Moi, Luca

believe it or not I kinda guessed that

Oh, if only he knew...

Eggo

Be more clear with your questions next time then :((

Tis Moi, Luca

I'm sorryyyy

but to everyone who is in the same house as me: anybody else hear that weird crash?

Ni-Ni

I did

Sounded like it was something falling

Eggo

Imagine if you were getting robbed or something, and you're just sitting around texting about it

Tis Moi, Luca

WAIT

what if we are??

Sharky

We're not getting robbed

Tis Moi, Luca

How do you know

Sharky

Because we live in a safe area

And have security

Eggo

You have security on your house?

Of course, I knew they had security on their home—there was the locked gate, numerous automatic locks on the doors and garage, security cameras trained on the entire perimeter, and more. But I wasn’t supposed to know anything about their house—or even that they were celebrities—so I had to act like I would if anyone else said something like that.

Sharky

Yes

Tis Moi, Luca

No

Not Zesty

Kinda

It's a long story

Ni-Ni

Bay are you home?

Hudson looked at me with panicked eyes.

“What do I say?” he asked.

“Uh...” I really didn’t want any of the boys interrupting this—the least of the reasons being that we would have to explain everything—but they might get suspicious if he said no, and they realized that he was actually here. “I think you have to say yes.”

Bay

Yeah

Why?

Ni-Ni

Gimme a sec

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Why would he need a sec?”

“I’m guessing it’s because—” He was cut off by a knock at the door. In a whisper, he finished. “Because of that.”

“Bay, I have your laptop,” Neil said through the door. “Mine’s working again, so I’ll use that for the livestream tonight.”

“Crap,” Hudson said. He ran a hand through his hair and looked around in a panic. “You need to—hide. Hide somewhere. Anywhere. Quickly!”

“Where…” The question fell on my lips as I noticed the small gap between the side of the bed and the wall where the nightstand was. I rolled off the bed into the spot, curling up on the ground. I couldn’t see the door from where I was, so my hope was that anybody from the door couldn’t see me. “Is this fine?”

“Um…” Hudson grabbed a blanket from the bed and threw it over me. “There. Just don’t move.”

I felt a little stupid hiding there, but I took his words to heart and tried not to move. I didn’t want to give Neil any reason to notice that I was there. I heard Hudson’s footsteps as he walked over to the door and opened it.

“Hey man,” Hudson said. “Thanks. You sure yours is working well enough?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” Neil said. “Are you still good to be on the livestream? The fans will go nuts for it.”

“It should be fine,” Hudson said. “I might miss the beginning, though. I’m not sure.”

“No worries,” Neil said. Both their phones went off at the same time, probably from a text in the group chat. I was suddenly very happy that I’d thought to turn my ringer off before. We didn’t need Neil getting suspicious of why there was a third phone going off. “Oh, it’s Luca.”

Even though I knew I shouldn’t turn my phone on in case the light could be seen through the blanket, my curiosity got the better of me, and I pulled my own phone out as well. A little megaphone next to the notification told me someone had tagged me in the message.

Group name: I promise this isn’t a group chat, Dad

Members: Ni-Ni, Bay, Sharky, Tis Moi Luca, Eggo, Not Zesty

Tis Moi, Luca

Hey uh @eggo

Eggo

Yeah?

Tis Moi, Luca

Not to sound super creepy or something

But I just looked at your location

Eggo

Why?

Tis Moi, Luca

I was trying to see where Fi was but I clicked on your name by accident

Anyway

Why are you on our street?

I gasped loudly. I immediately realized my mistake and covered my mouth with my hand, but it was too late—the boys had already fallen silent, and I could just picture them looking around the room for the source of the noise. Maybe even connecting Luca’s text to the noise. I was clearly not built for espionage.

“Hudson,” Neil said slowly, “why did your blanket just gasp?”

“Uh… it’s a talking blanket.”

I practically had to stuff my fist in my mouth to stop my laugh from escaping.

“What?”

“You know,” Hudson said. To his credit, he sounded more confident as he said it this time. “Like those stuffed animals where you can squeeze their foot, and they say something? It’s like that but in blanket form.”

“A talking blanket?” Neil repeated.

“Yes.”

“That gasps instead of talking.”

“I think it’s meant to sound like breathing, but it’s just not very good,” Hudson said.

“Why the heck would you want a breathing blanket?”

“To emulate a relationship, Neil!” His voice became higher with every word like he was trying to fake being upset.

“Uh-huh.” The floor creaked as someone walked across the room, and I had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t Hudson.

“Neil!” Hudson snapped, but that didn’t stop him. My vision was flooded with light as the blanket was ripped completely off of me. I blinked as I waited for my eyes to adjust, then looked up at the grinning face of Neil Hadley above me.

“Well, well, well…” He said. “What do we have here?”