Claim Me: A Novel

friendship, either,” I finally say, and then I let the thought hang. As far as I’m concerned, Ollie’s the one who’s built the wall. He can damn well be the one who starts tearing it down.
    “So how about it?” he asks. “Let’s go get a drink. Hang out. Make up dialogue for the people at the next table.”
    I smile despite myself. When I was in college and Ollie was in law school, that was our favorite form of cheap amusement. We’d go to Magnolia Cafe or Z’Tejas in Austin and watch people at the other tables. How they moved, how they interacted. And then we’d write their dialogue, turning friends into lovers,crafting arguments, and professing profound love. We never sat close enough to find out what the people were really saying. This was all about the make-believe.
    “Tonight’s kind of hard,” I say, glancing at Jamie. “But hold on a second.”
    I hit the mute button on the phone and look at Jamie. “What do you think? Want to make tonight a threesome?”
    “I’m not really into that kind of kink.”
    I roll my eyes. “Seriously, Ollie wants to go out for drinks.”
    “With both of us?” I can hear the disbelief in her voice.
    “He only invited me, but if you two can’t play nice together then you shouldn’t have jumped into bed in the first place. Seriously, James. You need to get past this.”
    She tosses her hands up in surrender. “Hey, fair enough. But I’m not the only one being weird. You haven’t been in the pro-Ollie camp lately, either.”
    “So maybe we all three need to have an intervention. Go out. Have fun. Pretend like things are back the way they used to be.”
    I think she hesitates, but it may only be my imagination. “So Courtney’s not coming?” she asks, referring to Ollie’s fiancée.
    “He didn’t say. I’m guessing not. She’s probably traveling this week. So what do you think?”
    “Yeah, sure,” she says. “But not drinks.”
    “Jamie, if you don’t want—”
    “No, no,” she interrupts. “I do. And tonight’s fine. I just mean that you and I already have plans later, anyway. Ollie can tag along.”
    “What plans?” This is totally news to me.
    “Raine invited us to a party at The Rooftop and Garreth Todd is going to be there.”
    “Who’s Garreth Todd?” I ask.
    “He, my clueless friend, is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now. And we’re going to meet him.”
    “Alan Rickman or Sean Connery, I’d be excited. Garreth Todd, not so much.”
    “Well, you’re going anyway. This is our night to have fun, remember?”
    I glance at the television. I was totally looking forward to the airplane version of
Die Hard
next, but I have to admit it does sound like fun. I’ve never been to a Hollywood party, and just because I haven’t got a clue who the latest stars are doesn’t mean that the glitz and glam won’t be a hoot. Then again, stars mean paparazzi, and that sounds decidedly less fun.
    “Won’t the press be there? I’m really not in the mood to deal with them.”
    “Nah, Raine explained how it works. They’ll be hanging around the entrance probably, but since they don’t expect you, just wear a hat and keep your head down. Ollie and I can flank you. It’s totally no big. And once we’re at the party, the only photographers are part of Garreth’s PR corp. So it’ll be a vulture-free night. Swear to God.”
    My phone rings, and I realize it’s Ollie, who apparently decided he’d been on hold for long enough and hung up. “Sorry,” I say, then explain the whole Garreth Todd–Hollywood party thing. Unlike me, he doesn’t live in a cultural bubble, and he knows exactly who Garreth is, and he’s keen to do the party thing. As it turns out, I’m right about Courtney, but wrong about the reason. I’d assumed she was away on business, but Ollie tells me that she’s flown to San Francisco to look at wedding dresses with her mother.
    He says he’ll be over in less than an hour, and we’ll all go together. And even though I’m a little nervous about the three of us hanging together for the first time since Jamie and Ollie screwed around, I’m also looking forward to it. These two are my best friends, after all. And, yeah, I miss them.
    I pick up my phone to call Damien and tell him I’ve had achange of plans. If he’s not deep into work stuff already, maybe he can even join us. But my finger hesitates over his name. Damien doesn’t want to spend time with Ollie. For that matter, while he was fine with me