Undercover: Book 1 — Chapter Ten

I sat on my couch, my nails lightly tapping my legs. My blond hair was in a messy bun, and I was wearing a pair of red high-waisted shorts, a white short-sleeved blouse, a pair of black heels, and some dark red lipstick. It was currently 11:58 at night, and I was waiting anxiously for my phone to ring.

Damien was supposed to get back any minute, and I was nervous as hell. Part of me knew I shouldn't be, but he's Damien. I've known him my whole life. We were your typical childhood story. We started as best friends and it became something more. We got along so well at a young age because we were both doing the extraordinary at the time. I was a famous model and he was a Disney Channel star who appeared in a few movies. The one you look back at and go, hey, I remember him. He's from High School Musical! No, he wasn't actually, but he was in films like that.

We were both signing autographs before we even knew cursive. Even with him being slightly older, we were great friends. He was always more than a friend to me, though. I adored him. No, I loved him and he never knew. At least, not until before he left for the military. It took all the way up to age seventeen and a push from Tori for me to admit to him that I was in love with him.

It was the wrong decision.

He loved me, too. Problem was, he was leaving for a long time and we didn't have any contact during that time. When you don't see someone for a long time, you slowly start to fall out of love with them. Biggest fear with that? When you see him again, what feelings return?

The sound of a door opening knocked me out of my thoughts. I slipped off my heels and got up front the couch. Walking slowly, I could only hope it was Damien and not someone who just so happened to choose tonight to break in. Just to be safe, I grabbed the nearest object which just so happened to be an umbrella.

"That's not gonna do very much to me," a husky voice said from behind me.

I turned around, ready to swing, but paused at the man who stood in front of me.

"Hey, Angel." Damien smiled and I gasped as I dropped the umbrella.

I stared at him. His blue eyes shined brightly, and he didn't slouch anymore. His back was perfectly straight and his green shirt and camouflage pants fit him perfectly.

I felt my chest tighten at the sight of him. I went into his open arms and squeezed his body close to mine. "Oh, my gosh," I mumbled into his chest. "I've missed you so much."

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving again for quite some time," he said, hugging me even tighter to his body.

"How did you get in?" I questioned him, pulling back a little to look at his face.

"Some things never change. You still keep your spare key in the rock under the second stair outside," Damien said, smirking, and I blushed.

"Come on, let's go," I said and dragged him to my garage.

"Pick a car, any car," I said, smiling. I already knew which one he was going to choose since it was partially his.

"You already know which one," he said and grabbed the keys to the black Escalade. It was always his favorite since he did pick the SUV out. We both put our money together about a year before he left and we bought the vehicle, but I always felt like it belonged to him more than me since it was in his garage more than mine, but I didn't mind. I wasn't very much of an SUV driver; I did like seeing him smile over it though.

Tori always judged me slightly for helping buy a car for a guy older than me when I was only sixteen at the time. She liked to think it was a decision as big as tattooing his name on me, but I could at least get rid of the car if I wanted to.

"I missed this baby so much." He hugged the car, causing me to roll my eyes. "I can't believe you kept it here all this time. I thought for sure you'd get rid of it. It's got a thick layer of dust on it even.” He wiped the front with part of his shirt.

We both got into the car. The engine roared loudly before he took off. I studied his face. He still had his dark brown hair and his blue eyes still shined brightly every time he talked. I noticed he had now had a small five o'clock shadow, which made me mentally roll my eyes because he used to think facial hair was "overrated."

"Take a picture, it might last longer." Damien smirked and this time I actually rolled my eyes.

"I don't need to because now you're here to stay," I said.

He grabbed my hand, squeezing it as we pulled into the parking lot. "Well, I still have a month here at most before I’m due back, so don't expect to get rid of me anytime soon," he joked as we walked up to the counter.

"Darn, I was hoping to move to Australia so I could get rid of you as long as possible," I replied.

“Australia?" He laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with Australia? I want to move there and find myself a nice hot husband," I replied defensively.

"Okay, let me know how that works out for you," he said, shaking his head with a smile.

"Hello, sorry for the wait. What can I get you two?"

"I will take a regular hot coffee with sugar and what would you like, Angel?" Damien asked me.

"Can I have a cup of herbal tea, please?" I asked.

"Sure.” The waitress smiled politely. She told us the price, and Damien handed the girl his card to pay. After, we sat in a booth while we waited patiently.

"Thanks for paying, you really didn't have to," I said with a smile.

"It's fine," he said, shrugging it off.

"So, how's school been going?" he asked curiously.

"Still the same as ever with me getting picked on and acting like a nerd." I shrugged and thanked the girl as she set down our drinks.

"Well, no one is gonna pick on you anymore now that I'm back," Damien said, smiling reassuringly, and I felt my heart jump slightly even though I knew there was nothing he could really do.

"The girls would cling to you like fleas if you went to school." I frowned a little at the thought. “It feels like it’s been forever since you’ve graduated school.”

"I know, but one thing still hasn’t changed and that’s the fact that I only have eyes for one girl," he said with a look in his eyes that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Oh? And may I ask who that lucky girl is?" I asked, taking a sip of my tea.

"I mean she is the Lucky, the model," Damien said, smiling slightly.

“I guess it’s a good thing this Lucky girl still only has eyes for one guy as well then.”

Damien smirked before putting his hand on my face. He ran his thumb up and down before leaning in slightly, checking to make sure I was okay with his next action. He pressed his lips firmly against mine. Surprisingly, as much time that I’ve spent waiting for something like this again, it wasn’t like I imagined it. It was nice, but I didn’t want to stay this way forever like most people wished.

Damien pulled away and looked at me with a smile still tugging at his lips. “You don't know how long I have wanted to do that again."

I put a small smile on my face but didn’t respond. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty and I wasn’t sure why.

“So, what was boot camp like? Everything you dreamed about?” I asked curiously.

He looked out the window and tightened his grip on the cup. “It was interesting. I mean, no one can imagine how rough it was going to be. Even the training they gave beforehand couldn’t help prepare me fully for the extent of it, but that’s the military for you. It’s hard, but the feelings I have make it worth it.” He turned to look back at me.

I took it as my turn to grab his hand and squeeze it. “I’m proud of you either way. You went off to do something a lot of people would be too scared to do.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I used my spare hand to slide it halfway out of my pocket. Looking down, I immediately noticed that it was my phone reminding me I still had sixteen text messages that were sent from Andrew a couple hours ago demanding to know why I wasn’t at his house to work on the project today. I groaned, irritated with myself. I totally forgot about our stupid deal and that stupid project. I was less interested now that Damien was back, yet part of me still held curiosity.

Sliding my phone completely out, I typed a quick, call you tomorrow before putting it away and attempting to focus on the man in front of me. I wasn’t sure when Andrew Carter started becoming a consistent part to my days, but something about him texting me made me feel slightly more relaxed and I wasn’t sure why.

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I woke up to my doorbell ringing, causing me to groan and get out of bed. I didn’t get home until two in the morning last night and getting up extremely early on a day like today was not what I wanted. Especially because I was informed as of late last night that our flight to New York got pushed back until tonight. Now, it was going to be less like a fun vacation and more of a few days of strict preparing and work since today was supposed to be our day of shopping and fun. If that didn’t drive a person to straight irritation, I don’t know what would.

I ran my hands down my face before clenching my fists. I checked the time on my phone to see it was nine in the morning. It’s days like this I wished my parents were actually home. I put on a pair of slippers and headed downstairs, slipping a robe on to cover my nightgown.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened it. "Yes?" I snapped. See, this is why we don't force me to wake up early when I don't have school or work.

"Where were you yesterday?" Andrew demanded, walking in, and I stared at him in surprise.

“Excuse me?” I demanded, staring at him.

He looked at me with wide eyes. “You’re not Clover?” He tilted his head to the side as he looked at me carefully. I felt my heart speed up in my chest.

“Katy said this is where she lived?” Andrew said to himself, frowning, and I felt my heart skip a beat. I knew I should have never let Katy over my house for a sleepover a couple weeks ago. I felt bad leaving her out of my girl’s nights with Tori so we finally invited her to one. Clearly my mistake, even though there were no paparazzi around that week.

“Yeah, and you’re not the guest I was expecting,” I said awkwardly as I tightened my robe around me.

He stared at me carefully, stepping closer. “You look very familiar,” he said, not making any attempt to leave.

“Yeah, I’m a model. You’ve probably seen my face around,” I said before biting my lip nervously. This was a very bad situation right now, and I wasn’t exactly sure how to get out of it.

He looked down at his phone, checking his messages again. “Yeah, that must be it. I guess she had the address wrong, sorry.”

I cringed as my phone rang loudly. He stopped his exit and looked at me curiously before back at his phone. I watched as he pressed the end button and the ringing of the phone in my hand stopped.

He stared at me in complete confusion, unsure what to say. I wasn’t sure if he was able to put two and two together right now as even my mind couldn’t process how to deal with this situation.

“Well, that was weird,” I said awkwardly, and he moved closer to me again.

“Hey, you know those glasses are strangely familiar.” He tried to grab them off my face and I moved my hands to hold them in place to stop him from grabbing them, but instead my hands came up empty. In that moment, I remembered I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Even though my eyesight was perfect, I wore my glasses to school enough to feel like they were a part of me.

Andrew’s lips suddenly curved up. “No way.” He shook his head with a smirk.

I closed my eyes, praying this was just a dream. I opened them and saw he was still staring at me. I felt disappointment flow through me. I definitely just gave it all away.

I sighed loudly before holding out my hand. He raised an eyebrow and stared at my outstretched palm. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Clover Thompson, also known as the model, Lucky,” I introduced myself, making the situation one hundred times more awkward.

“This is gold,” he said, shaking his head. “How on earth are you pulling this off?”

“As you know, I wear a wig and add some extra makeup accessories so I don’t look like this,” I said, awkwardly as I pointed at my face.

“All this time you could’ve been more popular than Stacey, yet you instead let her pour Coke on you and mess with you as some nerdy chick,” he said, looking like he was waiting on some big explanation.

“Listen, you can’t tell anyone. It’s for privacy reasons I’m doing this. The paparazzi would die trying to find something on me that could ruin my image,” I told him.

He shrugged. “I could care less about that. I care more about the fact that you put up this false persona of a shy nerd to protect all of this. You could’ve just chosen to be the normal student playing sports or something. Instead, you chose the one thing that gets you bullied.”

I frowned, unsure why he was so worked up over this. “I mean, I needed something to keep me out of the spotlight and that was the perfect disguise. I’m a model who is currently making over 30,000,000 a year, I can’t just put on a wig and call it a day. I would be recognized too easily, and I wouldn’t get any privacy. If I’m a nerd with some weird nose and glasses then people won’t talk to me. It works perfectly, and I’m happy with it.”

“Who knows the truth?” he asked.

I thought about the number for a minute. “My manager, school officials, my family, a close friend, and Tori,” I said, and he nodded once again.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I said, not liking his odd silence.

“You’re a model,” he said, and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the fact that he was stuck on that fact still. He put his arm over my shoulder suddenly with a smirk on his face. “And I know.”

"Yep," I said, not denying the fact.

“Man, and I thought we were going to be good friends before,” he said, grinning. “We now have to be the bestest, Clove.”

I frowned, pushing him slightly away from me. “No, we don’t. You can just keep this a secret and all of this can just stay the same,” I responded, although part of me wanted to get to know the mysterious boy.

“You see, when I lied to Katy and told her I wanted to drop off some flowers because you were sick, I definitely had a plan to freak out on you for ditching me last night. Because of you, I had to go to my drunken father’s. Truly a pleasure, but this makes things a hundred times better,” Andrew said, and I didn’t miss his comment about his father. His father was a drunk? I felt my heart clench slightly, knowing that information. He had such a carefree attitude with such an annoying, yet bearable personality. I couldn’t help but wonder how it doesn’t get to him. Even my parents being away so much bothered me.

“I am curious, though. Why’d you blow me off last night?”

"Because I met up with an old friend,” I said, smiling slightly as I thought about my night with Damien.

“An old friend? Do they know this secret?”

“Yes, well before most people. Is that okay, Dad?" I asked sarcastically.

"Actually, no. Is this old friend a boy or a girl?" he questioned.

I huffed. "Does it matter?"

"Would I be asking if it didn't?"

I looked at him carefully, measuring how serious he supposedly was. “He’s a guy,” I said, narrowing my eyes slightly as I waited for his reaction.

“Is this guy more than a friend?” he questioned smoothly.

“Are you a reporter suddenly?” I snapped.

“So, he is,” he said, taking it for confirmation.

“No, yes… I mean, we’re not exactly dating again, but we’re more than friends. I guess you can say we’re talking,” I explained and he smirked.

“Still in school?”

“He’s in the military.” I said, not really sure why I was even telling him anything.

“Oh, he’s a military boy. That’s all I needed to know then.” He moved closer, so he was only a couple inches away from me.

“What are you thinking?” I whispered, silently praying I didn’t have bad morning breath.

“You, Clover Thompson, are a real mystery and I am going to solve you, but first, I have to win your heart,” he said, smirking before stepping away from me.

I raised an eyebrow. “There isn’t much of a mystery left. I mean, you know my biggest secret.”

“No, I know what your name is, and I know how you look. I don’t know you, the real Clover Thompson. The one behind the fake nose,” he clarified.

"Like I said, there isn’t much of a mystery left, but good luck. Now, you’re not going to tell anyone, right?” I asked and he snorted.

“I don’t have time for that,” he said, waving me off.

“Good.” I ushered him toward the door. When I opened the door, there now stood a group of paparazzi there.

“Lucky! Why aren’t you in New York yet?”

“Lucky, were you not invited to this year’s fashion show?

“How does it feel to be the richest model in the world right now on Ford’s list?”

“Are you recording this? Look at how she’s dressed!”

"This stays between us,” I said as he walked out on the front porch.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He gave me a fake salute before heading toward his car. I quickly shut my door to avoid any more pictures. Andrew Carter knew my secret, yet I wasn’t even close to being worried.