So…BamBam Caught Us. Now What?

Reel Love – Cut scene

This deleted scene follows right after Part 1. If you haven’t read that, you will want to go back and start there. Also, this is a deleted scene, so beware, spoilers ahead! If you haven’t read Reel Love, you may want to save this tab for later! 

I loved this scene because it shows BamBam confirming her suspicions about Jamie and Ethan’s relationship and having essentially the same reaction as Buzzy when she caught them together later in the book. Again, you are getting the “unfiltered” version of the book, so please forgive any typos!

*****

By the time our reservation at the karaoke lounge ended and the four of us made it back into the bright casino lights, we looked a little worse for the wear. With all the dancing, Nittha’s eye make-up had smudged, forming big dark circles under her eyes and Cricket’s hat was long gone. Gabby, was all smiles, her normally big, curly hair having doubled in volume. Ethan was sweaty, his cheeks pink and his shaggy hair going in about fifteen different directions. I wasn’t brave enough to look at myself in the gilded mirrors stuck to the elevator bank walls. Just because I’d decided not to care didn’t mean that I needed to know exactly how bad I’d managed to sweat out my blowout. 

“After you,” Ethan said with a flourish as he held his arm in front of the door for Gabby, Nittha and me. The three of us took turns tapping our respective keys on the sensor and hitting our floors as Ethan walked in.

“That was fun. We should do that more often,” Nittha said, grinning around the elevator as we rocketed upward.

“We should, although I’m putting a ban on Ethan singing anymore music written before 2000,” Gabby teased.

“It’s not my fault you all don’t know Sweet Caroline.” Ethan teased back.

“I know it. I just don’t know the version that you gargled out,” I joked, the three of them laughing along with me. The elevator dinged on my floor and I waved and stepped out. “See y’all tomorrow.” 

“Hang on. I’ll walk you to your room.”

I turned around just in time to see Ethan slipping through the elevator doors as they started to close. Behind him, Gabby and Nittha were grinning like they had been at a comedy show. Gabby gave me two thumbs up and Nittha started to bounce on her toes. Ethan turned back around to wave goodbye and the two of them froze in comically bizarre positions, as if pretending to be those people who painted themselves silver and stood creepy levels of still outside on The Strip for pictures.

“Bye.” I snorted a laugh as the door closed, leaving me and Ethan in the chilly hallway of the 14^th floor. Suddenly, I was aware of how alone the two of us were. Outside of taking a picture, he hadn’t touched me all night and I was starting to think that maybe all of this was in my head. After all, if he’d wanted to kiss me, or even just hold my hand again, he’d had plenty of opportunity too. But he hadn’t even done so much as sit too close to me. 

Not that he had to do any of those things. I’d held his hand earlier, but that was because he needed help. Or, at least that was what I told him. And, if I held on a little longer than I needed to, that was because he was feeling sad. Or, at least that was what I was trying to convince myself of. My heart beat kicked into double time as a terrible thought crossed my mind. Maybe he felt obligated to repay the favor and that’s why he was walking me back to my room? I bit down on my lip and looked around. “You really don’t have to walk me if you don’t want to. I’ll be—”

“No, I want to,” Ethan said, quickly. 

“Oh,” I blinked at him, hating the note of surprise in my voice. He looked from me to the floor and crammed his hands in his pockets, before looking back up, his smile holding a question. As if he were giving me the option to send him away if I really didn’t want company on the walk to my room. I knew it was smarter to say no. But it wasn’t like I was letting him in the room for BamBam to see. I was just spending a few more minutes with him, even if this was a one-sided crush. I gestured toward one of the long hallways with my head. “It’s this way.”

For an excruciating breath, the two of us walked in silence and I wracked my brain for small talk. “So you like 80s music?”

At the same time, he said, “Do you only know songs from movie soundtracks?”

The two of us looked at each other and laughed, the sound shaking off the uncomfortable silence between us. I pushed my hair away from my face, pointedly ignoring the sparkly purple hair tinsel that was still knotted into it. 

“I like to listen to the soundtracks of movies I think are good. It feels like studying a film even when I’m not watching it.”

“You really love movies, don’t you?” 

“I do. If my parents would let me, I’d go to school to be a director.” As soon as I said it, I regretted it. Why would I tell him that? Outside of BamBam, Nittha, and Gabby, no one knew what I wanted to do. What if he thought I was ridiculous. Or worse, what if he agreed with my parents that jobs without math aren’t real jobs at all. 

I sucked in a breath, getting ready to try and change the subject when he said, “You should study it. You’re really good at what you do. It’d be a shame to waste that.”

The piece of my heart that was too afraid to hope started to swell and I couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across my face. I was good at what I did. I knew that. But hearing him say that it would be a waste to keep trying to fit in to my parent’s idea for my future felt like he’d given me a mental hug.

“Thanks. I needed that reminder,” I kept my voice low. I could feel Ethan watching me and I let my pace slow. This hallway always seemed so long, but now that we were getting closer to my door, I wanted more time in it. More time with him. 

“That’s what friends are for, right?” he asked, slowing his pace to match mine. 

“I let you be my friend and now you’re gonna wear the title out.” I joked, stopping in front of our door. 

“I haven’t decided for sure, but I might hire a sky writer to commemorate the occasion.” Ethan’s laugh was gentle and I savored the sound. Silence settled between us and I toyed with the key to the room that I didn’t really want to use. It was just past eleven and any minute now, BamBam would start to worry. Taking a deep breath, I sighed. “I should probably—”

“So I was wondering if—”

Ethan and I started at the same time, then stopped. Again, the two of us laughed. 

“You go ahead,” I said, smiling. 

Ethan bit down on his bottom lip, seeming nervous all of the sudden, although I couldn’t imagine why. After everything we’d done this week, there was basically no reason for him to be anxious around me. Unless, maybe I was right about the whole wanting to kiss me thing after all. I held my breath as he looked down the hallway like something was there that would help him say whatever it was he wanted to ask. Finally, he looked back at me. “What I wanted to ask was—”

The room door flew open and both of us jumped. BamBam looked from me, to Ethan and back to me again, her mouth in a flat line. Typically, the sight of my grandma in a half-done roller set and one of her sleep muumuus would have made me giggle, but the look on her face was anything but funny.

“Hello young person.” BamBam’s greeting was technically polite, but her tone sounded like a spanking in vocal form. Looking at me, she said. “You’re late.”

Ethan winced. “Hello Ms. Webb.”

It felt like my heart had lodged itself somewhere in my throat as I searched for the words I needed to explain myself. Clearing my throat, I tried for my best calming voice. Instead I got something just above a panicked whisper, “I’m three minutes late. And, Ethan walked me home from karaoke.”

“Because the hotel hallways are notoriously poorly lit and very dangerous? Sure.” BamBam fired back, looking at me like I must think that she was born yesterday with that excuse. Giving Ethan a skeptical once over, she said. “Thank you for making sure Jamie got home safe. You tell your grandmother hi from me.”

BamBam held the door wide open and stepped to the side, indicating that I should come inside right now, or risk a verbal spanking of my own. 

To his credit, Ethan did have some sense of self preservation. Taking a step back into the hallway, he looked sufficiently chastened as he said. “I will. Goodnight Ms. Webb.” Nodding to me, he smiled faintly, then seemed to remember that he was in a life or death situation and stopped.

I opened my mouth to say goodnight when BamBam cut me a look. 

“Night young person,” she called into the hallway, her voice sounding like she hoped he had anything but a good night. Closing the door, she turned to me and said, “Little girl, you better not get any ideas on this trip. I told your parents you were here to get a break, not to get pregnant.”

“BamBam!” My jaw dropped open and my cheeks got hot. Unlike my parents, BamBam was the first person to make those kinds of jokes. “I don’t even like Ethan like that.”

“You tell yourself that, but don’t lie to grandma. I’m not stupid.” BamBam raised one eyebrow at me and crossed her arms. “If that’s how you look at people you don’t like, I hate to see how you look at the people you do like.”

Uncrossing her arms, she turned and walked back to her make-shift dressing table. Picking up another roller, she shook it at me. “And, if you are gonna run around, don’t make me related to Buzzy Timmons, if you catch my meaning.” 

I made a gagging sound, “No one could miss your meaning, BamBam.”

“I’m just sayin’, you’re a cute girl and–”

“You know, I’m gonna go get ready for bed before you deliver another birds and the bees talk.”

BamBam laughed and I rushed to grab my pajamas. Dashing into the bathroom, I closed the door, then leaned against the sink counter to think. There was no point in denying it. I had a crush on Ethan and it wasn’t going to go away on its own. At this rate, my only hope was that we would finish the video and the con would end before I could do something stupid like kiss him myself. As it was, I was lucky BamBam was in a good mood. I’d half expected her to chase Ethan off with a tripod, but she was surprisingly cool. Okay, or as cool as she could be about finding the grandson of her nemesis outside of her hotel room. Still…I didn’t dare push it. We wouldn’t get so lucky again. At best she’d tell my parents and I’d be grounded for having a life that they didn’t approve of. At worst, BamBam would disown me and send me to a nunnery. 

By the time I’d gotten into my pajamas, washed my face, taken out my contacts, and put in my retainer, BamBam was already sort of snoring in bed. Quietly, I pulled the covers back on my bed and laid down. Flipping off the lamp, I grinned up at the ceiling. I knew that I really shouldn’t hang out with Ethan anymore. But that didn’t stop me from replaying the feel of his hand in mine or the sound of the silly songs he was singing in my head. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep smiling at memories of him. 

*****

PS, Fun fact, I originally titled the book Better Luck with You. But, I think Reel Love works better. Hope you enjoyed this peek behind the book writing curtain!