Nina was definitely an interesting person, to say the least. Jett had never met anyone who aspired to be a writer before, but he’d heard enough about the field to know it was a competitive one. He found her tenacity to keep pursuing her dream in spite of all the pushback admirable. Anyone who wanted to make it in a creative industry had to be at least a little hardheaded. Music was no different. He’d seen plenty of talented musicians lose everything because they just didn’t have the ambition to achieve their goals. It was just the hard truth about trying to make it in a competitive field. If writing was the same way, this girl definitely had the perseverance to succeed. The only question left was if she was good enough at writing to get published. He found himself hoping so. Anyone with as much spunk as her deserved to be rewarded for their efforts, especially since it seemed like writing was her driving passion.

Jett smirked a little when Nina poked him in the chest. Whether it was just because of the alcohol she’d been drinking or she was actually this forward, he thought her boldness was appealing. She definitely wasn’t the adoring fangirl he’d initially taken her to be. There was a confidence about her that, while different from Anna, still sent his heart racing. [i]Man, I’ve only met two girls here so far, and they’re both something special,[/i] he thought as his eyes swept over Nina’s attractive figure. The production team sure knew what they were doing when they picked out the cast members for the show. He hadn’t come here looking for anything romantic, but it was getting harder to pretend he wasn’t interested. Maybe it would be fun to let loose and mess around a bit—see where things went with at least one or two of the girls. The cameramen sure would like that, after all.

“I’m not sure what you want me to tell you, since you seem to know so much already,” Jett pointed out, sipping at the remains of his drink.

“How about something you’ve never told an interviewer before?” Nina challenged with a grin. “Something I couldn’t find with a Google search.”

“So, basically something I don’t want anyone else to know?” Jett snorted. The girl was [i]really[/i] confident if she was willing to ask him something like that. Her cockiness was refreshing compared to the more timid and overly respectful women he’d met.

“I guess so,” Nina shrugged, smiling at him drunkenly. It was still hard to tell if the alcohol was the reason she was being so brazen with him, but he was too tipsy to care.

“You know, what the hell?” Jett finished off the rest of his Manhattan and set the empty glass down on the bar. “I like your forwardness, and I’ve had a few already, so I’ll give you something.” He paused to think, trying to come up with something about himself that he hadn’t already told an interviewer before. It was difficult when he was so intoxicated he could barely think straight, but after a moment, he thought of something he could share with Nina. Stepping forward, he rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in her ear: “I’m actually really superstitious. Knock on wood, don’t walk under ladders… the whole nine yards.”

“Really?” Nina’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re not messing with me?”

“Nope,” Jett shook his head. “I’m dead serious.”

“Wow,” Nina giggled, leaning into him flirtatiously while they were still standing close. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“It’s not something you’d find on Google,” Jett smirked at her without pulling away. He still wasn’t sure where things were going between them, but he was enjoying himself, so he wasn’t about to cut it off. After all, they were [i]far[/i] from the most physical people in the room. Just taking a quick look around, he could already see a couple other people—an actress named Chloe Thomas and some guy he didn’t recognize with long hair—making out on a pool table. Surely with scenes like that going on, it wouldn’t be that weird for him to get a little friendly with Nina.

[hr]
Ashley hadn’t come to California to talk to just anyone. She was here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to meet [i]celebrities[/i]. Her eyes drifted over the crowd, picking out faces she recognized—Madison Taylor, Bella Michaels, David Hopper!—yet she couldn’t bring herself to move to greet any of them yet. Her gaze wandered back to the girl in front of her. She prided herself on knowing the names and faces of every person with a reputation that would be on this show, and she didn’t know an ‘Anna.’ There was nothing extraordinary about her, but she also got the feeling there was nothing [i]average[/i] about her either.

She lightly bit her lip as she listened to the other girl tell her about her job as a [i]bioengineer[/i] of all things. Damn, that was cool. Maybe it was worth sticking around Anna a little longer. “What do you mean [i]just[/i] a biological engineer?” she was practically bursting at the seams with energy. “Anna, that’s badass! Why the hell are you on a reality TV show when you could be making bank inventing the tech of the future?”