I Can’t Make You Love Me

Jaelyn arrived back at her apartment around two a.m., expecting to be greeted by nothing but darkness and maybe a chair left out by her scatterbrained roommate for her to trip on coming in. Instead, she found Abigail waiting up for her, dressed in her silk pajama set and a pair of tan Uggs.

“So how was it?” she immediately asked.

“It was fine,” Jaelyn said distractedly, going to the home phone and listening to the two messages that were recorded. They were both from Abbie, and Jaelyn rolled her eyes as she deleted them.

“Just fine?” Abbie asked, following Jaelyn into the bathroom. “Did Jared sing with you?”

“Yup.” Jaelyn dumped some makeup remover on a tissue and began dabbing at her left eye. “He has a very nice voice.”

“Duh,” said Abbie. “I knew that when I arranged the thing.”

“Yeah, and thanks for totally screwing up the rehearsal schedule. It’s a miracle we both got all our parts right.”

“Whatever, I bet you still sounded great. And it’s hard being an agent, okay? You’re not my only client. I get confused sometimes.”

Jaelyn moved onto her right eye, then wet a cloth and scrubbed off her foundation. When she removed the cloth from her face, she found Abbie’s face about four inches away, fixing her with an expectant stare. “What?”

“Did anything…happen?”

Frowning, Jaelyn put a hand on Abbie’s shoulder and pushed her away. “Like what?”

“Like, with Jared?”

“No, of course not.”

“Oh, why not?!” Abbie exclaimed, her face scrunched in disapproval. Her mocha skin was flushed and her caramel eyes twinkled with excitement. “He’s the most gorgeous man in Hollywood, Jae, why wouldn’t you try and tap that?”

“Because I’m not interested in a boyfriend right now,” Jaelyn said, tired of having to repeat this. It seemed like every time she had a conversation, her lack of a boyfriend or significant other was brought up. She’d even been accused of being a lesbian by some of her more motor-mouthed acquaintances. She’d met Paris Hilton just last weekend and she asked her right out: “So, are you gay or what?”

“Look, I know this is really hard for everyone to understand,” Jaelyn continued, stepping around Abbie and walking into her room, “but my life is not centered around finding a man.”

Abbie followed her into her sky-colored bedroom, plopping herself down on the bed and watching as Jaelyn took out her earrings and picked out a pair of pink plaid pajamas.

“In fact, I’ve had a man. And a serious relationship. And I’m just not ready to do that again just now. Does that explain it better?”

“Not really,” said Abbie, turning her eyes down to the white comforter while Jaelyn changed clothes. “I mean, it’s like I always say: the best way to get over a guy is to get under someone new.”

“That’d be really inspirational if I didn’t know you’d stolen it from Friends.”

“It’s still true,” Abbie insisted. “How will you get over your ex if you don’t find someone new?”

“I’m already pretty much over my ex, Ab.”

“So, then, why don’t you want a boyfriend?”

Jaelyn exhaled slowly, then stretched out on the other side of the bed. “I just don’t. A lot of crap happened with my last boyfriend—fiancé, I mean—but that’s not the point.”

“Wait, you were engaged?”

“Yeah. I told you it was a serious relationship.”

“Not that serious, though. What happened?”

“I’d really rather not talk about it.”

“But…” Catching the expression on Jaelyn’s face, Abbie stopped. However, it took only five seconds for her to come back around to, “I still don’t understand why you didn’t, like, give Jared your phone number or something.”

“Because I don’t want—ugh, I’m never going to get you to understand this, so let’s stop talking about it. It’s late and I’m tired.”

Abbie sighed and, instead of leaving, lay down next to Jaelyn. “I just can’t believe he didn’t put the moves on you.”

“Oh, he did,” Jaelyn assured her.

“Really?! What did he say?”

“It wasn’t anything he said. It was more how he said it and what he was looking at.”

“And what was that?”

“My chest.”

“Oh.”

“Yup. So…I shut him down and went on with my life. No biggie.”

There was silence for a minute as Jaelyn waited for Abbie to leave. When she didn’t move, however, Jaelyn cleared her throat. Abbie glanced at her and shook her head before saying, “Still, though. Jared Leto.” More silence. “Couldn’t you just—”

“Leave,” Jaelyn cut Abbie off, pointing at the doorway. “Seriously.”

“Okay, I’m going,” she said, jumping up and scurrying from the room. Jaelyn sighed, got up, and shut the door before collapsing back in bed.

Admittedly, Jared had been extremely sexy. His eyes had been on her the whole time they performed together, and they didn’t actually spend that much time on her body. He’d spent just as much time looking at her face or gazing into her eyes. She had assumed this was all part of the act, but his gaze had been so intense it almost seemed real.

Jaelyn wasn’t comfortable thinking about what could have happened if she hadn’t blown Jared off. Every man she’d met in Hollywood so far had been easy enough to ignore – overly tanned Ken Doll rip-offs, big-headed actors or musicians, or rich guys who were just looking for another trophy. Jared hadn’t seemed to fit any of those categories, although it was hard to tell with such a limited amount of time with him. Maybe if Abbie hadn’t kept messing up their rehearsal times, she could have gotten to know Jared more, but…

Shaking her head, Jaelyn cut off the light and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Singing with Jared had been a pleasant experience, but now it was over and time to move on. There was no need to dwell on a man she would likely never see again. Besides, after how out of hand things had gotten with Austin, Jaelyn wasn’t in a hurry to give men another chance.

No, it would be better if she forgot about Jared Leto.