Free The Perfect Christmas by Kate Forster Page B

opened and she saw a handsome man leaning against the opposite wall, one hand in the pocket of his tuxedo pants as though he was posing for a cologne advertisement.
    It was both cheesy and funny, and she started to laugh.
    ‘What?’ he asked, looking behind him.
    As he turned, she pressed the button and the doors of the elevator closed again leaving her laughing out loud.
    Was he serious? He probably worked that move in the mirror over and over before trying it on countless girls. Maybe some fell for it, but not Dylan. She liked boys who were less handsome and less presumptuous, guys who made her laugh and didn’t act like they were in perfume ad.
    So far she hadn’t met anyone close to decent in LA. Every guy wanted to be an actor, and assumed Dylan wanted the same thing. They all asked her who her manager was, who was her agent? Would she do nudity?
    Checking her phone, she saw it was after two in the morning and she sighed as she walked towards the cab rank. Even though the cab was expensive, at least she’d get home to her studio apartment in Koreatown in time for a few hours sleep before her next shift.
    In five hours she had to be at work again, waitressing at a breakfast in a private home in the Hollywood Hills. She had begged for the shift as it was extra money and she could then afford to take two days off for her research.
    Her furnished apartment was cheap because the owners were planning on pulling it down and rebuilding on the site, but, her new neighbor told her, they’d been saying that for ten years and there was still no sign of any development.
    At seven hundred and twenty dollars a month, the apartment was manageable, just. There was no way Dylan would ask her parents for help. Not after what she knew now.
    Inside her one room, she pulled her laptop out from under the mattress. It was the only thing in her room of any value and , she opened it to check her emails.
    An overflowing laundry basket sat in one corner, and a bowl half eaten ramen noodles sat on the linoleum floor.
    Her mom would freak if she saw how messy her room was she thought, making a mental notes to clean it after tomorrows shift.
    Nothing of any importance, she thought crossly as she slammed the laptop shut and went and lay back on her uncomfortable single bed that came with the apartmen, along with a dripping sink and some oversized cockroaches. They probably had fillers also, she thought, thinking of some of the faces she had seen at the party that night.
    Why did people think they had to do that to their faces? She wondered as She rolled over on the lumpy mattress, her eye caught by the gift bag on the floor.
    Clambering out of bed, she put on the strappy shoes and stood up. Maggie Hall was right, they hurt like hell, but they looked amazing. Taking her phone, she sent a picture of them to Addie with the text:
Maggie Hall let me walk in her shoes. They are now mine.
    It was six in the morning in New York, no chance Addie would be awake, but she knew Addie would be thrilled.
    Tottering back to the bed, Dylan lay down again and lifted one leg to admire the shoe. What did shoes like this even cost, she wondered idly, when her phone started ringing.
    ‘Why the hell are you awake?’ Dylan said, as soon as she saw Addie’s number.
    ‘I wasn’t really, but I heard the message come through and saw it was from you. How the hell do you have Maggie Hall’s shoes on?’
    Addie’s voice was groggy but excited, and Dylan laughed.
    ‘You didn’t need to call me
now
, Ads,’ she said. ‘I meant it to be a surprise for when you woke up.’
    ‘I always keep my phone on,’ said Addie. ‘Now spill.’
    Dylan told her all about her night and Maggie in the bathroom. Addie, as she’d expected, was duly impressed.
    ‘God, I wish I had your life! Instead I’m stuck here, it’s snowing, it’s boring, and I have no idea why I’m studying when my degree is just a ticket to working at Starbucks for the rest of my life.’
    ‘You don’t