Chapter 012: You Really Are Shameless
Chapter 012: You Really Are Shameless
“Eric, do you also think I should... should lose weight?” Aniston, sitting in the passenger seat, blushed slightly and faced the window, seemingly watching the passing traffic as she asked casually, as if nothing were wrong.
Eric pressed his lips together and organized his words. “Annie, in my eyes, no matter what you look like, you’ll always be the most beautiful. But I think that if you want greater development in Hollywood, you should at least reduce your weight to around one hundred pounds.”
“Hmph! You hypocritical stinking man. You finally couldn’t help saying it, right? You think I’m fat too!” Aniston snorted lightly, but there was no anger in her tone. Instead, it carried a hint of acting spoiled.
Eric was speechless. You were the one who asked, alright?
“Fine, I apologize. To express my apology, how about we go eat Italian food?”
Aniston hesitated for a moment, then said softly, “How about... how about going to my place? I just learned a few dishes. Help me taste them, alright?”
Eric answered without hesitation, “It would be my honor!”
This was Eric’s first time coming to Aniston’s little nest. It was an exquisite one-bedroom apartment. Various warm-colored decorations and stuffed dolls made the room feel very cozy, and the air carried the faint fragrance unique to a girl’s residence.
Eric originally wanted to help, but Aniston chased him out of the kitchen, so he could only sit in the living room and boredly flip through Aniston’s fashion magazines.
An hour later, Aniston brought the last bowl of thick soup to the dining table, clapped her small hands, and said proudly, “How is it?”
Eric sniffed and praised, “Great. Just smelling it makes me hungry. I already can’t wait.”
“Hehe, thank you, Eric.”
The two did not bother with formalities and sat down to eat together. It had to be said that Aniston’s cooking was really quite good.
As they were eating, Aniston suddenly stood up and said to Eric, “Right, Eric. When I went downstairs earlier to buy seasonings, I saw something about you. I’ll show you.”
As she spoke, Aniston stood up excitedly, took a newspaper from a shopping bag, returned to the table, and spread the newspaper in front of herself.
Eric was still curious about why Aniston had taken out a newspaper when Aniston had already begun reading aloud with a little pride.
“In Jurassic Park, Eric Williams uses his genius creativity to show us a highly feasible conception of dinosaur resurrection based on scientific foundations such as genetic engineering and embryonic theory, and realizes these concepts one by one in the novel. Through the hands of Dr. Hardmon, he creates the astonishing Jurassic dinosaur park on Isla Nublar. However, all of this is only the beginning. The appearance of chaos scientist Malcolm brings us into another possibility...”
When Aniston read to this point, she skipped the large middle section of the review and jumped directly to the end.
“What is even more astonishing is that the author of the novel, Mr. Eric Williams, is only eighteen years old this year. Moreover, according to our understanding, this genius boy has had a rather difficult background...”
Eric forcibly resisted the urge to cover his face. Without a doubt, what followed would be the great American Dream. Of course, Eric had also added the classic tragic-backstory competition segment from talent shows in his previous life.
He reached out and pulled the newspaper away from Aniston. “Alright, Annie, stop reading.”
Aniston unhappily waved her small hands and tried to snatch the newspaper back. “Hey, hey, it’s almost at the important part. They’re praising you. Huh? Why does your expression look so strange?”
“Actually...” Eric crumpled the newspaper into a ball and threw it directly into the trash can beside the dining table. Then he continued, “If you want to hear it, I can recite it for you.”
“Ah.” Aniston’s small mouth opened slightly as she glanced at the newspaper in the trash can. “So you already read it? But I haven’t read it yet. Eric, you’re awful.”
“That’s not it. Actually, I wrote that article.”
Aniston was shocked. “Wow.”
Eric said somewhat guiltily, “The novel has been released, right? For publicity, people usually hire someone to write book reviews and publish them in newspapers. A few days ago, Michael came to me and said no one understood my novel better than I did, so he asked me to write a few reviews too, and he would take them to publish. By coincidence, the one you just saw was one of them.”
“Wow.”
Eric shrugged and shamelessly said, “Actually, it’s nothing, Annie. This is a very normal publicity method. Everyone does it.”
“Eric...”
“Mm?”
“You really are... too shameless.” After Aniston finished speaking, she finally could not hold back and lay on the dining table, laughing without caring about her image.
Naturally, there were no ambiguous follow-up activities after that. Using the excuse that her pure heart had been tainted by Eric’s shameless behavior, Aniston drove Eric out of her home right after they finished eating.
Well, it was not as if he gained nothing. Under Eric’s insistence, Aniston shyly gave Eric a light kiss on the lips, then quickly turned around and closed the door.
Three days later, Aniston finished her school scenes. What remained were brief appearances in two party scenes, but those would have to wait until after the school filming was completed. So Aniston temporarily returned to working as a clerk at the convenience store.
At the same time, Eric noticed that Aniston had seemed listless these past two days. After asking, he learned that Aniston had already begun dieting, and her poor spirits were because she was hungry. Eric advised her not to rush so much because it would harm her body, but it had little effect.
In addition, the way Drew occasionally looked at him on set these past few days was always faint and lingering, like a hungry little female cat that might pounce over and bite him at any moment. This classic horror-movie sort of scene made Eric feel rather frightened.
Moreover, whenever Aniston was not paying attention, Drew would subtly tease him. Although she thought she hid it very well, if Eric really were an eighteen-year-old green boy, he might already have taken the bait. Unfortunately, he was an uncle at heart. It was true that uncles liked Lolitas, but no matter how he looked at the one before him, she did not resemble Lolita at all.
On the first day of filming, when Drew mocked his performance, Eric simply smiled and let it pass. Even if Drew continued acting that way, Eric would not care.
But seeing Drew’s current state, Eric really wanted to ask, Auntie, what kind of divine plot development is this? Can’t you just stab me directly and get it over with?
The second day after Aniston left the crew, on set.
“Eric, do you want water? I’ll get you a bottle,” Drew asked Eric sweetly during a filming break.
Eric subconsciously refused. “Ah, no. Thank you, Drew. I’m not thirsty.”
Drew did not insist. She turned and walked away, twisting her small perky hips. Soon, Drew came back carrying two bottles of purified water and directly tossed one to Eric. “Here, take it.”
Eric had no choice but to accept it.
Drew sat down on the chair beside Eric and even gently moved the chair closer to him, only stopping when she was basically leaning against him.
“Um, Drew, perhaps we should talk. I want to know what exactly happened. You know, I have a girlfriend.” In fact, these words were only an excuse from Eric. The main reason was still that Drew’s chaotic lifestyle made him unable to feel interested.
“It’s very simple. I like you!” Drew moved her face closer and said directly.
Pfft.
Eric sprayed out a mouthful of water. This girl really was... direct.
“But I... but I...” If he said he felt absolutely nothing after being confessed to by a pretty girl, that would be too pretentious. Eric was momentarily speechless.
Since the topic had already been brought into the open, Drew no longer concealed things so much. In any case, Aniston had already left the crew, so Drew could openly wave her little hoe.
She directly pressed her warm, soft body against Eric. Her soft little chest rubbed against Eric’s arm, making Eric’s heart itch. Drew said softly, “Eric, can I be your girlfriend? Actually, actually, I’ve only had one boyfriend. I’m not as... as awful as other people say.”
“Drew, don’t be like this.”
Just as Eric was thinking about how to reject Drew, Penny Marshall’s voice rang out like heavenly music. “Hey, you two little guys, stop being clingy. Get ready to shoot the next scene!”
Eric quickly answered, freed himself from Drew’s arm, and walked toward the filming area.
Drew watched Eric’s departing back. The coquettish look on her face quickly vanished, replaced by faint resentment.
“Aniston, just you wait. I’m going to make you watch with your own eyes as I take away what you treasure most. You called me a poor thing? Let’s see who really ends up being the poor thing in the end. Hmph.”