Hollywood Hills Read Online Free PDF Page A

desk, was why she’d busted into the bedroom—to look up flights to LA online. She wanted to leave the very next day, in order to attend the bash the Eklundstrom siblings were throwing, and to build in appropriate shopping time at Fred Segal Melrose, the Beverly Center, and Kitson. Alexa, Holly realized with a burst of excitement, was not kidding.
    Glancing apologetically at Tyler, Alexa added that Margaux had specified that she could bring only one guest—meaning Holly.
    “Okay, but who is Margaux Ekle-freak?” Tyler asked, tugging on his blazer and glancing at Holly with a frown. Tyler watched ESPN, not E!, so he was often clueless about pop culture. Plus, getting interrupted mid-hook-up had clearly put him in a grumpy mood.
    “You know,” Holly told him distractedly, still gaping at Alexa. “She was in that movie, Grit and Gravel. ” Holly didn’t add that she’d found the film, which Alexa had dragged her to last week, pretentious andboring as hell. “And she’s…” Holly paused, and felt her heart leap. “ Jonah Eklundstrom’s sister.” Though Holly dismissed most Hollywood celebs as fake, shallow, and scarily tanned, she, like every other straight female in America (including Holly’s own mother), had a gargantuan crush on the heavenly-eyed Jonah. She was sure he was utterly pompous in real life, but he made for the most satisfying eye candy.
    “Right,” Alexa said, a dazzling grin spreading across her face. “And guess whose guesthouse my date and I can stay in this week?” Slowly, dramatically, she removed her Verizon chocolate phone from her purse and held it open toward Holly and Tyler. A text message on the screen listed Jonah’s Malibu address.
    Holly’s head spun. “Jonah Eklundstrom?” she gasped, shakily getting to her feet. A sudden thought made her face flush with excitement. “Alexa! Oh, my God—hold on! The two of you are so going to get together. You’re exactly his type—he dated Charity Durst, but you’re much prettier—”
    “Relax,” Alexa said, letting out her tinkly silver laugh and shaking her head. “We are not going to get together—we’ll probably barely get to see him. Besides,” she added, with a toss of her pale blonde locks, “I doubt he could be as cool as his big sister. Margaux is, like, my new favorite person ever. ”
    Holly nodded, some of her shock fading. Impossible, fantastical things were always happening to Alexa—whether it was a guy whisking her up to an orchid-strewn rooftop or a French tabloid snapping her photo—so her becoming BFFs with a crazily famous actress kind of seemed like the next logical step. “Still,” Holly argued, grinning, “imagine getting to stay on his property, with all the gorgeous Malibu beaches right there…” A couple of weeks ago, in between cramming for finals, Alexa and Holly had sacked out in Alexa’s den and watched a Laguna Beach/The Hills marathon on MTV, eating sliced kiwi, braiding each other’s hair, and completely losing themselves in the California surf-and-sun scene.
    “I thought you hated the West Coast.”
    Holly spun around to regard Tyler, who had spoken quietly, his eyes on the white carpet. Holly bit her lip, feeling as if her boyfriend had brought her crashlanding back to Earth.
    “Well, I’ve never actually been farther west than, like, Ohio,” she murmured. But Holly also knew exactly what Tyler meant. Despite—or maybe because of—her interest in Laguna Beach , and the occasional episode of Entourage , Holly had always pictured LA as a sunlit wonderland of silicone, bleached teeth, and people screaming at their agents. In other words, the kind of place where down-to-earth, sporty Hollywouldn’t fit in at all. True, the former captain of Holly’s track team, Kenya Matthews, was a freshman at UCLA, and had been the one to encourage Holly to apply to the university. But even while e-mailing in her application, Holly had known she wouldn’t want to live so far from home, and in