Jessica Cozy with Jared?
Simpson and Leto 'all over' each other? Plus, Lachey reconnects with
Minnillo, Denise flashes ring, and a romance rundown with Tobey,
Colin, and Mischa ...

June 12, 2006

Jared Leto seems to prefer a certain type of woman, specifically, the
type who was still in elementary school when he was making hearts
flutter as Jordan Catalano on "My So-Called Life" (please see former
squeezes Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Olsen and Scarlett Johansson), but has
he suddenly decided to skew a little older?

Word is Jessica Simpson may have caught the excessively kohl-rimmed
eye of the ornery actor-cum-rocker, who a couple of weeks back
jokingly announced during an interview, "I'm gay."

Seems Leto, 34, and the not-quite-ex Mrs. Nick Lachey, 25, were spied
looking cozy last week during a late-night rendezvous at Manhattan
hotspot Double Seven, report People, the New York Daily News and Star.

"Jared went right over to be near Jess, and sat down next to her," a
mole blabs to Star. "They were talking very closely."

When not supposedly deep in conversation (imagined dialogue: "Any tips
on how I can keep my makeup from running when I'm onstage with my
awesome band, 30 Seconds to Mars?" "You gotta try my Dessert line --
it's lickable!"), Simpson and Leto shook their groove things to her
appropriately titled new single "Public Affair," which she debuted to
a crowd that included Lance Armstrong and John Mayer, reports People.

Later, they were said to be "hanging all over each other" (according
to the News' source) and "draped all over each other" (according to
the Star's coincidentally similar-sounding source).

"... It's not like they were trying to hide it -- a lot of people
inside the lounge saw them openly flirting, and couldn't believe their
eyes," says the tabloid's spy. "They looked like they were having a
lot of fun together. But they didn't kiss -- that was at least one
thing they kept out of public!"

Jessica's rep, however, pooh-poohs their purported chumminess to the
News, a sentiment echoed by Jared's rep, who tells MSN Entertainment
that talk of draping and/or hanging on one another "is incorrect."

The pair, by the by, also happened to be in proximity to one another
on June 2, when they turned up at a Beverly Hills bash hosted by
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld. Also in attendance: Lohan, who not
only bumped into Leto (per Us) but also posed -- sans her usual smile
-- for a snap with Simpson, whom she allegedly had in tears after a
verbal tussle back in Apri