I love him, and I tell myself he has feelings for me.
Trouble is, there are about a thousand other people in front of, around, and behind me who all seem to have the same idea.
“I’m with Nathan,” I casually announce to a security guard who’s in the process of laying out a crowd control barrier.
“Sure you are, honey. And I’m his personal assistant, now, please. Stand back will ya?” he barks.
I look up to the stage and can see Nathan looking out into the sea of adoring fans.
I call out to him, but my voice is lost in the many.
There’s still my meet and greet ticket, so I decide to tackle my little problem that way.
No chance Eduardo could muscle his way into that without a ticket, surely?
I groan loudly as it dawns on me.
Marie, my chaperone had all the tickets. She booked the room and had the key. She has all the tickets too.
Getting into this event for the last two minutes is nothing.
Getting to the meet and greet, anywhere near Nathan while he has all this security without a ticket is gonna be impossible.
Without Marie and my tickets, without Nathan, I’m just another face in the crowd.
“Nathan!” I call out in vain.
Oh, why did I go back to sleep this morning?
“Nathan!”
Chapter Fourteen
Nathan
Try as I might, I just can’t keep track of Lucy, even once the house lights go up. There’s a mini-rush of people to the stage area and security kind of overreacts.
I’m being bundled off to one side, the organizer pointing to his own watch and reminding me I still have the meet and greet in the private annexed area next door.
But all I’m trying to do is find Lucy, wondering why the hell she isn’t here with me.
Where she belongs.
I find the nearest official looking person, and tell him to keep his eyes and ears out for anyone called Lucy who’s looking for me.
“She’s my… assistant,” I tell him, for want of a better word. Describing her long blond hair and blue eyes, along with what she might be wearing as he pretends to take an interest.
“Sure thing, Mr. Cartwright. Now, just this way please,” he adds, ushering me through a corridor into another narrower corridor until another room opens up, leaving me feeling like some sort of sideshow freak.
Lines of people are already waiting, and there’s a not-too comfortable looking chair inside a booth with huge banners of me on either side of it. An equally huge stack of my latest books on a desk in front with a box of magic markers.
Meet and greet looks more like a meat market, with me as the main course. But there are enough taped off areas and security guys and girls to make me feel like I won’t be mobbed.
Just stuck in a chair for a few hours, signing my name.
Whose idea was this?
Oh yeah, that’s right.
It was me who decided to take charge of my own publicity.
First and last time I ever agree to this again. That’s for sure.
I almost have what I came for, Lucy, so no need to ever go through any of this ever again.
Resigning myself to my fate, I puff out some air from my cheeks, and once I can see that most everyone is really quite nice it’s not so bad to say hello and sign my name for people who take such an interest in my work.
It’s almost flattering.
Almost.
But I just can’t get Lucy off my mind, worried by the time another overly-eager couple gushes just how much they love my books.
“And who should I make this out to?” I ask, feeling my face about to crack from smiling so much.
“This one’s for Marie,” The woman says as if she’s instructing a toddler.
“…Marie,” I murmur, signing the book and thanking her for coming out today.
“And this one’s for Eduardo,” she says next, spelling it out and squeezing the guy’s arm she’s hanging off, shrugging her shoulders and looking at me like I should be honored to be in their presence.
“More like Barbie and Ken,” I mumble to myself. Unable to think just how plastic they both look before the names strike me as familiar somehow.
In the sea of names I’ve heard so far, it’s Marie and Eduardo’s that stand out. Probably more than her fake lashes or equally fake chest.
Maybe even more than her two inch acrylic nails and peroxide blond hair.
I remember Lucy explaining the situation to me over dinner. About how her chaperone for the weekend ran away with someone called Eduardo and kicked her out of her own room too.
If only she knew what a blessing it’s all been. I can’t wait to see Lucy and explain how I-
“We need a picture too,” Marie announces, pushing Eduardo to one side with her phone pressed into his hand, ordering him to take a selfie of us both.