Away From the Spotlight (23 page)

“Well, my friends
,
Carrie
and
Rachael
,
decided to take me out to
c
heer me up.”

I cringed as two of the guys I had been talking to with
Rachael
and
Carrie
walked up, put their arms around me and handed me a drink.

Colin got a little bit in their faces and said, “She’s with us.”

Colin looked like he could take both of them on and not break a sweat. 
One of the men replied, “Whatever, man
,
” and
he and his friend
walked away.

Colin
turned
back
to
me and glared a little.

“Will wouldn’t be happy about this.”

“It’s nothing.  It’s just a few of
Rachael
’s admirers getting a little aggressive.  I
’
m
not
here to meet men.  I’m taken.”

Colin relaxed.  “I
guess
I understand.
 
Yo
u can’t help it
,
although you may want to rethink looking like this when you go out.”

“What do you mean?”
  I worried about a possible wardrobe malfunction, but as I looked down the front of me, I reali
zed that there was no problem.

I must have looked puzzled so Colin clued me in,
“Wear
.  L
ess
.  F
lattering
.  C
lothes.”

I could tell that h
e
then realized
that Gemma was sitting next to him hearing everything he said.  “But, of course, I am with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

“Yeah, yeah.  It’s a little late for that
,
”
Gemma
said as she
laughed and we
all
laughed with her.

I felt my cell phone buzz.  I had put it in my pocket so that I could feel it when Will called.

There was no noise on his end, but he could hear the noise on mine.
 
T
he jukebox wasn’t playing so it was a little quieter than normal. 
There was j
ust the normal din of a crowded bar.

“Where are you?  It sounds like you’re in the middle of a riot.”

“Close. 
Royalist
.  I’m here with your friends.”

“Really?”

“Say
‘
Hi,
’
Stephen.  Say
‘H
i,
’
Colin.  Kate?  Gemma?”

They all said
“
hello
”
almost in unison.

“How did you end up out with them?”

“
Carrie
and
Rachael
took me out
tonight
to cheer me up and the
se guys
were here. 
They
’
re
protecting me from all the lecherous men.”  I laughed.

“
That’s not funny,” Will replied jokingly, but with a hint of seriousness.

“Don’t worry.  I only have eyes for you.”

“I will worry
. 
N
ow
.”

“Would you prefer I sat home pining for you?”

“Umm.  Y
es.  Well, no
,
not if it would make you unhappy.”

“If I have to stay here while you’re out with a bunch of gorgeous actresses and nubile fans who are no doubt throwing themselves at you, I think you can put up with a couple of drunks
who
don’t have a chance hitting on me.  Besides, I have a protector remember
:
Colin.”

“I knew we were
mates
for a reason.”  He laughed.

“You sound tired. 
Y
ou should
try to
get some sleep
on the plane
.  Call me tomorrow?”

“Of course.  Good night.  I love you more than anything.”

“I love you too.
”

I
motioned to
Rachael
and
Carrie
so that th
e
y
and
some of
Rachael
’s newfound friends
could
join us.

It
ended up being
a lively evening.  I could tell that Will’s friends were surprised that I was friends with someone as boisterous and edgy as
Rachael
.
  I’m sure that they thought
Carrie
was more my speed
, b
ut they seemed to like both
of my friends
. 
T
he sentiment was returned.

We left later than I had hoped. 
I was going to need to
sleep in a little
and it
was going to cut into my 9-to-4 study plan. 
Chalk up a
nother failure to keep my promise to myself
in just the first week
of studying for the Bar
. 
It was not a good sign. 
I guess i
t
had been
worth it though.  I was tired enough to sleep without thinking too much of Will and being sad.  I might actually live through the next few weeks
-
b
arely
.

I woke up late as I anticipated I would, but g
o
t down to studying fairly quickly.  I was hungry and turned on the TV a
round
eleven
to have an early lunch since I hadn’t had any breakfast.

And there he was. 
Will
was sitting on the couch of a
talk show.  Every time he spoke,
the audience screamed
with a pitch that made it clear they were all women
.  When that happened, he woul
d bend in half
looking at his knees,
slightly
embarrassed.

The tall
,
exotic beauty
who
was the talk
show hoste
ss was flirting with him.  She sat
with
knees folded on the couch,
and was very close with her
body facing him.

“So tell us the one thing
our audience is
dying to know.  Is there someone special in your life?”

He laughed as
though
he was used to this question by now and then ducked the question.

“You know Katherine and I are just
friends.”

“
You could have fooled me.  Let’s
s
how the clip.”

The clip run was of Will and Katherine.  They were both crying and kissing each other.

“Wow,” the talk
show host said when it was finished.  Look at that chemistry.
”  The audience screamed.

“We do have good chemistry
,
but I promise she and I are
just
friends
in real life
. 
T
hat
’s all
.
”

“Hmmm.  Either you’re protesting too much or there’s someone else in your life.”  The audience screamed.

“I try to keep my professional and personal li
ves
separate.”

“I’m guessing that means you
do
have someone in your life.  Tell us about it.  Come on, we want to hear about it, don’t we girls?”  The audience screamed again.

He got serious.  “Okay. 
Yes. 
All right
.  But
please
let’s
not
go there
,” he pleaded. 
“Let me tell you about something far more interesting.” 
T
hen he quickly
launched into
the subject
of
a behind the scenes prank he played on his costars on
the
set.

A little while after
the show
was over, I decided to text Will.  “Just saw u on TV.  U admitted
2
having a girlfriend.  I’m glad. 
ILY
.  Miss u.”

The response came back quickly.  “Why r u watching TV instead of studying?  It’s embarrassing having u
c
that stuff.  Promise me u won’t watch anymore.”

I texted back, “Promise.  But I’m still glad. 
ILY
.”

The reply was again immediate.  “I shouldn’t have done
it
.  But I find it hard 2
lie, especially when it comes
2
something so important
2
me.  We will regret it.  I’
m sorry. 
ILY
. 
Ring
u
2
nite.
”

A
t a
bout one o’clock
that afternoon
, my cell phone rang.  I ran to get it
,
hoping it was Will.

“Hi
,
Shannon.  It’s John.”

“Hi.  What’s up?”  I must have sounded disappointed, but if I d
id, John didn’t seem to notice.

“Well,
Max
and Da
n
and I are going for drinks after work and we were
wondering if you want to come.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I can’t.  I take the live
Bar review
class
es.  They’re
every weeknight at six.”

“That’s okay.  We thought we’d try.”  He sounded disappointed.  “So how’s your Europe trip
planning
coming along
?” he continued
,
not ending the
conversation as I had expected.

“I haven’t done a lot recently.  I’ve been too caught up with graduation and the start of
Bar review
class
es.”

“And other things I’m sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, aren’t you doing all the
premiere
stuff with Will?”

“No.”  Now
I really sounded disappointed.

“Really?”

“No.  Will doesn’t want me to get caught up in all that.  Plus, I have to study.”  I’m sure John could picture the pout on my face.  “Will’s
out of town now
.  New York
,
then Europe
,
then Australia and Japan
.”

“He really left you?” he asked rhetorically and the
re was real shock in his voice.

I answered anyway. 
“Yes
.  But don’t make it sound like
that.”

“You sound like you need some cheering up.  How about I take you to lunch and we can talk about your trip?  Tomorrow
,
okay?”

I thought about
the fact that
Will probably would be jealous.  Then I thought that there was no good reason for that just as he said there was no reason for me to be jealous of Katherine.  Will was with Katherine now so why co
uldn’t I spend time with John?

“Sure,” I answered.  “I could use
the
distraction.”

After I got home from class, I was alone. 
Carrie
had dropped me off at
the apartment
and left to
visit
her parents in
San Juan Capistrano
for the weekend.

Just before eleven
, Will called.  It was quie
t in the background on his end.

“You’re
not out at a party this time?”

“No.  I’m back at the hotel.  I did
chat
shows today.  The
premiere
is tomorrow night.”

“Did you survive?

“Yes.  My hand is still cramping
from signing autographs though an
d I think my ears are going to be ringing for a
while from all the screaming.”