Away From the Spotlight (30 page)

“We’re not five-
years-old.  At our age, no, it’s not what friends do.”

“Don’t be mad.  I’m sorry.  I can behave myself.”

“Can you?  Because I don’t know if we can be friends if you can’t.”

A pained look crossed John’s face.  “Yes, I can behave myself. 
Please
.”  We
were silent as we continued to walk to my car.  As we
approached my car
, Joh
n
asked,
“
Uh, c
an you give me a ride back to
Max
’s
?  B
ecause my car’s there and I’m kind of stranded.”

I rolled by eyes and grimaced.  “Get in.”

Max
’s place
was
down
a
long street
lined by
massive
modern
apartment complexes interspersed with older smaller
stucco box
buildings from the
‘
60’s.  Despite the fact that this part of town was called
P
alms, there weren’t any on this street. 
Max
and Da
niel
were standing out
side
in front one of the larger modern apartment building
s
, talking in front of Da
niel
’s
black
Mercedes
.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that there would be no hugging and no further scene as a result.
 
I
double parked to the side of Da
niel
’s car.  John
exited
the car, but I
remained inside
.  I rolled down the window
,
said my goodbyes
and got out of there quickly
,
feeling very guilty
about the handholding
and worrying about what Will’s friends thought.

The
final
week
without Will passed s
lowly, but I had settled into a routine with studying, class and calls from Will. 
No longer surprised, I received a fourth bouquet of
carousel rose
s
on Monday
.

On
Tuesday
,
Max
called
to invite
me to go out with the guys after work, but I refused
,
citing my class as an excuse. 
When
the subject of
lunch plans w
as
broached
by Da
niel
on Thursday
, I
told him
that I had to study because I was behind the curve and that I would call when I caught up a little more, k
nowing that I never would.  I hoped that
John would move on before I started work in the fall if I didn’t see him.  I was counting on the old adage, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” being an old wives
’
tale.

My
last
weekend
without Will
finally arrived and I was dreading it. 
Carrie
would be
away
for the weekend
with her boyfriend and I would be
completely
alone.  I only had a few days left until Will would be home
.  Th
ese next few days looked to move even more slowly that the previous ones
as
I
became increasingly
more anxious as the time for him to come home got closer
.

When Kate called
on Saturday morning
, I
happily
realized that I wouldn’t have that weekend alone after all.

“How would you like to spend the weekend with us out here at the house?”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“We’re fine.  Paparazzi-
free.  They all know
Will
’s gone so we’ve pretty much been left alone.  A few fans, that’s all, and when the guards tell them that Will’s out of town, they leave.  So
,
please come.  We would love to see you.  Bring your books.  We can swim and hang out.  It
’l
l be fun.”

“Sure.  When do you want me?”

“When can you
get
here?”

To my relief,
I arrived to find n
either
photographers no
r
fans outside.  I parked the car down the street just in case and one of the guard
s
let me in the front door.  I heard some noise coming from the backyard.  I waved out the patio door and indicated I would be right out.

I
entered
Will’s room to change
and found
another bouquet of roses waiting for me
with
a card that read, “Only a few more days.  I love you.  W.”

I changed into
a
black one-piece swimsuit with a plunging
bust-
line
ending in three brass
cut-out
rings down my stomach.  I had some fake tan on my legs
because
I had been wearing skirts
or shorts
all week.  I had touched it up back at the apartment and the new color was just starting to show.  It was a little orangy, but better than the day-glo white my legs were without it. 
T
hey were also a better match for my arms, chest and face, which had seen more of the sun over the years and were darker as a result
of
the freckles that blended to give them color.

I
smeared
some sunscreen on my face
,
chest
and arms before putting
on my oversized sunglasses, grabb
ing
a beach towel that I had brought
with me
, and
heading
out to the patio.

Colin was the first to greet me as he had just
climbed
out of the pool.  Of course, when he leaned to kiss my cheek, he
succeeded in
get
ting
me partially wet.  “Hey gorgeous, how are you?”

After seeing Kate and Gemma looking particularly petite in their tiny bikinis, the honest answer would have been, “
Not feeling gorgeous, that’s for sure
.
”
B
ut I smiled
and replied instead,
“Good.  Great to see you.  Thanks for the invite.”

I then heard a chorus of “Hey Shannon,” and I walked over toward the pool to say
,
“
hello.
”

It didn’t take long for them to coax me into the pool.
 
After a while of splashi
ng around in the pool
, we all got out to have
l
unch.

Colin fired up the grill and we all
feasted on
hamburgers, and pre-made salads pulled from the refrigerator.  I thought it was odd how a bunch of Brits were doing such an American thing as
a
backyard
barbeque
.  I was having a hard time i
magining this scene in the U.K.

As we settled into
our
late lunch, I found that it wasn’t only the ha
mburgers that would be grilled.

“
In these last few months, we’ve never really heard you talk about yourself much. 
So
now that we have you cornered, you have to
tell us
all
about yourself,” Kate said turnin
g the focus of the group to me.

“There’s not much to say,” I said embarrassed. 
“I’m not all that interesting.”

“Will seems to think so.  You’re all he talks about t
hese days.”  Colin interjected.

“With all he has going on, I find
that
hard to believe,” I responded.

“No, it’s true.”  Gemma added.  “We’ve never seen him like this.  We’re glad to have you join our little
gang.  You’re good for him.”

“Hmm
m
,” I grunted.  I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that I wasn’t in an unequal relationship where I
received
the majority of the benefit.

Stephen explained.  “We give him a break from his work, but not completely because we
’re in the business
as
are
almost all of our
mates
save
a few at the Rugby Club.  But you take him completely away from it and he needs that. 
His
work makes him crazy sometimes.”

“He’s told me a li
ttle about that, but not much.”

Kate went on.  “Yeah, well.  It
was
pretty bad in the past. I think he has a hard time dealing with all the focus on him and particularly on his looks.  He views himself differently than as just some sex symbol.  He’s very intelligent, very creative.  There’s a lot more to him than just a pretty face.  But when everyone obsesses about his hair,
his face,
the state of his physique, his clothing,
or
other superficial things, it drives him insane. 
T
hen there are the cameras following him everywhere. 
Early on
, he got lost in some hard partying and some not so healthy relationships.”

My breath caught when I heard the “not s
o healthy relationships” part.

I
composed myself
and replied,
“I can’t imagine him like that.  He a
lways seems so together to me.”

“He has been for a long while. Just don’t hurt him, okay?”  Kate asked
with some concern in her voice and I thought that maybe she was thinking about John.  I grimaced.

“I have a feeling I’m probably the one
who’s
more in danger of that.  He works with some of the most beautiful women in the world and has women throwing themselves at him every
day.  He has a lot of opportunity to find someone more his speed than me.  On the other hand, I lead a pretty mundane life.  At this point, it’s all studying all the time pretty much and when I start working in the fall, i
t’ll be all work all the time.”

“I don’t know about that,” Gemma disagreed. 
“
I saw the way your friends at work looked at you, particularly the one sitting next to you, the tall
,
dark-haired
,
good-looking
one.  He looked like he’
d rather be more than friends.”

I looked at Kate and she had a concerned look on her face.  So did Stephen
.
 
So
it was obvious
last Sunday.  Hopefully, they didn’t see the handholding, but they must have noticed the way John looked at
me.

“He’s just a friend.  Even if I were interested, which I absolutely am not, I would
never date someone from work.  I can’t
imagine mixing work with
pleasure would be a good idea.
Most relationships don’t work out and I
imagine that working with an e
x would be brutal.”

“
We
all me
t through work,” Stephen chimed in, looking to see my reaction.

“Yes, but you work
on a film
for a few months at a time and
then
move on to a
different
job
with a different cast and crew
.  If I broke up with someone at work, I could have to work with them
potentially
for
years
.  It’s a bit different when you
have that
kind of
risk.”

“Will
works with
someone he
dated
and it’s fine,” Gemma blurted out and immediately wished she hadn’t
when
Colin
gave her a very stern
look.

“Really?”  I asked
,
now curious.
Was this one of the “not so healthy relationships”?

“It
wa
s nothing.”  Gemma tri
ed to downplay the slip.  “J
ust
an
actress who plays one of
the supporting characters in
Midnight
.”