Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (6 page)

DISTANCE MAKES THE HEART GROW EITHER FONDER
OR TOTALLY BATSHIT

“
Tyler Chasers” storm
stage of singer’s impromptu concert

The Durt

February
2
^nd

It must be heartwarming to
return to the music game and know that your fans are still as
completely deranged as you left them!

Last night, a whopping
thirteen concertgoers were hospitalized because Tyler Chase has
been in the business of putting screechy teen girls in the hospital
since the beginning of days (or since he was sixteen, whichever you
want to go with). But this time, the medical emergencies weren’t a
result of rampant swooning or any other excitement induced fainting
– it was just a result of plain old chaos. Tyler had yet to even
finish one song before his admirers went full rabid at the prospect
of touching their beloved prince, sparking such pandemonium that
the concert was nipped in the bud – canceled in a flash with
everyone cruelly sent home without refunds.

So much for riding out the
glory of teen-idol-turned-Oscar-nominee in style.

Anyway, lucky for you, a
few staff members at The Durt (who will remain anonymous due to
their reluctance to admit that they are massive Tyler Chasers) were
on the scene during last night’s total madness and managed to get
some juicy, gurney-side interviews!

Anonymous Staff Member
1
says, “Tyler seemed a little off from
the get go, not totally on his game like he normally is. At one
point, I think he was trying to say hi to fans and just got
awkwardly close to the edge of the stage. A few crazies saw their
opportunity to jump and it looked like one of those situations
where one person went in for the kill and suddenly, everyone
thought they had permission to go crazy too. It took literally
seconds and suddenly Tyler was surrounded and security was going
nuts! He couldn’t even finish his song. But for the record, I was
taking my niece to the concert. I wasn’t there for me.”

Anonymous Staff Member
2
managed to haul her ass out of the arena
and parked herself ambulance-side to see the damage done. We
forgive her for being an over-the-hill Tyler Chaser due to her
awesome reporter-ly instincts, rushing to the injured to take
quotes before anyone could advise the girls not to embarrass
themselves by speaking. Our lovely source reports that the injuries
ranged from minor (bruises and scratches) to slightly more severe
(broken bones, possible concussions). Among the three interviewees
was apparently the self-proclaimed instigator of the
bum-rushing.

“
I don’t know what came
over me,” said Melanie, 21. “He was just so close. I thought he
came that close because he wanted us to touch him – not in a creepy
way though.” Um, pretty sure you’re the one who made that quote
creepy, Mel.

Said Alli, 19, who
sustained a broken finger from the fiasco: “I didn’t even feel pain
in my finger. All I could think about was how heartbroken I was
because I’ve never seen Tyler look so scared. I just wanted to tell
him that everything was going to be okay. I hated seeing him so
upset.” Then maybe don’t interrupt his set by climbing onto the
stage, Alli. I don’t know.

Finally, according to our
source, there was Sophie, 22, the sole hospital guest who didn’t
actually make it up on stage during the debacle. “I understand
their excitement,” said Sophie. “I was excited too. The timing was
just unfortunate because the concert had only just started and it
seemed like Tyler was trying to connect with his music. But I’m
happy I had the chance to see an artist up close like that – I’m
just sad that it was such a short-lived experience.”

Yes, we too are shocked
that there exists a levelheaded and fully coherent Tyler Chaser out
there. Props on that, Sophie. Hope you heal a little faster than
the other injured girls.

“
This is a stupid idea,”
Mike shook his head, glaring at Tyler’s manager,
Corinne. She was a new addition to Tyler’s team
and someone with experience in both the movie and music industry.
She shrugged her strong shoulders, flashing her Blackberry at
Mike.

“
Doctor’s orders,” she
replied, coolly. Tyler watched as Mike rolled his eyes. Corinne was
referring to Tyler’s publicist, who had thought it would be a good
move on Tyler’s part to visit all the fans that were injured at the
concert the night before. Her response sounded particularly silly,
half due to the fact that everyone knew she had the final decision
on the matter, but also because they were standing in a
hospital.

“
I feel like we’re
rewarding the idiots who caused this mess,” Mike said. “This is
gonna set a precedent for every fan to follow – land yourself in a
hospital during a Tyler Chase concert, and Tyler Chase will come
running to make sure you’re okay!”

“
Not everyone who was
injured
caused
the incident,” Corinne said, pulling her black hair up into a
quick ponytail. “So we have to see them all. If we pick who to
visit and who not to visit, we’ll look like even bigger assholes.”
Tyler nodded. Against everyone’s wishes, he had spent the morning
reading a couple articles about what had happened at his concert.
Though he knew it was irrational, Tyler couldn’t help but feel like
it was all his fault that people had gotten injured during his
performance. Perhaps it was because he had managed to escape
without a scratch.

He felt terrible with every new room he
visited, despite the fact that the happy fans were screaming and
crying in excitement to see him. Somehow, those sounds made him
even more nervous, as if he was disturbing the peace once again. He
hugged them, apologized for the cancelled concert, and tried not to
stare at the casts and slings and bandages. Tried not to focus on
the obvious injuries that would keep them from going about their
day normally, at least for a couple weeks.

But they were just
so
happy
to see
him. Tyler felt uncomfortable, wishing for once that he had that
strange, protective haziness that had been following him around for
a year. It had been a nuisance, but today, it would help to have it
serve as a barrier between him and the reality and discomfort of
the situation he found himself in.

Room to room, floor to floor, Tyler repeated
the same routine. Corinne jabbered on the phone outside the room
each time, coming in and taking a picture to punctuate each visit
before scrolling through her list of names for the next person in
line. Tyler just followed, unable to keep his head from hanging and
his shoulders from slumping between each room. He felt terrible and
it was growing difficult to hide. Even with his newfound acting
skills, he was only able to carry out a performance for the length
of each individual visit.

“
Are we done yet?” Mike
sighed, exasperated. He rubbed a large bruise that was forming on
his forearm. Tyler frowned, remembering a fan’s hand grabbing at
Mike’s arm in hopes of releasing Tyler.

“
I think so,” Corinne
said, twisting her lips as she kept her eyes on her
phone.

“
Weren’t there thirteen
people injured?” Tyler asked. He had counted down the rooms,
anxious to complete his tour around the hospital. He knew there
was
someone
left,
and though he was far from happy with carrying out this little PR
task, he wanted to make sure he did a complete job.

“
Oh,” Corinne said,
arching an eyebrow. “You’re right. We have one left, but it says
she was discharged last night. Her name’s Sophie – didn’t we meet a
Sophie though?”

“
I don’t think so,” Mike
said. “But great, one less person to get to – can we move on
now?”

~

Tyler had a couple days before he was to
show up at an audition back in Los Angeles. Mike suggested they
stay on the east coast until then, as a bit of a vacation and to
catch up with friends.

“
What friends?” Tyler
scoffed, unable to hide his bad mood as he sat in the back of the
car with Mike. The past year was tough. He had felt particularly
alone since switching industries and, well, the breakup. Mike had
been his only constant throughout it all. Even his professional
team had gone through revolving doors. Every month, there was a new
name to learn. And he hadn’t kept in touch with his co-stars. He
had always suspected Madison Lennox had a bit of a crush on him,
but the interest wasn’t mutual and he didn’t want to lead her on.
And Liam Brody had never liked him. Of course, Tyler couldn’t blame
the man considering he had put a fist in Liam’s face for flirting
with Gemma. Gemma took away any chance of him getting along with
Liam after that. But then again, Gemma also took away Zoe Mercury
and Harper Gunn. In some sort of unspoken custody battle, Zoe and
Harper had chosen their sides – remaining friends with Gemma and
allowing their connection with Tyler to slowly dissipate. Tyler had
almost forgotten he had been friends with the two girls first,
before Gemma came into the picture.

He shook his head, hoping
to clear it of the bitterness that came up every time he thought of
her. Tyler felt lucky to have had everything that came with
wrapping up the production of
Carbine
distract him from their
breakup, but letting it get under his skin was inevitable.
Occasionally, he’d allow himself to mull over that day he had
called her bluff – drawing out what he had suspected for ages –
that she didn’t want to be with him anymore. He never understood
why she wouldn’t come out and just say it herself.

And the east coast
was
her
coast
now. She had needed to flee from him so badly that she picked up
and crossed the
entire
country to do so. He had no business being there. He didn’t
want to stay there for a vacation or to “catch up with friends”
like Mike had said. What was there to catch up on,
anyway?

“
Don’t be like that, man,”
Mike said, eying Tyler as he sulked. Though he had purposefully
faced away from Mike, Tyler could see his concerned reflection in
the window as the car went under an overpass.

“
I don’t know what you’ve
arranged, but I don’t want to deal with it,” Tyler said. He didn’t
have to look behind him to know that Mike was hurt by his words.
The silence said it all. He gritted his teeth and buried his face
in his hands, looking up to see Mike texting someone on his phone.
“What are you doing?”

“
I’m cancelling the plans
I made,” Mike shrugged.

“
What were
they?”

“
Just messaged some of our
buddies up in Vermont to have that house ready for us. I figured
while we’re up there, we should spend a night – I mean there’s
like, no phone reception so it’s we’re basically off the grid,”
Mike laughed. “And you could go over your script and stuff in a
quiet, peaceful place. Seemed like a good idea at the time. But I
get if you don’t want to go.” Tyler could tell Mike was trying to
put on a happy face for him. It was something he had been doing
since the breakup, a desperate attempt to make Tyler feel like
everything was okay. In the beginning, he had done a great job at
carrying on as if nothing had ever happened, as if Tyler was the
same Tyler he had always been. But when Tyler showed no signs of
improvement, Mike’s energy began to run low. He still tried, still
made every attempt to keep some semblance of normalcy for Tyler’s
sake, but it was clear he was running out of fuel.

“
No, let’s go,” Tyler
said, shaking his head. “You’re right, that sounds like
fun.”

~

Their “Vermont Friends” were two guys who
had been in the original band that played live with Tyler as he
toured and performed. About two years into Tyler’s career, Rufus
and Moss quit to work fulltime on the custom snowboard company they
founded together, a side passion of theirs that ended up becoming
their careers.

Rufus and Moss were Mike’s best friends on
the road. The three were the same age and had similar hobbies and
interests. When they left, Tyler knew it was hard on Mike. They had
offered him a position at the flourishing company, but Mike had
turned it down. Though Tyler never knew why, he suspected it was
because he and Mike had developed a friendship much like the
brothers they never had. And since Tyler had gotten just old enough
so that Mike didn’t look at him as some little kid he was hired to
protect, it was a lot easier for Mike to let loose and talk to him
like a peer.

Rufus had an empty cabin he had inherited
from family and he had renovated the space to look like a rustic
party house. Since he and Moss left the team, Tyler and Mike had
taken any opportunity possible to hang out in the secluded space,
inviting their city friends up to marvel over the vast stretch of
evergreens and crisp, Vermont air. Everyone that Tyler had ever
considered a friend in his past years had been there.

Even Gemma.

“
Take a shot, little one,”
Rufus laughed, pushing a double shot of tequila towards him. The
four of them sat in the small, square restaurant, surrounded by
mostly families. It felt almost like a treehouse, made of sanded,
unfinished wood from ceiling to floor. Parents sat with their
children, dressed in multi-colored sweaters that spotted the
place.