#1 Fan

by Hess, Andrew

  “Evan, Sara; come in.” Mrs. Taylor hugged each of them, planting a kiss on each cheek. “It’s so nice to see you again sweetheart. And you,” she said while looking over Evan’s new fit body. “You look so much better, so much happier.”

  “Thanks mom,” Evan replied.

  “Here let me take that,” Mrs. Taylor suggested. “Dinner is almost ready. Why don’t you come sit in the living room? Your father and I are dying to hear all about your book tour.”

  Sara watched Mrs. Taylor lead them into the living room. Evan leaned into her and whispered, “What the hell’s gotten into her.”

  “I told you; things have been different since you left.” She saw Evan’s disbelieving expression and brought him to the living room.

  Mr. Taylor stood at their arrival and approached. He extended his hand to Evan, which was like watching a peace treaty between warring countries in the Middle East. Watching the reluctance in Evan’s eyes, the miracle happened. He accepted the peace offering, and shook his father’s hand.

  “So Evan, how was the book tour?”

  Sara felt Evan give her hand a light squeeze before sitting down on the couch. “It was great. They had me mostly in the south along the east coast. Some of the signings were at small bookstores, others were larger corporate owned stores. I got to do a few interviews for local papers and T.V. including a few college stations.”

  The look of surprise on Mr. Taylor’s face was priceless. Sara told them Evan was doing well on the road, but always felt they doubted her. Sara had to stifle her laugh when Mr. Taylor’s jaw almost hit the floor.

  “They paid you for that?” His tone sounded shocked, as if he thought Evan did it for free. After Evan nodded his confirmation, his father sat on the edge of his seat. “If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you make from the tour?”

  “Enough to be comfortable for a few months.”

  Sara saw the look in Mr. Taylor’s eyes. He saw dollar signs and wanted a piece of the action.

  “You know; it would be wise to invest some of that money. I could show you a few possibilities that could be profitable for you.”

  Evan waved his hand dismissively. “My agent and publicist are handling it. I have a meeting with them tomorrow morning to discuss the finances from this tour and about setting up another one in a couple of months.”

  Mr. Taylor’s swallowed hard. “You’re going on another tour? But you just got back from this one.”

  “They said this one was highly successful and wanted to capitalize on that by promoting along the west coast.”

  “You should come down to my office tomorrow after your meeting. We can go over your finances. I can help you exponentially. It’s what I do for a living.”

  “I know, but I don’t really want to mix business and personal.”

  Sara watched Mr. Taylor redden in the face. She saw this was about to become a combustible situation. Her only hope was Mrs. Taylor would come walking through the door.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Mrs. Taylor said sweetly.

  Thank you God, Sara thought. She quickly leapt to her feet and dragged Evan away in a hurry.

  “Slow down, before your break the merchandise,” Evan joked while stopping mid-way down the hall. “Remember; you break it, you buy it.” Sara raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to laugh. “What’s wrong?”

  “You could’ve at least agreed to hear your father out before saying no to him.”

  “All he cared about was getting his hands on my money. I wanted him to know there was no chance of him touching it.” Evan pulled Sara closer. “He never had faith in me before. He didn’t think being author would bring me success. So why should I trust him with my money?”

  “I guess you’re right. But can you try to be a little nicer and stay away from any subject pertaining to money?”

  “For you, I’ll do anything.”

  Sara laced her fingers around Evan’s and led him into the dining room. They sat across from each other for the duration of dinner. Evan did his best to speak respectfully to his parents. Although neither of them made it easy for him. His mother doted on him, making sure he was eating healthy and that he was treating Sara right. This of course brought out the pink rose color in Sara’s cheeks.

  Mr. Taylor was another story. It didn’t matter the topic of conversation, he somehow found a way to bring it back to Evan’s finances, or a client he helped double their investment. At the end of dinner, he asked Evan to join him in the den. He looked like a deer in the headlights. It was a decision she hoped Evan wouldn’t regret later. Once the door swung shut behind them, Sara was left alone with Mrs. Taylor.

  “Sara, I want to thank you for convincing my son to come here tonight. I know he thinks we were too hard on him and that we were a bit harsh.”

  “I won’t lie. It wasn’t easy to get him here.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t. I just hope one day he will come to realize we were so hard on him because we never wanted him to settle.”

  Settle? I hope she doesn’t think he’s settling for me.

  Mrs. Taylor quickly grabbed both of Sara’s hands. “Oh forgive me; I didn’t mean you.” Relief washed over Sara’s body. “No, my dear son was a bit out of his league when he met you. If anything it is you who has settled for him. Although at this point I wouldn’t blame you.”

  “Blame me? Blame me for what?”

  “Oh, nothing,” she waved off as if it were nothing but an annoying gnat in her face. She took the dishes and exited the room into the kitchen.

  Evan opened the door moments later. The heated red scowl showed how well the conversation with his father must have gone.

  “We need to leave; now!”

  She knew if they stayed it would only anger Evan even more than he already was. His father was relentless in his pursuit of gaining Evan as a client. And after the comments Mrs. Taylor made, Sara was unsure if she wanted to stick around to see the explosive outcome.

  “Okay, let’s go.” They stormed out of the house together and rushed to the car. “I’m driving,” Sara said as she retrieved the keys from her purse.

  “Fine, but on one condition; we leave this house, go far away, and never come back.”

  Sara glanced back at the house as she opened the driver’s side door. “No complaints from me.”

  They jumped in the car, and sped off down the street, hoping they would never be forced to spend another night with the Taylors again.

  Chapter 25-Evan

  Being on tour was Evan’s dream. It was his chance to live it up like a celebrity, even if people didn’t really know his name. When the opportunity to go on tour for a second time came up, he naturally jumped at the chance. Knowing he would be leaving Sara again was unbearable. He did his best to convince her to come with him, but she refused. She told him it would be impossible to take a leave of absence and would lose her job. There was a part of him that wanted to be selfish and tell her do it anyway. She could collect unemployment while they toured the west coast. The most she was willing to do was to take a week-long vacation.

  That one week was something Evan thought about on a daily basis while on tour. His first few stops took him to major bookstores in the Mid-West. It served as a test to see if they could successfully tap into those markets before flying south.

  After arriving at the hotel, Waters pulled Audrey and Evan into a meeting to discuss how successful the tour had been over the last three weeks.

  “The numbers aren’t where we would like them to be,” Waters began. He typed away on his computer, hardly looking at Evan.

  “What does that mean?”

  “We expected a higher turnout, but it the numbers fell in line with the projected totals.”

  “So then it went well,” Evan replied.

  “Just barely,” Waters snarled as he closed the laptop. “We need to figure a way to get the numbers up for this next leg of the tour.”

  “Evan!” Audrey’s drill sergeant tone made him jump in his chair. “What�
�s the status on your new book?”

  “I’m still writing the first draft, but nearing the end.”

  “Good.” Waters stood from the table and moved closer to Evan. “I need you to hurry up with that manuscript so we can get it to the editor. We can promote it while you’re selling and signing this one.”

  “I would hold off on doing that, Chris.” Audrey straightened herself in the chair and folded her hands on a notepad. “We shouldn’t start promoting a second book until we know how good it could possibly be.”

  Waters tapped a finger to his chin while glancing at Audrey. The eye contact they shared caused an uncomfortable chill in the air that Evan wanted no part of.

  “Fine, we’ll hold off for now. Evan, I expect that manuscript to be done and in my hands before we leave for Texas.”

  “Yes sir.” They were the only words Evan could muster. He felt like he was back in school with a project due date hanging over his head. So much for doing any sightseeing while I’m here, he thought while taking the elevator up to his room. The first book was successful because there weren’t any time restraints. Evan wrote and re-wrote the manuscript several times before getting it right. Now there was a demand for a second book, one he wasn’t prepared to write.

  Evan entered the room and let the door close behind him. He took a seat at the desk and opened up the file containing his manuscript. Reading it wasn’t going to take long. There were twenty pages in total.

  “How the fuck am I going to finish an entire book in less than a month?” The un-daunting task stared him in the face. He had no idea what to write about. He only described the main character and the horrible parents he was forced to live with. There was nothing more to the story. The empty pages of a blank canvas, waiting for the masterpiece to be created. But at that moment, Evan didn’t feel like an artist or a writer. His mind was as blank as the screen in front of him.

  He tried everything to get the creative juices flowing. First he tried listening to music, but found himself air drumming or playing the air guitar instead. Next was the T.V., but all that did was pull him further away from the computer. He sat against the pillows on the bed, and flipped through the channels until he found something he liked or tolerated. After two hours of doing that, his boredom increased to a point where even the T.V. couldn’t hold his attention. Meditation was his third and final attempt at breaking the writer’s block. Crossing his legs, Evan closed his eyes while taking deep breaths. He was told meditation was a great way to relax and relieve stress. Evan only tried it one other time, both ended with the same result; he was passed out and drooling on the pillow.

  The phone’s vibration startled him, waking Evan from the restful sleep his body craved. When he grabbed the phone to silence it, Sara’s name blurred into view.

  “Hey Honey,” he moaned.

  “Hey, where are you?”

  “In my room. Why? What’s up?”

  “Did your flight get in on time?

  “Yeah, we got in a little while ago.”

  “A little while ago? Evan, your flight was scheduled to land five hours ago. What’ve you been doing all this time?”

  Evan pushed himself up on the bed. His eyes focused on the time on his phone. It had been over five hours since the plane landed, and the tone in Sara’s voice reminded him he forgot to call her.

  “Shit, I’m sorry. Waters dragged us into a meeting to tell us we didn’t hit the mark he expected us to. He wanted us to come up with something that could spark further interest while we’re on the west coast.”

  “Did you guys come up with something?”

  “They want to focus on my next book, but it’s not done.”

  “How far in are you?”

  “Page twenty.”

  “When do they want it by?”

  “I have less than a month. They want it before we head to Texas.” Evan crawled back towards the desk and turned the computer back on. He stared at the empty page. “I’ve been racking my brain for the last few hours trying to figure out what to write, but can’t seem to focus.”

  “Don’t stress yourself out over it. Write something, anything for now. Write something you know a lot about.” A moment of silence let Sara’s words slowly generated an idea in Evan’s head.

  “I don’t know; maybe you’re right.”

  “I am, but if you need some help, I’m sure I can find a way to relieve your stress.”

  The corners of Evan’s mouth perked up. “How are you gonna do that? You’re still in New York.”

  “I’m sending you something. Check your phone in a minute.”

  Evan pulled the phone away from his ear. Looking at the screen, he noticed a text message from Sara. He opened it and found a picture downloading. It was Sara, posed on the bed she shared with Evan. She was dressed in black see-thru lingerie. The material hugged her body, while slightly exposing her most intimate areas.

  “Um Sara, who took this photo of you?”

  “Julie. Who else do you think I’d use?”

  Evan shook his head while keeping his eyes glued to the picture on his phone. “You surprise me more and more every day.”

  “Well, get ready for another surprise. I’m coming down to visit in about a week.”

  “You’re coming down here? For how long?”

  “Just the weekend. They gave me next Friday off and I thought it would nice to spend a three day weekend with you.”

  Evan perked up instantly. “I fucking love you.”

  “I love you too. But next time you fly out somewhere, you better call or text to let me know you got to the hotel all right, or else that picture will be the last time you see me like that for a very long time.”

  The lightbulb clicked on in Evan’s head. The wheels were in full motion. Sara’s words were bouncing around his brain. “You just gave me a great idea.

  Chapter 26-Sara

  Sara was nervous about flying out to meet Evan. The idea was impulsive. She already agreed to meet him a few weeks later when he was in California. Knowing she had an unexpected three-day weekend, was all the convincing she needed to surprise Evan.

  A few days away from her trip, Sara called to make sure Evan’s plane landed. When she didn’t hear from him, panic set in. Did something happen to the plane? Is he okay? Did he make the flight? Fearing the worst, Sara dialed and re-dialed Evan’s number, hoping he would finally pick up. It took her five hours before he finally answered one of her calls. There was a desire to scream at him, tell him he was an idiot and how worried she was, but none of that seemed to matter when she heard his voice. Once she knew he was safe in his hotel room, all the anger melted away.

  That’s when Evan told her how stressed out he was. His agent pulled him into a meeting to discuss the tour and how to increase his sales. If the tour didn’t meet Mr. Waters’ expectations, he might consider calling off most of the tour and only hit the conferences. A part of Sara hoped it would be true. Evan would come back home sooner, and would only be gone for a couple of weekends instead of a few months. It was a selfish thought, but Sara wanted to know what it would be like to have a normal relationship with the man she loved, not one that came and went every few months. But she knew this was the life she signed up for when she agreed to be Evan’s girlfriend, and again when she decided to move in with him.

  After another half hour of talking him down from the overwhelming stress, Sara gave him the best piece of advice she could; write what you know. She didn’t know much about coming up with book ideas, but it was the best thing she could come up with. Minutes later, Evan rushed her off the phone telling her, she had given him the perfect idea. She was happy to have helped, but it also abruptly ended their conversation.

  Sara knew Evan hung up to start working on his new book idea. There was a deadline hanging over his head that he was desperate to make. She wanted nothing more than to support him, but still wished he made some time for her as well.

  The next few days seemed to slip by easily. Evan was M.I.A. again, ref
using to answer any phone calls with the occasional brief text message to let Sara know which city he was in and when he was back at the hotel. Sara figured Evan was busy with his writing, but he was inadvertently pushing her away. Second thoughts about flying down south to meet him popped in and out of her mind. Even if I did go, would he have any time for me? Or am I going to be sitting at the hotel every day waiting for him to get back?

  Sara left her open suitcase lying on the floor in front of the bed. Her latest hesitation left her feeling more confused than any other day. Falling on the bed, Sara decided to pluck her phone from the curled up comforter. She dialed Julie, knowing she would be the voice of reason.

  “Hey girl,” Julie answered.

  “Hey,” Sara responded meekly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, it’s just been a few days since I heard from Evan.”

  “Didn’t you send him the pictures I took of you?”

  “Yeah, I sent one of them the other day.”

  “I’m surprised he wasn’t on the first flight back here after seeing it. Either that or his arm is getting tired.”

  The crassness in Julie’s voice brought a smile to Sara’s face. Letting out a light hearted chuckle seemed to make her feel better. “I know he’s been busy all week. His publicist and agent want him to have his next book ready to be looked at by the time they get to Texas.”

  “Trust me; he’s probably eying up that picture every night before he goes to sleep, wishing it was Friday already.”

  “Maybe, but I also thought about not going.”

  “Not going,” Julie shouted. “Why the hell not?”

  “Evan’s been so distant and busy this week. I don’t wanna show up and he can’t spend any time with me.”

  “Look, I get it. You’re going there for him and you think he’ll be too busy. You’ll be alone in a strange city and have no idea what to do with yourself all day. But consider this; you already paid for your flight, the hotel is already taken care of for you, and you’ll be with him every night.”