Away From the Spotlight

by Tamara Carlisle

  “What’s that?” I asked, curious.

  I don’t think he had meant to say what he did and he looked a little embarrassed.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll make you a deal. If I can see you again, I’ll tell you then.”

  I had to try hard not to show my excitement when I responded, “Okay.”

  “Can I take that to mean you’ll go out with me again?”

  “Yes.” I smiled at him then.

  Will seemed to take courage in my response and asked, “Can I see you again tomorrow?”

  “Yes, but I kind of have to study at some point this weekend. I’ve got finals coming up.” I tried not to appear too eager and I really did have to study. I also had casual plans with a group of friends, but was sure I could get out of them easily.

  “How about you come over to my place tomorrow around noon and bring your books with you? I have some reading to do myself and would love the company. We can have lunch out on the patio. Tomorrow night, I have tickets to a concert if you’re up for it, but you’ll have to let me surprise you as to the band. I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”

  Once we had the details of our next date settled, Will drove me back to my car. After opening the car door for me and helping me out, Will put his arms around me and pulled me into a kiss that made me feel like he really didn’t want to be saying goodbye. By my response, I’m sure he realized that I felt the same way. I was relieved that we were doing this here, in front of my car, rather than back at Will’s house. I don’t know what I would have done if he had kissed me like that there. I didn’t think of myself as the type to sleep with someone on the first date, but I might not have been able to restrain myself with Will. I was simply too attracted to him.

  On the way home, I was racking my brain as to what band we could be seeing. With my trip to Europe coming up, I hadn’t been spending money on going to concerts as much as usual. As a result, I hadn’t been paying attention to who was touring so I wouldn’t be tempted.

  I don’t know how I made it home. I was exhausted, having not slept much the night before, but wide awake in anticipation of the next day’s events.

  Chapter Three

  Despite having been so tired, I actually didn’t manage to sleep in the next morning. I was too excited to see Will.

  I had no idea what to expect for the day so I had no idea what to wear. I contemplated bringing changes of clothes, but was worried about appearing to bring luggage. I decided to go casual, wearing jeans and a long sleeveless printed top and to bring another outfit for the concert.

  I put my makeup, brush, and travel toothbrush and toothpaste in my purse. I felt like I was packing for an overnight and that thought, and what it implied, made my stomach churn with anxiety.

  Although I was not inexperienced, sleeping with someone I barely knew was definitely not me. With few exceptions, I generally had crushes for months before I ever let on that I was interested so most of my relationships had evolved slowly. And, to boot, it had been a while as work, law school, and the corresponding lack of opportunity had distracted me from those pursuits of late. All this, combined with the fact that I knew that, had Will pressed the issue last night, I would have found him impossible to resist, scared me.

  I placed my change of clothes in as small a bag as I could find, piled my books into another bag, loaded the car, and was on my way by 11:15 a.m. I didn’t want to be early and to appear as eager as I really was. With traffic, it took me over an hour to get there so I was actually late.

  The girl with Stephen the night before answered the door. She was petite with long brunette hair and blue-grey eyes.

  “Hi, I didn’t properly introduce myself last night,” she said with a British accent that was more northern sounding, like maybe from Manchester. “I’m Kate.” She leaned forward conspiratorially and added, “Will would kill me for telling you this, but he has been pacing for the last half-hour, waiting on you. It’s brilliant to see him like this.”

  I didn’t know what to think about that, so I just walked in without response through the family room into the backyard where Will was waiting. He strode up to me quickly and kissed me as hard and as long as he had the night before. I heard throat clearing behind Will. Colin and Stephen were sitting at the table under the umbrella with what looked like a catered lunch. I looked down, hoping they wouldn’t see me blush.

  Kate came outside shortly thereafter carrying some iced teas, and sat on the side of the table facing away from the ocean and next to Stephen. It was a beautiful spring day. The view was as gorgeous as I had imagined the night before even though I couldn’t see the ocean then due to the darkness. I could almost smell the ocean in the distance.

  Will ushered me into chair on the other side of the table from Stephen and Kate, next to where he was to sit, but with a slightly better view of the ocean than that from his seat.

  There was very lively conversation at lunch, but I could tell that the subject kept getting changed quickly whenever we got anywhere near the topic of what they all did for a living.

  Despite the fact that I was sitting next to the most beautiful man I had ever seen, I kept thinking of Colin. He appeared to make the best of it, but I could sense that he felt like the fifth wheel. I guess I was particularly sensitive because I had spent a lot of time in recent months being the third, fifth, seventh wheel, and so on, when I went out with friends from school or associates at my firm and their respective dates or significant others.

  As I was sitting there feeling sorry for Colin, the topic of his girlfriend came up in conversation.

  “What time does Gemma’s plane get in tomorrow?” asked Kate.

  “About three in the afternoon,” Colin responded with an excited smile on his face.

  Kate looked over at me and explained, “Gemma is Colin’s girlfriend. She’s from Newcastle and went home to see her sister, who just had a baby.”

  She then smiled at me and I realized what she meant when I arrived. It wasn’t Colin who was the fifth wheel. It usually was Will. I couldn’t conceive of how that could be the case. I would think that women would be throwing themselves at him regularly. He was breathtakingly handsome, smart, fun and seemed genuinely kind. I was going to have to get the scoop on that from Kate.

  I got my chance with Kate sooner than I thought I would. In helping to clear some of the dishes, I managed to be alone with Kate in the rarely-used kitchen.

  “What did you mean when I came in this morning about Will?”

  “What did I say? Oh, yeah, that. Just that it has been a long time since Will has been interested in anyone.”

  “I can’t imagine that he hasn’t had plenty of women that like him,” I responded.

  “Yes. That’s true, but I think he is always worried about whether they will like him for just him. He thinks you’re different. Plus, he’s flattered that someone so accomplished would like him.”

  “Seriously?” I responded, truly astonished. “I can’t imagine anyone not liking him. Me, on the other hand, I’m pretty ordinary, one of thousands of students in L.A., many far more attractive than I could ever hope to be.”

  “You sell yourself short. True, you may not be the typical California girl, but that’s not his type anyway. You’re unusual looking and pretty in that. He considers himself to be unusual looking so he probably considers you a match for him.”

  I didn’t know what to say and, after a long pause, Will walked in carrying the few remaining plates. He set the plates down, looked at my astonished face, and asked, “Kate, are you causing trouble again?”

  I managed to close my mouth that had likely dropped open and grabbed Will’s hand to distract him. “When and where are we going to study and read together?”

  “The boys will be mucking around out here for a while, so why don’t we go to my room?”

  In spite of the butterflies in my stomach, I replied calmly, “I need my books. They’re in my car.”

&n
bsp; “Let me help you.”

  Will followed me outside to my car. He grabbed my book bag out of the trunk and noticed the other bag there. “Moving in are we?” he teased with a huge smile and a look that indicated he wouldn’t have minded.

  I turned away because I was certain that my face was blood red with embarrassment. Still turned away, I replied, “I don’t know where we’re going so I brought a change of clothes just in case I need to be dressed up more than I am now.”

  Will laughed. “There’s no need to explain. I understand completely,” he said as if intimating that there was another reason that involved me spending the night.

  I don’t know how I managed to concentrate while studying on Will’s bed with him there. Will was reading what looked like a play, but he spent most of his time staring at me. Luckily, my nerves over my upcoming finals managed to beat out my nerves over lying in Will’s bed with him - barely. It took all my determination not to look away from my book and into his beautiful green eyes. When I got through my Constitutional Law II reading a long while later, I looked up to find him staring at me again.

  “Interesting reading?” he asked.

  “Not really. How about you?”

  “I didn’t manage to get a whole lot done. I was too distracted,” he replied with a smile. “Come closer,” he asked, curling his finger toward him. He pulled me on my side facing him on the bed and leaned over to kiss me. He then pulled me close and held me very tightly as he kissed me. I was so excited I must have been panting. He leaned away and said, “If we didn’t have this concert soon and, if I didn’t know how happy it would make you, I don’t know if I would let you go right now.”

  My heart was racing, but I managed to pull it together enough to catch my breath and ask, “Okay, so now you have to tell me where we’re going and when we have to be there.”

  “Staples Center by seven. If I’m correct, it’s your favorite band. Car’s coming to collect us at five. We have a few stops on the way there.”

  “Really?” I said, sitting up quickly, eyes wide.

  “Yes.” Will looked over at the clock, appearing surprised at the time. “It’s half four now. We had better get moving.”

  Since a car was picking us up, I decided to lose the jeans and go with the dressier outfit. The skirt was black, of course, but the top was black, green and cream. I wore black tights underneath the skirt and boots over them. Will wore jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black blazer over that.

  The car came at five as scheduled. It wasn’t really a car though. It was a stretch limousine that looked like it would hold about twenty people. Will, Colin, Stephen, Kate and I climbed in and we proceeded to pick up about ten others at two different locations, one group in Santa Monica and another in the Hollywood Hills. Introductions were difficult so I didn’t catch most of their names, but the accents made clear that they were mostly more British ex-patriots. As these friends entered the limo, they stared when they noticed that Will had his arm around me.

  I enjoyed the ride as we drove through L.A., drinking champagne and laughing at the various antics of Will’s increasingly buzzed and very entertaining friends. We made it to the venue just before seven. Will quickly led us to a stocked luxury suite that looked like it would hold at least the fifteen or so of us.

  “How did you manage this?” I asked as I marveled at the suite and the perfect view of the stage from it. Will dodged my question, grabbed an envelope from the counter and dragged me out of the suite, telling everyone we’d be back.

  “I have another surprise for you. Come with me.”

  He held my hand as we walked around Staples Center until we got to the private area. He opened the envelope to find two all-access backstage passes.

  The security guard let us through and gave Will directions to a room further down the hall on the left. Will knocked and we heard a male British voice say, “Enter,” from the other side of the door.

  I gasped when we walked through the door. The members of the band were all sitting on couches watching a large flat-screen TV with a soccer game on it. There were a few others in the room I didn’t recognize, but there wasn’t a huge crowd. Although there were beer bottles and food strewn over tables in front of and behind the couch, it was not exactly the rock-and-roll party atmosphere you would expect.

  “Will, hey mate,” I heard Sean O’Neill, the lead guitarist and primary writer for the band, say. Will left me and walked over to him alone. Will whispered something in Sean’s ear and then Jack’s. Jack was the lead singer and Sean’s brother, and had a somewhat arrogant demeanor, likely stemming from the fact that he was the focal point of a lot of the fans’ attention. They all laughed, Sean even saying, “You’re kidding me,” with an expletive for emphasis. I wondered what the joke was, but was too afraid to ask.

  The bass player for the band approached to my right, reaching for a beer from the cooler not far from me. He said “Hi” to me.

  I replied, “Hi, Drew.” I knew who he was because he previously had been in another band that also was one of my favorites.

  Jack shouted teasingly over the game, “She knows who you are. You have a fan.”

  “Actually, you do. Hazy Path is one of my favorite songs of all time and one of my favorite videos is the acoustic version of The Sea you did a few years back.”

  “I’m impressed,” Sean said, walking over my way. Aren’t you a little young to be a Voyage fan?”

  “I love 80’s and 90’s music. I’m also a Blue Spiral fan.” At the mention of Blue Spiral, Sean blinked. “Yes, I know you worked with them. And, of course, I’m a huge fan of yours.”

  “This one’s a keeper,” Sean chuckled as he walked back over to Will, who was still halfway across the room.

  Drew passed me an open beer. “You impressed Sean. Not an easy thing to do.”

  Will then walked over to me and put his arm around me as if asserting ownership. I smiled at that. We stood around for a little while, drinking our beers and half-watching the game. Not surprisingly for the O’Neill brothers, it was one of the Liverpool teams. When we finished our beers, Will guided me back over to Sean to say our goodbyes. I told him what my favorite song was and that seemed to please him.

  “We’ll be playing it for you tonight,” Sean said.

  My face likely was beaming as we left the room.

  Once we were out the door, I said, “Are you kidding me? You’re friends with the O’Neills?”

  Will just shrugged, trying to look innocent, and did not explain how that was the case.

  We returned to the suite, after buying a program, and just before the band went on. We sat in the two seats in the front row of the suite that had been left open for us. The view was amazing. Before they played my favorite song, Sean mumbled into the microphone, “This is for a new friend of ours” and lifted his beer in the air in our direction. I was floored.

  During the concert, Will had his arm around me, held my hand or played with my hair. When the main part of the concert was over, we all stood. At that point, and before the encores started, Will grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the back of the suite to the sofa where it was dark. With no one watching, we spent the remainder of the concert making out.

  When the lights went up, our group returned to the limo. I was a little weak in the knees, not from the drinking, but from the energetic make-out session I had just had. During the ride home, we drank more champagne, blasted the songs we heard at the concert on the stereo in the limo, and screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs.

  When we arrived back in the Palisades, Will said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to drive home. You may not seem drunk, but we’ve both had a bit too much.”

  “I don’t know.” I was nervous. We were moving so quickly, it scared me, but I wanted to stay with him so badly.

  “I promise I won’t attack you. We’ll just sleep.” He seemed sincere.

  “Okay.” I’m not sure whether I sounded disappointed or not. I was certainly thinking t
hat I was. The beer and champagne had lowered my inhibitions a little bit.

  Once inside the house, Will gave me an oversized t-shirt to sleep in and he wore flannel pajama bottoms, but no shirt. His chest was beautiful, chiseled as I had imagined when we first met with enough hair to be masculine, but not too much. I was going to have trouble sleeping.

  He kissed me goodnight gently and we spooned for a while. True to his word, he did not attack me. Darn it.

  Chapter Four

  I awoke to the sound of Will brushing his teeth in the bathroom.

  When Will climbed back into bed, I got out and headed to the bathroom to assess the damage. I had morning hair, morning breath, and my makeup had run a little. Luckily, I had left my purse in the bathroom, with my brush in it. My toothbrush and toothpaste were still on the bathroom counter. I ran the brush through my hair, used Kleenex to wipe the excess makeup from my eyes, and brushed my teeth.

  I returned to bed as soon as I had cleaned myself up. The spooning began again as it had the night before. This time, though, I could feel what Will wanted. My weakest time for resisting was the morning when I was warm, cozy and rested, well, in this case, somewhat rested. I turned my body around to face him and he kissed me hard on the mouth.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I promised not to attack you.”

  “You may have, but I didn’t,” I said and, with that, I removed the t-shirt I was wearing and kissed him back.

  I must have fallen asleep again afterward because, when I looked over at the clock, it was a quite a while later. Will was awake and staring at me with his gorgeous green eyes. He did not suffer from bed hair. His looked almost better messier.

  Totally unfair.

  I rolled onto my side, put my arm around him, and tucked my head under his arm and against his chest. “You wore me out,” I said, almost too embarrassed to look at him.

  “Are you ready for me to wear you out again?” he asked.