Love Scene, Take Two

by Alex Evansley

  “Bennett, we’re doing seating arrangements at the panel table right now and we need to know where you’d like to be seated,” she says.

  “What do you think’s best?” Bennett asks, keeping her eyes closed and trying not to flinch when the makeup artist begins to apply eyeliner.

  “Well, seeing as it’s going to be the same seating arrangement for the book signing after…” Emmy trails off.

  Bennett smirks. “You think if the actors are the first ones people see in line then there won’t be any incentive to stay in line after that, right? But if I’m the first person in line, then there’s also a good chance I’ll get jumped?”

  “Well…” Emmy hesitates.

  “Em, it’s fine. Most of the people who come to this are only coming to see Buzz and Olivia, so it’s not a big deal,” Bennett says, then freezes for a second. That little nickname hasn’t accidentally slipped out in weeks, and now she’s going to spend all afternoon embarrassed about it.

  “We came up with a plan for that, though,” Emmy answers, and bless her for only honing in on the important parts of Bennett’s statement.

  “Who’s we?”

  “Emmy and Buzz,” a new voice says.

  Goddammit.

  Bennett winces, and the makeup artist curses under her breath.

  “Hang on, I’ve got to find my makeup remover towelettes,” she says.

  Bennett opens her eyes and apologizes to her for messing up her eyeliner, then has to work up the nerve to look at Emmy. Lo and behold, Teddy is standing right next to her assistant. He bites down on the grin pulling at the corner of his mouth and gives Bennett a little wave when their eyes met.

  “Hey, Teddy,” Bennett says in an attempt to keep a matching grin off her face. It doesn’t work. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

  Emmy launches into something about having one actor on either side of Bennett with Olivia greeting people first. Which sounds fine to Bennett until she says it’d be a good idea for Bennett to come out alone for her reading and bring the actors out afterward.

  “What’s the point of that?” Bennett asks. She’s actually banking on the majority of the crowd getting distracted by Teddy and Olivia so they won’t notice Bennett sweating through her dress.

  Teddy scratches the side of his face and says, “To, like,… keep anyone from being upstaged, I guess?”

  Bennett smirks at how embarrassed he sounds. “It’ll make me feel better to not be standing up there by myself as I stumble through a five-page excerpt.”

  “But this signing was originally for just you,” Teddy argues. “The least we can do is make sure people know you’re the reason we’re all here.”

  “No, this book signing was for movie promotion, originally.”

  Emmy gives an exasperated sigh. “Okay, this is getting us nowhere; if you two don’t decide I’m going to go ask Olivia.”

  “I’m making the decision,” Bennett says. “Olivia on my right. Teddy on my left. We all go out at the same time. Okay? That’s what I want. Let’s make it happen.”

  They both start to argue again, but the makeup artist returns just in time to bail Bennett out.

  “Fine,” Emmy concedes before heading back to where the signing table is set up.

  Teddy stands there for a second, watching Bennett.

  “What,” she says.

  He gives her a half smile. “Do you always call me Buzz when you’re talking about me?”

  Of course he’d ask that.

  “No.” Bennett leans back in her chair and closes her eyes again. “For about five months after July, I had a lot of different names I used. Be glad Buzz is the one that stuck.”

  He doesn’t respond, but when she peeks open an eye at him, she catches a spectacular glimpse of the smile on his face before he turns to walk away.

  * * *

  It’s 1:58 p.m. and there’s a line wrapped all the way around the outside of the bookstore.

  Or, at least, that’s what Emmy tells Bennett. Her assistant keeps running back and forth from the front windows to give them updates through the curtain set up behind the panel table. Olivia is telling jokes to the bookstore staff. The security guys are standing awkwardly off to the side and trying to look important. Teddy is snapping his fingers and swinging his arms as he whistles “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and Bennett is just trying to keep converting oxygen to carbon dioxide.

  The few minutes just before a signing starts are always the most intense. Bennett hears the front doors open and tries to take another deep breath, but it sounds more like a shudder than anything else. She feels someone poke her shoulder and she looks to her left.

  “You all right over there?” Teddy whispers.

  Bennett nods.

  “Really? Because you kinda look like you’re about to throw up.”

  She rolls her eyes before glancing up at him.

  “You really are good at repeating lines, you know that?” she says, and the proud little grin she receives is almost enough to get rid of the nerves welling up in her throat.

  “It’s the least I could do—”

  “All right, guys. Everyone’s filing into seats now, but I’m pretty sure we’re gonna end up with a lot of people standing in the back,” Emmy says, bursting through the curtain again. “You guys will walk out together, Bennett will do her reading, and then the rep from the publisher will mediate the panel. After about an hour we’ll get to the signing, and then we’ll be golden. Good?”

  Would it matter if Bennett said no?

  Suddenly it’s time to go onstage, and Bennett almost forgets the pages for her reading. The crowd is still screaming over Olivia and Teddy and the lights set up on top of some bookshelves are a bit disorienting, but Bennett’s just glad she makes it to the podium without falling on her face. She’s so nervous she trips up on the second line and thinks it’s a good idea to start it from the top again.… And she’s still shaking a little when she sits back down in the middle of the panel table. The only good thing about readings is getting the worst part over first.

  Except Bennett’s never had a Q&A panel with two famous actors before.

  She thinks everything is fine at first, since all the questions are for Olivia and Teddy. What do they like most about the characters they’re playing? Would Teddy rather go on a secret heist with the entire Pirates batting lineup or Jason Bourne? Is Olivia doing her own stunts? What scenes have they already filmed? What scenes are they looking forward to filming the most? Honestly, it goes on long enough to lure Bennett into a false sense of hope that she won’t actually have to speak.

  Then their moderator throws in a question about the book series to change gears, and okay, that’s to be expected. Totally fine. Bennett has never been one for lengthy monologues, but she knows there are at least a few people in the audience wanting answers, so she tries to give as much information as her publisher will allow while talking about what to expect in the ending of Off the Grid.

  “Now we’re going to open it up for audience questions,” the moderator says. “We only have a few more minutes before the signing. Who’s got a question they’d like to ask?”

  A redheaded girl gets called on.

  “My question isn’t actually about the book series. It’s for Teddy and Bennett,” she says, voice wobbling just barely over the standing speakers. She’s grinning like a loon, though. “First of all, Shardwell is life,” she says, and does kind of a half-salute maneuver that Bennett would normally wonder about if she wasn’t already so distracted by the context. “And secondly—so I actually met you guys in the Charlotte airport last summer, and I was wondering if this time I can get a selfie with both of you?”

  Jesus Christ. Shardwell is what?

  Teddy, ever the media-trained machine, rushes in to save the day by laughing it off and telling her of course she can. Even Olivia jumps in and jokes about photobombing. The crowd laughs, and everything seems fine, except it’s not. Especially when someone deep in the crowd waits for a lull in th
e buzz to yell out, “Shardwell is real!”

  What the hell is Shardwell?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Bennett finds out exactly what Shardwell is when the book signing starts. Granted, she had an idea after she first heard it, but she’d hoped to God she was wrong.

  The redhead who asked the question earlier is one of the first people in line to get her book signed, and she repeats it so many times in casual conversation that Olivia finally asks what she’s talking about.

  “It’s their ship name,” the redhead giggles, confirming Bennett’s fears and holding her phone as high as she can to get Teddy and Bennett in the shot with her. Bennett has to force herself to smile instead of grimacing.

  Shardwell is the result of a few blurry pictures floating around on Twitter? Jesus, Burt’s going to lose his mind when he finds out.

  “I love you guys so much,” the redhead gushes as Olivia, Teddy, and Bennett take turns signing her book. Teddy takes everything in stride, smiling and laughing and indulging her. Bennett half expects Olivia to say she ships Shardwell, too, but she actually gets the redheaded girl talking about the book series until it’s the next person in line’s turn, bless her.

  The signing only gets more chaotic, though.

  The only other time Bennett’s seen this many screaming fangirls in one place is when she went to New York Comic Con last year. It’s exciting, but also a little terrifying. Up until this point, all her signings have been relatively low-key in comparison, but talking with so many people at once at least makes the time fly.

  Bennett isn’t sure how long it’s been when Emmy squats down next to her.

  “Okay. So. Your family will be here soon, and I told them it’ll probably be better to surprise you in the back office,” her assistant says as Bennett finishes signing another book. “They wanted to surprise you in line, but I told them that with the amount of people still here it’d be better for you to go to them.”

  Bennett pauses as another cluster of girls beelines past for Teddy’s end of the table. So many people showed to see the actors (more Teddy than Olivia, honestly) that they had to get the security team to start policing how many can come up to the table at a time.

  “Probably a good call,” Bennett says, even though seeing her family in line would’ve been a nice excuse to get up from the table. “Thanks, Em—”

  The last part of Bennett’s response is drowned out by more eardrum-splitting squeaks. She feels another little push under the table from Teddy. He’s given her so many apologetic nudges since the signing began that eventually he decided to keep his knee pressed against the outside of her leg. Bennett isn’t sure when that started happening, but it’s making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

  “No problem. There’s only about thirty minutes left.” Emmy frowns and glances around the bookstore, adding, “It’s still pretty nuts in here; I don’t think we’re going to be able to end it right at six.”

  Teddy shifts in his seat and his knee inches higher up Bennett’s thigh.

  “Um.” She jumps. “It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

  Emmy cocks her head and gives her a questioning look, just as Olivia leans over and asks, “What’s up?”

  Emmy switched sides behind Bennett so she can tell her privately.

  “Oh, hell yes—the Caldwell clan’s almost here? I can’t wait to meet this Liz girl.”

  Bennett frowns. “Be nice.”

  Olivia sticks out her bottom lip in a mock pout, but it curls back into a smirk a second later. “Of course I’ll be nice. I’m delightful to be around.”

  “Right,” Bennett says, but as tempting as the idea is to unleash Olivia on an unsuspecting Liz, it doesn’t sit right with Bennett. Sure, Liz is far from her favorite person on the planet, but she’s still family. Bennett feels morally obligated to stay on manageable terms with her despite everything Liz has pulled over the years.…

  Olivia’s smirk deepens but she doesn’t push it, and Bennett lets her eyes wander left again. Teddy’s in the process of trying to take a selfie with the current group of girls at the table without leaving his seat—a rule the security guys had to establish earlier in the signing when the crowd began to multiply. Bennett still has all this Shardwell business clattering around inside her head to sort through in addition to watching Teddy interact with all his adoring fans, and it’s been nothing but a distraction all day.

  An idea pops in her head and she grins to herself. The signing is almost over, anyway.… This is too easy to pass up.

  “Hey, I’ll take the picture for y’all if you want,” Bennett offers, having to basically yell to get the group of girls in front of Teddy to hear her. “Why don’t y’all get together in front of the table?”

  Teddy’s knee immediately digs harder into Bennett’s thigh, and they all almost go deaf from the girls’ reactions.

  “Oh my GOD, PLEASE?”

  “YAAAASSSSSS.”

  “PLEASE, I love you so much—please!”

  Totally worth it.

  The girls are screaming over one another so much that Teddy finally agrees—probably to spare the rest of them the hearing loss.

  Sixteen different phones are shoved across the table a moment later.

  “That was cruel,” Olivia leans over and murmurs, sounding like she approves. Bennett has to roll her lips back between her teeth to keep from laughing.

  Once Bennett manages to get to every phone, she places them all at the front of the table for the girls and watches Teddy give out good-bye hugs. He acts like each one of them is his new best friend—patting their backs before pulling away, telling them how cute they are and how happy he is they’re there … reminding them to have their books signed before they leave.

  Bennett’s heart squeezes.

  “Hey, Bennett?” Emmy taps her on the shoulder, and she turns around just in time to watch Olivia smack her assistant in the arm.

  “Emmy, don’t interrupt her when she’s checking out bae!”

  “Bae?” Emmy repeats so loudly that Teddy and the group of girls stops to look over.

  Bennett wants to crawl under the signing table and die.

  “Yes, bae—‘before anyone else,’” Olivia says once the group has gone back to fangirling. Then she counts off on her fingers, “Bae … boyfriend … lover … whatever you want to call it.”

  Bennett’s mouth drops open. “Oh, God. Stop.”

  “Oh, don’t try to deny it, B,” Olivia dismisses her. “PR scheme or not—you know exactly what I’m talking about. And honestly, I don’t think I could stand being around the two of you and all that suffocating sexual tension if I didn’t already ship you guys. OTP status ’n’ shit.”

  “This is a whole subclass of linguistics that wasn’t covered in grad school,” Emmy comments dryly.

  Olivia smirks and starts to say something else, but then her gaze shifts to behind Bennett and she closes her mouth. Someone grips the back of Bennett’s chair a second later. Bennett doesn’t need to look to know who it is.

  “You can expect some serious payback for that one, Caldwell.” Teddy leans in close and growls in her ear.

  An involuntary grin spreads across Bennett’s face at all the possibilities that could entail. She already owes him some payback for the little oldest-trick-in-the-book stunt he pulled, so the idea of the two of them getting into some kind of comeuppance war causes more than a few sarcastic comments to headline her thoughts. She turns toward him to fire one of them off.

  Teddy ends up being a lot closer to her than she anticipated.

  “Oh, real—” She stops short when she registers the way his head is angled toward hers, separating them by a few inches. They both still, watching the other, and Bennett’s entire train of thought derails.

  The memory of how good it feels to have him this close slams into Bennett so hard and so unexpectedly she sits there and just lets it level her. Teddy leans back just enough to drop his gaze to her mouth (which is still open from whatever snark
y response Bennett had planned a minute ago), then his eyes flick back to hers.

  “Very, very soon,” he adds, and there’s an edge to his voice, all throaty and playful and disarmingly hot.…

  But then he’s gone, moving to sit down next to her. By the time his knee finds its spot against her thigh again, Bennett realizes how quiet it’s gotten. She looks across the table to find the majority of the group of girls with their phones pointed in Bennett and Teddy’s direction. The rest are staring.

  Olivia at least has the decency to wait until the group has moved on before leaning over and whispering, “Shardwell is real.”

  Then, right on cue—like he can hear all the thoughts screaming through her head—Bennett feels another little nudge under the table. She isn’t sure that one’s meant to be apologetic, though.

  The next group of girls to approach can’t be older than thirteen—each sporting her own flower crown and carrying a copy of Parachutes. Olivia greets them as they crowd around the signing table. The giggles and nervous glances they keep directing at Teddy have Bennett smiling to herself. Again, they’re all talking over one another about movies Olivia has been in and Teddy’s MTV show. After a few minutes of signing their books and taking pictures, the girls go along their way. That’s when Bennett sees the girl standing behind them.

  “Wait, we’ve got one more.” Bennett grins at her, hoping to make her a little more comfortable. The girl is hugging her book to her chest and staring down at her shoes.

  Olivia joins in with, “Hi, sweetheart. Would you like us to sign your book?”

  The girl glances up nervously, but she isn’t looking at the actors.

  “Bennett—I mean, Ms. Caldwell.” She winces and takes a nervous step away from the table.

  “Bennett’s totally fine,” Bennett says. “What’s your name?”

  “Um—it’s Maggie,” she answers, moving toward them again and setting her book in front of Bennett. It’s the paperback version, and the spine has several pieces of duct tape holding it together. “I w-wanted to tell you how much I love your writing. You’ve already inspired me to write my own novels, and…” She trails off, pushing her glasses up to wipe underneath her eyes.