The Trouble with Dating a Movie Star

by ZN Willett

  Going through customs seemed quicker than the last time I had landed at Heathrow. The bags took a while longer, but the driver was prompt, and before long, we were off to the bookstore.

  It was a small bookstore in Camden. I had previously spent a lot of time in that part of the city shopping and roaming through the Camden Market. It was one of my favorite places to eat, and I asked Keira if she wanted to come back that night for Indian cuisine. Excitement showed on her face. Even though Keira always showed professionalism, it was great seeing her eyes light up to a new experience. It was her first time in the United Kingdom.

  We pulled up to the little Camden bookstore, and while Keira set up, I met the storeowner and greeted the line of readers. When she finished, Keira left me to prepare while she checked us into our hotel. The signing was scheduled for an hour, followed by a read through, with Q&A's at the end.

  By the time I was finished signing books, the jet lag started to hit me. I was able to read a few pages of Deception without stumbling over the words—which shocked me. Everything I was reading seemed to blur, except for what caught my eye on the magazine stand. In the front of the store, I saw a very familiar looking head of hair. I smiled at the thought of Andrew, and made note to text him that I had arrived before the Q&A started.

  We took a five-minute break, and as I came closer to the magazine cover, it was indeed Andrew. But he wasn't alone; Brittney was with him.

  Normally, there was nothing unusual about that; tabloids still placed them on the cover to sell magazines. I knew Andrew was in Canada working and Brittney was in LA. Andrew had been so busy shooting that he told me he had no time for anything else, including dining out. But it was the headline that kept my attention. Reconciliation?

  I looked closer and it was a blurry, blown up picture of the two of them sitting in what looked to be a Japanese restaurant. On the bottom was a small circle, with an even more blown up picture, which looked as if Brittney was whispering something in Andrew's ear. That was what I wanted to call it, because it sure as hell looked as if she was kissing Andrew's neck.

  I turned the pages, ripping through it until I reached the article. As I read, it appeared that Brittney was indeed in Canada and that she and Andrew had had dinner at what I discovered was his favorite Japanese restaurant. I stared at the date on the photo and it was stamped last week. The same week Andrew complained about having no time for anything.

  My heart sped rapidly at the final sentence stating that both sides have yet to comment, and the two stars may have decided to give their love one more try.

  I felt sick, as my hands and fingers started to tingle with electricity, before my chest caved in with a brute force of weight that could have knocked me over. I stared straight ahead as everything around me went dim, while the inferno inside of me grew. My mind was a total blank. I thought of absolutely nothing as my body started to take over. Keira placed her hand on my shoulder saying something, but I couldn't hear her. I wasn’t even aware that she had come back. I just walked back to the group of women and asked if anyone had any questions.

  I was on autopilot as dozens of answers spewed from my lips. It wasn’t until a woman asked the question "was my character based on anyone in particular," I realized that if I didn't leave soon, my career could be ruined. I was about to express some very unprofessional words, so I dodged the question.

  As I looked over towards Keira—who seemed to be staring at me with a wary eye—I mouthed, "I'm done."

  She immediately stepped in, wrapping things up, explaining that she needed to carry me away to another appointment—blah, blah, blah—and how glad it was to have everyone come. I said thank you and goodbye to everyone as I shook hands while I made my way to the exit. I stopped to ask the owner if I could buy the tabloid magazine. She gave it to me, and I was grateful when we got into the car. Before Keira could say one scolding word, I gave her the magazine as I dazed out the window.

  She read quietly with occasional gasps, growls, and what the hells. After she had folded it closed, she said, "Maybe Brittney's working on the film."

  I continued to stare out the window. "Their working contract is up. She wasn't scheduled on that film."

  "Okay, umm," she thought about it for a moment. "Maybe the pictures are old."

  I grabbed the magazine and flipped to the page. "I thought that at first too." I pointed to the picture where you could see Andrew's arm clearly. "But that's the watch I gave him for Christmas."

  Sympathetically, she said. "It's probably all a misunderstanding, Andria."

  "Yeah. Brittney's lips—or face—just 'happened' to be on Andrew's neck. I must have misheard Andrew when he told me he was too busy with re-shoots and script re-writes to even eat. Keira, he should have let me know that Brittney was even there. Huh…I actually felt bad leaving the country. All Andrew would say was that he missed me so much and wished we could be together. Yeah, it's all a misunderstanding." I turned to stare out the window saying nothing more.

  We pulled up to the hotel and Keira showed me to my room before giving me the keys. We weren't sharing the suite, because of Andrew's arrival next week. The thought of him coming to visit made me sick to my stomach. Before I entered, Keira asked me if I wanted anything else. I told her no, thank you, I just needed to sleep.

  You would think that sleep would have been a hard thing for me to do knowing that my boyfriend may have cheated on me with an ex-lover. But I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up the next morning to a glass of water and aspirin laid out on my nightstand. Keira always knew what I needed. I took the medicine and headed to the bathroom. They had a large lovely tub, and as much as I wanted to take a bath, for some reason I couldn't. I just stood in the shower until the hot water turned cold.

  As I dried my hair, I saw the vibrations of my phone ringing on the nightstand. I went to see if it was Keira checking on me, but I was surprised to see Brandon's name. I wasn't expecting that and then I checked all my missed calls. Erin, Brandon, Dad, Mom, Wade, Rebeca, Taylor and countless ones from Andrew. I wasn’t sure why the other's had called, but I quickly realized I never told anyone I had made it safely. I sent Keira a text thanking her for the aspirin and as soon as I pushed send, she was at my door within minutes.

  "Do you want something to eat?" she asked, and brushed passed me heading straight to the living room.

  I followed behind her. "I’m not sure if I can eat anything."

  "Well, try. I ordered some lunch," she flatly stated and plopped down on the couch.

  "I forgot to tell everyone we made it safely, could you handle that?"

  "I already did the moment we landed."

  "Did you text my family?"

  "Yes."

  Okay then, what was going on? "They have left several messages. I haven’t looked at the texts."

  She hesitated before answering, "It's because of Andrew."

  Hearing his name cut through me. "Why?"

  She sighed. "They all saw or heard about the article."

  "Oh, I see. And my Dad?"

  She turned her body fully towards me. "Jaimie got to him and Brandon. Your mother called as well, along with Erin.

  "Uh-huh. Rebeca?"

  She smiled warily. "She called wanting to check on you. She also said that she wanted to see you next week."

  "Taylor and Wade?"

  She chuckled under her breath. "They were checking on you, as well. Taylor did say something like Andrew's an ass and Brittney's a backstabbing whore. I explained to everyone that you haven't spoken to anyone, and I wasn't sure how long it would be until you did. All you said was that you weren't going to speak to Andrew for a while." She grinned timidly. "Now, you're free until tomorrow afternoon. What would you like to do?"

  "Stay—"

  "Except, stay in your room. You have been waiting for this trip for a long time and nothing, and no one is going to ruin that for you."

  "But Keira—" I felt the tears forming for the first time.

  "
Until you speak to Andrew, you don't know what really happened. You of all people know that everything you read isn't always true. I have seen the way that man looks at you. He adores you, and before you do anything rash, you're going to take a moment and cool off."

  I blinked at her a couple of times. "Well, thanks Dr. Rationale—"

  "I'm not saying he won't pay for this. Or Brittney…" She coyly grinned, "I'm saying take your time."

  After a much needed lunch—I wasn't going to tell Keira she was right about me being hungry—I discovered that my closest friends had been emailing each other on how to handle everything. Including Rebeca and Taylor. Wade wanted to get into the action, but Taylor wouldn't let him. She said he would tell Andrew.

  Rebeca and Taylor weren't defending Andrew, but they made a comment to Keira that Brittney and Frank had to be behind it somehow. Frank was always quick to refute things or he at least warned the parties involved. This had come out too quickly. They also blamed Andrew for not putting his foot down with Brittney. But they hadn't told him yet; they both weren't speaking to Andrew either.

  Every time I thought about Andrew, excruciating pain radiated from my heart. I knew there had to be an explanation, but my eyes and mind weren't seeing ‘eye to eye.’ I thought it was best to not think about it for a while. The rage steadily consuming me wasn't helping, so not thinking about it seemed to slow down the burning, as well as the murderous thoughts that flashed rapidly in my mind. Between Erin threatening to cut off Andrew's balls and both Brandon and Dad threatening to bring a few guys up to Canada; I couldn't hear anymore.

  I tried to just relax with Keira in the room, but everything hurt. Tears constantly pooled in my eyes afraid to fall. My heart felt like a concrete brick that was slowly crumbling away. My eyes burned as visions of Andrew and Brittney together flooded my mind. My chest heaved grasping and forcing out air to breathe.

  I looked apologetically at Keira, and I couldn't hold on anymore. She understood. I didn't want to be weak, but my heart couldn't handle this kind of pain. It was suffocating. I slowly drifted into the welcoming darkness of my room, as I floated to the bed, and laid my head on the pillow.

  Andrew's voice haunted me as I woke in the darkness. His touch…his eyes…his smell…all penetrated my soul as I clung on to some sort of sanity.

  That's what he did to me, and I had every right to be scared of it. Without Andrew, I couldn't breathe, and the thought of him suffocated me back to sleep.

  Being awakened by a loud ringing phone didn't help the anger nestled inside. "What?" It was still dark and insanely early.

  "Ms. Moore, my apologies, but I have a Mr. Hughes on the line and he said it was an emergency. We usually respect our guest's do not disturb requests, but he said he would contact the coppers."

  Andrew was a dumb ass; he thought this was going to make me talk to him. "Please tell Mr. Hughes, that I will call him at a later date." I started to hang up and heard the man calling out my name. "Yes, what is it?"

  "Ms. Moore. Again my apologies, but Mr. Hughes threatened that if I did not get you on the telephone, he would indeed contact the coppers. He said something about dragging you out and brute force."

  "Put him on," I said, exasperated.

  Andrew immediately began to speak. "Andria please let me explain! The first I heard about those pictures was yesterday. Frank dropped the ball! I've been busy with—"

  "Andrew, save it! That's not going to change the fact that you're a clueless jackass. Oh and threatening a front desk clerk is not going to make me hear you out."

  "You wouldn't answer any of my calls or texts."

  "Does that surprise you? When I'm ready to talk to you, I will."

  "It's all a misunderstanding. Please, baby—"

  "Hell, no! You do not have the right to call me that or even utter my name! I have given you the benefit of the doubt about Brittney so many times, but Andrew, I've had enough!"

  "If you would just let me explain."

  "What? It’s not what it looks like, right? You're going to tell me you weren't out with Brittney? Somehow her lips got stuck on your neck or whatever she was doing."

  "It wasn't like that!"

  "That may be true, but you are always so careful when you're with me. You try awfully hard to keep your 'private life' private—"

  "That's because I'm trying to protect you, Andria."

  "Yet, you're seen with Brittney in a compromising situation? Maybe, you should have put some of that effort towards her. Or doesn't it matter that you keep me hidden while traipsing across the globe with your ex-girlfriend!"

  "Andria…" he sounded defeated.

  "Just the fact that you were with her shows that she was somehow able to manipulate you, again! My patience has run thin."

  "There is nothing going on between me and Brittney—"

  "Does she know that? Do you know that she still loves you, Andrew?"

  He huffs. "She doesn't—"

  "Ask her. Because I sure did and she never denied it."

  He was quiet.

  "Have nothing to say? The woman who accused me of not having honest intentions played you Andrew. Hell, she played both of us at first. I truly tried to believe that the two of you could only be friends, but I was wrong. I knew she would try something, but I trusted you. But no more!"

  “I didn't know."

  "Right…"

  "I wouldn't lie to you. I love you, Andria. Only you."

  "I want to believe that."

  "It has only been you," he choked out. "Without you…I can't breathe…"

  I felt my throat closing in. I couldn't do this now. "Andrew. I need time. There is so much going on in my life right now that I need to focus on my tour. I will talk to you when I get back. But until then, please do not call me or try anything. I swear Andrew if you do…I will never talk to you again." I hung up.

  I rushed out of bed and headed straight for the toilet. I was afraid that I wasn't going to make it as everything inside of me came up. I lay on the cold, hard tile while streams of tears poured out of me.

  That was the first time I had woken up wrapped around a toilet bowl. It was Keira's shrieks that got my attention. "Andria, are you sick?"

  I opened one eye. "No. Andrew called me this morning."

  She squatted down next to me. "I told the hotel you weren't accepting any phone calls and to send all the flower deliveries to me."

  Andrew had sent five bouquets yesterday. "Thanks. But when you're Andrew Hughes, apparently you can threaten your way through anything."

  "Did he explain?"

  I opened both eyes squinting at her. "Do you think I wanted to listen to his explanation?"

  "That's my girl." She sat up and started to turn on the tub's faucet. "What are you planning to do?"

  "…I plan on working, and told Andrew that I would deal with him when I return. I need to get through this tour."

  She grinned. "I'm proud of you, but you're hurting."

  I fumbled to my feet. "Keira, I knew Brittney was going to try something, even though I warned the bitch. My stupid mistake was to think Andrew could handle her."

  "You know there's more to the story, right?"

  I walked to the sink, splashed cold water on my face, before facing myself in the mirror. "That, I am sure of."

  Her arched, browed expression reflected behind me. "So, eventually you're going to hear Andrew out?"

  I turned to face her. "Eventually…"

  Keira added more appearances and signings to fill in every crevice of my schedule. Elena was happy about that; more appearances meant more sales. It seemed to help, and meeting my readers always brought me joy.

  There were a lot of tough moments; the ones where I had to talk about my characters' relationship and the love they have for each other. Their relationship is an all-consuming one. The last thing I wanted to speak about was that topic.

  In-between work, Keira and I had time to visit Harrods department store. I loved getting lost there, and I went
a little crazy. I never quite understood why shopping could make a girl happy, but buying five pairs of shoes helped.

  We had tea at Ladurée, and I stuffed myself with my favorite selections of macaroons. Chocolate helped as well. But, the gaping hole in my heart wasn't easily fixable. Despite my best efforts to plaster, tape, glue and fill in the hole, it grew bigger.

  Keira and I returned back to the hotel with a ridiculous amount of shopping bags. She told me we would meet up later for dinner. But, I wasn't prepared for the surprise when I entered her suite for dinner and saw Rebeca, Taylor, and Erin. Rebeca and Taylor were supposed to arrive at the end of the week, but their plans "miraculously" changed, and they had arrived three days early. Erin, on the other hand, never planned to come to London.

  Keira took care of all the arrangements and had Erin staying with me, while Rebeca and Taylor were in the adjoining suite next to her. We didn’t speak about anything too heavy at first. We were all spread out on the floor in Keira's suite eating ice cream and drinking bottles of liquor we had raided from the mini bar. Rebeca said it helped with jet lag.

  Everyone was talking among themselves, and Rebeca scooted beside me. "Andria, I would have been here sooner, but I had to perform a last-minute surgery on one of my kids."

  "How can you do that without having your heart wrenched out?"

  "Oh, dear. I have my days. But, helping the ones I can makes up for it. Until we find a cure for cancer, we all have to do our part."

  I looked at the woman amazed, and honored that she would be concerned with what was going on between her son and me. "Why me?"

  She looked confused. "I'm not understanding, dear?"

  "Andrew and I haven't been together that long. I'm sure you've seen your fair share of women come and go in his life. Why be so kind to me?"