by Dani Hall
You know.
For publicity purposes.
He opened the door and led me in; I’m sure making a show for the cameras he knew were inside. I tried to keep my guard up, remembering he was faking it for the cameras. I put a smile on my face as I looked from camera to camera. Taylor greeted the hostess and she dazedly led us to our table. Taylor pulled my chair out for me. Glancing around it was sea-themed. Not very original, but beachy nonetheless. Aquariums were everywhere, kids gathered around looking at the exotic looking fish. We got stares from around the place as we sat down, but eventually they went back to their own business. Every once in a while I would hear a pop as a picture was taken.
Taylor was glancing at a menu. I noticed that he looked tired, more exhausted than anything else. He glanced up lazily at me.
“You just going to look at me, or do you plan on eating?” He snapped.
I ignored the comment, sipped on water, and glanced at the menu. It took a lot not to spit my drink back out. As quaint as this place seemed, it was extremely expensive. I glanced up at a T.V. in the corner. Of course it was on Star Gaze. Joe was showing a video of some star in the subway. I glanced at the body guards that were stationed around exits. I spotted Hector standing near an aquarium. He looked uneasy as he stared at the T.V.
“I’m tired of this whole fake I’m-such-a-big deal act. And those cameras are going to catch the real you one day, you can’t act like a Hollywood bad boy when you’re sixty.” He looked taken aback, looking anxiously at the cameramen who were talking about hamburgers, not taking video of us any longer.
“Stop acting all big and bad, I know it’s all just fluff under that hard exterior.”
He leaned across the table, almost in my face.
“Then what is it you want from me exactly? You’re such a damn princess, what will make you happy?” He hissed. His hostility surprised me.
“You want a hint?” I snapped. “Why don’t you be real? You’re a fake. A phony. I don’t understand why girls are so attracted to you.”
He backed off, sighing as he leaned back in his booth. Drumming his fingers on the table he met my eyes.
“What do you want me to do? Spill my feelings about a bad childhood and how nobody loves me? Or talk about the weather or some shit like that?” He raised his voice as what appeared to be a manager walked by. “Hey, can we change the channel please?”
“Poor, poor rich boy. He must have it so bad.” I muttered.
He was getting pissed and the cameramen were picking their cameras back up. Taylor’s demeanor changed when he noticed the camera guys were back in the game. His facial expressions vanished and he wouldn’t look at me, just went back to looking like he didn’t care.
“Why did you agree to do this contest?” I asked, trying to give something light for the cameras, because that seemed to be all he cared about. As soon as I put on this fake, flirty girl façade maybe they’d leave and I could leave too.
“I did it for publicity.” He said, studying his hands. Shocker. I thought he’d give the camera some sob story about wanting to help the girl who found him or something. “Zombie Grave is coming out and it was great publicity for it.”
“Wow.” I mustered. “What would have happened if a guy had found you?”
His eyebrows knit together; I don’t think he had considered that.
“I think there were guys who would have wanted to make this a date night.” He said, and a whisper of a smile touched his eyes.
“I think some guys would have run me down if they knew you were in that room.”
“Yea, probably.” He considered me for a second. “If they were straight we might have just called it a guy’s night out or something. If he was gay…” He couldn’t seem to find an answer.
“You would have had a great new role to play.” I said, teasing him. “You know, publicity.”
We both laughed. The camera men got bored again and put their cameras down. They wanted to see Taylor’s temper obviously. Wanted to catch bad news, not good.
“They really want to catch you in a bad position.” I said trying to keep a low tone and nodding towards them. He nodded.
“The media loves it if I lose my temper.” His eyes were back on his hands.
“For the record,” I said and he looked up. “That conversation? Being real? That’s nice. I don’t care about abs, or how much of a god you think you are. Conversation. Laughing. That’s what I look for.”
“So the fact that I have abs of steal and am really sexy doesn’t faze you?”
“No.” He cocked a grin. “Well, not when you act like you know you are. Subtle. Subtle is sexy.”
“I’ll be right back.” He tossed his menu onto the table and stood up, walking over to the restrooms. I glanced up at the T.V. in time to see my picture on the screen.
“Turn that up!” I yelled at a guard standing under the T.V. “Please.” I added, as an afterthought. He hesitated but did so.
“Kale Delaney is in the middle of her date with Taylor Jett. While we’ll give you inside into that later tonight and tomorrow, we have breaking news today about the two spotted yesterday.” The video I had seen on the T.V. earlier in the jet popped up on the screen. I hadn’t been paying attention, but the guy being tackled was the guy with the gun to my back.
“You can see Taylor Jett clearly tackling a robber who had a gun to Kale’s back. Isn’t that scary? Taylor cooperated with police and the guy was taken away. For Taylor to be out in plain sight like that, it must have been important. We happened to have cameras there to ask Taylor about the accident.” Taylor’s face popped up on screen.
“I had come out tonight to make Kale feel more at ease about our date tomorrow, to talk her through tomorrow and let her know what all was going down. Imagine my surprise to see a robber holding a gun to her back.”
Oh my God.
Yea, too big of a freaking coincidence. That’s why all those vans and cars were there yesterday. It was like the cars and vans with video equipment today. It was a big act. It was planned. It was all planned. That robber was nothing more than a paid actor. He got confused when I threw the purse because he wasn’t sure to take cameras away from where I was standing. If he stayed where he was, how would he pull off the act? He was just about to crack when Taylor tackled him.
And Taylor. If Taylor was really checking up on me, he would have worn that hoodie the whole time. But he didn’t, because he wanted the cameras to see it was him.
“After the event, we see Kale getting quite cozy with a guy in the parking lot. Maybe she wasn’t that interested in Taylor after all, because whoever this cutie is obviously has her affections.”
They showed video of when Taylor got close to me and I was backed up against my car, his hoody and sunglasses keeping his identity a secret from the world.
“You better watch out, Kale Delaney. If you don’t appreciate what you’ve got going with Taylor right now, those fan girls will be breaking down your door.”
Anger flushed through my veins. I could feel my face heat up. Most hated girl in the world, yea, that would be me.
Hector was quickly over at the table I was sitting at. I saw the cameramen hesitate, cameras halfway pointed at me.
“Kale…” He whispered. I held my hand up. I stood up, walking quickly through the restaurant, not caring to hide the anger on my face. I kept my expression as harmless as I possibly could, I hoped the cameras might just catch a side of viciousness. Why not? Hector was on my heel.
“Kale, wait.” He whispered. “Just stick around a little longer, please,”
“Why, so you can humiliate me more?” I hissed, shoving the doors to the restaurant open and stepping outside. I let my anger start to bubble. Taylor Jett obviously didn’t care about what I looked like in the media, why should I care about his damn publicity tonight. “And you were in on it the whole time. That’s why you didn’t follow me to my car. Because you couldn’t be there or a robber wouldn’t have pulled a gun against me. Tha
t didn’t even make sense anyway! It’s too big of a coincidence for someone to pick on me because they think I have money, it’s all because of this stupid competition. All for publicity for Taylor freaking Jett.”
“Please,”
“Hector! I thought you were on my side!” I was somewhat pleading with him. I could see sadness on his face, disappointment in himself I’m sure. I could tell he was hurt, that they made him do this. But I couldn’t make myself care. I was so upset. I had been used. I would now be the most hated girl in America because Taylor put on a hoodie and acted like someone else. All the while making himself look like the hero who was about to get his heart broken.
“If I have to walk back to North Carolina, Hector, I will.” I snapped. I looked in and guards seemed to be keeping the cameramen at bay, inside. Hector sighed.
“Right, of course, but Kale I’m not sure if-“
I watched Taylor push open the glass doors with a concerned expression. He walked over to where we were standing; I kept backing up every time he took a step closer.
“Kale-“ He started. But I stopped him.
“Don’t talk to me.” I yelled. “If you want me to keep what calmness I have now, you had better not say another word. Don’t start pretending now like you give a damn about how I’m feeling.”
Taylor looked helplessly at Hector, trying to figure out why I was upset. A limo pulled around and Hector went for the door. I stepped up first though, opening the door and slamming it behind me.
Angry tears filled my eyes under the cover of the car. I was stupid. So, so stupid.
“What’s going on?” I heard the muffled voice of Taylor outside the limo. “Hector, what the fuck happened?”
“Star Gaze was on the T.V., sir.” Taylor put a hand up to his mouth, taking in Hector.
“Ok…” He was being careful. “And obviously something was on that upset her?”
“The segment was on about the robber last night, sir.”
“God, I knew she’d be pissed. That upset her that bad?”
“Well, no. They added a bit to the end of the segment this time.”
“What did they add?”
“They threw up video of you in a hoodie, your back; they couldn’t tell it was you.”
“Yea?”
“They told the world that the mysterious man in the hoodie must be her real interest, and that she should pretty much watch her back. They made her look real bad.”
I didn’t hear Taylor say anything. I waited, listening for more muffled voices as I rubbed at my eyes. Then I jumped when I heard the limo door open. Taylor swung himself inside. I wrapped my fingers quickly around the door handle, planning on getting right back out if he were to stay inside. He snatched my fingers quickly away though.
“Drive.” He barked at the driver. The doors locked and the limo was in movement.
“No!” I yelled, still trying to reach for the handle. I could jump out if it was going slow enough.
“You don’t want to do that.”
“Oh the hell I don’t!”
“The media is already going to have a firestorm with what happened in the restaurant, you don’t want to jump out of a car. Not today.”
“You did this!” I was hysterical, I knew I was. I was past the point of upset.
“I know.” He held his free hand up, trying for mutual ground. I was about to start yelling again when he started speaking before I could get it out. “Hold-on-hold-on-hold-on…wait until we can get back to the hotel. Then you can scream your guts out. Ok?”
“Yea, because you’re so damn worried about the media, right? I’m just freaking ruining your image, aren’t I?! Why should I care about helping you at this point?”
“If you just hold on,” He was gritting his teeth, trying to stay patient. “I can fix this. Just hold on until we get to the hotel.” He finally released the death grip on my wrist. I yanked it back anyway, rubbing at it with my other hand. I was breathing hard the whole car ride, screaming at him in my mind. He kept his eyes on me, probably afraid I’d still be willing to jump out of a car going 50 miles an hour down the highway.
We got to the hotel and I was out of the door before it made a complete stop. I yanked at my purse, pulling out my card key before I even reached the elevator. There were pops and flashes as media tried to surround us. Taylor was right behind me, pressing the button for us to go up, body guards keeping paparazzi at bay. I kept my anger under control as we entered the elevator. I stepped over to the controls and he did too, reaching past me to hit my floor. The doors closed. We listened to the pings as it went through all the floors. Finally reaching my floor, I stepped off and stormed down to my room.
I shoved the card key into the door and opened it, planning on slamming the door in Taylor’s face. I went to do that, but he caught it.
“Think you’re quite clever, trying to slam a door in my face, don’t you?”
“What makes you think I want you in here?!” I yelled. As much force as I put behind the door, trying to close it, Taylor was able to squeeze his way in. He closed the door behind him. “Get out!” I screamed.
“I know you’re pissed. But come on, what did you expect?”
“You made me think I was in danger! You put me through stress levels I have never experienced before. And I’m in college! I could have had a heart attack with that gun to my back! I’ll have emotional damage for life! And then that hoodie stunt? Aw! Brilliant! Give yourself a hero metal and at the same time make me the worst human in existence. Congratulations, Taylor Jett. You’re probably the worst excuse of a human being I’ve ever heard of in my life!”
“I…can fix this.” He held a finger up to me and pulled his phone out. He dialed with his thumb while still holding a finger up to me. Putting the phone to his ear I could hear a distant ringing.
“Hey, Harry? Yea, it’s Taylor. Great, thanks. We had a little mishap. Yes. Is a commercial break going to air soon? I need to talk to Joe. Get on air, if I need to. Yes. Alright, I’ll hold.”
I stared at him, trying to figure out what he was doing.
“Yea, Joe? Hey. You’re on commercial right? Yea, dude, why did you air that hoodie thing, man?...Well you got that all wrong. That was me.” He grimaced as he blew his own cover, but gave a quick, fake chuckle. “Yea…no, I mean, I’m pretty into her. No, no, I’m pretty serious about her. Yea, do me a favor man; you’re probably going to get a hold of some footage tonight at the restaurant. Kale got pretty upset over what you aired tonight, man. Yea, well you got your information wrong. It was me in the hoodie. We’re back at her hotel now, if you have to beef that up, I don’t care. But get that information right. That bit was meant to make me look good, not make her look bad. Alright, thanks man. Alright, night.”
He hung up the phone, glancing at the screen for a moment.
“Go turn on the T.V.” He said, flipping through some page on his phone.
“What, I’m your slave now too? Was that in the small print of my contract?”
He rolled his eyes and went over to the T.V., turning it on. “Jesus you’re touchy. They won’t air it right away.” He said, flipping to the Star Gaze show. “But it’ll be on.”
“What, so now you make yourself look like the hero again by covering my ass?”
“I didn’t ask them to air me and you and the car. I thought they had stopped filming, that’s why I put the hoodie on so I wouldn’t attract attention. But they decided to run with it.”
“And, what? Now I owe you my gratitude?”
He looked at me, an incredulous expression on his face.
“You get freaking pissed off that that was on the news, I just fixed it, and you’re still pissed.” He tossed his phone onto the table in front of the couch. “I’m not sure exactly what you want from me, Kale. You want me to call the guy back and tell him that you stormed out of the restaurant because I turned down a second date with you? That’s what they would have said. They won’t air that footage now because I intervened before i
t could happen.”
“If you were honest in the first place you wouldn’t have had to fix your mistake!”
“My mistake? This whole night was a mistake! I thought you’d wreck everything! I was going to get at least a little good publicity out of you! If that meant tackling a robber in public, I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t do it again. Do you know what the media is like? It takes a hundred good things to make up for one damn mistake.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“It is your problem. You won the contest, you’re here, deal with it.”
“Deal with what? Your constant mood swings? Your arrogance? Your determinedness to look like a total jerk in front of a camera?”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“But I do, I do know what I’m talking about. You can’t be honest with anyone, Taylor Jett. Not even yourself.”
Joe was suddenly on the T.V. and we both stopped, glancing at the T.V.
“An update on the Just Like Me date going on tonight folks. Unfortunately right now we don’t have an update about their festivities tonight, but they were spotted going back to the same hotel together. Perhaps you Taylor Jett fans can get up early to gather around the entrance in the morning. We aired earlier in the broadcast that Kale was with another man at the movie theatre.” They again showed the footage of me and Taylor in the parking lot. “That guy in the jacket? No, he’s not another man. He’s none other than Taylor Jett himself. Apparently they’re pretty smitting, folks, and so those ladies who are in love with Taylor Jett? Prepare to get your hearts broken, because this probably isn’t the last time we’ll hear about Kale Delaney.”
Joe moved segments to talk about another star and I stared at Taylor. I could get angry about the hotel comment, but I couldn’t muster up the strength. I was no longer the bad guy, now I was being portrayed as a hormonal teen that was good enough to be with a movie star for the night. I could deal with that, I guess. That’s what everyone was thinking anyway. I’d rather be hated for being in some star struck love with Taylor Jett rather than breaking his heart.