Between the Raindrops

by Schussler, Susan

  My most important errand was to pick up my skis from the Sports Shack, which was all the way across town by my parents’ house, so it was my first. I had dropped off the skis a week before to get them cleaned up and have the bindings checked. I have never been skiing out west, and I didn’t want any problems on the slopes. I wanted to get to the Sports Shack before rush hour started, because I knew traffic would be relentless if the rain started to freeze.

  When I went out to my car, there he was, leaning up against the passenger side like he owned it.

  “So are you meeting here or somewhere else?” he asked.

  I remember rolling my eyes at him and thinking, “Really? What a douche. Like I’m going to tell him just because he asked.”

  Then he said something like, “I can pay you—for your story. Everybody can use money. Even if you broke up, I’ll pay you for the story. What do you have to lose?”

  I didn’t say a word as I slid into my Honda. An EXpireD song was on the radio when I started the car, and I cranked it as loud as it would go, trying to push the guy out of my head. Thinking back, I shouldn’t have turned it up, because if Will and I had broken up, the last thing that I would have wanted to listen to is the band formed by his two best friends. I took off down the street toward the freeway. I was halfway across town before I spotted his car in my rearview mirror. For a split second, I thought maybe it was just a look-alike car, but no. As it got closer, I saw the shape of his head, and I knew he was following me.

  I was in the far left lane, and I could see the green box approaching on my right. I tried to speed up so he couldn’t catch up to me, but he was cruising faster than I was willing to go. As his car overtook mine, he began honking a high-pitched horn, not like an American car’s horn. I looked over to see what his problem was, and he was holding up a piece of paper against the window. On the paper, he had handwritten in black marker, “$5,000 for your story.” When I read it, I thought, “Well, that’s an insult.” It was. What was he thinking??? Then I saw the brake lights. He was watching me and not the road. The car in front of him slammed on his brakes, and for some reason, his green car slammed into my car’s side. My little defenseless red CR-V careened into the cement barrier, smashed on both sides like a metal sandwich. There was nothing I could do. My air bags exploded, and I felt the jolting impact of two or three more vehicles joining the pileup. I remember feeling really cold, and that’s about all I can recall.

  When I woke up in the hospital, I was really angry at the stalker. He had wrecked my vacation—my time with Will. What a greedy asshole, I thought. I wanted to hurt him for almost killing me. I’m not usually violent, but he made me SO MAD. Then I saw the pictures of the accident, and I read that the guy in the green crossover had died. I felt kind of bad, just a little. I didn’t really want him to die, but I guess if someone had to die, it should be the one whose stupidity and greed had caused the accident.

  I don’t know what I should tell Will about the stalker. If I tell him anything, it is going to get blown up into a big argument, and he will try to lock me up in some castle tower to protect me like I’m a princess in a fairy tale. This is real life. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I really want to spend my life with him, but he better stop obsessing over what could happen and start living!

  Will flipped through the rest of the journal, not thinking, until Sarah snatched it out of his hand. He looked up at her without saying a word. He could feel an uncontrollable rage growing inside him. He wasn’t mad at Sarah, and he didn’t want her to think he was mad at her. So he leaned in, touching his forehead to hers, and held it there in silence with his eyes closed, thinking about almost losing her. Gathering comfort from her touch, he took several deep breaths, then pulled back.

  “It’s a good thing he died, or I would have killed him, and that would have really messed up our lives.” Will wasn’t feeling much remorse for the man’s death, and he wasn’t going to hide that fact from Sarah.

  Sarah watched him carefully as his anger subsided. “Are you all right?”

  He nodded and smiled at her, although it wasn’t genuine. She stared into his eyes questioningly.

  “I’m fine. We’re still getting married. I was just thinking that I’m responsible for another person’s death.”

  “Cut it out, Will! You can’t control what other people do.”

  “He wouldn’t have been chasing you if it weren’t for me.”

  “The guy would have found someone else to stalk if it wasn’t me, and maybe he would have killed that person instead of himself. It was probably good that he was stalking me,” she added, staring at him wide-eyed. “It’s not your fault. Jack’s death was not your fault. You’re not responsible for any of this. You weren’t even there.”

  “You are my responsibility. I should have been there, Sarah. I should have been there to protect you. What if he was an obsessed fan? What if he had killed you? I’d never be able to live with myself.” He reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips. He kissed it and then pressed her palm against his cheek before dropping it, intertwined with his, to her lap.

  “You can’t protect me from everything, Will. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and there is nothing you could do to stop it. We are not in control of everything, so we just have to live our lives the best we can.”

  He knew she was right. It was the exact same advice his dad had told him. He forged a smile again. She was so damn smart, but so naive. He looked into her green eyes, and as he thought about all she had dealt with on her own, he realized that she was tougher than he gave her credit for.

  He pulled her into a hug and, after several seconds, admitted, “Actually, you handled yourself pretty well. I’m impressed.”

  Will knew something was going to have to change. He would definitely have to get more security. Though she handled herself well, he wasn’t going to leave her alone anymore, especially after what happened yesterday. It would be a lot more work, but she was his number one priority now, so he would make sure she was safe above all else.

  The rest of the week, Sarah and Will stayed locked in the house, their days filled with swimming in the courtyard and lounging in front of the television. A few people stopped by to visit, but Will and Sarah hadn’t left the property since they got home from the hospital.

  Sarah was sitting forward, straddling a cushioned lounge chair under the pergola, typing on her laptop, when Will slid in behind her. He nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply as his arms enveloped her. She leaned her head to the side and pulled her hair over until it fell just right, opening her neck for Will to kiss.

  As he kissed her and his hands began to roam, he whispered, “I love you, Sarah.”

  “I love you too.” She stretched her neck to glimpse his face. Seeing the worry on his brow, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

  He greedily kissed her lips awkwardly from behind, reaffirming what she suspected. He had been on the phone with Isaac this morning, and ever since, he’d seemed off, uptight. Even his kisses seemed needy.

  When he didn’t answer, she closed her laptop and turned around into a kneeling position so she could read his face better. As she sat back on her heels, she asked, “What did Isaac want?”

  He paused for a long second. “There’s been more hate mail. He just wanted to make sure that Sam was beefing up security. We’re hiring a couple of new full-time security people.”

  “Good, because you can’t keep me a prisoner here much longer,” she said as a joke, but froze when Will didn’t laugh. She was looking forward to going to the set tomorrow for the first day of filming in LA, but Will’s expression made her question whether she would be going.

  “Just a few more days of confinement for you, OK? We don’t have the new guys hired yet, and you can’t come on set the first few days. I just don’t know what I would do if something happened to you, Sarah.” He brushed her hair back off her shoulder and gazed sincerely into her emerald eyes. “I almost lost you—twice—and it was my f
ault. It would kill me—”

  “It was just a fluke. I don’t even remember what happened with Paris, and I’m fine. I’ll only drink from sealed bottles. I promise.” This was exactly why she’d worried about him reading her journal. It just added to his guilt, and now he was even more paranoid about her safety. “I can’t even go on set with you until more security is hired? You’re letting them win.”

  “No, you can come to the set, but not until Thursday. I need you to stay at the house until then, and it doesn’t have anything to do with lack of security.”

  “Why Thursday?”

  “Because”—his mouth twisted like he was searching for the right words—“it’s just bad form to have your significant other on set when you’re filming a love scene. And I don’t want you there. It’s bad enough that you’ll see it in the theater.”

  It bothered Sarah just a little that Will had set the limit, but she did her best to push it out of her mind, knowing it was his job and she would just have to let it go.

  Sarah stayed back at the house those first couple of days, but on Thursday, when the love scenes were complete, she went to the set—a big giant warehouse with trailers parked outside. At first, she spent most of her time observing. It was exciting to witness the film process, but after a few days and a call from her mother, Sarah realized that she needed to focus on her schoolwork. Time was ticking away. So she stayed in Will’s trailer, with Sam nearby. The trailer was clean and new. It was like a miniapartment. It had just about everything she needed, but mostly, it was a place to hang out and type on her laptop.

  Her faculty adviser approved Sarah’s main project right away and then assigned two smaller ones online. She thought her adviser was being lenient, allowing her to get six credits for the three assignments. It wasn’t until Sarah had completed the two smaller tasks that she realized what an enormous undertaking the last project was going to be. Now she was panicking that she would never get the assignment done in time. She only had four months. But if by some miracle she made it believable and turned it in on time, she could get the six credits she needed to graduate. Then everyone would be off her case, especially her parents. So she confined herself to the trailer for as long as she could stand. She needed to get her work done. It gave Will peace of mind that Sam was with her, and Sarah knew he deserved that. She promised him that she wouldn’t go running around town without Sam, and she stuck to her word.

  The best part about hanging out in the trailer was that, when he had a break, Will always came back to spend time with her, and Sarah knew she wouldn’t see him if she was at the house. The hours on set were always long, and they ate together when they were able.

  Today, Sarah sat typing on the silver laptop that she had gotten for her birthday. She spread out on the couch, leaning against its arm with a pillow behind her and her stocking feet stretched across the cushions. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Will had given her the computer. She barely knew him back then, though at the time she thought she knew him so well. Now he was like her right arm, so much a part of her that it would be impossible to be without him. Her mind raced as she typed on her project. Somehow, she had to link all these random thoughts together into scenes and build the scenes into an entire movie. Sarah didn’t really know how to write a screenplay, but she had loads of help. Will had given her the original idea to propose to her adviser. He remembered the stories Kate had told him about Sarah writing plays as a young girl. He knew she could write a great movie, even if Sarah didn’t, and he would assist her if she needed help.

  Sarah got the idea for the story’s plot from something Sam had said about Will slipping into a role as a Special Forces agent when he was interrogating Paris. In truth, Will had never done a movie that involved the Special Forces, but he wanted Paris to think he had. The screenplay Sarah was writing was about an actor who was under so much pressure from the press that he became delusional and actually thought he was the characters he played in movies. It was a psychological thriller with just a little comedic element that, of course, poked fun at the paparazzi.

  Lara gave her ideas on special effects that would work to make the movie more exciting. Even Zander was helpful by giving Sarah pointers on which parts worked visually and which ones wouldn’t. Sarah hoped that by the time Will’s filming was wrapped, she would have a pretty good handle on her project and would mostly just be editing dialogue.

  Besides her project, she still had a ton to do before the wedding.

  The wedding.

  They still had to plan the entire wedding. They would be meeting with a wedding planner when Will was done filming, and that would help. Sarah and Will wanted to get married as soon as possible, but everyone kept reminding them that it took a long time to plan a wedding. Will had most of his summer free, but would be back to work promoting Demigod Forbidden in the fall and would be starting another film as soon as the promotion ended. They definitely wanted to be married by then.

  But right now, Sarah was concentrating on finishing school and finding her way in Hollywood. She had always thought that when she found her significant other, they would be equal partners, both bringing their gifts to the relationship table. Sarah was having doubts that she would ever be Will’s equal here in Hollywood. Without a career, or even a job, all her apparent value came from Will. The press was already insinuating that she was a gold digger. Even Will’s agent had implied it. She knew she wasn’t after Will’s money, and Will knew it too, but she hated that people saw her that way. It made it even more important to her that she finish her degree, so she had to focus on that before she could really work on the wedding.

  By the beginning of February, when the engagement was announced, they still hadn’t made any concrete wedding plans. Will went on the talk show circuit to publically declare the engagement. He did two shows in California before he, Sarah, Leslie, Remi, Sam, and the two new security guards hopped a plane to New York City. He did two more shows there. Sarah didn’t go to the sets with him. Remi requested that she stay away from the studio sets so that her ring wouldn’t be exposed before the red carpet in February. She said it would build anticipation in the press and would make a bigger impact when it was finally shown. Sarah obliged willingly and stayed, with a security guard, back at the hotel in New York and worked on her project. They were only there for one night, and getting through the airports was bad enough.

  The shows turned out just as Remi had planned. Will got a teaser clip from Demigod Forbidden’s director. The short movie clip helped promote the film, and it gave Will a break from the private questions. He announced to the world that he was engaged and shared the story of how his original announcement was messed up by his fiancée’s kidnapping. He wasn’t able to give all the details because of the pending charges against the reporter, but he made light of the incident the best he could. He shared just a little heartfelt personal information about the experience and how fearing the worst had really forced him to prioritize his life. He mentioned that this wasn’t the first time Sarah’s life had been put in danger because of the paparazzi. He talked about the car accident that had almost killed her and how it was reminiscent of his brother’s death. He poked fun at the press, but at the same time tried to promote stricter legislation to control the paparazzi problem. The stories helped draw the attention away from the obvious questions of how he and Sarah met and the wedding plans. Will was thankful for that. He really didn’t want to talk about meeting Sarah on the Internet. It was embarrassing. He knew it would come out someday, but he really wished it wouldn’t.

  Every time Will and Sarah were spotted out over the next couple of weeks, the paparazzi went wild. Every photographer wanted to be the one to snap the first picture of Sarah’s engagement ring. Such a picture would be worth a ton of money, so Will and Sarah were followed ceaselessly. There were hordes of photographers outside their house every day, just waiting for the ring to leave. Will and Sarah made sure no shots got leaked before the red carpet viewing. Whenever she was out, Sara
h turned her ring around so just the band was visible. It drove the press crazy, and Will and Sarah relished the photographer’s irritation. It became a game of cat and mouse where the cat always ended up frustrated that it couldn’t catch the mouse. The reveal day was coming soon, though, and Will and Sarah were looking forward to getting some peace away from the constant attention.

  The preparation for the red carpet event started long before the actual day. The stylist worked hard to connect Sarah with the right dress. She met with Sarah several times over a period of a month, and together, they found two dresses with coordinating shoes that would work well. Sarah let Will pick from the two, and the one he chose looked absolutely gorgeous on her. At least Will thought he was making the decision. If need be, Sarah knew she could always trump his choice. The stylist also helped set up Sarah with the appropriate bling—not too much, though. Just a pair of dangling diamond earrings, a simple white-gold bracelet, and a small gem-encrusted clutch purse. She didn’t think Sarah needed much more than her gorgeous engagement ring.

  Sarah spent the morning being pampered. A petite dark-haired woman came first to do Sarah’s nails. She soaked Sarah’s feet and hands and gave her a full pedicure and manicure. The woman applied nail tips to Sarah’s fingers and polished her nails in a glossy, silvery pink. Sarah knew everyone would be looking at her hands tonight—her left hand, at least—so she was happy to have her beat-up, broken nails made beautiful.

  When the woman had finished with Sarah’s nails, she gave Will a manicure too—just a buffing. Sarah was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the pampering, and Will was making fun of her by the time the second woman arrived to do her makeup and hair. Sarah had met with this woman and the stylist a week ago to determine the most appropriate hairstyle to match her dress. Until last week, Sarah had never had a facial or a manicure before, and she was not used to other people touching her body so intimately. It made her uneasy, just a little, but she knew how important this night was, so she was willing to put up with the indulgence.