The Beginning - A How to Catch a (Rock) Star Short Story
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cold for the last ten seconds.
By the time she was out of the shower and dry, she had less than fifty minutes to get ready and just drying her hair would take at least half of that. So much for the relaxed, pampering time she had day dreamt about earlier. There was no time now to curl her hair and repaint her toe nails.
She smothered herself in moisturiser and pulled her underwear drawer open,selecting the dark red pants and bra set Matt liked and putting it on before going down the hall to Kate’s room to raid her wardrobe.
She flicked through the hangers until she found the dress Kate had said she could wear and pulled it out, holding it against herself and smiling at the fact that this would be more than knee length on Kate, but was a respectable three inches above the knee on her; Kate was so petite she made Kylie Minogue look tall. Lillie pulled it over her head and surveyed herself in the mirror.
The peacock blue background of the fabric made her grey eyes look a little blue, and the cut of the dress made her waist look tiny. Matt was definitely going to like it. She smiled at herself and headed back to her room to dry her hair, changing her mind half-way down the corridor and veering towards the kitchen to pour herself a drink.
Back in her room, she turned her CD player on and picked up the hairdryer, lamenting her thick hair that normally took a good thirty minutes to dry. Glancing at the clock, she flipped the dryer onto the highest heat setting and shook her head upside down. At least if the roots were dry, the rest would dry naturally into waves. Well, that was the hope anyway.
She put Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’ on at top volume, her lilting voice blending with Taylor’s in perfect harmony. Lillie loved to sing and swayed along to the next few tracks, making up the words she didn’t know. Her arm started to hurt after twenty minutes and she flipped her head backwards and blasted the dryer at her fringe for a minute.
Looking in the mirror and then at her watch, she decided it was make up time and went into the bathroom where the light was better. She’d just finished one eye, doing a perfect smoky shadow and smudgy eyeliner when she thought she heard the doorbell.
It was only twenty past seven… She started on the other eye and heard the doorbell again. With a big sigh, she left the bathroom and went to the front door, pulling it open with an admonishment ready on her lips that died immediately when she saw it wasn’t Matt at the door.
She smiled at the woman in front of her, glancing at the baby in her arms and thinking how adorable she was.
‘Hi, can I help you?’ she said, a little disconcerted now that she saw how the woman was looking at her. ‘Are you looking for Kate, because she’s down at the -’
‘No,’ the woman interrupted. ‘I think I’m looking for you.’
‘Me?’ Lillie said, ‘do I know you?’
‘I doubt it,’ said the woman. ‘But I think you know my husband, Matt.’
It took a while for her sentence to sink in, and when it did, Lillie’s heart started pounding, her head spinning and her legs unsteady.
‘What?’ she said, staring at the woman and clutching onto the door frame. She looked at the baby, calm in her mother’s arms, and then back to the woman’s face. Through the haze of her confusion and disbelief, Lillie could see that, even though she looked as calm as the baby, the woman's hand trembled as she stroked the baby's head. . This must be some sort of joke, she thought to herself. It can’t be true, how can it be true?
‘Matt is my husband and this is our daughter,’ the woman said. ‘She’s nine months old now.’
‘I, I’m sorry, I don’t understand,’ Lillie said, and the woman started to talk, stopping short at the look on Lillie’s face as she stared past her at Matt. His handsome face was the very picture of horror. Horror at having been caught out. He turned away, as if to leave, and then quickly turned back, looking at his wife and then his daughter, but steadfastly ignoring Lillie.
It was all she needed to know it was true. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears and took a deep, shuddery breath.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said to the woman. ‘I didn’t know. I really didn’t know.’ Her legs shook and she leant against the door frame, afraid she would sink to the floor without something to hold her up.
The woman gave her a sad smile and stroked her baby’s head again. Matt's baby.
‘I know,’ she replied, not meeting Lillie's eyes. ‘It’s not the first time.' She finally raised her head and stared at Lillie for a few seconds before she suddenly turned and walked towards her husband.
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The story continues in Gabrielle Aquilina’s novel How to Catch a (Rock) Star.
The story:
Aspiring singer Lillie and American rock star Jed seem like the perfect fit from the moment they meet. The pair are inseparable, but Jed’s jet-set schedule of shows and after-parties limits the amount they can see each other. So when Jed invites Lillie to sing with his band on their tour, she says yes. Yes with some hesitation, that is. After finding out that her ex-boyfriend was hiding away a wife and child when they were dating, Lillie’s trust in men is fragile and she also suffers from severe stage fright. As the tour progresses, Jed and Lillie are fast becoming rock’s hottest couple but with obsessive fan girls, a claustrophobic tour bus and a resentful guitarist, things start taking a turn for the worse. Lillie’s dream of singing may have finally become a reality, but can it last? The odds are stacking up against them and then the unthinkable happens…
Gabrielle Aquilina
Gabriella Aquilina has lived in America (twice), Hong Kong and Western Australia but has finally come to the conclusion that England is where she wants to be. She now resides on the south coast of England where she can run off all her baking efforts whilst breathing in the tangy sea air (and simultaneously achieving ‘beach waved’ hair. Not always a good look).
Website: https://gabrielleaquilina.co.uk/