*One month earlier*
The chorus of ‘happy birthday’ still rang in my ears as I left the marquee and entered the cold September night. The gravel crunched beneath my heels and I pulled my shawl closer around me for warmth. Stupid party. I don’t even know why I had to come. It’s not like I actually know whose birthday it is or anything. But I did know why I had come; Gabby would have thrown a fit if I’d have missed it.
‘No-one’s going to know who you are if you don’t show up to parties like this.’ Her words echoed at the back of my mind yet I heard them as clearly as if she were standing next to me, yelling in my ear.
So what? What if I didn’t want anyone to know who I was? But I knew I was lying to myself. What’s the point in writing stories if no-one reads them? I was never going to be an author if my stories stayed hidden away in a computer file forever. Apparently there was some editing guy here who Gabby wanted me to meet with, but I’d escaped before she could return with him.
I breathed out sharply and watched as my warm breath mingled with the chilly night air. It reminded me so much of smoke, the way that my breath whirled and danced until it disappeared with the cold. Smoke. That would help calm me down.
I unclasped my bag and fumbled around inside. The string of lanterns above me illuminated my bag at the same moment that I felt my finger tips brush smooth cardboard. I withdrew my hand with a small box in its grasp. I flipped the lid open and pulled out the last cigarette before I dropped the empty box back amongst my purse and hairbrush. I placed the cigarette between my lips. Now where did I put the lighter? I leaned my bag on top of the wrought iron fence that lined the edge of the gravelled driveway. Cheers and laughter was still audible from the white marquee behind me, but I ignored it and tried to focus on finding my lighter.
Come on. Stupid bag. Can’t ever find anything in it. I pursed my lips and felt the cigarette bend with the pressure. Good job I’m not a regular smoker. By the time I find the bleedin’ lighter, I’ll be fifty. I shook my bag with frustration, but paused when I heard the sound of footsteps on the gravel behind me. Please don’t let it be Gabby. She’ll only go on and on about how smoking is bad for my health. She knows I only smoke when I’m stressed and being in a room full of strangers is enough to make anyone stressed.
I shook my bag once more, hearing my keys jingle, before someone come to a halt beside me. The smell of expensive perfume was overwhelming and the alcoholic scent of it stung my nose. After a couple of moments though, the aroma was mingled with the smell of cigarettes and I watched out of the corner of my eye as a plume of smoke whirled in the still air. I tried to ignore the figure next to me, not wanting to have to talk to anyone, and went back to routing around in my handbag.
“Need a light?” The voice broke the nights silence.
My gaze was immediately pulled to the figure standing next to me, though I wish it hadn’t been. My stomach knotted and I leaned forward into the fence to stop myself from falling over the moment that my sight landed on him. The light from the lanterns above shone across his face, making his blue eyes twinkle. My stomach felt as if it were being strangled by my intestines.
Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I’m having a cigarette with Chace Milligan. The Chace Milligan. The same Chace Milligan that I have had a huge crush on since I was thirteen. The same guy that I have pictures of plastered all over my bedroom walls. I can’t believe it!
“I’m sorry.” His voice was sincere yet his grin was cheeky. It was almost as if he had been expecting my reaction.
I took the cigarette from my mouth as he held his lighter out towards me.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as he lit it. I immediately turned away from him and took a long drag.
“So, you are?”
Wait. He was talking to me?
“Uh, Sadie,” I stammered. He smiled and his eyes seemed to light up.
“Nice to meet you Sadie. I’m Chace.” He said the last part with a small laugh. It was obvious that I knew who he was. Come on. Every girl in the United Kingdom knew who he was. I felt myself blush under his gaze, so I looked behind me at the marquee to try and re-compose myself.
“This isn‘t really my idea of a great night out, you know,” he sighed, bringing my attention back to him. “My agent insisted that I come. There’s some big director at this party and since his last film went straight to number one, my agent figured it could do wonders for my career. So, what brings you here?”
I coughed. Half from the cigarette smoke that was filling my lungs for the first time in two months and half with surprise that he was still choosing to talk to me.
“Uh, well.” Come on Sadie. Get a grip! “My friend Gabby dragged me here actually.”
“Oh.”
His simple answer surprised me. I had kind of expected him to ask how I had snuck in, seeing as I wasn’t famous like the rest of the guests. Gabby included.
“Gabby who?”
“Gabby Mitchell,” I said, before taking another drag from my cigarette. My hands were shaking and I was still leaning against the fence. I could feel my knees threatening to buckle.
He suddenly sounding more interested. “The weather girl from channel seven?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice as I exhaled. I didn’t want to choke on the cigarette smoke and look like a complete fool in front of Britain’s fittest up and coming actor.
I watched Chace as he seemed to take in my answering nod. Wow. His jaw line is so strong and masculine and…
“She’s got a nice pair on her, hasn’t she?”
“Excuse me?” I tried to keep the surprise from my voice. Chace Milligan wasn’t supposed to say things like that.
He grinned, flashing his perfectly white teeth. “I bet you wouldn’t say no if you were a lesbian.”
“What?” My voice was shaky. I screwed my eyes shut. I could almost feel the picture of Chace Milligan in my head crumbling to pieces. The real Chace was nothing like the Chace I’d read about in magazines. He wasn’t the respectful, polite, angelic guy that I’d daydreamed about for the last four years. He was acting just like a pathetic, immature, good-for-nothing teenage boy.
“Don’t deny it,” he said, and I heard him step closer to me. My eyes sprang open against the nights sky. “Come to mention it, you’re not bad yourself.”
I whirled around to face him just in time to see him flick his cigarette butt to the ground and reach towards me.
“W-what?” I stuttered, stepping backwards as he leered at me. That’s when I smelt it. The stale stench of alcohol on his breath was enough to make me drop my cigarette to the floor so that I could cover my face with both hands.
“Come on babes,” he drawled, the effect of the alcohol suddenly more apparent.
I snatched my handbag from it’s place atop the fence. “Get away,” I said, swatting at his outstretched hand.
“Oh come on,” he jeered. “Any sane girl would kill to be in your position right now.”
“B-being harassed is not a c-common wish,” I stuttered, taking another tense step backwards.
“Babes,” he said, “don’t be stupid.” His hair suddenly seemed less perfect and his eyes no longer twinkled. I felt bile rising in my throat. How could I have ever fallen for such a creep?
“I said get away,” I spat, as I decided to make a run for it back towards the marquee.
“Babes!” He yelled, but I wasn’t stopping. I didn’t stop when my heels switched from scuttling on the gravel, to clicking on the linoleum. I didn’t stop when I bumped into a photographer, or when I sent someone’s drink crashing to the floor. I only stopped once I had reached the safe haven of the girls toilets at the entrance to the grand estate.
My lungs were wheezing and my ankles felt sore and swollen from running in heels. My mind ached from trying to figure out a reasonable explanation. I was on a game show and Chace was only pretending to be a disrespectful prat. Someone had spiked his drink with some kind of rudeness drug. The real Chace had been abducted by aliens and the Chace I’d just spoken to was an alien clone. Chace had an evil twin? All stupid, made-up lies to stop myself from believing the truth.
I dropped my bag onto the cold marble countertop between the bank of sinks and leaned forward, burying my head in my hands. I could feel tears running down my cheeks. Why did I have to come to this stupid party in the first place?
Something that I’d been so sure of had turned out to be false. A lie. A stupid, believable lie. I could almost feel my heart breaking. Chace wasn’t the loving, caring, polite, considerate, one hundred percent good guy that the media had painted him out to be after all.
Thanks for reading!
