Authors: S. Briones Lim
She glanced up at Brian and noticed that he was also frowning. Celine almost wanted to ask him what he thought of Cash, but now wasn’t a good time. She’d have to ask him later…alone…
Brian began clapping his hands together. “Come on, let’s go!”
The men began groaning and laughing, filing out of the room. Cash stood from the couch and held out his hand for Ruthie. She grabbed it, gracefully uncrossing her legs and standing. Cash looked at her almost hungrily and licked his lips. “Stay on stage right, okay?” He instructed, staring intently into her eyes.
“How come?” she asked, still in awe at how blue his eyes were.
“It’s the side I’ll mostly be on,” he answered. Once again kissing the top of her hand, he began moving backwards before spinning on his heel and walking away.
Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head, only furthering Celine’s feelings of unease. Sensing her trepidation, he quickly smiled. “You two can follow me. Just try not to touch anything and get arrested, okay?”
Celine groaned. “Stop it with the jail jokes, okay? Last night’s experience is going to haunt me until I die and possibly after!”
“At least it allowed us to run into each other.” Brian grinned. He gestured toward the door. “Come on! If I remember you two correctly, I’d say you’re both itching to rub your prime seats in the faces of all those fans up there.”
Celine began laughing. “Some things never change.”
Brian winked. “But some things change for the better.” He walked out the door and motioned for them to follow him.
As the group worked their way to the narrow corridors, Ruthie leaned over so that Brian couldn’t hear her. She whispered into Celine’s ear, “I think he’s flirting with you.”
“You said it yourself. He’s a friend,” Celine snapped back. “Our friend. He’s just being nice.” But even she was unsure of it. She shrugged off the unease and hissed, “Even you said there was no harm hanging out with him. So here I am, listening to you once again.”
Ruthie wasn’t oblivious to Celine’s backhanded comment. Choosing to ignore it, she replied, “That was before he began undressing you with his eyes.”
Celine’s mouth dropped open, but before she could respond, Ruthie shook her head quickly. “I’m just warning you, Celine. Be careful, okay?” She knew Celine didn’t have a bad bone in her body and would never cheat on Noah, but for some reason, she still felt a need to say something.
“Speaking of warning,” Celine whispered back, “Let’s talk about Cash.”
Ruthie’s eyes instantly brightened. “I know, right? Is it just me or is he flirting with me, too?”
“It’s not just you,” Celine answered. Ruthie’s answering smile could have lit up the room. Celine hated to burst her bubble, but she knew she had to. “I can’t explain it, but I don’t really have such a good feeling about him.”
Ruthie’s face fell. “What do you mean?”
Celine shrugged. “I don’t know…I can’t explain it…”
“But you’ve always loved him as much as I do…” Ruthie’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Do you feel bad because he’s paying more attention to me than you?”
Celine’s eyes widened in shock. Feeling hurt at her friend’s accusation, she snapped, “Of course not! Like I said, I don’t have a good feeling about the man himself, not his actions.” She crossed her arms with irritation, which frightened her a bit. In all their years of friendship, she’d never consistently felt any ill will toward her best friend, yet it seemed to be all she was feeling that weekend.
“So why do you feel that way?” Ruthie snapped back. Her eyebrows furrowed together and her teeth clenched together. She hated to admit it, but Celine was really starting to bug her. Why couldn’t she just relax and enjoy the experience for what it was? After ten years they had finally met Intensity! Why put such a sour dent into it?
“Just a gut feeling, I guess,” Celine shrugged. She quickly pursed her lips and quickened her steps. She couldn’t formulate her feelings into words and didn’t feel like trying at the moment. From behind her, Ruthie gaped, and given her longer legs, quickly caught up with Celine. Sensing Ruthie nearing, Celine quickly asked Brian, “Do we get special passes for staying back here?”
Brian laughed. “I take it you want more items to put in your little fan memorabilia scrapbook you used to have?”
Celine blinked. “You remember that?”
“Of course! Those things were so ridiculous! How could I forget?” Brian chuckled. He glanced from side to side and grabbed a piece of paper from one of the big boxes that littered the hallway. “Here, for your book.”
Curiously, Celine grabbed at it and was pleasantly surprised to find an Intensity Set List. Before she knew what she was doing, she playfully nudged Brian in the ribs with a smile. It was an act she was so used to doing back in high school that she just found herself doing it automatically. It didn’t exactly faze her until she saw Brian’s answering smile. She quickly looked away and caught Ruthie’s eyes. Her best friend peered down at her, narrowing her big brown eyes. With a click of her tongue, Ruthie mouthed, “Careful.”
“That was even more amazing than last night’s concert!” Ruthie exclaimed.
“Even without jail time?” Cash offered, lightly pinching her on the arm.
“Oh, stop it!” Ruthie let out a high pitched giggle.
Celine refrained herself from snorting out loud. Ruthie’s flirting style was getting worse and worse as the hours passed.
The group walked through the narrow corridor back to the green room. It was all too exciting to be walking through the opposite end of the hallway as opposed to sneaking in through the back. Hunter walked ahead of the group and straight to the couch, pulling up the coffee table. From his pocket he pulled out a small tin and what looked to be a roll of brown colored paper. Celine watched in both intrigue and disgust as Hunter began to roll what she believed to be a joint.
Brian must have noticed Celine’s squirming because he quickly ran to her side to distract her. “When are you both leaving? Care to go to the after party tonight? The guys get paid any time they make an appearance at a club.” He paused and whispered, “Not that they need any more money.”
“Well, we were actually planning on leaving tonight,” Celine answered. She felt Ruthie’s eyes burning a hole through her shoulders, but decided to ignore her.
Brian attempted to keep his face straight, but the corner of his mouth dipped in disappointment. “Any reason you can’t stay longer?”
“No!” Ruthie butted in before Celine could answer. She shot her best friend a defiant look. “Absolutely no reason at all. We’d actually love to stay an extra night.”
“Actually I need to head back.” Celine frowned. There was no way she was going to spend another night with Brian. Especially not after Ruthie’s warnings. When did her best friend become such a hypocrite? Oh yeah, it was when Cash Walker stepped into their lives.
“Oh, come on, Celine!” Ruthie tried to keep her voice light, but couldn’t mask the irritation in her tone. “You write books from home all day. I’m sure you can spare one day.”
“I have a deadline,” Celine lied.
“You write books?” Brian asked with interest.
“Yeah,” Celine answered offhandedly. “I have 3,000 words I need to send to my agent like yesterday.”
“Come on, Celine,” Ruthie whined. Glancing at Brian, she slyly added, “I’m sure Noah isn’t going to mind you staying an extra day. Noah trusts you.” She smiled, proud to have bought Celine some wiggle room. She knew their old friend well enough to bet anything that he wouldn’t think of doing anything to sabotage Celine’s impending nuptials. Brian was never that type of guy.
“This has nothing to do with Noah!” Celine snapped, obviously not catching on. “I really do have writing to do tomorrow. Besides, if you fail to recall, we’ve already checked out of our hotel.”
The members of Intensity watched the exchange as if spectators at a tennis match. Their heads bounced back and forth, their faces a mix of awkwardness and interest. Except, of course, for Cash. He seemed to enjoy the whole banter.
“You can stay at the hotel we’re staying at,” Cash offered. “Pretty sure if they find out Intensity wants to book another room, they’d kick someone out for us.”
Ruthie smiled in triumph. “We’re staying.”
“You can’t keep me here.” Celine huffed.
“Oh yeah? How do you plan on getting home? You forget I drove.”
Celine’s mouth glued tight. She was stuck. If Ruthie wanted to stay an extra night she had no choice but to abide. Unless, of course…
“I’ll just take a train up. Or a bus. I’ll find my way back home somehow,” she shot back.
Ruthie’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious?”
“You can take one of our cars,” Brian offered.
Celine blinked in surprise. “Really? You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we can spare one.” Brian laughed, pushing his hand through his messy hair.
“Are you really that confident in her driving abilities to trust her with one of your cars?” Ruthie joked. She began laughing, but quickly regretted it when she spotted Celine’s irritated glare.
Brian shook his head. “Oh, I meant to say we’d have someone drive you. Not that I don’t trust your driving capabilities, but technically Intensity the brand owns these cars. Any accidents can prove a liability. I’ll have someone drive you home tonight.”
Celine shot Ruthie a smug look. “Perfect.”
Brian left to work out the details with the car service, leaving both women alone with Intensity. Truth be told, Celine was a bit regretful that she wouldn’t be spending more time with them. However, she knew it would be safer for her conscience to leave as soon as possible. Deciding she might as well enjoy the last few minutes of hanging with the band, she walked over to where Braedon was watching TV. About halfway to him she felt a hand grab at her wrist.
“Ow!” she yelped.
“What’s the big idea?” Ruthie hissed. “Why are you leaving?”
“Why do you think? Are you forgetting your remarks from earlier? Do you really think I can comfortably stay here after all that?”
Ruthie rubbed her temples and sighed. “Okay, maybe I was over exaggerating a bit earlier. You’re right! He’s a friend. Besides, we’ll be here together. What’s the harm in that?”
Celine turned her head and watched as Hunter smoked his blunt in the corner of the room. Scrunching up her face, she shuddered. “I can think of one…”
Ruthie followed her gaze and frowned. “Come on! The cops aren’t going to bust in here or anything.”
“That’s what you said last night!”
“And look where we are now! Come on! Stay with me!” Ruthie pleaded while yanking on Celine’s thin arm. “I mean, Cash said we can crash over at their hotel!” She almost squealed in delight and quickly threw a look over her shoulder to make sure he hadn’t heard her. Luckily, he was busy fiddling with his phone. “You’re really not going to leave me there with him, are you?” She paused. She’d be alone with Cash. All the pent up sexual fantasies she had of Cash were once again brought to the forefront. She felt herself begin to warm and flush.
Celine gave her a knowing look. “Well, looks to me like you’re not too torn up about it.”
Ruthie instantly blushed.
“Hey, Celine!” Brian called out from outside the room. “Are you ready?”
Celine shot Ruthie one last look. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Ruthie exhaled and followed her best friend out the door. Brian was waiting outside, leaning on a huge black SUV. Celine glanced around and felt her spirits deflate when she didn’t spot a driver. “Are you driving me back home?”
“I may know how self-sufficient you are, but I wouldn’t feel right letting you drive home with someone you didn’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders.
Shit. More time with Brian was precisely what she wanted to avoid.
Ruthie squeezed her arm. “You sure you don’t want to stay with me?”
Celine hesitated. The whole reason she wanted to leave was to avoid having to spend more time with Brian. Spending two hours alone with him in a car (give or take traffic) was severely counterproductive. On the other hand, going out to a club with him seemed that much worse. If she stayed, she’d also have endure Ruthie’s incessant flirting, which was quickly becoming old. Putting her foot down and not wanting to give in, Celine decided to stick with her original plan.
“I’m leaving,” she said firmly. “I really need to.”
Ruthie’s eyes darkened. She couldn’t believe Celine was going to leave her alone. She wasn’t so much angry at the fact, she was disappointed.
Celine reached out and gave her a hug. She squeezed Ruthie so tight that her necklace dug into her chest. “Be careful tonight, okay? Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
Ruthie squeezed her back, knowing she couldn’t change her friend’s mind. Never taking her eyes off Brian, she whispered back, “I can say the same thing to you.”
Ruthie stayed outside and waved as the SUV began to drive away. Celine peered out the window and waved back before settling into the leather seat. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Brian glance over at her. He sighed and adjusted his hands on the shiny steering wheel.
“What’s wrong?” Celine asked in confusion. “You didn’t have to drive me. I’m really okay with getting a ride home from someone else.”
“Why are you acting weird with me?” Brian shot back. He turned his head slightly to check his blind spot. Lifting his long fingers, he tapped at the turn signal and headed out of the parking lot.
Taken aback, Celine replied, “What do you mean? I’m not acting weird!”
“Yes, you are!” he sighed. “Celine, I’ve known you since we were both zit-faced.”
“Hey, I object! I never had zits.” It was true, too. Face care was heavily important to her mother, who forced both her daughters to partake in a strict beauty regimen. She hated it then, but now as an almost thirty-year old with no hint of any wrinkles on her face she wanted to drop to her knees and thank her mom for all the face creams and washes that used to litter their old bathroom.
“Fine,” Brian responded, a small hint of a smile on his face. “I had zits. Either way, you were always a good friend of mine. I thought you’d be happy to see me. Heck, I was closer to you than to Ruthie and she seemed more thrilled to be in my presence.”
“Okay, King Brian, I’m sorry I faltered in your presence,” she shot back. Though she tried to keep her face straight, she couldn’t. She ended up smiling. She hated to admit it, but the banter reminded her of the fun they used to have in high school.
Brian’s stern face also gave way to a grin. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he shot her a quick glance. “That’s right! You’re an author. Of course you’d be great with analogies. What do you write? A bunch of romance novels and smut?”
“Hey! Nothing wrong with that.” Celine laughed. “I do have some romance in my novels, but it’s not what you’re thinking, you perv. Anyway, I write a lot of YA and Women’s Fiction.”
He began scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, I don’t know what any of that means.” Brian lost his grin and frowned. “But back to what I was saying, why are you being so awkward around me?”
“I’m not!” Celine insisted. She shrugged, attempting to play it cool. “Guess, it’s just strange to see you hanging out with some of my favorite celebrities, that’s all.”
“I don’t hang out with them,” he corrected. “I work with them, and unfortunately, for them.”
“You really don’t like them much, do you?” Celine asked, cocking her head to the side. She narrowed her eyes and took in how his jaw visibly clenched at any mention of the band.
The car rolled gently to a stop at a light. Brian began drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and began fiddling with the radio in an obvious attempt to ignore her.
“Come on, tell me the truth. I won’t ever tell them. It’s not like I’ll ever see them again, anyway!” she reminded him.
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Brian muttered. His eyes flitted to the side. “You’ll be seeing Cash at least.”
Celine reminded herself to ask him more about Cash later. For now she prodded, “What is it about them that you hate?”
“I don’t hate them,” he explained slowly. He took his time to enunciate each syllable. “For the most part, Braedon and Conner are pretty great guys.”
“What about the other ones?” Celine asked curiously.
“Well, you saw! Hunter is pretty much a junkie, Zach is…just Zach! Then you have Cash, who is a narcissistic bastard. Their heads are too far up their asses to even notice it for themselves.”
“Wow, don’t hold anything back now!”
“Well, you asked.”
“True,” Celine replied slowly, taken aback. “Is that all?”
“They’re all pretentious assholes!” Brian laughed. “They feel like they’re entitled to everything. The only reason I took this gig was because it paid well, was a great resume builder, and it’s stupid, but I also thought maybe I’d get to see you again.” Brian quickly shut his mouth and turned up the radio, eyes on the road.
The confession made Celine’s mouth drop open in both horror and delight. “What did you say?” she asked, clearing her throat.
Brian sighed. “Is that why you don’t feel comfortable around me? Because you’re engaged and you feel weird being around someone you used to have feelings for?”
“Hold up, hold up!” Celine gasped. “Who said I used to have feelings for you?”
Brian snorted. “Come on, Cici, don’t think I’m that obtuse not to have known.”
“Cici,” she whispered under her breath. It had been far too long since she’d heard that nickname. He was the only one who ever called her that.
“I knew you liked me even before Lora told me.”
“I knew it!” Celine exclaimed. “I knew she told you! That’s why you started avoiding me during junior year.”
“You admit it, then!” He laughed. “You did have feelings for me!”
Celine shut her eyes and groaned. “Fine,” she replied through gritted teeth. “I did like you.”
It was as if a two ton weight was lifted off her shoulder…and was replaced by a three ton one.
“That doesn’t mean you have to keep acting weird around me now.” He took a quick left and hopped onto the freeway. Celine discreetly glanced at the GPS that was hung on his front window and internally groaned when she noticed they’d have two and a half hours together in the car.
“I’m not acting weird around you,” she insisted. She raised her fingers to her mouth and began biting her nails. It was a habit she hadn’t done in years and it was quite fitting that she’d chosen to take it up again that moment. As her front teeth dug into the hard surface of her nail, she quickly realized what she was doing and dropped her hands to her lap.
Brian shrugged his shoulders. “I’d say you are.”
“Let’s agree to disagree.” Celine looked up towards the window and couldn’t help but replay his admission over in her head. He had taken the job hoping he’d run into her again. She hated to admit it, but it was one of the sweetest things she’d ever heard in her life. With a small smile on her face she asked, “Why didn’t you just look me up on Facebook or something?”
Brian frowned. “I’m sorry?”
“You said you took this job to see me again, right? You could have just looked me up online.”
“I didn’t just take it to see you, remember?” He laughed at Celine’s reddening cheeks. “Like I said, it was a perk of working with them. Besides, I’m not on Facebook.”
Celine knew this. She had spent a fair amount of time (pre-Noah) searching for Brian online. She nodded her head slightly and replied, “Fair enough. Though I don’t know how seeing me would be a perk of working with Intensity.”
Brian snorted and sighed.
“What?” Celine asked hesitantly.
“Are you really that dense?”
“Uh, excuse me?” she asked, frowning.
Brian bit his lip and hesitantly asked, “You couldn’t tell that I had the biggest crush on you in high school?”
To say Celine was taken aback was the understatement of the year. “You’re lying.” Yup. Probably not the best comeback, but it was the best she could do at the moment.
“If I said I was lying then I would be lying,” he said softly.
“But…wait…I…what?”
Brian laughed. “Why do you think I ignored you junior year?”
“Because you didn’t like me back?” She shook her head. Men were the most confusing species on the planet!
“Quite the opposite,” he replied nonchalantly. There was a certain edge to his voice that she couldn’t read.
“I must admit, I don’t understand your way of thinking,” Celine said through pursed lips.
“It scared me. You were one of my best friends and it was kinda fun liking you in secret. When I found out you liked me, I needed to put some space between us. I wasn’t ready for a relationship and I feared that if we spent more time together it might turn into that, given our mutual feelings and all,” he explained.
“Not ready for a relationship?” Celine huffed. “What about Crystal?”
“Crystal…?”
Celine rolled her eyes. “You know! Your old girlfriend. The one you dated senior year? What happened to her, anyway?”
“Oh yeah! That only lasted until the end of the school year. Guess she didn’t want a slacker after high school.”
“No, that’s not my point. I mean, why say you weren’t ready for a relationship when you obviously were?” She shook her head in frustration. Seventeen years old or twenty-eight, she still felt as clueless as ever.
“Celine, you were—and seemingly still are—perfect. You just encompassed goodness…”
“And nerdiness and naiveness?” Celine offered.
“No!” Brian sighed. “Do you know how much pressure it would have been to be the first boyfriend of someone so good? What if I messed up and totally damaged your views of men for the rest of your life?”
Celine laughed sarcastically. “You can blame my ex-boyfriend for that.”
Brian shot her a look. “I was hoping that you’d somehow end up with Chad and when that didn’t work out, I’d come swooping in to save you from him.”
“It obviously didn’t work out. Ruthie told me you knew all about Homecoming. Where were you when that happened? I didn’t see you swoop in then.” Celine didn’t know why she even wanted to know. She was playing with fire and she knew it.
Brian sighed. “I guess having been with Crystal that long, I ended up falling in love for the first time. I couldn’t just leave her, though I must admit I felt horrible for still crushing on you the entire time I was with her. Guess I was just a horny, no good teenager back then.”
“So she did put out,” Celine replied thoughtfully. She said it to make Brian laugh, but instead he frowned.
“You must think I’m some kind of big jerk. The reason I stayed with Crystal was because I didn’t want to…deflower you,” he finally finished.
“Please never use the term ‘deflower’ again. You remind me of a grandfather,” she laughed, though Brian remained serious. She sighed. “Listen, I don’t think of you as a jerk, okay? Far from it. Besides, I’m kinda happy we never ended up together.”
“What do you mean?” he asked curiously, feeling a bit hurt.
“All things happen for a reason, I’m a firm believer of that. If we ended up together, who knows? I might have grown to hate your guts or vice versa. Then where would Ruthie be right now? Obviously not with Cash.”
Both began to laugh.
Brian shook his head. “She better watch it. I’ve seen how Cash deals with women.” He paused and added, “Forgive me for my language, but I have no other way to explain this.”
“Fine, go ahead,” Celine replied curiously.
“Well, he uses them and throws them away when he’s bored. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Fuck ’em and chuck ’em. He got into this business too young and it warped his mind a bit. To him everything is dispensable—including women. He’s not like us normal folk. He takes things for granted.”
“What about—”
“All that stuff about feeling like a piece of meat?” he grunted.
Celine nodded.
“Though I don’t doubt that fame screwed with him, I think he enjoyed being that piece of meat. In fact, I’d even say he thought of himself as filet mignon.”
“Should I warn Ruthie?” Celine asked, glancing at her phone.
Brian shook his head. “I think she’ll be fine. She seemed to always have a good head on her shoulders.” Celine bit her lip, not entirely convinced. Noticing the look on her face, Brian reached out and patted her arm with assurance. “I know you’re worried about her, but try not to worry so much. Cash is a pussy. As long as she keeps her wits up, she’ll be able to take him.”
“Sounds to me that it’s pussy he wants,” Celine quipped.
Brian leaned back in his seat. He remained quiet for a moment, merely tapping his fingers on the wheel. Finally he said, “I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I first saw you both.”
“What do you mean?” Celine asked in surprise.
“I was hoping you knew better by now not to be such big Intensifiers.” He laughed.
Celine joined in his laughter and habitually brushed her hair back. Brian’s smile faltered when he noticed the diamond on her finger.
“So you’re really getting married,” he said quietly. “Lucky guy.”
He quietly turned up the radio, quickly switching stations as soon as an Intensity song began playing.