The Reluctant Celebrity (15 page)

The
shock of her touch hurtled through him as if he’d connected with a 240volt
current. The dizzying warmth of her body felt like a sickening fairground ride,
spinning around and around blurring his vision and leaving his stomachs in
knots.

How
had he forgotten that feeling?

It
took him a moment to realise he hadn’t. He had locked it away somewhere out of
reach the day he’d left. It was the only way he’d been able to keep walking.

Only
then did he realise that it was that feeling that had been seeping out of its
hiding place, making its way into his songs and guiding him back to her.

 In
that moment, as their bodies collided, it flooded back to him, ingraining
itself within his every being. Like an almost forgotten dream, floating on the
outskirts of memory until something jogs it into consciousness.

 At
that exact moment, he knew with sickening clarity that he had made the biggest
mistake of his life five years ago. The thought left one question burning into
him: was he too late?

‘Oh
ouch that hurt,’ Jules spluttered.

‘Shit.
Are you okay?’

Jules
did not respond, but Guy could feel her body shuddering from their tangled
position on the ground.

‘Hey
Jules it’s okay, look we’re fine,’ he tried to reassure her.

‘I’m
not crying, oh god I can’t breathe…fallen three times in three days,’ she
laughed.

The
sound filled him with an intoxicating mixture of desire and hope.

Then
her laughter stopped. As quickly as their bodies had fallen to the floor, Jules
jumped up, turning her back to him and brushing away the clumps of damp earth
clinging to her clothes.

The
loss of her touch caused an emptiness to engulf him.

‘Why
haven’t you asked me whether I meant it?’ he blurted out, scrambling to his
feet.

‘Meant
what?’ She kept her back to him.

‘What
I said in the interview.’

Jules
stopped moving as an unbearable silence grew between them. Finally she replied:
‘What difference does it make?’

‘Because
I…’ emotion overwhelmed him. ‘I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving you
and I have to know if there’s a chance we could start again.’

She
stood like a statue, as if his words had frozen her. Then she whispered: ‘I
can’t, it’s too late.’

‘Why?’
Guy reached a hand out to her bare arm, twisting her body towards him, her
expression still hidden as Jules kept her face tilted downwards.

‘I’ve
moved on. I don’t feel that way anymore,’ she replied, her tone suddenly
defiant.

‘You
don’t mean that.’ Guy lifted his hand to her cheek, running a finger across the
smooth skin and gently moving her face up to his.

As
their eyes connected in the dim, Guy saw for the first time the deep wells of
sadness behind her stubborn expression. The emotion jumping between them as he
realised the depth of the hurt he’d caused her.

‘I
do Guy. I mean it. I can’t do it,’ she mumbled.

‘You
can. I know you can. I know we still have something. I feel it every time I’m
near you,’

‘No’
she protested, her voice barely a whisper.

With
shaking arms he pulled her towards him, wrapping them around her slender
frame. 

Eyes
that swim like an emerald sea

What is it you’re doing to me?

Guy’s
body spun into overdrive. His heartbeat raged through his body, his breath
quickened as desire strained through him.

He
drew her closer still, desperate to hold her tight. She did not resist his
movements but her body remained stiff.

Dizziness
flooded through him as he moved his lips to hers, unable to breathe through the
longing that had overtaken him. But just as he moved to kiss her, she pulled
away. 

‘What
was that?’ Jules asked, stumbling back to the entrance of the hole and out of
his reach.

‘What?’
He felt his whole being ache with disappointment and confusion. He had been millimetres
away from kissing her.

The
mix of desperation and desire seemed to fuel him with energy and exhaust him
all within the same breath.

He
felt sick.

‘That.’

‘I
don’t hear anything. Jules?’

‘MAX,’
she yelled, pausing to hear a response. ‘MAAAXXX’

Then
he heard it. A dog barking in the distance. Someone had found them; they would
be rescued. Fuck. He had been so close.

Seconds
later, a brown nose and a dripping pink tongue came into view from the ledge
above, followed by a burst of piercing barks.                      

‘Oh
Max thank goodness. Where’s Rich? Go get Rich,’ she commanded, waving an arm up
in the air.

Max
continued to stare down towards them, laying his body onto the ground and
ignoring her instruction.

‘RICH,’
Jules’ voice yelled out again.

The
man’s name echoed through the hole and sliced into Guy’s chest.

He’d
almost got through to her, almost kissed her. But as he looked to where she
stood, he could see the wall between them had returned. He’d lost her again. 

‘Jules?’

She
turned her head towards him, her skin glowing in the sunlight.

‘I
love you. I always have and I always will,’ he cried out as desperation
engulfed him.

The
whites of Jules’ eyes widened as her gaze bore into his. He could see her mind
processing his words. He did not dare breathe as he waited for a response.

‘Hello?’
a man’s voice called into the hole, cutting through the emotions Guy had laid
out.

‘Oh
Rich thank goodness you’re here.’

‘Jules
what the hell are you doing down there?’

‘We
fell.’

‘We?’         

‘Err
yes, Guy’s here,’ she faltered. ‘He followed me up here.’

For
a moment nobody spoke, then Rich called back into the hole: ‘Right hang on.’

Muffled
voices travelled down from above, followed by a woman’s shriek.

‘Right.’
The man laid his body on the ground above them, a scruffy blonde head peering
over the edge before two muscular arms dropped into the hole. ‘Jules. You
first. I’m going to try to pull you up, but if the ground starts to shift then we’ll
have to go and get some rope and a few more bodies up here.’

Guy
moved into the light.

‘Here,
I’ll give you a bunk.’ He turned to face Jules again, avoiding her gaze as he
bent forward into the same position as before.

Once
more, Jules placed a foot onto the step of his hands, hesitating for a moment
before balancing on his shoulders and jumping up.

This
time Jules did not stop. Rich’s hands wrapped around her wrists hoisting her
out from his reach.

In
the few minutes that followed, Guy heard the muffled exchanges of Rich, Jules
and another woman. Would they leave him there? He wondered, casting his gaze
around the gloom.

‘Hello?’
he eventually called out.

‘Sorry
Guy.’ The blonde head popped back over the ledge, the nose of a dog reappearing
as Rich knelt down next to the hole. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to grab my
hands?’

‘I
think so,’ Guy replied, trying to rise above the humiliation of being rescued
by another man and failing.

Forcing
the muscles in his legs back to work Guy jumped up, his hands connecting with
Rich’s as he felt the strength of his rescuer pull him from the hole.

Guy
fell to the damp ground, his eyes scrunching in the sunlight.

Before
he had a chance to breathe in the fresh air, two dogs pounced onto him. One he
recognised from the ledge as Max; the other a rotund yellow retriever who had
already covered Guy in hair. Their pink wet tongues like a mouldy jay cloth
being flapped in his face.

‘Hello
dogs,’ he said, sitting up and patting the excited animals.

‘Oh my
God, I am so sorry.’ A blonde woman with a mass of curly hair leapt forward, shooing
the dogs away from him.

‘Hey,
no problem,’ he replied, clambering to his feet and surveying the landscape.

The
sun still seemed high in the sky, as if time had stood still during their
adventure. He guessed they hadn’t been stuck for as long as he’d thought. Most
definitely not long enough.

‘I’m
Sally,’ the woman said.

‘Guy.’
He smiled back. 

‘Oh
I know who you are. I’m a huge fan. I’ve had pictures of you up in my gardening
shed for years. And I love the music too,’ she replied, her voice high and
squeaky. 

‘Thanks,’
he responded, barely listening as he watched Rich tower over Jules, his head
close to hers.

‘I
know. How sad am I to slobber all over you like Nelson here.’ She threw a hand out
towards the golden retriever panting on the grass beside them. ‘But I am
without a doubt your biggest fan.

‘If
it wasn’t for Bill and the kids I’d be stripping naked right now. I seriously
think I might be a little bit in love with you,’ Sally finished, her pretty
face crimson despite the grin.

 ‘Well
Sally, Bill’s a lucky man,’ Guy replied with a smile. ‘And lucky for us you
were up here when you were, otherwise who knows how long we’d have been down
there.’

‘We
would have found you eventually. This whole area is filled with nooks and
crannies for visitors to get lost in, so we generally keep an eye out for
people who go missing; especially celebrities. This looks like it used to be
the cellar of one of the out houses. This entire place is filled with the
remains of the old Cottinghale estate. And lucky for you, you didn’t break
anything,’ she added, eyeing his legs in a way that made him feel naked.

 ‘Anyway,
it’s Rich you’ve got to thank really. If I’d have been up here alone I probably
would have jumped in with you.’ Sally let out a nervous laugh.

‘Of
course, Rich.’ Guy swallowed the pressure building in his chest and turned to
face his rescuer. The embarrassment of being rescued was one thing, but it was
clear from Rich’s posture that he and Jules knew each other well.

‘Thanks
for the rescue mate.’ He held out his hand as Rich twisted around.

‘Don’t
mention it,’ Rich replied with a firm shake.

‘If
there’s anything I can do by way of thanks?’

‘No
need, I’m glad I could help.’

‘Hang
on a minute Rich,’ Sally jumped in. ‘Why doesn’t Guy do a few songs in the pub
for us tonight? Draw in a bit of a crowd for you.’

‘Err…’
Rich looked between Jules, Sally and Guy. ‘I’m sure Guy is far too busy to
bother with our little local.’

He
was the landlord, Guy realised, eyeing the large frame of the man with a
renewed wave of jealousy as he recalled Mrs Beckwith’s comment.  

He
swallowed hard before responding: ‘I’d be happy to. How about tonight?’ he
responded, casting a glance towards Jules.  He had to show her he wasn’t the
selfish publicity grabbing celebrity she thought he was.

‘Okay
then. Thanks I guess.’ Rich nodded. ‘And talking of pubs, I’d better get back.’

They
made a strange foursome as they walked back through the sloping woodland. The
two dogs galloping ahead, then Rich with his long stride, closely followed by
Jules. Leaving Guy with Sally’s lightening speed conversation as she rattled
off details of her life on the farm, with the occasional squeal of delight as
she declared her love for him over and over.  

Despite
Guy’s best efforts to engage Jules in conversation, she ignored him, refusing
to look up from the ground let alone speak to him.

Whatever
had passed between them in the solitude of the darkness had disappeared. He
just hoped he would be able to recapture it soon; the feel of her body close to
his had left a hollow emptiness inside him.

Forty
minutes later, he laid his aching muscles onto the hard mattress of his single
bed and let the weight of his eyelids close.  

Somewhere
along the way, Jules and Rich had sped ahead, and by the time he’d stepped out
from the woodland and said goodbye to Sally they were nowhere to be seen.
Jules’ car had gone from its spot on the road and the guesthouse was empty.

Guy
grabbed his mobile. The screen displayed seven missed calls and one text, none
from Jules, he noted with disappointment but not surprise.

All
of the calls came from Sonja. He didn’t have to listen to his voicemail to know
they would be of varying degrees of irate as she tried to reach him. He would
call her later but right then he simply didn’t care.

He opened
the text message instead and read the message from Debbie:
Hey little bro, I
have been told to rest and sent to bed – BORED! Where R U? I want gossip! Sam
says hi XX

He
fired a quick response:
Hi Debs, hope u r feelin better. I’m in the sticks
& just told Juliet I love her. Good enough 4 U? Give the little man hug
from me
J
x

Guy switched his phone off. The last thing he needed
right now was to speak to Sonja. He didn’t care if he was missing out on
playing at a sell out crowd at Wembley, or if he had to work the rest of his
life in a chip shop just as long as he had Jules with him.

He was a massive fool for ever believing he could be
happy any other way.

She had stood in his arms and studied his eyes in the
same way she’d done all those years ago.

He had to stay. Forever if that’s what it took.