Written in the Stars (20 page)

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” Geoff said into the microphone.

“So modest.” Tyler laughed. “Let me see if this will clear things up. Miss Delilah Yards, would you please come out here and give your fiancé a huge kiss?” The crowd went even crazier when Delilah Yards, a major movie star who just happened to be more than perfect in every way, walked out from backstage, and straight up to Geoff. She didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck and passionately kiss him in front of a crowd of thousand screaming fans. 

Everything around me started spinning as I watched my heart being crushed right in front of me. I closed my eyes until I heard Geoff’s voice.

“Wow, unexpected surprise is an understatement.” Tyler looked baffled by Geoff’s response.

“We got you.” Delilah laughed and hugged Geoff.

It was at this moment that Geoff spotted me for the first time. There was no smile on his face to fade, but the confused look in his eyes turned to pain when our eyes connected. I actually felt sick to my stomach as I stood there in disbelief until Erin grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the crowd.

“Come on, Sophie. Let’s go.” Erin glared up at Geoff. It didn’t take much to convince me, since he was the last person I wanted to see me cry.

“Let the music play,” Tyler yelled into the microphone.

“Let’s do this.” Geoff’s voice sounded raspy.

“This can’t be happening,” I mumbled as we waited for the elevator. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“You’re not stupid, Sophie; he is.” Erin kept pushing the elevator’s button.

“He’s engaged.” The reality of the situation started setting in.

“I’m so sorry.” Erin hugged me. “I should have never let you get involved with him.”

“Erin, he’s engaged.” I wanted to cry, but I was still too much in shock to feel anything other than confusion.

“I know.” She hugged me tighter and held me until the elevator stopped on our floor. “Sophie?” Erin snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“He kissed her in front of everyone.” I looked numbly at her.

“I know; he’s a jerk.” She pulled out our bags. “Sophie, if I know Geoff, we don’t have much time before he comes looking for you, so you should start packing.”

“All I was to him was a temporary escape from a life he was hiding from.” I felt the tears forming.

“We don’t have time for this.” She shook me. “Listen to me; he’s the idiot, not you. He doesn’t deserve to know you, but if you don’t start packing, then you’re going to have to see him. Do you want that?”

“No.”

“Okay, then, you pack while I go find Mario.” She handed me a bag. “Sophie, he’s not worth losing yourself again,” she said before walking out of the room.

As soon as Erin left, I started throwing things into bags, not caring about what belonged to whom, or if I broke anything. Erin was right; sooner or later, I was going to have to face Geoff, but it wouldn’t be tonight.

Of course, our room had to be positioned perfectly so that I could hear the concert as if I was still there, and hearing Geoff’s voice only broke my heart even more. I grabbed my IPod, only to find the battery dead. Pain had finally found its way to my heart, and I slid down the wall I was leaning up against and started crying.

“Thank you all for coming.” Geoff’s voice stopped the tears.

“I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but due to conditions out of our control, this will conclude our concert. Please make sure you follow Geoff Mann on every social network to find out where he’ll be playing next,” I heard the announcer say. I looked at the clock and noticed Geoff had stopped the concert an hour early.

“He’s coming to find me.” I jumped up and started shoving things into the bags again.

“She’s not in the room anymore.” I heard Erin’s voice as she unlocked the door. I ran as fast as I could to the nearest closet and prayed he wouldn’t look in it.

“She wouldn’t leave without you, Erin,” Geoff said when he entered the room. “Plus all her things are still here.”

“They’re not supposed to be,” Erin growled.

“What?” Geoff asked her.

“See, I told you she’s gone.” Erin stood in front of the closet as if she knew I was in there.

“Erin, please. Tell me where she is.” Geoff sounded wounded.

“Why would I want to do that?” Erin asked rudely. “You don’t deserve her.”

“Yes, I do.” I saw Geoff standing next to her, through the small slits in the closet doors. “Tonight was a huge misunderstanding. I’m not engaged to Delilah, and I never have been. In fact, she’s the reason I went into hiding.”

“Like I’m supposed to believe that,” Erin snapped.

“I don’t care if you don’t believe it. I only care that Sophie does.”

“Yeah, well, what do you expect from her after watching you make out with another girl?” I was proud that Erin wouldn’t back down.

“Just for her to hear me out.” He sat on the bed. “I can’t lose her.”

“You already did,” Erin replied.

“Not yet, I haven’t.” I heard him dial a number on his cell phone. “Have you found her?” he asked. “Damn, we have to find her before the crowd finds me.” I heard the room door shut.

I waited until there was no more movement before I slowly opened the closet door. Knowing they would have taken the elevators, I chose the stairs to make my escape. I was practically jumping every other stair, and was almost on the lobby floor when I ran directly into what felt like a brick wall.

“Going somewhere?” Ant asked me.

“Yes, I’m going out those doors.” I tried pushing past him.

“Sorry, but the boss wants to talk to you.” He grabbed my arm.

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to talk to him.”

“I feel for you, really I do. But you don’t pay me.” He started dragging me back up the stairs.

By instinct, I threw my leg forward as hard as I could and made contact with the one area that could instantly immobilize a man, no matter how big he was. Within seconds, Ant fell onto a stair, moaning in pain.

“I’m so sorry, but you left me no choice,” I said before running out the door that led to the lobby.

I made sure the coast was clear before walking out into a lobby filled with paparazzi and fans. Hoping that Erin or Mario was already at the car waiting, I waited for the service elevator to take me to the underground garage. My heart was beating with
the fear of being found before I could make it onto the elevator, but the rapid beating subsided when I heard the ding of the elevator’s arrival. My heartbeat was almost back to normal speed when the doors opened and I found myself face to face with Geoff. Before I could move a muscle, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the elevator, making sure the doors closed quickly behind me.

Any pain I had been feeling quickly turned into anger as I looked at him and pictured him kissing Delilah.

“I have nothing to say to you.” I turned away from him.

“Then you can just listen.” He stepped in front of me. “Oh, man, Sophie, why didn’t you tell me you were here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?” I said rudely.

“Because I’m not, and I never have been.”

“Could have fooled me.” I glared at him.

“That was huge misunderstanding, and nothing more,” he said.

“Really, so you publicly announced your engagement before kissing Delilah Yards whom, by the way, everyone seems to love seeing with you, was nothing but a misunderstanding?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“It didn’t look like a mistake from where I was standing, and even if it was, you let it happen,” I said.

“Only because I knew I would fix it later.”

“You should have fixed it when it happened.”

“That’s not how things work in my world. We don’t make waves in the public eye.”

“Yeah, well, in my world, we do. Especially if I knew I was hurting someone who I claim to love.”

“Sophie, you have to believe me. It’s always been you, and it will alway
s be you.”

“And you’re just a dream I stupidly allowed myself to believe in, nothing more than a momentary lapse in judgment.”

“You don’t mean that.” He looked hurt.

“I mean it as much as you didn’t mean to kiss her.”

“I didn’t mean that to happen,” he said.

“But you let it happen.” I pulled away from him just when the elevators doors opened. I glanced behind him and saw how close we were standing to all the fans that were still looking for him. “It’s over, Geoff,” I said, looking directly into his eyes.

“Sophie, please don’t do this.”

“Look, it’s Geoff Mann,” I yelled loudly as I held open the elevator doors for people to see him.

The look on his face when the words left my mouth said it all. I had just done the worst thing I could have done for the both of us. As soon as the girls in the lobby spotted him, they started screaming and running towards us. I tried to prepare myself for the impact, but I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Geoff grasped both of my arms tightly and pulled me off to the side of the elevator so no one could see us.

“This is how much I love you.” He tossed me behind him and pressed the garage button before stepping out into a stampede of fans, unprotected. He kept eye contact with me until the doors fully shut and I was on my way down. After all that had happened, he stayed true to his promise and made sure to keep me a secret.

Erin and Mario were standing by the car, waiting for me, when the doors opened. I grabbed my bag and climbed into the back seat of the car.

“Sophie,” Erin said.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Erin.” I shut her down before she could go any further.

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am.”

“So am I.” I turned my attention out the window just in time for my tears to fall.

It was light when we arrived home. I felt bad that Mario had to drive through the night, but at least he had Erin to keep him company. My dad was sitting on the porch when we drove up.

“Back so soon?” he asked.

“Don’t ask,” Mario said as he got the bags out of the trunk.

“Okay, I won’t.” my dad looked confused.

Without acknowledging anyone, I went straight to my room and locked the door behind me. I threw my bag on the floor, blocked out the daylight
, and climbed into bed. I wasn’t sure how long I stared into the darkness of the room, emotionless, before finally falling asleep. All I knew was that when I woke up, the pain that had settled in my chest made me realize none of what happened has been a dream.

Everything that Geoff had said kept running through my thoughts, and I wanted to believe him. I just couldn’t get past the vision of the way he kissed Delilah out of my head. If he didn’t mean for it to happen, then why did he have to embrace her the same way he had embraced me only hours before? Why did he have to kiss her the same way he had kissed me?

As the tears ran down my cheek, I came realize that no matter how you lose someone you love, the pain of losing them feels the same, and this was exactly why I never wanted to fall in love.  

“Sophie.” My dad knocked on the door.

It took every bit of whatever energy I had left in me to roll out of bed and unlock my door for him, only to fall back into bed.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” He sat on the edge of my bed.

“I have a headache.”

“I’ll get you some aspirin.” He stood up.

“I have some.” I pulled open the door to my side table.

Tears returned to my eyes when I saw the envelope my dad had given me before I got on the plane. The envelope that held my mom’s last hopes, dreams, and favorite memories of her last year. How could I have forgotten to read it?

I quickly grabbed the bottle of aspirin and closed the drawer before my dad could see the unopened envelope.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” he asked me.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Sophie, from what Erin has told me, Geoff was just as surprised as you were with what happened,” he said.

“I’m sure he was really surprised when he spotted me in the crowd, watching him make out with another girl.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“I know what you meant, Dad, but let’s not forget what he does for a living.” I looked at him. “He’s an actor, a really good actor, and I was just a pawn in his twisted game.”

“Please tell me you don’t actually believe that.” He grabbed my hand.

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“He loves you,” he said.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because there’s something I saw that you never did.”

“What?”

“The way he looked at you when you didn’t know he was looking,” he said with a halfhearted smile. “It was the same way I looked at your mom, with unconditional love.”

“You mean the look he had to perfect for all the chick flicks he acted in?” I asked. “I was nothing more than a just toy to a bored celebrity who was trying to pass time.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” He kissed the top of my head. “Is there anything I can get you?”

“Can you turn back time?” I looked at him through pain-filled eyes.

“I wish I could,” he replied and then shut my door.

I took a deep breath before I grabbed my mom’s letter out of the drawer and headed out to the field through my balcony door. I reluctantly walked to what I thought looked like the middle of the field and lay down in the tall grass.

I held the letter to my chest as I watched a few clouds slowly float above, before I carefully opened it and started reading.

Sophie,

This is a letter that a mother prays she never has to write, however for reasons we aren’t meant to understand, some prayers are left unanswered.

I’m not going to write you a goodbye letter, because I know in my heart I will see you again. Instead, I’m just going to leave you with how I hope you will live your life.

I hope you live every day as if it were your last. I hope that you never take anyone or anything for granted. I hope that your life is nothing short of a wonderful adventure, and that you will never stop chasing your dreams.

I hope that you feel loved every morning you wake up, and every night before you fall asleep. I hope you that you love with every breath left in you. I hope that you are hugged more than you’re comfortable with, and that you never turn your back on anyone needing a hug. I hope that you realize you have already met your soul mate, and your love story is being written in the stars for all to read. But most importantly, I hope my death doesn’t stop you from living your life in any way.

I love to the moon and back,
mi amore
. 1,2,3, sweet dreams.

Mom.

Once again, I held the letter to my heart, and closed my eyes.

“I hope that you’re happy where you are and that you’re no longer in pain. I hope that you’re flying with the fairies, and dancing with the angels. I hope that you know how much I will always love you, and no matter how much time passes, I will never stop missing you. I hope that we will be together again, and I promise to start living my life the way you hoped. I love you to the moon, around it a million times, and back again.”

I wiped the few tears that rolled down my cheek and spent the remainder of the afternoon making shapes out of the clouds that floated above me the way we used to. My mom was right; I could feel her lying next to me in the field and, for the first time, it felt like she had never really left. She was always with me; I was just too angry to realize it.  

“Sophie.” I heard my dad calling for me.

“I’m over here,” I hollered from where I was lying.

“Where?”

“In the middle of the field,” I replied.

A few short seconds later, he was standing over me.

“May I?” He pointed next to me.

“Of course.” I smiled as he lay next to me.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Doing a little reading.” I showed him the letter.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

“No. It’s fine; please don’t leave.”

“Are you okay?” He grabbed my hand.

“You know this will be the first time that I won’t be lying when I say, ‘yeah, I’m okay.’” I looked at him.

“And this is the first time that I believe you.”

“Why do you believe me now?”

“Because, when I look into your eyes, I can see you and not pain,” he replied.

“It was that noticeable?”

“To me, it was.” He pulled my head onto his shoulder. “What exactly would you two do for hours on end out here?”

“Just be together.”

“I can do that if you like.”

“I would love it.” I smiled at him.

Even though my heart was shattered into a million pieces once again, it was also somewhat healed and I had Geoff to thank for both.