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I have to admit I’m a little bit star-struck seeing him in the flesh.
He is pretty damn attractive.
“He doesn’t have a car with him,” I remark, scanning around the throng of fans surrounding the actor. “He must’ve walked here or something. Probably all the way from his family mansion...”
“Yeah, he might’ve.”
“What a dumb choice to make when it was guaranteed he’d be spotted and rushed by a crowd,” I say. “He is, like, the most famous man alive, right? No way could he walk through the center of Crystal River unmolested, and he should know that.”
“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” Amanda is practically frothing at the mouth. “He’s rich, and he’s talented...”
“And he’s currently stuck outside our coffee shop,” I quickly add, noticing how flustered the gorgeous man is getting with everyone crowding around him. His handsome face has transformed into an irritated frown and his movements have turned faster and sharper as he tries to politely navigate his way out of this predicament.
“Yep, he is.”
I catch my reflection in the mirror. I look silly in my dark blue barista uniform. My brown eyes stare back at me. My curly hair doesn’t look good after a long shift. I am the polar opposite to a glamorous movie star.
I need to go home and have a nice relaxing shower.
And I need to forget all about the heartbreak and the rejected loan...
We’ve had a few famous people come from our small town in the middle of nowhere. There are the Penmaynes, of course. You couldn’t avoid their presence if you grew up here, even if they really like to keep to themselves in their fancy mansion. And there is also the best-selling rock band Ravaged - four boys who are talented devils with music. From what I can tell, they’re actually good guys with big hearts and even bigger egos.
I remember a girl I went to high school with... Ava Matson. I’ve heard on the grapevine she is involved with Victor’s brother, Damon. A romantic fling that has turned serious. It’s no secret that he is a gangster, even though he runs a brewery on the outskirts of town. People in town love Damon for bringing jobs to Crystal River, but it is hard to swallow his criminal reputation. Ava and I weren’t too close back in high school, but I liked her. She was one of the popular girls in school – one of the queen bees. But she was always nice to me and to my friends. She seemed genuine, which can be rare in the cutthroat world of high school. I’ve actually seen her come in here to the coffee shop a few times. We’ve exchanged pleasantries. She seems happy with her life. Good for her. She’s the only real connection I have to the Penmaynes.
Amanda and I continue to stare at the famous actor outside. He is really getting trapped in now by all these people wanting a moment of his time. Nearly all our customers who were sitting in the shop have dashed outside for a photo with the man. The more he stands there, imprisoned, the more the crowd is growing. It’s a vicious, never-ending cycle.
“He’s really not moving,” Amanda remarks. “There’s an exponential growth of fans happening around him. He can’t even move a step.”
Yeah, he really can’t.
I roll my eyes at the pandemonium happening before our eyes.
I can’t stay here like this all shift. It’s too much.
I even feel sorry for the movie star.
“Oh, for god’s sake,” I say before I pull open the door to The Oak and storm out toward the famous man.
3
VICTOR
All I want is a decent almond croissant, and now I am somehow under fucking siege.
What the hell?
I look around at the crowd assembled on every side.
Fuck.
The funny thing about all this is that I can’t even use all the martial arts I’ve been taught on movie sets to get me out of this strange predicament - not when it’s a bunch of fans who have blocked me from getting said decent almond croissant.
“Yo, can I get a selfie?”
A guy thrusts his phone in my face. I smile robotically. I can tell this guy isn’t a genuine fan who actually fucking cares about me or my work. To him, I am just a famous person he can brag about to his friends at work tomorrow. I can even hear him badmouthing me now around his office water-cooler – yo, he’s such a dick in real life.
But I let him take the selfie with me. And I try my best with the smile, even when he doesn’t thank me and scurries away to tell all his friends how much of a dick I am. It’s the little things that go the long way. You can only try your best in situations like these.
