Away From the Spotlight (25 page)

“Well, then
,
buzz us in.”  I didn’t realize they were
just outside
.  I hurriedly picked up the scattered books and papers on the dining room table.  That’s about all I had time to do before
there was a knock at the door.

“Hi, come in,” I said as I noticed that they were both carrying take out bags and Kate was carrying a large vase full of more
carousel rose
s.

“Courtesy of Will,” she
said as she handed me the vase.

I opened the small card on the vase.  It had his handwriting.  “I miss you and love you
more than anything
.  I will get back to you as soon as I can.  Love, W.”  I put the vase next to the other one on the kitchen counter facing the dining
area
and living room.

“Wow,” I exclaimed as I looked at the bags of food and wine.  “This
i
s so nice of you.”

Kate responded.  “Don’t thank us.  This was Will’s idea.  He planned this before he left.  He wanted you to know he was thinking about you even if he c
ouldn’t be here.”

Not long after Stephen and Kate arrived, I received a beep on my cell phone letting me know
I had received a text message.”

“U got company?”

I responded quickly.  “Yes.  S&
K
r here.  Thx.  Wish it was u.”

I pictured Will in a darkened
theater texting me.

“Me 2.  Have fun. 
ILY
.”

“
ILY
2
.”

I turned back to Stephen and Kate.  “Okay
,
so how did you get the sign
ed card with Will in New York?”

“He left us with cards a
nd instructions before he left
,
”
Stephen informed me.

I noticed the plural w
as used when Stephen said card.

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“That was still really nice of you.  You didn’t have to go to all that trouble for me.”
Now it was not only Will that I couldn’t properly reciprocate with, Stephen and Kate were now added to that list.

“Yes we did.”  Kate responded this time.  “First, you
’
re one of
us
now
; s
econd, Will loves you
; a
nd third, he’s set up so many nice things for us in the past.
We owe him.  He’s
quite the romantic, you know.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“You don’t sound ple
ased.”

“No, I am. 
Really
.  It’s just that I sometimes feel like we’re in an unequal partnership and I can never hold up my end of the bargain.  I’m still a
poor
student.  I can’t keep up.”

Kate seemed exasperated by my attitude. 
“You’re just talking about
things
.  Will doesn’t care about that.  At this point, he could buy himself anything he wants.  Notice that he still lives in a rented house with Stephen and Colin.  He could live
far
better than that
, b
ut he doesn’t want to leave his
mates
and is happy the way things are.  It makes him feel normal.  You make him feel normal.  That’s what you give him.”

“That’s not much.”

“
Yes,
it
is
.”  Stephen interjected now.  “Look, I’ve known him for a while now and I’ve never seen him so happy.  I’m sure he’s probably told you, but he was not good for a while.  Back around
Midnight 1
, he struggled with the fame thing.  He was kind of a mess.  Even
I
stopped being
mates
with him for a while.  Katherine helped him screw his head back on straight and he’s been
good
ever since.  But there’s always been something missing until
you
.”

“It’s like someone tur
ned on the lights.” Kate added.

I didn’t know what to say.

Stephen and Kate
took the cartons of food out of the bags and I went to
the kitchen to
get plates and silverware.  I was very pleased when I
looked over and
noticed that
the food was from
my favorite Chinese place
in
Brentwood and one of the cartons contained the peanut noodles I loved so much.  This couldn’t be a coincidence.  Will must have left pretty detailed instructions.  I sat there thinking
about
what was next on his list of instructions.  He had only been gone l
ess than one week out of three. 
What else
i
s in store for me?

It was very comfortable
sitting there and talking
with Stephen and Kate that
evening
, like I had be
en friends with them for years.

After dinner, we
visited
a local bar, not far from the nearby fraternity row
,
for a quick drink just to get out of the dorm
-
like
atmosphere of my apartment. 
The
very popular hangout
was
fairly
empty in light of t
he fact that it was summertime and the campus was
pretty
dead.

Not long after we were served
, Stephen
received
a call on his cell phone.  It
was
Will.

Stephen smiled and said, “
Hello
. . .
y
es
. . .
 
o
kay
. . .
w
ill do.
  Cheers.
” 
H
e hung up the phone before I could talk to Will.  I was disappointed
and it showed.

Without explaining, Stephen asked,
“Shannon, will you meet us tomorrow
for lunch
in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in the Marina
?
  Around
eleven
?”

“Sure.  What’s going on?  This isn’t one more item f
rom Will’s instructions is it?”

“You’ll
see tomorrow.”  He winked.

Kate briefly looked a little confused, but her face
cleared quickly and she smiled.

After another round of drinks and no further explanation of the call from Will,
Stephen and Kate
drove
me back to my place
.
  We hugged each other and they left.

“Don’t forget.  Tomorrow at eleven
,
”
Stephen
turned around and
reminded me.

“I won’t.”

What in the world are they up to?

Will called around ten to wish me a good night.  He seemed to be a little more
tired and anxious than usual.

I was about to give him a hard time about the instructions left with Stephen when he said, “I’m sorry, Shannon.  If I don’t get any rest, I won’t be in good shape for tomorrow. 
T
here’s a lot going on.  Can I talk to you
in the morning
?”

Frustrated that my questions about the instructions weren’t going to be answered, I said simply. 
“Okay.  Thank you for tonight.”

“You’re welc
ome.  Good night.  I love you.”

“Love you,” I said somewhat shortly.

I woke up early
the next day,
wondering what Will’s instructions had in store for me t
h
at
morning
.  As I was g
etting ready for
lunch at
the Ritz Carlton, I
realized that
it wo
uld be on the more formal side, n
ot that I had a whole lot of dressy clothes in my limited wardrobe meant to get me through the summer.  I had a little black dress, and it wasn’t really a daytime outfit, but it would have to do.

I drove across town and
arrived
ten minutes early.  I walked in
to
the lobby and realized that I didn’t know specifically where to meet Stephen and Kate.  As I look
ed
around to find
them
, my cell phone rang.

It was S
tephen.  “Are you in your car?”

“No, I’m here.  Where are you?”

“Meet us in our
s
uite on the
twelfth f
loor.”  At first, I thought, “What is going on?”  I hoped against hope that maybe Will was here by some chance, but thought it
highly
unlikely. 
W
hen Stephen gave me specific instructions
regarding
how to get to the suite, m
y hopes were completely dashed as I realized it
must be
Stephen and Kate there rather than Will.

I knocked on the door.  When it opened and I saw
him
standing there, I couldn’t suppress a scream.  I stood there for a second a little stunned and then launched myself at
Will
to give him a big hug.  That’s when the waterworks came.  The door shut loudly behind me.  Will seemed excited by my reaction and hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe.  I kissed him all over his face as tears ran down my cheeks
and onto his
face.

Will
pulled back and said with a smil
e, “So you’re happy to see me?”

“What do
you
think?” I said as I tried to wipe
my
tears off my cheek
and then his
.

“I
’
m so glad I came
then
,
” he said still holding me
. 
“
I wouldn’t have missed your reaction for anything.  I
’m not
here long.  I have a five o’clock flight to Chicago
,
so we have a little over four hours before I have to leave
again
for the airport.
I have lunch coming to the room in about an hour.  What do you want to do until then?”  He looked at me in a way that
let me
kn
o
w he wasn
’t going to wait for my answer.

It was the room service knock
on the door
that pulled us out of bed.  We
shrugged into
the plush hotel robes
and
had
l
unch served at the dining table in the suite
.

“
W
hy didn’
t you tell me you were coming?” I asked while picking at some fresh strawberries.

“I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to make it back until last night
and
I didn’t want to make a promise I couldn’t keep.  I told you before that sometimes my schedule is not my own.  Then
, when I found out I could
, I had to make sure I could get all the arrangements together.  By then, it was so late
that
I
decided to make it a surprise.”

“And
you called Stephen last night.”

“Yes.”

“But you wouldn’t talk to
me
,
”
I said
,
putting effort i
nto sounding like I was pouting.

“I’m sorry, but I still had a few things to do and I was afraid that
,
if I talked to you, I might spoil the surprise.  I was so excited at that point
that
I would not have been able to keep it to myself.  I was better able to keep myself in check later th
at night when I talked to you.”

“But yo
u didn’t talk to me much then.”

“Because I was still afraid I would spoil the surprise
, a
nd I wanted to try to get some rest because I didn’t want to be tired with you today.  Of course, I was too excited to sleep.  I did manage a little on the plane though.  I can see
now
it wouldn’t have mattered even if I
hadn’t slept at all
.  Seeing you is like a massive jolt of caffeine.  I am wide awake and can feel every
part of
my body.”