Faded (Rock Star Trilogy) (12 page)

“Rebecca Black did,” I say, not that she’s any better than Justin Bieber.

Alec laughs. “She was popular for what? A month? Shortest lived career ever.”

“Doesn’t matter. I still know all the words to Friday.” And so I begin to sing it, and Alec
covers his ears. Bridgett and I both laugh.

“My ears are literally bleeding.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Bridgett tells Alec, and rolls her eyes.

“At least I feel emotions.” Alec’s voice is
suddenly angry, and I’m wondering what is going on with the two of them.

“I feel emotions just fine,” she smarts back.

“Right. You just suck at
showing
them.”

I stop them. “Whoa, guys. What is up with the two of you? Did you have a fight?”

“Sorry,” they both say in unison, but don’t explain.

I start to say something else but stop.
“You know what? I’m not even going to ask.” I probably don’t want to know, anyway.

I pull out my phone and text Stephan.

Scarlett:
Meeting is over. We came to an agreement with the label, but there are conditions. I’ll explain later. – S

He responds immediately.

Stephan:
Sounds like it went good! Can’t wait to see you. School sucks even worse without you here. Mona is on bitch patrol today.

Mona. Oh no. I have to tell Stephan what she told me. I probably should tell him tonight. The longer I put it off, the worse it’s going to be.

Yep. I’m definitely going to tell him.

4:21
PM

Bowling.

Stephan comes over after school, and I explain to him the details as best as I can. We obviously won’t know
everything until I get the contract from Barry. Until then, I will be anxiously awaiting it.

“I am having mixed feelings about it,” I tell him. I like talking to Stephan about this, because he isn’t just going to tell me what I want to hear. He will tell me what I
need
to hear.

“Well, you obviously can’t make up your mind until you hear all of the details, so really there is no need to worry about it now
.” He shrugs. “It is all going to come down to if the risk is worth it. I love your music and have no doubts, but my opinion doesn’t matte
r…
Everybody else’s does though. I’m biased.”

If only everybody likes me as much as Stephan does
. “Bridgett thinks I need to do a Bieber and go to the Internet for help. YouTube, Twitte
r…
You know, for insurance.”

“That’s probably a good idea, honestly.
I don’t think you need it, but it couldn’t hurt. It may take people a little while to get used to your new sound,” he says the same thing that Alec did.

I need to talk about something else. I’ve had enough music industry talk for one day. I need Stephan to be my escape.

“Let’s go bowling,” I blurt out.

“Bowling?” he questions.

“Yes. I’ve never been before, and I need to do something normal,” I explain.

“You’ve never been bowling? Yes, we are definitely going to go now.” He looks down at my heels. “You will want to bring socks. But don’t change out of this dress.
I like this dress.”

“I was going to wear jean
s…
” I protest. “I’m going to be bending over, right?”

“Exactly.” He pouts. “Please?”

I laugh. “Fine. Look all you want, but you can’t touch.”

“You will cave eventually,” he says, pulling me into his arms. “And when you do, it is going to be the best
damn night of your life.”

I shiver against him.
How can just his words turn me on so much?

“I have no doubt
about that,” I agree, and back away. “But I told you, we have to be in love first.”

Stephan looks a little hurt by my words. “Just go grab some socks, and we’ll get out of here.”

Our bowling date turns into an outing for everybody. Stephan invites Alec, Bridgett, and Ethan. He says the more people there are, the more fun it is.

I was feeling
bad for my earlier comment. I shouldn’t keep bringing up the “
love
” thing. I know it bothers Stephan, and it really upset him. I’m such a terrible girlfriend. When we are getting our shoes, I decide to apologize to him.

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier,” I say. “About the
love
thing. I know that it bothers you.”

“What size?” the guy behind the counter asks.

“Seven.”

He hands me my shoes, and I take them. Stephan gets his, and we walk over to where everybody else is sitting
. He remains silent. Maybe he’s not going to say anything? We sit down to put on our shoes.

“It’s not
love
that bothers me, Scar.” He shakes his head. “That isn’t the part of what you said that hurt me.”

“What was it?” I ask, feeling half an inch tall. I hurt Stephan, and I don’t even know
how
I hurt him.

He shakes his head. “Let’s just drop it for now.”

I hang my head. “Okay. But just so you know, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He puts his finger under my chin, and pushes my face up so I’m looking at him. “It’s ok
ay, Scarlett. I promise. Let’s have fun.”

He leans in to kiss me, and
I hear Alec clear his throat. We both pull back.

“Don’t be gross
, guys,” he says.

I give him my best
fuck off
look.

“Why did you invite Alec again?” I asked Stephan.

“I actually didn’t. Alec invited himself,” he answers. “By the way, Peter and I had an interesting conversation earlier.”

“What?” I question cautiously.

“He says he wants a sexy scene of us.” Stephan shoots me one of his sexy, panty-droppingsmiles. “I have to admit, I like his ide
a…
”

I look over where Peter is standing. The cameras, as always, are on us. As much as I want to ignore
them and have a normal night, I can’t. People in the bowling alley are staring at us, and a few are taking pictures. As I begin to think about it, I realize
normal will never be an option for me
, especially if I continue doing music.

Stephan starts to get up to go pick out his ball, but I stop him. “Hey, Stepha
n…
I was wondering what you would think if I chose to quit.”

“Quit what?”

“Music,” I answer quietly.

He thinks for a moment
before responding, and I’m scared of what his reaction will be.

“I think that before you quit, you need to prove to yourself that
you
can do this with your music. After you prove it to yourself that you can, if you still want to quit, then I would be behind you one hundred percent.”

“Ok
ay, but what if after this I want to continue? Would you really be okay being in the spotlight with me?” I have to know.

“Scar, if I couldn’t handle it, I never would’ve talked to you that first day in study hall.”

“Right.” I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s not like you knew then that you’d fall in love wit
h…
I mea
n…
” Crap. I said the word love again. “I’m sorry. I mean
t…
Actually, never mind. Just forget I said that.”

I start to walk to pick out my ball, but Stephan grabs my wrists and pulls me close to him. “Don’t ever be afraid to say what you’re feeling.”

I’m feeling love.

But I’m not going to say it and be rejected.

“I won’t,” I say, but it’s a lie. I’m scared to death.

We both go grab our
bowling balls, and when we come back to the lane, Alec is putting everybody’s name in the computer.

“Have room for one more?” I hear a voice behind us. I turn around to see Mona standing there, holding a lime green bowling ball.

“Yes, we do,” Ethan quickly says, stepping between her and Stephan.

I look at Ethan. “Can you and I talk? Privatel
y…
”

E
than nods and turns to Stephan and Mona. “Don’t kill each other while we’re gone.” Then he follows me away from the others.

I stop suddenly once we’re out of earshot and turn toward him. “Mona? Really, Ethan?
What the fuck were you thinking
?”

I’m desperately trying to ignore the cameras.

“It wasn’t me,” he quickly denies. “I didn’t even tell her we were coming here.”

I look over at Peter, who is looking anywhere besides me. It was
him
. It had to be.

“But since she’s here, maybe you could convince her to tell Stephan,” he tells me. “I think it’s a great idea. It’s not really your place to tell him. It should definitely come from her.”

“How am I supposed to convince her?”

“I don’t know
.” He pats me on the back. “But I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

He walks away, and I lean up against the wall for support.

How did I get myself into this situation?

“Scarlett? Can I have your autograph?” I hear somebody ask.

I’m about to tell the person to fuck off, but when I open my eyes I see a little girl about Anna’s age. She’s holding out a notebook toward me.

“Sure
.” I take the notebook and pen from her. “What’s your name?”

“Hilary,” she answers.

I sign her notebook and hand it back to her. “It’s very nice to meet you, Hilary.”

“Thank you
.” She grins and runs back towards her parents who are watching her from a couple lanes over.

As I walk back toward my friends, Peter comes up beside me. “I really thought for a minute there you were going to tell
that little girl to get lost.”

I shrug. “Sometimes it would be nice to have a normal night out
, but I’m not going to take it out on her. She’s just a child.”

“But you wanted this life.”

“I guess,” I say, biting my lip. “I was fifteen when I got signed to a label, and my career took off so fast. My parents controlled my life, and at the time, I didn’t think I had a choice in the matter. Besides, what fifteen year old doesn’t want to be a rock star?”

“Your life seems pretty great. You’re Scarlett Ryan. What more could you want?”

I have to laugh at the irony of his statement. He’s right, really, what more do I want? What more is there? I now have family, friends, and the best boyfriend ever. On top of everything, I have a shot at doing my music my way. So what else could I possibly want?

“I will let you know when I figure it out.
”

I am first up on the board, and I have no clue what I am doing. I was hoping that I would be last so I could watch everybody else. I pick up the ball and walk toward the pins.

I hear Stephan laughing as he comes up behind me. “First of all, that’s the wrong lane,” he explains, and then points to the lane to the right of where I am standing.

“Oh. Right.”

“And you’re holding the ball wrong.” He explains how to hold the ball, and then he tries to explain how to roll the ball. I end up throwing it instead. It hits the hardwood floor with a crack and then slowly rolls into the gutter.

“That was really bad.”

Stephan nods his head in agreement. “Yes, that was pretty bad.”

As we are waiting for my ball to come back up, I look back to see Alec laughing at me. I glare at him.

My ball comes back up, and Stephan grabs it for me. “Let me help you.” He hands the ball to me, but holds onto my arm. His body is pressed up against my back, and all I can focus on is the fact that literally every inch of our bodies is touching. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck. I’m vaguely aware that he is saying something, but I’m not sure what. All I know is that I could listen to his voice forever. “Do you got that?”

“Mmhmm,” I sigh.

“Scarlett?”

“Yeah?”

He laughs, and it vibrates through my whole body. “Did you hear anything I said?”

I shake my head. “Not a word.”

“Just roll it this time,” he instructs, as he starts to back away.

“I’ll do anything you want, as long as you never stop touching me.”

“Promise?” he flirts.

I take the ball and “roll” it down the lane. I don’t throw it this time, but it only goes a few feet before it goes into the gutter. I turn around to see Stephan checking out my butt.