Written in the Stars (9 page)

As much as I wanted to give in, my common sense reminded me of the severity of being caught in public with him. Not only would my life be torn apart from having my face plastered on the cover of every magazine in the world, but in the end, I would be the one losing what little piece of my heart I had left, not him. Call me crazy, but for some reason, I let that small piece of my heart reply instead of my common sense.

“If, by some miracle, you are able to find out my name, I’ll consider having dinner with you.”

“Great. Shake on it.” He held out his hand. Fearing I wouldn’t be able to let go once I grabbed his hand, I reluctantly grasped it, and shook on what I knew was a disaster waiting to happen. “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Rumpelstiltskin, would it?”

“No.” I smiled.

“Didn’t think so.” He sighed. “Well, mysterious girl, it was almost nice talking with you.”

“Ditto,” was the only thing I could think of saying, since for the third time, I had gotten lost in his eyes.

“I’ll be seeing you soon.” He kissed the back of my hand before walking back to his car.

I waited until he drove out of sight before I let the reality of what had just happened set in. I stood in the same spot he left me with a goofy smile on my face, and waited until I was back on earth, for my legs to work again.

“Please let this be a long summer,” I sighed as I headed home.

I quickly ran upstairs when I saw that everyone was awake and sitting at the kitchen table. Just one look at my face and Erin would know that something had happened, and she would think it was her duty as my best friend to find out every little detail of what I was hiding, making my life a horrifying abyss in the process.

I docked my IPod and turned up the volume before jumping into the shower. My whole nightmare of a morning played in my head as the hot water rushed over my face. “I can’t believe I called him ‘stupid,’” I growled.

“Who did you call ‘stupid’?” I heard Erin’s voice. I opened the shower curtain, only to see her sitting on the toilet across the room.

“I can shower alone, you know?”

“I would hope so, otherwise you have some major issues to overcome,” she replied.

“You’re my only issue.”

“Yes, I know,” she said. “Now, why don’t you tell me what kind of drugs you’re taking that made you think it was okay to wake me up before dawn?”

“I was only trying to be nice, and I thought you may have wanted to start out your first day in Italy with an early morning run.”

“You – nice?” She chuckled. “Please, Sophie, lie to someone who doesn’t know you better than yourself, and you’ll be happy to know we’ll be spending our whole first day sightseeing together, and with Mario.”

“I have a better idea.” I peeked out at her. “Why don’t you and Mario go sightseeing without me? That way, you two can get to know each other better.”

“We stayed up all night talking, so we got to know each other pretty well already, and we both agreed we want to make sure you don’t feel left out, so you’re going.”

“I promise I won’t feel left out.”

“Sophie, you’re going. End of story.”

“Fine, but you’re buying lunch.” I shut the curtain.

“Deal. Now hurry up so we can leave.”

“Great; another deal.” I shook my head.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’ll be down soon,” I answered.

I stayed in the shower longer than I normally would, knowing I was in for a long day of watching Mario and Erin fawn over each other. At least I would have the memory of Geoff’s beautiful blues eyes to help me zone out of whatever conversation they would be having, if I could get over how horribly I treated him.

After a long lecture about t
aking my time, and kissing Nonna goodbye a million times, we were finally on our way to explore a country that I knew so much about I could give personal tours of. Once again, I had to remind myself that this trip wasn’t about me.

Less than an hour into our trip, I realized our adventure together didn’t include the car. I put in my headphones, and zoned out to Geoff’s voice instead of trying to act like I cared what they were talking about. It wasn’t long after the third song
that I fell asleep and started dreaming about Geoff.

“Yea, we’re here!” Erin’s high-pitched squeal woke me up right before I got to feel Geoff’s arms around me. “Should we walk or take a tour bus?” Erin asked as we climbed out of the car.

“I can show you more than a tour bus can.” Mario grabbed her hand. “We’ll start with Uffizi Gallery.”

“Oh, you two are so adorable.” I sighed and received Erin’s usual shut up glare as a reply.

I tried acting excited as I followed them through at least three galleries, stopped at every little statue between every building, and somehow found a way to be excited about a street lamp that Erin fell in love with.

“Sophie, come take a picture with me.” Erin stood in front the statue
David
. “Can you believe how graphic these statues are? They can make a girl blush,” she said as she wrapped one arm around my shoulder.

“Smile,” Mario smirked.

“See, now this is the kind of thing they need in the airport for the people who don’t get the chance to explore Italy.” She took another picture of
David
. “And they really should put a fig leaf or something on him for the sake of little kids.”

“Maybe we should protest it,” I teased her.

“Maybe we should,” she replied.

Most of the day went exactly the same. Walking, posing, picture, more walking, a lot more posing, and even more pictures, and I was more than happy when Mario suggested we grab something to eat. We barely got seated at a nearby café when we heard what sounded like hundreds of girls screaming madly from around the corner.

“What in the world?” Erin got up to explore.

“Erin, we waited an hour for this table.” I tried to stop her.

“Don’t you want to see what all the commotion is about?” She started following the screams.

“Not really; I just want to eat before I pass out.”

“Come on; they’ll hold our table.” Mario pulled me along.

Just as we were about to reach the front of a huge mob of girls that were crowded around a tiny café, I spotted Geoff surrounded by police. The freakishly large man that was with him earlier was holding back some insane girls as he signed autograph and posed for pictures.

“I can’t believe it!” Erin turned to me. “It’s Geoff Mann!”

Of course it is
. “Really?” I pretended to be interested. “Wow, that’s cool. Let’s go eat.” I started pushing my way out of the crowd.

“Are you insane? Don’t you want to see if he remembers you?” She stopped me.

“No, I’m too hungry to get caught up in that crowd.” I tried pulling away. Not only would she kill me if she found out I had already met him this morning, but she would surely tell him my name and then it would be game over.

“Yeah, well deal with it, because we’re going to talk to him even if I have to injure some people getting to him.” She yanked my arm and started pushing people out of her way.

By pure luck, I was able to free myself without her realizing when we were less than ten feet away from Geoff. As she shoved the last few girls out of her way, I started making my way out of the crowd before he could see me.

“Geoff, Geoff!” Erin started yelling at the top of her lungs. I looked back to see her jumping high in the air, waving her arms above her, trying to catch Geoff’s attention. I looked down just in time to miss Geoff’s eyes when he looked at Erin. The large man, who obviously was his body guard, stepped in front of Erin just as she got arm’s length away from Geoff.

Like you can
stop her
. I smiled.

“Do you remember me?” Erin asked Geoff.

“Should I remember you?” I was still close enough to hear their conversation.

“I would hope so. My best friend, Sophie and I, were the girls who came into your dressing room six years ago in Rhode Island.” He looked confused. “You had a very long conversation with Sophie, who, by the way, has been in love with you most of her life.”

“You must be Sophie.” Geoff introduced himself to the girl standing closest to Erin.

“No, she’s not Sophie.” Erin glared at the girl before searching the crowd for me. “There she is!” She pointed right at me. I had hoped to look down before our eyes could lock, but once again, I found myself looking directly into the most mesmerizing blue eyes I had ever seen. After a few seconds of daydreaming, I snapped back to the reality of the situation and started not so nicely shoving people out of my way.

“Sophie! Where in the world are you going?” Erin yelled at me.

“Excuse me!” I pushed
harder.

I barely got a few feet further when I felt someone grab my arm. I turned, slightly hoping to see Geoff, but instead it was Mario.

“Mario, thank God. Please help me get out of here,” I pleaded with him, even though I knew by the smug grin on his face he had other plans for me.

“I thought you were so in love with Geoff Mann.”

“Used to be. I used to be in love with him,” I corrected him.

“Remember when I said I would get you back for the airport?”

“You never said that.” I glared at him.

“I didn’t? Well, I meant to.” He started pulling me back towards Erin.

“Let go!” I struggled to get away.

“As you wish.” He let go once we were standing next to Erin.

“Thanks.” I glared at Mario.

“My pleasure.” He smirked. “I’ll go get us some coffee.” He walked into the café.

“Have you lost your mind?” Erin snapped at me.

I’m about to lose a lot more than that,
I thought
.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Sophie, is it?” Geoff had a huge, victorious grin on his face.

“That’s not my real name.”

“It isn’t?” Erin looked at me, dumbfounded. “I’ve been calling you Sophie your whole life.”

“Yes, but that’s not my birth name.” I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to stay afloat.

“Why would he care about your birth name? Nobody calls you Sophia Hope Watters.” All ho
pe was lost when my name stabbed me in the back as it floated out of Erin’s mouth.

“Thanks for that, Erin.”

“Why are you acting so weird?” She gawked at me.

“So, Sophia, I hear you’ve been in love with me most of your life.” The smile in his eyes told me he was enjoying watching my face turn different shades of humiliation, as Erin single-handedly unraveled every lie I told earlier today.

“That’s not exactly true,” I mumbled.

“Stop lying.” Erin nudged me. “Don’t listen to her; she’s just shy. She used to have you plastered all over her walls.” I wanted nothing more than to crawl away and die at that moment.

“Really?” He shot me a crooked smile.

“Okay, well this has all been so surreal, but I think we shouldn’t keep him from his other fans.” I turned to leave, but once again was stopped, this time by Geoff.

“They can wait,” he said. “Would you like me to sign one of those posters you had hanging all over your walls?”

“I threw them away a long time ago, but thanks for the offer.”

“How about a picture, then?” He wouldn’t give up.

“That’s a great idea.” Erin pulled out her camera.

“I think we’re out of film.” I eyed her.

“That’s because it’s digital, and doesn’t take film,” she said.

“Great. Why don’t I stand between the two of you?” Geoff wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me tightly into him. “Say sorry,” he sang quietly into my ear.

“Okay, well, thank you for that. It was nice meeting you.” I pulled away from him. “Come on, Erin. Mario’s waiting for us.”

“I don’t mind. Take all the time you need.” Mario showed up like a ghost popping into a picture.

“Would you mind signing my scheduler for me?” Erin dug through her bag.

“I would love too.” Geoff gazed at me as he signed it. “Would you like me to sign something for you? I could sign your shirt.”

“No, I’m good.”
I glared at him.

“Sophie, you’re going to regret not getting his autograph,” Erin mumbled. “Here: can you sign this page for her, please?”

“What would you like it to say?” He looked at me.

“How about ‘Sophie, don’t go jumping off any cliffs. Leave that to the mentally insane.’” I couldn’t stop the words once they started.

“Why in the world? Sophie, that is the craziest thing you’ve ever said.” Erin glared at me.

“No, it’s okay. It makes perfect sense.” Geoff smiled and started writing.

“I’m leaving now.” I stopped trying to be polite and turned to walk away.

“It was nice meeting you,” I heard Erin say before catching up to me. “I can’t believe you. You acted like some insane mental institution escapee.” 

“I told you I didn’t want to meet him,” I replied.

“But, you used to be so in love with him.”

“Yeah, and then I grew up.”

She nagged me the whole way back to the café, where they didn’t save our table and we ended up standing in line again. I was seconds away from making any kind of excuse to leave just so I didn’t have to listen to Erin and Mario drill me about the way I acted any longer, when I felt someone literally breathing down the back of my neck. I turned sharply to slap whoever it was, and froze when I saw Geoff standing behind us, in disguise.

“Hi.” He smiled.

“It’s you again.” Erin beamed, and Geoff gave her a shush look. “I mean, look, it’s someone I have no idea who he is.” Her cover up was even worse.

“I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute,” he quietly asked me.

“I’m starving, and we’re about to be seated,” I replied.

“Yes, you can talk to her.” Erin pushed me into him.

“Or, I can go talk with you.” I glared at her.

“Go,” she mouthed as she followed Mario to the table.

“Let’s go somewhere less public.” Geoff grabbed my hand and led me around the corner to a small alley that had only one way in and out, which his bodyguard blocked. I had no idea how I kept my composure while he held me against the wall waiting for a thumbs up from his body guard advising him that
we weren’t followed, or how I was able to contain myself from not kissing him, since all I had to do was pucker my lips to touch his. I knew this wasn’t a good place to be, but I also knew I never wanted to be anywhere more in my life.