The Obscure Downsides of Fame (New Edition)

4 || stage parent

I sat in the parking spot for a few minutes, catching my breath and collecting my thoughts before getting inside.

"Uhm, hi."

"How may I help you," the man behind the counter replied in a chirpy voice. I looked around the place and no one was here. Part of me was expecting one of my friends to be sitting behind a table, already chatting, but both of them had already left the state.

"Uhm, that one, please?" I said, pointing at the chocolate ice cream. "And uhm, that one. And that one."

I paid him and quickly sat down at a window, calling Ava.

"What do you need?" she asked after picking up almost immediately.

"Did I interrupt something?" I asked.

"Yes. You ruined the piece of cinematic art I was watching. I wanted to decline the call but the moment has already been ruined anyway," she said. "Oh my god, you're not seriously getting ice cream by yourself, are you?"

"You guys wanted to go to the entire fucking side of the country from me. I don't have any friends left. and I'm pretty sure my mom is calling the paps on me."

"What happened to your mysterious weekend plan friends?" she asked, clearly finding it quite amusing that I was sitting here by myself.

"Not like you guys," I said. Maybe getting ice cream by myself was dumb, but the place brought back happy memories.

"I'm sorry. We'll meet up soon enough."

"Right," I said, starting on my ice cream. "Have you met your roommates yet?"

"Right, about that," she started. "She has posters of you on her side of the wall."

"She has what now?"

"Literally, she has posters of you... just look." She turned her camera around and showed her roommate's side of the room. There was a poster of me on the wall, but it wasn't a picture I recognized. I was pretty sure someone drew that, which was creepy since I hadn't had any photo shoots since I was sixteen and this person had somehow executed drawing my posture and clothing so naturally it looked like they'd used a reference. "This is gonna be an issue. I cannot let her know I know you."

"Where is she?"

"She had another poster printed, pretty sure she said it was Leah Buchanan. She draws and sells prints."

"She's terrifyingly good at that," I said, laughing at Ava's horrified expression when she turned the camera back around. "How are you holding up?"

I looked around the shop, and I noticed a figure standing and talking to the employee.

"Oh god," I said quietly, trying to hide myself a little by slouching down in the chair. Clearly it didn't work, as Oakley's eyes met mine and his face lit up with a smile, revealing a row of straight white teeth and a dimple in one of his cheeks. "I gotta go," I told her, ending the call before she could say anything.

He wasn't walking toward me. He couldn't be. At least, I kept telling myself that until he was standing across from me. My hands were getting sweaty and my face was already heating up. I came here all the time and I'd never met anyone here except for Ava and Keith. Why did he decide to come here now all of a sudden?

"Hey," he said, still with his shiny smile on display.

"Hey."

"Is this seat taken?"

"Does it look taken?" I mentally slapped myself for my response. I was lucky he took it as a joke and laughed at it, sitting down across from me.

"Is it just me or did you order everything containing chocolate?"