Felix

Chapter 2 - Part 2

The door opened, and the three girls turned to see Nellie, 5th Street's head coordinator, walk in, smiling big. "Ella, I'm glad you're here. Sonia's had a chance to meet with Felix before, but you haven't, have you?"

That got her heart thumping good and hard. Oh no. "No," she said, clearing her throat. "No, I haven't."

"Will you be here for a while?"

"Um," Ella said, glancing at Carmen, who was nodding almost animatedly. "About a half hour?"

Nellie winced, biting the corner of her lip. "I'm not sure they'll be done by then. I'll see if I can pull him away for a moment, though. If not, he'll be around for the next few weeks, so I'll make sure you get to meet him. The guys and I have told him a lot about you and how you started the program all on your own. He said he remembers hearing about your brother and Sonia's story. He knows all about how you worked on getting the self-defense classes going even in the midst of that mess. I also told him about your idea of getting 5th Street to start an annual breast-cancer awareness run. He likes it. He has an aunt who was diagnosed a few months ago and says he's looking forward to meeting you. But it seems every time he's come in you've missed him. Or he's missed you, rather."

"Yeah." Ella nodded, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. "This is the first time I've been here when he's here."

Carmen squeezed her arm, and Ella knew what that meant. She'd die if Ella didn't stick around to meet with him. At least Ella knew she wouldn't be alone when it happened, and what she'd done out there wasn't so bad. So she smiled then made a mad dash in the other direction when he smiled back. Big deal. So she was in a hurry. He'd probably already forgotten about it.

At least she wouldn't be alone. Carmen would no doubt be glued to her side now. For the first time that night, she wished she'd refreshed the makeup she'd been wearing since she left that morning. She wasn't ridiculous enough to think for even a second a superstar like Felix would be looking at her in any other way than professionally, but she at least wanted to look presentable.

"Okay," Ella said with a smile, letting Nellie's words sink in.

Felix was looking forward to meeting her? Was that maybe why he'd smiled at her because he already knew who she was and not because she was gazing his way all dreamy-eyed?

"I'll be here for a while," she said a bit hopefully. "So just let me know."

"Great," Nellie said. She smiled at Sonia and Carmen then glanced back at Ella. "I'll see what I can do."

The second she walked away, Carmen did a little running in place thing and looked ready to burst.

"I thought you weren't that impressed with him," Ella teased.

"Oh please," Carmen said, giving Ella her famous stink eye. "This is Felix Sanchez we're talking about. Tell me you're not already all weak in the knees."

Maybe she was a little, and her stomach wasn't feeling so hot all of a sudden, but she wouldn't admit that. This was a professional meeting, and she'd behave just so. Once done with the giggling talk of meeting Felix, they got back to business.

"You didn't tell me about the breast-cancer awareness run," Carmen said, her eye brows pinching.

"It's just something I mentioned to Nellie a few weeks back. I gotta remember that woman is a hell of a coordinator. It was something I only mentioned casually, and she called me the other day to tell me all her ideas and what celebrities she can get to show up. Then at the end of the run she wants to have a carnival of sorts with a mini concert. The woman is insane!"

Sonia and Carmen laughed. "Well, I imagine you'd have to be moving nonstop to run a place like this," Sonia said wide-eyed. "There's always something going on and TV crews are in here at least once a week."

As they were today. It was the only hope that Ella wouldn't get the chance to meet with Felix today, not that she didn't want to. She was over the fact that he'd caught her staring at him. The man was a celebrity. A perfectly sculpted incredibly good looking celebrity—if you were into the type. He had to be used to being stared at. Ella just would've liked to have been better prepared. That's all.

A little while later, Nellie walked in the room again. "He'll get a break in about ten minutes. You'll still be here, right?"

Ella gulped hard. "Yeah, I can hang around a little bit longer."

Nellie must've picked up on how unnerved that made Ella because she laughed softly, touching her arm. "Don't worry. It'll be a very informal meeting. I'll bring him in here so he can check out the class and then meet with you for a little bit, but then he'll have to get back to his signing. So he'll be in and out of here quickly." Ella nodded, trying to act as if were no big deal as Nellie was suggesting, though her heart was already working double time. "And he's really down to earth. You'd be surprised. Despite everything you hear about him in the paper, he's a good guy and really cares about 5th Street. That's why he's anxious to meet with you."

Anxious?

Good God. Ella could've done without hearing that last part.

More to come!