Caramel | A Short Story Collection ✓

22. Female Success (Part Two)

Understandably, the mall was busier than I'd ever seen it. It appeared the book signing was right in the middle of it, where I could see a distant speck of a woman sitting at a desk with fans queuing up eagerly with a hardback edition of the latest novel. I grabbed a copy of her newest book, Tina following suit somewhat reluctantly, and then made my way to the back of the line. She stood impatiently for a few seconds beside me before stretching up on her tiptoes and making a surprised 'o' sort of shape with her mouth.

"Zara!" She hissed painfully into my ear. "Look, there's people from all the important news stations here! And one of them's interviewing people near us!" She jerked her head in the direction of a forty year old woman with more Botox than I'd ever thought possible, jabbering into a microphone. With a suspiciously white smile, I saw her turn back to the camera.

"Monica March here, daily correspondent." She declared with a none-too-single flick of her bleached blonde hair. "The line for the latest Erika Mills Rutherford novel is crazy! Let's see what some people at the back have to say about waiting for so long."

She began to talk to someone just a few people ahead of us. I heard Monica's questions delivered in a confident manner to which a slightly shyer girl replied, "I've had my dreams stamped on all over the place, I ended up living in my car at one point. But hearing about characters who've gone through hardships like mine make things seem better, and I really relate to their wishes to be children again. That's why I'm prepared to queue so long."

I thought it was a rather touching answer, but Tina scoffed. "Silly, silly... she does realise this isn't live? She has to be more interesting than that if she wants to be on the news tonight... oh Zara, she's looking right at us!" With a little high-pitched squeal that made my ears bleed, Tina thrust herself in front of me and batted her eyelashes alluringly. I was all to happy to remain in the background.

"Hello there!" Monica said condescendingly to Tina, as if she was six instead of sixteen. "Are you a big fan of the Rutherford series?"

Tina shot the camera one of her most winning smiles. "Oh, I'm the biggest," she said confidently, somehow angling her hip so her boobs stuck out more. She swished her hair and batted her lashes some more, drawing attention to her distinctive oval shaped eyes. "I've been following the series since day one-"

"No you're not." A deep voice interrupted her from behind. Tina turned round to shoot him a death stare before quickly trying to recapture the camera's attention with a tinkling laugh, but Monica had moved onto the boy, enthralled. Predictably, there weren't a lot of males in the line, so getting someone who had the classic bad boy look to fangirl over Rutherford would make a good story.

"What's your name?" Monica shoved the microphone towards the boy with the leather jacket, and Tina squeezed my arm so tightly I was sure she left marks. I wasn't exactly sure whether it was to convey her fury at having her big moment stolen away or to send me a sign that she thought the boy was drop dead gorgeous. Which he was, if tall, dark and handsome was your thing, and let's face it, it's every girl's thing.

"Scott Daniels." He replied in the same deep tone, and Tina squeezed my arm even harder. My circulation was definitely in jeopardy. "I was just saying that that girl isn't the biggest fan; this one is." He nudged forward a girl half-hidden behind him, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights; only in this case, it was a bright camera lens. "She flew all the way over from Britain to be here."

"Well, it's England, and I didn't fly over just for this." She said in a Liverpool accent. I recognised it as I used to be a big Cheryl Cole fan and she shared the same tones. "I was in the city visiting relatives, and then I heard about this, so I just had to come over. I'm a big fan." After a second's phase, she added, "I'm Martha by the way."