As they all left the cafeteria, I could slowly feel the blush fade from my cheeks, but the heart hammering resonated in my ears. Perhaps Liam did have some effect on my decision. I mean, ultimately, the decision was my own and I did start thinking Green Goblin before that whole thing, but the second Liam put his hand on mine, I thought I was about to die. I barely knew him and here he was making me react like a fool. There were very clear reasons why I avoided all of James’ celebrity friends before and being stupid around the cute ones was one of the top ones. I rested my elbows on the table as I thought this whole situation through. Liam and I didn’t really know each other. Sure, I stalked him since I was little, but we weren’t on some personal, friendship level. Placing my chin in the palm of my hand, I shrugged off the feeling Liam left me with. He was just teasing, after all. That’s what movie stars liked to do! They teased their fans endlessly, James told me all about how he would make a fan’s day by doing something slightly flirty and then come home and laugh about their reactions with me. Then he’d swear me to secrecy so the media wouldn’t start calling him names. Oh James, you silly older brother.
“Hey Cam, you ready?” I turned to see my mom with Finch.
“Yeah, where we going now?” I got up and pushed my chair back in while taking a final bite of my food.
“Tour time! We’ll show you the entire set and you’ll get to meet some people!” Lisa spoke in her bright voice and it almost hurt my ears. She began walking out, Mom and I trailing behind her.
“So-o. Cammie.” Uh-oh. I knew that tone. That was the I-saw-you-talking-with-a-boy tone and it typically didn’t lead to anything good.
“Yes mother?”
“What were you and the boys talking about at lunch? Gemma and Ava didn’t seem to be doing a lot of talking, however you and the boys seemed very animated.” I waved my hand, dismissively.
“It was nothing.” I said. “Kind of stupid, actually.” Please don’t ask more about it, I begged.
“Then you won’t mind telling me what it was about.” I gave my mom an are-you-serious look, while she smiled innocently.
“It was about what makes a good villain. You know, because they’re in a movie... with a villain... and they wanted to see if... he was a good one.” My words weren’t confident enough to make Mom believe me as I stuttered along the lie. “It was a very intelligent conversation.” I tried to justify it.
“Mmhmm, sure.”
“Fine! We were talking about comic book villains! Happy?” She tried to tuck her lips in to keep from smiling in amusement, but it didn’t exactly work out.
“Comic book villains? Really?” I could feel my cheeks start flaming in embarrassment. “Yes, Cam, that sounds very intelligent.”
“You can make any conversation intelligent if you argue certain points.” I defended and as Mom was about to come back with a witty reply, Lisa stood in front of us and spread her arms out wide.
“This is the costume trailer! Here we keep all of the costumes in proper order and...” Lisa’s voice started drifting off about pointless facts I’m sure anyone would know. Of course they keep the costumes in the costume trailer, where else would they be?
But that’s what we did for the next hour. In and out of all sorts of trailers where the crew workers inside would give us a strange look as Lisa would blabber on about how important that role was and pointless facts of how many people go through that department. Perhaps on a day where I didn’t meet a certain hot, British boy, I would be acting more interested and these facts she was telling us probably were at least a little bit fascinating! But I just kept on mulling on the possibility of running into Liam. And I really, really wanted to run into him again. Maybe if I saw him several times in one day, my fangirling would die down and I would come to the realization that he’s a regular young adult. A very good-looking young adult, sure, but he definitely acts like a flirty college senior. However that was another thing that added into his attraction! He didn’t act like some hot shot actor, he acted like a regular person.
I groaned in frustration. I barely knew this guy and I was already trying to piece him together. It didn’t matter though, with any luck I’ll figure it out. Oh gosh, I sound like a creepy fangirl. Shaking my head furiously in attempt to stop myself from thinking, I suddenly became aware of my surroundings. My brows furrowed. Mom and Finch were out of sight and I seemed to be standing at the edge of all the trailers. I really need to pay attention to where I’m going, I reprimanded myself as I scanned the area for my mother.
“You gotta be kidding me.” I muttered, stalking off in the midst of the trailers, assuming I was going in the right direction. I chewed on my lip, trying to think of where they could have gone. All the trailers looked the same to me, so I couldn’t list off any of them for certain places that we had already visited. Was the Zone that way? I turned to where I saw the peak of a tent and headed to it. All I knew for certain was that I had no clue where I was.
“Cam?” Hearing my name, I turned to see Ava with a raised eyebrow. “What are you doing over here?”
“I was supposed to be with my mom and Finch. She was giving us a tour. But I got lost in thought and kind of wandered off.” Ava smiled sweetly.
“Do you want to come hang out on set with me?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Ava was easily one of the coolest people I had ever met. I’m pretty sure she could have become friends with anyone.
“Awesome, I’m done my scenes for the next little while, I was just grabbing a jumper. It’s getting colder. Do you mind if we just run to my trailer quickly?” She pointed in the general direction that I just came from.
“No, not at all.”
“Great, follow me.” She headed back into the maze of trailers, completely unfazed how difficult it was to navigate the area. “So how are you enjoying London?”
“It’s great! I really like it here. I miss my friends, but you guys seem pretty cool.” I shrugged, nonchalantly, hoping she knew that was the understatement of the century.
“Except the boys. They’re all idiots.” I snorted loudly which received a bemused look from Ava.
“They really are.” I agreed.
“But you and Liam, eh? It’s cute, seems like a fairytale.” My eyes widened as I gaped at her.
“What? No. Wait. What?” I rushed through my words, feeling more and more confused by the second.
“Oh my gosh, Cam. I was joking. I was having a laugh about how Liam seduced you into joining our side.”
“He didn’t seduce me!” It was useless. Why did I try to convince these people of this?
“Cam. Chill. Everyone has a wee crush on Liam, it’s perfectly okay for you to have one too.”
“It’s not even a crush! It’s... it’s like a...” I wasn’t even sure what to classify what I was feeling or thinking towards him. “It’s a pathetic fangirl crushing on a celebrity she doesn’t even know.”
“But hey! You do actually know him now!”
“Ok, cool. I can officially say I met my childhood celebrity crush. Woo.” I said, twirling my finger in a quick spiral, just adding to pathetic-ness known as me.
“Do you like him?” Ava inquired as she pulled out her key and walked up to one of the trailers.
“No, I do not. I’ve known him a total of five hours. I don’t think that’s an appropriate amount of time to have any feelings.”
“Aww, come on. What happened to love at first sight?” The door swung open and we walked into her trailer.
“Never actually happened? I don’t know.”
“You’re not exciting.” I laughed and replied, “Believe me, I know.” Ava switched the light on in the trailer as the entire room became illuminated. I want to say it was simple, which in a way it was, but I feel like I’d be lying. The entire room was done up in calming neutrals of creams, beige, and espresso, and while there was only a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a sitting area, everything was so extravagantly done, that I’m almost positive someone could live quite comfortably in here.
“Don’t you have an apartment or something?” I asked, seeing how it seemed like she made her own little home here.
“Yeah, but we spend so much time on set, I thought I’d make my own little proper home here. Besides, my flat is so far away. I only use it to sleep, really.” Ava appeared from the other side of a door wearing a thick, wooly sweater and she still looked stunning. How did she do that? If I were to wear that, it would make me look like I gained twenty pounds.
“Your sweater is so cute.” I said, sincerely. She looked like a hipster in it, with her little combat boots and black jeans. Not to mention she was adding a beanie to her head for that extra measure.
“Thanks. I got it at a thrift shop when I went home for holiday.” I was pleasantly surprised to hear that. I always felt celebrities had to buy the most expensive thing on the market. Hearing Ava went thrifting was refreshing.
“Hey, are you cold? Do you want a sweater or another scarf, hat, mitts? Maybe some tea?”
“Do you have to get back to set?” I didn’t want her getting in trouble with the director for making me tea and missing her scene.
“Not yet, I’ve got a few hours.”
“Tea sounds great.” She smiled warmly.
“I make a proper cup of tea. Not like Carson. Never get Carson to make you tea.” She navigated the trailer with ease, pulling out a kettle, two mugs, and a giant wooden box. “Take your pick.” She opened the box and inside were at least thirty different types of teas.
“Why do you have so many?” I couldn’t believe how many kinds there were! Every type of tea from all over the world, judging by one of the tea’s names that looked like it was in Thai. I picked a black tea that had a blend of fruit and handed it over to her.
“I just really love tea.” She shrugged. “Now. I feel like I know nothing about you, Cam. What was your childhood like? Where’d you go to school? Boyfriends? I want to know it all.”
“Well, boring, Grant High School until we moved to LA, and none.” I told her.
“Oh, come on. How are we supposed to be friends when that’s all I know about you?” I smiled and replied, “I know nothing of you either though. So please feel free to interrupt me with your own stories and random facts.” Ava nodded in agreement as she sat across from me at the little table.
“Now, go.”
So I did. Everything I could think of that Ava might be interested in I told her. Whether it was about my evil middle school teacher who ranted at me because I corrected someone’s pronunciation of ‘lichen’ or how angry I was when I first heard we were leaving Oregon. Ava did her part too, adding in her own stories of how she and her brothers would get in brawls when they were younger. I couldn’t imagine the sweet Ava sitting in front of me wrestling or hurting anyone, but she assured me that that was a side I would never want to see. The only time we stopped talking, laughing, or nodding to acknowledge we were listening, was when we would sip away at our tea, which, let me tell you, it was the best tea I had ever had in my life. I had never been one for tea, usually, but this was perfect. Ava seemed pleased that her reputation of tea goddess still held. We seemed to have talked for hours about anything that came to mind and she was just a cool person with a really awesome life.
Ava then glanced down at her phone and frowned.
“I have to get back to set. My scene starts in a half hour and they have to make sure I look alright. Do you still want to chill there with everyone else?” She asked. “Not everyone is in this scene. I think it’s me and Carson? I don’t even know.”
“Yeah, that’d be cool. Thanks so much for the tea, Ava.” I stood up as she took our mugs and placed them in the sink.
“No problem, it was nice to finally get to know you for real.” We headed out of the trailer where the weather had suddenly gotten a lot colder.
“Oh jeez.” I said, zipping my jacket closed and wrapping the scarf around me as the wind whipped my hair across my face. I peeled the hair back away, but the wind had another idea as it just whipped it right into my mouth. Ava merely laughed at me as I fussed with my hair.
“Ava! There you are, come on, we have to do your hair!” A stylist yelled from a nearby trailer as we reached the set.
“Be right over!” She called back and then turned to me. “So everyone should be right over there. I think I see James. See you later, Cam!” She twiddled her fingers in a quick wave and ran off to the trailer. I waved to her back and, instantly feeling weird, I grimaced and then turned to join the others.
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Hello you lovely people! Look! I updated! I know, no Liam in this chapter, what a shame. But Cam's making friends! It's all so wonderful and happy, isn't it? :) Also, Ava is in the sidebar! Isn't she pretty?
Anyway, remember to vote/fan/comment. I would love feedback!
Thank you all and have a fabulous day, aiight?
-Katie