We get into his publicist's driveway and I put the car in park, looking around. It's a huge, old Victorian style house. He takes off his seatbelt and I sit, not taking mine off. He looks at me like he's waiting for something.
"Aren't you going to come in?" he asks.
"Uh, well I hadn't really planned on it. This isn't really any of my business," I start to take off my seatbelt anyway.
"Well I have a story already planned out in my head and you kind of need to be there for it to be believable." I scowl at him.
"I thought you were just going to tell her that you were going to stop acting. You don't really need to explain why. Speaking of, what did you exactly tell your parents?" He shrugs.
"Just that I was going to stop acting and that I was going to run away with someone," he looks down and smiles a little. I slap his shoulder, thinking he is serious.
"Theo?! Are you serious you can't tell them that!" I look at him incredulously.
"Calm down, I'm only joking," he is laughing a little harder. I release a breath I didn't even know I was holding and he looks back at me, his deep brown eyes twinkling. "I told them that I found a job in the States as a professor in Philosophy and I wasn't going to pursue acting any longer."
"Oh, good choice. Put your Philosophy degree to use." He is about to ask me how I knew that, but I stop him. "I'm a fangirl, Theo. I've done extensive research on my favorite celebrities. So... pretty much just you." I hop out of the car and he does the same. I walk over to his side of my car and lean against the passenger side of my two door car. "So why do I need to come in with you? I assume you're going to tell her the same story so you don't get caught up in more than one lie."
"You're the dean who hired me at this university. I'm going to keep it simple by also saying I won't be revealing the name of the university, either. Do you have a different name you could use?" he asks raising an eyebrow.
"Wow, you put a lot of thought into this, I'm shocked," I smirk at him. "My usual fake name is Kate Spencer, I'm assuming that will do?"
"That will be lovely," he says in a sophisticated tone. I can see we will be putting on quite the act so I stand up straighter to fix my posture from slouching on the car. Lucky for me I'm not dressed like a complete slob today, I have black skinny jeans, black and tan strappy wedge heels with a dressier top. Not exactly 'dean' clothing, but it will have to do seeing as though I wasn't warned of this before hand. And Theo wasn't in a suit and tie either, but he at least looked like he was dressing for a professor's job.
"Oh, just a second." I open the passenger door and bend into my back seat to grab my extra makeup bag. I pull out a tube of mascara to retouch what I did this morning for makeup and some liquid eyeliner. I like doing the thick cat eye look, so I quickly stroke on some of the black ink. Next, I put those two things back and pull out some light bronzer and blush along with a retractable brush. I put that on, kind of sloppy, but it's not like anyone is going to care. I toss that back into the back seat and grab a tube of bright red lipstick from a different clutch bag. I smear it onto my lips and turn back to Theo, closing the door behind me. "Okay, ready," I say smiling.
"Now you really look like someone who is in charge of thousands of college kids," he says sarcastically. "It's weird seeing you with so much makeup on, to be honest. You won't be doing this everyday... will you? Because I don't know if I'm going to get used to this," he jokes.
"Well lucky for you I hardly ever put on this much, I don't have time to do a whole new face every morning." I take a deep breath. "Let's just get this over with so we can get back to Miss Ida and Samuel's. We can't risk being seen."
"After you, Kate Spencer." I walk ahead of him up the steps and to the front door of the house. He rings the doorbell and we hear shuffling leading to the door. A short, thin woman answers the door and instantly gives Theo a hug. I stand next to them with my hands clasped down in front of me.
"Oh darling, you're late!" she says enthusiastically in a thick Scottish accent. "Oh, and look! You've brought a lady friend!" She releases Theo from the hug and I hold my hands up. "I'm Clarissa."
"Oh, no no, I'm not Mr. James 'lady friend'. I'm Kate Spencer, nice to meet you." I hold my hand out and she gives it a firm shake.
"Mr... James? You're not on a first name basis, Theo?" she asks looking back at him.
"I have some things to explain. I'm kind of on a schedule here, so I would appreciate it if we did it now." The woman looks between us suspiciously and lets us into the house. I follow Theo into a large dining room and he has me sit next to him, but across from Clarissa.
"Is everything going okay, Theo? This sounds rather serious." She opens up her laptop and grabs a pen and notepad .
"I'm not sure how to say this other than just to say it, but I've been offered a job as a philosophy professor in the States. Miss Spencer is the dean who offered the position to me. I've decided to pursue the job."
"Oh Theodore, that's wonderful!" she jots something down on the pad of paper. Before she can say anything else, Theo interrupts her.
"But as a result of this, I am going to need to stop my acting job and everything associated with it. Including the publicity, interviews and meetings. All starting as soon as we are finished here." Clarissa has a bright, surprised look on her face, as expected. She looks over to me, her mouth open a little, and then back at Theo.
"Oh... well then," she sets her pen down one the table and folds her hands in front of her, "Theodore, personally I think that this is a huge mistake, giving up acting. I'm very happy for you about the acting job," she looks over at me, "but I think we can make it work for you to do both..."
"No, Rissa, I can't. I've put a lot of thought into this and being a professor is going to be very time consuming." She gives me a death glare, which I find rather inappropriate seeing as how I'm the dean of a school (well, right now anyway).
"What do you think, Kate? Would you allow one of your teachers to be an actor in his free time?" I need to make it look like this was his decision, one hundred percent.
"While it would not be practical, it could be done and it is up to Mr. James as to what he wants to do about his acting career. He won't have much 'free time', though." Clarissa clenches her teeth and switches her gaze back to Theo. "Although it is not up to me, I encourage Mr. James to choose what he thinks suits him best."
"I'm choosing the professor job, Clarissa. That's all the further we are going to talk about it. I would greatly appreciate it if you told-"
"Oh don't worry, I'll tell everyone. But before you go, I would like to conduct a quick interview and get a photo of the two of you. I have loads of questions." I bite my tongue to keep from reacting, hoping that Theo will take action and tell her no.
"Like I said, once I'm done that's it. And I think that we're finished here," he says sternly. Oh thank goodness.
"I'm sorry this was such a short visit, Clarissa, but we've got to catch our flight back to the States in less than 45 minutes," I say. "It was a great pleasure to meet you."
"And you as well." Theo stands up from the table and I do the same, glad to get out of here. The atmosphere of the old house kind of creeps me out, and Clarissa isn't exactly normal either. "Well, nice knowing you, Theo. It's been one hell of a ride having you as a client. I wish you the best across the pond." She reaches out to hug him and he complies, then she turns to me and shakes my hand again.
"Bye, Clarissa. Thanks for everything," Theo says opening the door. She is already turned around at her computer and has her phone to her ear. "Bye, Theodore!" She doesn't even look up. Theo grabs me around the waist and we hurry out the door. We get by my car and I give his hand a shove.
"Don't forget what I told you about-"
"Yeah, yeah. Now get in and drive and lets hope she didn't get the make and model and/or your license plate."
"Alright, I'm going," I say laughing.
"We've got about five minutes before people start showing up here. They take the fastest routes from the city so we should take the back roads."
"That's more like it!" I say peeling out down the driveway. "Now you're thinking outside the box and that is exactly what you need to do."
+++
I pull into Miss Ida's garage and the heavy metal doors goes back down. Luckily, there's no windows on it so no one can see us or the car. Theo and I get out and head into the house. Samuel is waiting for us by the entryway. He gives me a funny look, probably because of all the makeup and then looks at Theo a little suspiciously.
"What's up with this?" he asks looking at my face.
"Theo's story was that he is taking a philosophy professor's job in the US and I was the dean that hired him. Therefore, I needed to make it look like I was old enough to be a dean."
"By the way, you did a pretty good job acting yourself, Aphro. This time I'm the one that's impressed."
"Theo James just commented on my acting skills!" I shriek in a fangirl matter, still being sarcastic and I make sure that they both can tell. Theo rolls his eyes.
"Alright, alright. Let me be the first to stop you from doing that ever again."
"Okay you two," Sam says, "you've both had a long couple of days. Training and all, so you," he gestures to Theo, "can sleep in the guest room across from the bookshelf. Aphro can sleep in the one down the hall from you. And the doors can lock from the outside, so don't even think about going to see her if you get lonely."
"Wouldn't ever think of it," Theo says confidently.
"I doubt that," I say just to antagonize Sam. Theo and I both laugh and Sam keeps an almost completely straight face. "I'll take you down there," I say to Theo, "thanks Sam. See you bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Six AM," he says slapping Theo's shoulder.
"Six?"
"We have a lot to do buddy, get used to early mornings. I'm not into late night stuff anymore, lucky for you." Sam walks up a tall staircase, probably up to bed himself and I take Theo to his room, make sure he is settled in and I make my way to my own room. I change out of my cute outfit, take of my makeup and fall asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow.