I woke up with the sun shining in my eyes. I sat up, thinking I was going to be late for school, when I realized I wasn't going to school today... Or any day in the near future for that matter. I stretched and trudged my way downstairs. Alex and Austin were enjoying bowls of cereal at the table. Frosted Flakes. I wasn't much of a fan. It was the first time I was ever in the kitchen for food. I glanced around.
You'd think finding the pantry would be easy to find, right? It wasn't. Austin reached behind him and popped open a door I hadn't noticed. Poptarts. Yes! I sat across from Austin at the table and began munching away at their chocolate chip goodness. They both stared at me, but I ignored them. I wasn't letting anyone get to me today. I had to start on my schoolwork online and write some more.
Alex cleared his throat. "Nice hair."
To anyone else I would have said something rude, but I just touched my frizzed out hair. "Thanks."
Inside I was kind of embarrassed. He was Austin's best friend after all. Better yet, Austin was right there. I’m no different than anybody else and I’m not afraid to admit I still got kind of star struck when I looked up and saw them staring at me. They were both sort of like celebrities. Not big ones; but still celebrities. They each have the looks and the talent. They just need to make it big so the rest of the world can see them.
They stared at me the whole time I ate. Especially Alex. Finally I just gave up and walked out of the room; abandoning my Poptart. I got dressed and fixed my hair in my room. I looked human now, but I didn’t want to go back downstairs and face their awkward stares.
What was with those two anyway? Yesterday everything seemed fine, and I thought they were already getting used to the fact I was here. Was I wrong about that? They probably just had some sort of argument or something. Austin popped into my room without knocking. “Hey. We‘re about to start the Ustream thing. We do it over in the next room. We have to do three of them a day, or else fans from other places get all ticked off. Come on.”
I checked my hair in the mirror and followed him. My writing spot was in the corner by the door; completely untouched from the way I left it. They had the microphone, camera and two chairs set up in front of it. Alex was standing shirtless in front of the mirror, combing his hair. I tried not to stare… but you know. I am still just a girl.
I sat down on the sofa in the corner and didn’t say anything. Austin turned things around so I could still be seen on the camera from the sofa. Austin sat down on his chair that he uses for every web cast and tuned his guitar. Alex took his place next to him and made funny faces into the camera, even though we had another half hour until we started broadcasting.
Austin sat down the guitar. “Scott texted me and told me to make sure we get you a bunch of followers on Twitter. We‘ll all have to do our Twitter names and tell them to follow us.”
I nodded and he wrote down his Twitter name on a piece of paper in magic marker and Alex’s on another piece. “Here, you write yours.”
I wrote my Twitter name down. “Are you two even following me?”
Austin blushed. “That‘d probably be a good idea, wouldn‘t it?”
The two of them whipped out their phones and my phone rang telling me I had new followers. I rolled my eyes. Did the seriously think this was going to work? I’m only me. No one’s going to care what I do.
“You two should stay out in the hallway and surprise them. I‘ll pretend my mom called me and everyone will be like, ‘Whoa! They came out of nowhere!’ And then I‘ll introduce you and I‘ll sing and stuff and we‘ll talk and answer questions. Scott wants lots of questions.”
I sighed. “Why does all this matter already? I get it. He wants people to know me, but what is this going to do? No one‘s going to care, especially if we‘re apparently not sure what we‘re even going to try to publish.”
“Hey, if anything at all, you‘re having good time, and if you aren‘t, you can make yourself have a good time,” Austin said.
Austin went through the schedule he made up for the Ustream. He had a list of songs and everything planned out. It was going to be an extra long broadcast today. We were going to be on for an hour and a half. Austin made an announcement online that it’d be longer, and there were already 4,000 people logged on when he started broadcasting with Alex and I out in the hall.
I heard him start talking to the fans. He asked about their day and what they thought was so special he had to extend his broadcast. None of the guesses he read were even close. I leaned against the wall and shut my eyes. They were probably all going to assume I was Austin’s girlfriend and officially hate me.
Alex touched my arm. “What‘s wrong?”
Austin started a Justin Bieber cover with his guitar. “Nothing.” I didn’t look up.
“Are you sure?”
I opened my eyes and found Alex’s face just inches from mine. I shook my head. Maybe I wasn’t alright. Maybe I was homesick and needed someone to talk to.
He smiled. “I‘m here for you Olivia.” The next thing I know his lips were inches from mine and his right hand was cradling my face. Austin’s guitar stopped, but Alex didn’t flinch. His lips came closer and closer, and then Alex Constancio stole my first kiss. It was long and gentle and interrupted by Austin opening his bedroom door.
Austin had the camera in his hand and it was facing us when Alex jerked back. He flushed bright red, but I went pale. At least Austin’s fans weren’t going to be worried about me stealing him. Alex’s fans on the other hand…
Austin flipped his camera around and shut the door. “That wasn‘t exactly the surprise I had in mind… but I‘m going to be taking tons of requests and questions today. There‘s nothing special. I‘m just feeling nice today.”
I ran back into my room and locked the door. How did I just let that happen? Austin obviously wasn’t pleased, otherwise he would’ve laughed it off and told the fans it was all planned, but no. He didn't He probably hated us. I heard him singing away in the next room, exactly as he’d planned. Alex knocked on my door and tried to come in. I didn’t open it.
My phone rang with an unfamiliar number. I answered, but didn‘t talk. “Olivia? It‘s Scott. What the…? What did you just do? He‘s not smiling. He‘s losing viewers. You just ruined him.”
I started crying. “What do you mean what did I just do? I had my first kiss! I ruined my chances with everything! That‘s what I did. I didn‘t ask for that to happen Scott! It just did.”
Scott sighed. “Alright. March in there and work things out. Now.”
“He‘s not going to want to talk to me.”
“Go!” Scott hung up.
I dried my tears and texted Austin. “Scott‘s flipping.”
I rinsed my face and put on make up to hide my puffy eyes. He texted back. “So am I.”
I took a deep breath and left my room. Alex was sitting on the floor between the two doors. “I‘m sorry,” he said.
“Save it.”
I opened the door to where Austin was, just a crack at first, and when he stopped playing guitar, the whole way. I plastered a fake smile on my face and sat on the stool next to Austin. “Surprise!”
Austin ignored me and picked up where he left off in the song. Seconds later Scott was calling again and I backed up to my corner and answered. “What Scott? I‘m trying.”
“I know. He‘s ticked. You have to get him to answer questions. Be funny and make a joke out of it, but don‘t let Alex come in. He‘ll ruin it.” He hung up.
I locked the door and went back to my seat. There was a marker and a pad of paper on the desk in front of me. I took it and wrote, “Questions?” and held it up as he finished the song. Austin sighed. “I guess we‘ll answer some questions now.”
I pointed out a question on the chat that said, “Who‘s the girl kissing Alex? He‘s mine!” and wrote on the page at the bottom. “Ignore the kiss altogether. I don‘t know what Scott wants…”
Austin watched me and then smiled; putting his arm around me. “This is one of my best friends. Her name‘s Olivia. She‘s staying as a guest in my house for awhile.”
I smiled and we tried to look for more comments, but every single one was about Alex or the kiss. Austin clicked over to another box to see if there were any better questions coming off of Twitter. The only thing we noticed was the new trending topic, #SheStoleAlex. Austin just faked a smile and started making up his own questions for us to answer so we didn’t look stupid. That ended up being the longest hour of my life. I never had to fake anything for so long.
When Austin finally logged off of the live broadcast, disconnected the microphone, and looked at me. “Why?”
I stuttered. “It just happened. I guess I was looking all depressed and… you opened the door. I‘m sorry.”
He threw his head back in disgust. “I can‘t believe that.”
“I‘m sorry,” I whispered again. I felt so bad that I let him down even though I don’t know why he was mad.
Out of nowhere he asked, “When was your first kiss?”
I blushed because I knew there was no way I could lie to him. “Today.”
He sighed and stood up. “I ruined it for you, didn‘t I?”
I looked down and thought about it. All I’d been focused on since the kiss was faking it for the fans and making sure no one would hate me, but it was my first kiss. With Alex Constancio. A huge smile broke across my face as I thought about it. I kissed Alex Constancio. I’m not going to deny it; I always had a crush on Austin’s best friend Alex.
I flashed back to the kiss, remembering how my heart raced when I opened my eyes and saw him standing there; remembering how warm his breath was on my face; and remembering how soft and warm his lips felt on mine. I remembered how gently he cradled my face, and how easy it was to kiss him back, but most of all I remembered how broken Austin’s face was when he saw us.
He did ruin it. He ended the most perfect memory of my life with the broken look on his face; a face I never want to see broken. My smile fell and I nodded slightly. “Yeah, but it‘s not your fault. It‘s ours.”
He sighed and hugged me. “It‘s not your fault. I shouldn‘t of gotten mad. You guys can go around and kiss whoever you want. I can‘t control that part of your lives, and I shouldn‘t try. He told me he liked you, and I made him promise to let it go. That’s why I was so mad. It shouldn’t matter though, because I could tell by the look on his face when he said it, that he liked you so much that the promise wouldn’t mean anything if he was left alone with you for too long. I just thought that maybe I could hold it off a little longer if I made him promise not to. I’m sorry.”
“Why‘d you try to stop it?”
He dropped out of the hug and sat down on the couch. “I don‘t know. I just thought… I don‘t want anything to ruin your chances with this writing thing and relationships are just so much drama, but I can‘t stop you guys.”
I looked him in the eyes. “There‘s something else isn‘t there?”
His expression flickered through something I couldn’t quite catch and returned to normal. “No. That‘s it.”
“Austin.”
“It‘s nothing. Sometimes he’s just really straightforward with girls. You’re going to be fine.”
I would’ve asked, but I wasn’t given the chance, because Austin got up to search for Alex and I got a call from Kylie. “Liv!”
I laughed. “Kylie!”
“You kissed Alex Constancio?!?”
How did she know? There was no proof was there? “How did you…?”
“It‘s all over Facebook and Twitter!”
I logged into Austin’s computer and sure enough there was a picture of my first kiss all over the internet. “Kylie!”
“What? This is so cool! Tell me all about it! Who kissed who first? Are you dating now? Who took the picture?”
“Kylie! It‘s on the Internet! Do you know what kind of a problem this could turn into? My family and everyone else in the world could see this. It could ruin everything. If my dad finds out, he‘s going to fly down here and drag me home. ”
“Oh my god! What are you going to do?”
I sighed. “Nothing I guess. I can‘t do anything. Look, I got to go, but I‘ll call you back tonight after the last Ustream okay?”
She sighed. “Alright. Bye.”
I rushed down the hall to Austin’s room where he was talking to Alex. “Guys, I think our problem might be a little bigger than we first thought.”
Alex’s eyes grew wide. “Why?”
“The picture‘s everywhere.”
Austin sighed. “We already knew. Alex saw it during the broadcast.”
Alex glanced at Austin. “Can Liv and I talk for a minute? I think the current circumstances demand at least a conversation.”
Austin raised his eyebrows and stood up, “Keep your clothes on.” Then he walked away.
I sat down on the edge of the bed next to Alex. He looked at me. “We got caught.” He didn’t sound like he was ashamed or embarrassed about it like I felt. He sounded like a kid who just won a game at the carnival.
I laughed slightly. “I know.”
“I really like you.”
Suddenly the fear of love I’ve had my entire life came creeping up on me again. I’ve always been afraid of heartbreak and guys. Kylie always said she wanted me to get a boyfriend, but I could never flirt. Even then, being face to face with the cutest guy I'd ever met in my life, I was afraid.
“Why?” I asked him.
“You‘re beautiful and talented. I want to get to know you.”
I blushed. “No I‘m not.”
He reached out his hand and gently turned my face towards his. “You‘re guarding yourself pretty well. I‘m not going to hurt you. Austin would kill me.” I turned my head and looked at the floor. “Will you just give me a chance?”
I realized I didn’t have long to decide on that. I knew he was going to beg for an answer sooner or later and I was going to have to give him one. Could I trust a guy I barely knew to protect me from everything that could come along with the sudden attention that was coming my way? Could I trust him to make me feel like every single struggle was worth it for the next year? Could I trust him with my heart?
He pulled my face towards his again and made me meet his eyes. “Please?”
I nodded and a tear fell down my cheek. He pulled me into a firm hug. “What‘s wrong?”
“I never agree to trust anyone.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I‘ll prove you can trust me. Okay?”