Chapter 18 Lily
EIGHTEEN
LILY
While Times Three attends press releases, sound checks, and interviews for their album, I stay back on the bus and do my first lesson plan with Stella.
She’s a smart cookie, picking up everything the first time and wanting to move on to the next page with excitement.
At this rate, my job will be super easy. I may have to make her lessons more challenging.
The energy in the air has been sparking with enthusiasm. With the band’s newest album releasing tonight and the first show of the tour tomorrow, it’s like everyone has been pumped full of fire.
I’ve hardly seen any of them, which I suspected would happen.
Just days into witnessing this life, I wonder how they don’t wear out quickly.
Something always needs to be done, look and sound perfect, and their presence at certain events that have nothing to do with them has the power to make or break the party.
I don’t know how they do this.
After studying with Stella for a couple of hours, I take the opportunity to apply my makeup for the day since the bus is empty and quiet. Just as I’m applying my nude lip gloss, Amelia rushes onto the bus, heading straight for me.
“Great! It’s such a relief, seeing you getting ready!” she chirps, bouncing in the spot from happiness, which makes her braided ponytail swing with the movement. “Elijah told me to send along the message to you, but I totally forgot.”
Huh? “I’m lost. What message?”
Her face turns down.
“I was just getting ready for nothing, honestly.”
“So, you don’t know?” She bites her lip.
“No …” I trail off, packing up my makeup back into my case.
“Oh my gosh, he’s going to kill me!” she yells, startling me. Rushing toward my luggage, she pounces on my red suitcase. “We need to find you a super-cute outfit and never speak of this, okay?” she stresses.
I rush over to her and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. “What do I need a cute outfit for? I was just planning on going out and exploring the city.”
She gasps like I insulted her. “Our album release party is tonight. You have to come.” Knee deep into my pile of clothes, she holds up a sparkly red dress I decided to pack at the last minute. “This is absolutely perfect! I can just imagine how stunning you’ll look in this.”
I catch it midair when she tosses it to me. Brushing off the nonexistent dust on her knees, she smiles. “My brothers and Trinity will come by and pick you up before we all leave. Call me if you need anything.”
And she’s off like she was never even here.
“Breathe. You’re going to be fine,” Thea encourages me over the line as I pace back and forth, waiting for Elijah.
“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” I groan. My body feels like it’s overflowing with nerves.
“No, I’m not …” She trails off, not sounding convincing at all. “It’s not like you’re going to be alone. Elijah and his siblings will be there.”
“They may as well be strangers,” I hiss, checking my reflection in the mirror for the twentieth time. A nervous tic.
“Oh, come on. Elijah is not a stranger, and you know it!” I hear light chatter on her end. “If you keep up the dramatics, all it’ll take to stop you is pushing the red button on my screen.”
“I don’t care if you hang up on me. You know why?” I don’t wait for her to answer. “Because I’m looking at the Block button.” I try to sound intimidating.
“I’ll come and find you, which will be super easy since the whole world knows the touring schedule.”
“By all means, waste your time because I’ll kidnap one of the band’s bodyguards and use him for protection.”
“You don’t need them when you’re with me, but say the word, and they’re yours.”
My heart falls to my butt as I scream. I didn’t even hear Elijah enter the bus, but I find him in the doorway.
“Sounds like you have company, so I’ll let you go.” Thea doesn’t give me a chance to respond before she hangs up the phone.
“I was just joking. The last thing I want is a bodyguard, not that I need one or anything,” I stammer, rushing around, gathering my handbag and touching up my lip gloss.
When I’m ready to go, I face Elijah again and find him in the same spot, gawking at the sight of me. His mouth opens and closes a second later.
“Y-you look fucking stunning, Lulu.”
Butterflies gather in my lower belly. I cross one ankle in front of the other. I’m sure I’m blushing.
“Thank you.” I glance down at his body and notice he’s not dressed yet. “Are you going like that?”
“In a hoodie?” He gestures to his body with a smirk. “God, no. Fay would have my head.” He pushes past my body and rifles through his things. “I just need to change real quick. Give me one second.”
I watch him disappear into the bathroom, and when the door closes, I’m suddenly unsure of what to do with myself with him so near. I sit on the edge of my bed and wait.
“How do I look?” he asks, walking out and flinching when the door slams behind him.
To die for is an understatement.
Wearing an oversize black tee, paired with black jeans.
Tall and lean, a jawline so perfect that angels would cry.
His lips full, curled with a smirk. Light eyes—warm, thoughtful, comforting, and a little playful.
Thick, tousled light-brown hair, the kind you want to run your hands through, framing his face.
He is so beautiful.
I shrug, teasing him. “Decent.”
I’m sure he saw his brain by how hard he rolled his eyes at me.
“Are you flustered?”
When he leans down, his face millimeters from my own, I smell his musky cologne, and my eyes almost roll. Oh God. His handsome face is still smirking when I say nothing.
Laughing softly, he extends his elbow out to me. “Let’s go, Miss Mute. We have an album release party to attend.”
“Times Three, look over here!”
“You all look amazing. Smile for a picture!”
“Who’s the new girl?”
“Elijah, you’re the sexiest man alive!”
“Times Three, are you excited for the tour?”
I hold back a yelp when Elijah drags me to his side and places his palm in front of my eyes, shielding all the bright lights from flashing in my face. “Don’t linger. Keep walking.” His lips brush my ear, and goose bumps form on every inch of my skin from the unexpected contact.
“Who is the girl, Elijah? Tell us. The fans will want to know!”
I want to turn back and scream at them to mind their own business, but that wouldn’t be a good look. I keep my mouth shut and trust Elijah as he leads me through the thick crowd since he’s covering my face from the paparazzi.
“Elijah, just one picture!”
If his hand wasn’t holding my waist in an iron grip, I wouldn’t have noticed the tremble in his fingers.
“Almost there.”
I’m not sure if he says that more for himself or me, but his husky voice almost melts me into a puddle.
“There we go. We made it.”
The yells of at least a hundred paparazzi grow distant as the club’s door shuts, giving us privacy that I didn’t have for two minutes.
How do they deal with that? I became overwhelmed by this one experience.
“Someone, get this girl a drink. She just experienced her first paparazzi rush,” Trinity calls out like a boss, walking farther into the bustling club.
People greet her and Leonidas from left and right.
Elijah ignores the few people that rush over to him to say hello.
Leaning down, he whispers, “Are you all right? I remember how overwhelming that felt in the beginning.”
I look around at all the bodies crowding this stuffy room. Triple Threat gets hollers and whoops from everyone as they enter the crowd and greet everyone they work with, along with other celebrities who have shown up to support Times Three.
“I’m okay,” I reassure him, noticing how he looks very stressed. “How do you deal with that?”
I feel his muscular shoulder shrug against mine. “It’s part of the job. I had no other choice but to become numb to it.”
My heart aches.
For all of them.
As the countdown starts, people idolize both bands like they’re tourist attractions they’re dying to take pictures with. Bodies push together, people jump around, and Times Three’s newest album blasts—which is already gaining momentum in the charts.
I try to ignore the gut-wrenching feeling that’s started to form in my stomach.
Yet it won’t go away, no matter how hard I swallow.