Chapter 8 #2
Lucy waits at the side of the stage, tapping away on her tablet. Even with Cai sorted, she finds something to do. A snack table has been left for us at the back of the room. I snag a cereal bar and unwrap it as I wander over to her.
Her head shoots up from whatever she’s doing, and she blurts out without warming me up to it, ‘Will you do the headcount or shall I?’
Well, I was gonna say thank you for earlier and offer to get her a snack, give her an olive branch, but since she never relaxes, I guess work continues. I swallow my bite and say, ‘I should stay up here. Can you do it?’
She nods and digs in her handbag, rummaging around for a bit before pulling out a bag of wristbands along with something silvery.
‘I brought my own clicker.’ Of course she has her own.
‘Got the wristbands ordered last night and delivered to the house first thing, in case the shop didn’t have any.
They’re Cai branded. Two hundred and fifty, right? ’
‘No exceptions.’
‘On it.’ The smile she flashes me is more genuine than the others I’ve had from her recently. I guess I don’t give her much to smile about. Dimples nestle under her full cheeks, and her green eyes have a sparkle about them.
Not that I’m paying any attention to what her eyes are doing.
She trots off and I head back over to Cai. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Yeah, all good. The kit’s easy to plug into, and I don’t have to send you back to the car for the amp. I figured I’ll do the first five songs from the set but swap out After All for an older song not on the tour list. What do you think?’
‘Yeah, don’t give them everything from the concert or nobody will pay to hear it. You’ve a long run at the Principality. Get them hooked enough to wanna buy tickets and see the rest.’
‘That’s what Lucy said.’
I’m not sure which I hate most – the fact that me and her have the same train of thought, or that he went to her first. I busy myself with getting the store’s amp on stage, and the mic stand located where he likes it the most. Anything to avoid thinking about shit that has the potential to annoy me further.
After ten minutes of faffing, Lucy returns, her stupid bun rising over the crest of the escalator before the rest of her. She’s not alone.
I storm over to meet her at the top. ‘Lucy, who are—?’
‘I did the count and sent everyone else away. As I was about to come back in, this lovely chap stopped me and asked for a favour. He and his husband were the next two in line, two fifty one and two fifty two, and it’s their honeymoon.
It was an easy yes.’ Her face is flushed, but her smile is wide.
She’s genuinely excited about helping out these strangers.
All I can see is the bloody nightmare she’s created for me.
The shorter of the men – chubby, with the top of what looks like Cai’s head poking out from the unzipped part of his coat – slides past her. I zap to the spot between him and Cai. Would love to see him get past me.
The second man wraps long fingers around his husband’s arm, and grips him in place. ‘Alex,’ he warns. ‘Careful.’
‘Oh, shit. I mean, I’m sorry.’ Alex removes his finger-marked glasses and wipes them with the cuff of his sleeve.
When he puts them back on his face, they’re more smudged than before.
‘It’s just… we’re here on holiday. West Wales, and kid-free for once.
As soon as we heard last night that Cai was doing a signing, we dropped all our other plans to make sure we could get here. ’
‘He forced me to cook us dinner at the cottage last night so we could reschedule the rest of our week,’ the husband laments. ‘I was looking forward to eating at The Beach House.’
‘I know you were, babe, and I promise I’ll drive you back over here as soon as I can get another reservation.
Our vouchers last for another six months.
Anyway, we were supposed to be going to Oystermouth Castle today, but we swapped that for tomorrow and got up real early to get here. Only I took a wrong turn—’
‘—and almost landed us in the sea.’
The way they bounce off each other would be endearing any other time. Lucy’s wide gaze flicks between them, a massive smile on her face. A muscle in my jaw twitches. If they don’t get to the point soon, they’ll be banned from ever meeting Cai.
Alex tuts. ‘Shhh, Nate. Cai doesn’t need to know how inept I am at directions. Luckily, this guy got us back on track but you can imagine how bloody disappointed we were to find out we were late by two whole people.’
‘They’re on their honeymoon,’ Lucy gushes and any kudos she might have earned from fixing the route get shoved in the bin.
Where’s her professionalism gone? She’s supposed to be all rules and regulations, yet she forgets them as soon as someone plays the wedding card.
‘All they want is a signing. And I’m not usually one to break the rules, but Cai told me how he tries to get to as many people as he can and—’
‘I said no exceptions.’ I don’t care if the lovebirds can hear me. I’ll never see them again. ‘We can’t exceed the maximum capacity.’
‘Oh, come on, Rhys. They drove all the way over from Pembroke. All they want is a signed CD and a photograph and they'll be on their way.’
‘No. Absolutely—’
‘Yes.’ Cai steps around me, a hand already extended for them to shake. ‘Ignore this guy. He’s a grumpy bastard. There’s plenty of time to fit you in.’
‘The show starts in forty-five minutes. We’re about to open the doors.’
‘It’ll take five minutes max.’ She moves to Cai’s side, arms crossed over her chest. Great, more ganging up against me. Make me out to be the wanker when I’m just doing my job. ‘It won’t take us that long to get everyone into their seats.’
‘Exactly, Lucy. See she gets it. Come on, you two, come with me.’
He takes the lead instead of her, guiding this Alex and Nate to the table like he’s the assistant and not the pop star.
We’ve not had time to take the posters out of their tubes yet, but he helps Lucy with it, spreading the top one over the table and chatting with the couple while he signs it.
The four of them laugh and have such a fucking great time when they coax Lucy into the last of their photographs. As if she’s the famous one now.
And there’s nothing I can do but stand by, my hands curled into fists, silently cursing her.
My gaze narrows on Alex when he throws his arms around Cai for a goodbye hug, and I’m ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble.
My muscles tighten, my jaw sets. But Cai just pats his back, laughing, and Lucy takes them back to Iestyn when it’s all done.
‘Thanks. Thank you so much, Cai. This is the best day ever.’ Alex’s chatter fades down the escalator. I watch from the top until the pair leave, then I round on Lucy.
‘Don’t do that again.’
The sparkle falls out of her eyes. ‘Why not?’
‘Because you sent home hundreds of people. What made these two so special?’
‘They got married three days ago, Rhys. What’s the point in having access to celebrities, or holding events like this if we can’t use our privileged position to make people happy?’
‘Because his fans are always on honeymoon, or are about to get married, or have a poorly child who needs a signed CD from Cai before they die. They take advantage all the damn time, but none of them are special. If you grant one person their dream come true, you have to answer them all. Cai’ll be stuck signing for the rest of his life, then.
Also, it’s a huge risk. You didn’t know those guys from Larry, and their wedding could’ve been an excuse for something more nefarious.
You could have put Cai in danger by letting them up here. ’
‘It’s fine, I promise. Not everyone is out to get Cai.
We’re not checking anyone else who walks through those doors.
We don’t frisk those lucky enough to get their hands on a wristband.
It took five minutes, which Cai was happy to give.
And now two people will go home and tell all their friends about how nice he was, how accommodating he is for his fans.
I get a week's load of posts out of it. It’s all publicity. ’
Cai will get a ton of publicity when he’s stabbed while signing a poster. Look at Christina Grimmie, shot after giving her murderer a hug, or John fucking Lennon.
‘You don’t know how dangerous these things can get. Just because you believed Topaz was always fine, doesn’t mean it’s the same for Cai.’
She sighs. ‘All right, fine, Rhys. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.’
I’m about to tell her that it better bloody not, that Cai’s safety is always at risk while he’s out here, in the open and easily accessible, but she’s already walking away from me.
What is the point if she’s gonna flout the rules and do her own thing? I skulk away, towards my spot on the stage where I can easily watch Cai and the audience, and add reason after reason to the list in my head of why having Lucy here will never work.
It ends up taking Cai six hours to perform and have photos taken with all two hundred and fifty people.
His hand must be cramping with that much signing, but he never complains about it.
As far as meet and greets go, aside from Lucy’s complete disregard for the rules I set for Cai’s safety – which I will be talking to Gethin about when we get back – it’s fairly boring and uneventful.
Her phone doesn’t stop pinging the entire time. Probably fans uploading their photos and tagging Cai in them. The event’s done its job. Fans are raving about him. I’ll never get rid of her at this rate.
I nab the guitar case. ‘Time to go?’
‘Actually,’ she pipes up, ‘there are a few fans left outside. Why don’t we take the long way to the car? Give them some of Cai’s attention to thank them for turning up and for staying even though they didn’t get a chance to see him.’
‘No,’ I say straight away. ‘It’s been a long day. We should head back.’
‘If Cai wants to sell more tickets, he needs the improved visibility. We could ask Iestyn to film it, and I could use it for B-roll.’