Chapter
twenty eight:
Christy
finished getting her nails done, and remarkably, they had done a pretty good
job with the manicure. The girl who had done them looked unprofessional but did
exceptional work.
Christy
examined her nails one last time before awkwardly removing her wallet from her
purse to pay for the manicure.
“You’re
Christy, right?” the woman at the cash register asked.
“Yeah… why?” She asked suspiciously.
“Your
manicure has already been paid for.”
“What?”
“Your
bill has been taken care of.”
“By who?”
“He
didn’t leave his name. He was just in early this morning and pre-paid.” The
girl behind the counter shrugged.
Christy
knew who it was immediately. “Thanks anyway.”
She
made her way outside, brushing past people quickly and avoiding the temptation
of a cosmetic store.
She got into a cab that was waiting for passengers outside the mall and removed
her cell phone from her purse. She selected Isaac’s number from the ‘contacts’
list and held it to her ear. After two rings, she heard his voice.
“Hello?”
”Hi honey,” Christy couldn’t hide a smile. “I’m on my way back. Are you free
for a bit?”
“I
am.” He said. “I just finished a phone interview and it’s
Zac and
“Okay.
I’ll be there in a few minutes, alright?”
“Sure.
I’ll see you then.”
“Bye.”
She
hung up the phone and glanced out the window, until she saw a line of girls
stretching around the building and she knew she was close to the venue.
Christy
instructed the cab driver to go around the back of the building using a small
side street where the tour bus had been parked.
She
paid the driver and got out of the cab, going quickly into the back entrance to
avoid the few fans that had waited around the bus in hopes of a glimpse of the
band.
She
showed her pass to a security guard who was standing in the open back door
sternly. He moved aside to let her pass and she met Isaac just around the
corner.
“Hey!”
She met him with a kiss. “Hi, you.”
“How
was your appointment?”
She
held out her hands for him to see. “They did a great job, don’t you think? And
you… you’re so sweet!” She kissed him again. “Thank you, but you really didn’t
have to do that…”
He
shrugged slightly. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. I wanted to spend
the day with you, but it’s been so hectic today, I feel like I haven’t seen you
since early this morning...”
“But
you’ll see me tonight, and on the bus tomorrow and the day after that…” She
kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Pretty soon, you’ll get
sick of me…”
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her
waist. “I don’t think I could ever get sick of you.”
She
giggled. “You’re the sweetest.”
“I
am, aren’t I?”
She
laughed and pulled away from him, tugging on his hand. “Come on, I’m starving.”
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He
pushed open the door and neither Becky nor Christy looked up from their
magazines.
“Hey,
where’s Jen?” He asked suddenly, then quickly added “I
didn’t see her at lunch…”
“Oh,
she’s with Luke.” Christy said off-handedly.
“You
didn’t know? They’re kind of going out, now.” Becky said gently. “Kind of.”
“Kind
of…”
“They’re
trying to spend as much time together as they can before we leave tonight.” Christy
supplied.
“I
think they’re great together. They’re cute.” Becky chimed.
Cute
together or not, he would have liked to have heard it from Jenna first.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Becky
was wandering during the concert. After she was sure all of the obsessed girls
had crammed their way into the venue and squished their way up to the front of
the stage, Becky wandered throughout the back of the venue, stopping in the
middle to watch.
She
smiled privately at Zac. He looked so serious and so pensive when he was
playing the drums sometimes. Even though he was pouring sweat and his hair was
sticking up all over the place.
Finally,
he looked up and scanned the crowd. He spotted her almost immediately. Becky
smiled widely and waved at him, standing on her toes to do so.
He
smiled at that and went back to his drumming.
Becky
laughed and moved closer towards the stage so she could see a little better.
Finally, after listening to two songs, she hitched her purse up further on her
shoulder and made her way backstage. She walked quickly down the hall towards
the VIP room and sat down on the sofa. She dropped her purse on the floor and
groaned out loud when everything spilled out onto the floor.
She
sighed and dropped to her knees to retrieve the contents of her purse.
Amidst
her lip-gloss and her keys, she found a plain white envelope.
She
frowned in confusion and turned it over in her hands. Her name was typed on the
front neatly.
Where did the letter come from? How long had it been sitting in her purse for?
She
was sure it hadn’t been there at lunch time because she went digging through
her purse for her cell phone.
Someone must have slipped it into her purse between lunchtime and then.
She
smiled to herself and decided it was most likely Zac, trying to be cute.
Again,
she turned the letter over and slipped her thumb beneath the flap, prying loose
the adhesive.
Becky
slipped a folded piece of paper from the envelope and opened it.
Inside,
in black ink the letter said “We know who you are. We want you to leave the
tour or you will get hurt. Accidents happen.”
Becky
gasped and dropped the letter, feeling close to tears.
Could
it be a joke? If it was, it was a pretty sick joke.
And how did it get into her purse? She had spent the entire day with people she
knew and trusted, surely none of them would do
something so disgusting.
Was
it a fan? Could someone have slipped it into her purse when she was in the
crowd?
But
why would one of the fans be so mean? And they didn’t know who she was. For all
they knew, she could have been just another fan.
And why would they want her to leave the tour? What did they mean by that? It
wasn’t like she was inhibiting it or anything.
The
door opened and Christy came into the room. “God they sound amazing live. And I
mean, it’s not even the kind of music I like, but they sound great!”
Becky
quickly tucked the letter into her purse.
“What’s
that?” Christy asked.
”Oh, nothing. Just a cute little
letter from Zac.”
“Aww… that’s sweet.” Christy flopped into a chair.