Love Unscripted (8 page)

How many actors’ personal lives are ruined because of it?

I wondered if it would be possible for someone like Ryan to ever have a normal relationship. Maybe he would follow in the footsteps of so many others before him and just stick to brief relationships with a variety of actresses?

I thought about the majority of relationships amongst actors - only a handful of them were between actors and normal humans. The odds were stacked against me regardless.

I shook my fingers through my hair to toss the thoughts away. I am just deluding myself to think that this – whatever it was – could have ever amounted to anything.

Time to get back into the real world, Taryn
.
Men like that don’t fall for ordinary people like you
. I suddenly felt very insignificant all over again.

“
Why are you in such a bad mood?” Marie grumbled at me while she was making a drink. She knew me well enough to know that something was wrong.

I had spent the entire day beating myself up internally; by nine o’clock my internal struggle reached the outside of my body.

I shook my head and tried to shrug her off. Best friend or not, there was no way I’d ever spill my secret to her; my private
faux pas
would become the public knowledge of everyone who stepped foot in the bar because surely she would chastise me out loud for the rest of the night.

She leered at me, demanding an answer.

“
Something didn’t work out the way I had hoped.” I figured that was good enough of an answer to give her.
I met a wonderful, quirky guy who could make me really happy but he’s also extremely famous and could never be mine…

“
You want to talk about it?” Marie asked.

I knew she cared about me but this was something I couldn’t share.

“
No,” I replied softly. “Nothing to talk about. I’ll be fine.”

I was thankful that I had a large crowd of strangers mingling around my pub; there was enough of a commotion going on that I could stay distracted. One of my favorite local bands just finished setting up their equipment on the stage and soon we would all be enjoying some rocking music. Pete held his usual position, perched on a stool inside the door, making sure to check everyone’s ID and to collect a small cover charge for the band.

As I looked around, everything that was always stable and constant in my life was just as it should be. I accepted that my decision was a wise and healthy choice and stood firm in my resolve.

The evening progressed and Marie and I were dancing behind the bar as usual, mixing drinks and sliding glasses and bottles to our customers. The music was jamming, the crowd was thick, and my bad mood for the most part was lifted. Everyone was having a good time.

I was waiting on a customer when all of a sudden I felt a hand clamp tightly around my forearm and sharp fingernails dug into my skin.

“
Marie! What are you doing?” I asked, looking down at her clenched hand. My eyes shot up to look at her face and I noticed she was turning white; her mouth was gaping open. I glanced down the bar in the direction of her petrified stare; I didn’t know what the problem was.

“
Marie?”

I scanned the crowd rapidly and then I saw him – Ryan Christensen - and a small group of people filtering through the crowd.

One of my regular customers, Dan, started smacking his hand repeatedly on the bar to get my attention. “Taryn, Pete wants to see you NOW!”

“
Marie, let go!” I shouted, peeling her fingers off my arm. I ducked out the other end of the bar and made my way through the crowd to the front door. Pete was holding back a large crowd when I finally reached him.

“
Taryn! What the hell was I supposed to do? I had to let him in – he paid!”

“
Pete, we can’t let any more people in. We’re at max now. All I need is the Fire Marshall to show up – they’ll shut me down,” I yelled over the music.

“
Well then
you
have to tell all of
them
that I can’t let them in!” Pete pointed at the crowd that stretched all the way down the sidewalk.

“
Pete, just close the door and sit on your stool in front of it. I’ll get Dan to help you.” I stepped outside onto the sidewalk and raised my voice to speak to the waiting crowd.

“
I’m sorry everyone, but we are at maximum capacity. If you’d like to come in, you will have to wait until other customers leave.”

I rushed back into the bar and quickly located Dan.

“
Oh, Dan, another thing...” I turned to take hold of his muscular arm. “If the crowd out there gets out of control, call the police, then come and get me immediately.”

I hurried to get myself back behind the bar; in all the years we’d been in business we had never had a crowd this size before. Customers were two to three people deep at the bar. It was insane.

I spotted a burly man standing at the opposite end with money sticking out of his hand. His stance was somewhat intimidating. Marie was still dazed from seeing Ryan; she was having a hard time waiting on customers and remembering drink orders.

“
Hi, what can I get you?” I asked the burly man. I figured he was personal security for the actors. He fit the look.

“
Hi there,” he said, smiling at me as he proceeded to rattle off a drink order.

I glanced around looking for Ryan; I knew he was in here somewhere. Our eyes locked when I found him; he was leaning on the far brick wall by the poolroom with his arms folded across his chest – staring at me with a slight grin. There was already a swarm of girls around him, but he didn’t seem to be paying a lot of attention to them. He was talking to some guy instead.

As I was mixing their drink order, I noticed that two of the famous actresses from his movie were also in my pub. A few male patrons were trying to break through the bodyguard force field that surrounded them.

Ryan seemed to be having a good time. He had a big glass of beer in his hand and he was laughing and being quite social with his group, but not so much with the general public.

I felt weird from thinking about our first encounter and my rejection when he asked for my number. I was so nervous from seeing him again that I tried to ignore him, but it was hard. I could feel his presence all around me.

I was at the far end of the bar waiting on a customer when Marie nudged me with her elbow.

“
He’s sitting at the bar!” she squealed with excitement. She was squirming around so much I thought she was going to pee her pants.

“
I tried to wait on him, but he said he wants to talk to you!” she babbled as she pointed a finger at me.

I flashed my eyes down the bar. He was sitting there casually with his arms folded, wearing a bit of a smirk, on the same stool he sat on the first time he was here. I continued to take care of my current customer before I made my approach. I wasn’t going to rush.

I slowly walked towards him, taking care of several customers on my way, while my mind was flashing a million different thoughts
. Do I say hi? Should I pretend not to know him?
I wished I had another forty feet to walk, but I was out of floor.

“
Hi!” Pathetic as it was, that was about all I could get myself to say.

“
Hi back,” he said, flashing a sexy smile. “How are you?”

“
Surprised?” I shrugged. “And extremely busy thanks to you!” I tried to sound aloof.

“
That’s good, I guess.” His eyes flickered over to the stage. “You have some great entertainment here tonight.”

“
Thanks. These guys are great. They play here a lot.”

I felt myself smiling at him as we spoke while my mind drifted over the memories of the last time he was here. No matter what, it was still easy to talk to him. That was until I became aware that people were staring at us.

“
So, can I get you a refill?” I asked, trying to be casual with him like he was just another customer. I snapped right back into business mode.

Ryan quickly finished his beer and slid the empty glass towards me. As I walked over to the beer taps I glanced back at him; his eyes had followed me and he was smiling. I couldn’t help but to smirk back.

“
What do I owe you?” He shoved his hand in his front pocket.

I shook my head again in disapproval. “Nothing, it’s on the house; I know the owner.” I shrugged. I was trying to be nonchalant.

“
You don’t have to do that, you know.” He scowled at me.

I wrinkled my nose at him in response to his unhappy expression.

He mimicked me, until a smile cracked on his lips. “Thanks… Taryn.” Those piercing blue eyes of his quickened my pulse.

There were so many people at the bar, I had to tear myself away and wait on the next customer. People were shouting drink orders and waving money.

No sooner did I turn my eyes away when three women descended on him. They were giggling, gushing, flirting, and trying to get him to pose with them so they could capture their celebrity moment on their camera phones.

My lips curled in disgust. I was glad I made the decision that I did. There was too long of a line to get to that man. I attempted to ignore him again.

“
What can I get you?” I asked the somewhat good-looking guy who was waiting for a drink. He mumbled something unintelligible; the music mixed with the hum of people talking and yelling made it almost impossible to hear.

I heard Ryan sneeze a couple of times in a row. My attention automatically shifted back to him
. I
wonder if he’s catching a cold?
I slid a few white cocktail napkins in front of him in case he needed a tissue. I wasn’t looking as I set them down near his hand; I smiled when I felt his warm fingertips brush over mine.

“
Sorry, I didn’t get that.” I cupped my other hand around the back of my ear so my latest customer would get the point. “What would you like?” I asked again.

“
You’re beautiful!” he shouted at me.

I grimaced at his words and his lame attempt to hit on me.

“
Thanks,” I replied flatly. “What can I get you?” I was getting impatient.

“
How about your phone number?” he yelled back to me as he was almost lifting his body onto the bar. I noticed that after he spoke he looked back at his buddies so they could acknowledge his bravery.

I looked down and smiled as the embarrassment made me blush. My golden rule was not to date random customers, especially the ones who were assholes.

“
Thanks. I’m very flattered,” I replied with a half-hearted smile. “But sorry, the only thing you’re going to get from this side of the bar is alcohol.”

My eyes flickered back to Ryan, who was sitting there staring at me with a smug grin on his face.

“
Oh, come on!” the young man pleaded with me. I just shook my head no.

A few men sitting at the bar teased the poor guy. “Ooh, shot down in flames! Ouch!”

I gave them a disapproving look.

“
What do you want to drink?” I asked again, trying to be more cordial. In reality, he had ten seconds to reply before I was going to move on to the next customer.

“
Three lagers,” he finally yelled back.

Ten drink orders later, I was making a whiskey sour for a female customer when I noticed one of the actresses, Francesca LeRoux, descend upon Ryan. Francesca was young, leggy, super thin, with straight, long brown hair. She looked like a model. She was leaning on Ryan’s shoulder with her arm around him, whispering in his ear.

I happened to be looking when she ran her fingers over Ryan’s hair. He winced and tilted his head away from her touch.
I could tell it bothered him.
Why does that bother me?
There was something about the way she touched him that irritated me.

A few moments later Ryan moved back to the table with her to rejoin their group. He sat down in one of the side booths, but there were so many people around them that my view of him was obscured.

“
What did he say to you?” Marie asked. She was going out of her mind with curiosity.

“
I gave him a beer. He said thanks.” I shrugged. “That’s it.”

“
You had Ryan freakin’ Christensen at your bar and you didn’t talk to him?”

“
Marie, what was I supposed to say?” I was not into having this conversation with her, so I walked away.

Ryan stayed at the table with his group, although I was trying not to keep tabs on his whereabouts. Three bulky security guards hovered around them, keeping the general population at bay. I saw a few women manage to squeak through and get an autograph, and I wished that they would just leave him alone.

I wondered if the way he ran his finger back and forth underneath his nose to scratch was another nervous tick, but he started to sneeze again. He must be getting a cold.

As I was filling another drink order, my mind contemplated over what the big deal was to get someone’s signature on a piece of paper. Was it simply the act of stopping him from whatever he was doing to make him acknowledge another human being’s presence?