Over It (The Kiss Off #2) (8 page)

"Quite the circus you've got here, huh?" Hamish said, looking around.

"Necessary evil," Ty said, leading us past the reception desk and over to a wall of elevators. "So. Many. Interviews." He smiled wryly down at me as the bell dinged and one of the doors opened, revealing a thankfully empty elevator. We all stepped in and he punched the button for 17. "Too bad you didn't get here earlier; interviews are wrapped now. I bet the afternoon slots would have killed for this scoop." He booped me on the nose and gestured grandly in the air.

"
'Academy's Ty and YouTube sensation Poppy Douglas adorable in Bay Fest PDA'
," he said.

"Yeah," I said, "or
'Sealed with a kiss: Ty and Poppy's secret Burlington Grand Hotel wedding.
"

"Yeah, probably," Ty laughed. "I missed you, you know?"

"Urgh." Mads rolled her eyes. "Hurl."

"Shut up, you," Ty said, playfully kicking his leg out at her, which she dodged.

"I know I don’t know you or anything,” Hamish said, “but seriously, bro, your corn is showing."

Ty stood a little taller as the elevator doors opened, and he squeezed me just that little bit tighter. "You know what? I don’t even care," he said as we stepped out onto a soft, champagne–colored rug. "I'm stoked to see my girl and I don't care who knows it."

At the same time as making me swell up with gooey love inside, I got the distinctly uncomfortable impression that he had forgotten what we talked about a couple of months ago, the night of the Block Party. About keeping our private stuff private from now on.

"So what's the goss?" Mads asked. "What's going on with you guys? I hear you're big in Japan.”

“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “
The Kiss Off
is
still
number one there.”

I grinned.

“So is a world tour in the works?" Mads asked.

"Actually, yeah. Maybe," Ty said with a grin.

What?

"No way, really?" Nikki said.

Mads's whole face lit up. "That’s amazing."

Ty grinned, rubbing the back of his neck in a bashful, overwhelmed way. "Insane, right?"

"Congratulations, Ty."

"That's sick, dude," Hamish said.

I didn't say anything, watching my fingers as I ran them lightly along the buttercream damask wallpaper as we walked.

A world tour. Wow. Yes it was great, it was all kinds of great, but then he'd not only be states away, but countries away. And for how long this time? Forever? Why did everything have to move so fast?

"There's even talks about a reality show."

I snapped my head around to face him. "
What
?"

"Yeah," Ty continued, "chronicling our 'meteoric rise to fame' and stuff." He noticed my horrified expression. "We put the brakes on that one, don't worry," Ty said. "Can you imagine? It's bad enough as it is, but at least right now we can all lock the cameras outside. It's cool that they
want
to do that, though. There's even been talk of a fragrance. We've only got one record out, we’re on our second single and they think people want to smell like us? Come on."

"You'd be surprised," Nikki said.

"I wouldn't want it," I said.

Ty raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously,” I said, “think about it. What would an
Academy of Lies
perfume smell like? A boys’ locker room? What did the locker room at Mount Martha's smell like? I don't think I'd be into that."

Ty rubbed his face in wide–eyed horror. "Whoa," he laughed. "Hard pass on the fragrance, it is."

A door opened and a woman walked out of a room, said goodbye to someone and smiled at Ty in acknowledgement as she passed us.

"What is it?" Ty said. I hadn't even noticed I'd stopped walking. Hadn't noticed I'd stopped breathing. "What's wrong?"

"That was Lexie De Graff, wasn't it," Mads whispered with an amused smile.

"Lexie?" Ty asked, "Yeah. What's going on?"

"Nothing," I said, squeezing Ty's hand tighter than...a tight thing. I couldn't think, I couldn't move.
Stop it, Poppy, be cool.

"What’s going on? Are you a fan or something?" Ty said, watching me, trying not to smile.

Mads nodded and spoke for me. "You don’t know? Oh, fan doesn’t even cover it."

"Shut up," I whispered, "
just shut up
."

They all started snickering into their hands, trying to keep their voices down. Down the hall behind us, the elevator door dinged and Lexie De Graff,
the
Lexie De Graff stepped inside and was gone.

I couldn't believe that had just happened. And I’d simply stood there, turned to stone, couldn't think, couldn't even move. How humiliating. At least I hadn't started screaming and fainted or anything. As the elevator doors closed, my shoulders relaxed, the tension seeping out of me. My heart pounded in my ears with relief.

Way to go, Poppy.

And oh my God. My boyfriend
knew
her!

Suddenly everyone’s laughter was loud and all–encompassing. My cheeks heated up and I moaned and buried my red face in Ty's tee shirt.

"Real smooth, babe," Ty said. "I had no idea."

I snatched the key card from his fingers and strode down the hall a few more doors. "What room are you?" I said.

Ty's face fell. "Forty–two, but wait a sec, I have to warn you-"

I found forty–two and stuck the key card in the slot. Before I could touch the handle, the door was wrenched open and Lana paused mid–stride, in surprise.

"Poppy," she said. Mascara streaked down her cheeks and her platinum blonde hair was piled in a messy knot on top of her head. Her skin was blotchy and her eyes bloodshot. A completely different Lana to the one I'd known a few short months ago. She leaned in, gave me a quick hug, said, "Good to see you," and stepped around me, power–walking down the hall as fast as she could.

"I..." I watched as Ty and the others moved to the walls to let her through. "Good to see you, too?"

She didn't even look back.

I mouthed "Wha...?" to Ty and he shook his head, darkly. Pointing down the hall at Lana, he then pointed his finger at his head and wound it in a circle beside his ear, the universal symbol for crazy–cakes.

What the hell had been going on?

Tommy was halfway to the door, shirtless and looking annoyed, when I poked my head into the room. Sorry – not room, what I meant to say was palatial suite.

"Hey you," he said, eyes lighting up. He enveloped me in his usual bear hug, pressing his new chest and arm tats against my body before lifting me off the ground and setting me down again. He squeezed me so hard I felt my spine pop.

He looked pretty much the same, though his black hair was a little longer, the fact that he was wearing eye liner was new and his half–sleeve of tattoos had grown, the artwork crawling up toward his shoulder.

The others filed into the suite and Tommy looked out into the hall, checked both ways and closed the door behind us.

I heard tyres squealing, explosions and trash talk coming from further into the suite, and through a double set of doors saw a massive wall–mounted TV and the back of a bunch of guys' heads over a modular couch. Engrossed in the game, Seb and Archie, the final two members of Academy of Lies, were on the couch next to two other dudes I didn’t know. There was a guy perched on the arm of the couch, holding a beer, and another standing by the mini bar, pouring tequila from the bottle straight down his throat. How was there even a mini bar in here when not one of these guys was over 21? Or maybe the new guys were. Seemed like an impromptu Xbox party going on.

"What's up with Lana? Is she alright?" I asked Tommy.

His expression darkened. "Fucking psycho, that's what's wrong with her."

"Poppy!" Jeri, Seb's girlfriend and Lana's partner in crime exited a room on the left, probably a bedroom and gave me a big hug. Though her smile and happiness to see me was genuine, it also seemed somewhat distracted.

"Your hair," I said, touching her soft locks. Gone was the pink pixie cut, it had grown out to a rock–chick bob and was a most excellent shade of electric blue. She'd be easy to find in a crowd, that was for sure.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Lana's shorted a circuit," Jeri said. She glanced around at the others, said, "hey guys," then linked arms with me and led me back toward the bedroom.

I heard Tommy offering Hamish a beer, but Mads and Nikki followed us into the bedroom.

“Oh my God, that was The Himbos out there, right?” Mads whispered, eyes wide with excitement.

Jeri nodded. “Yeah, they’re good guys. They’ve been touring with us,” she said.

Mads fanned her face with a meaningful look, then she pulled it together and looked around the room.

"Whoa," Mads said, gazing up at the ornate chandeliers, the velvet curtains and plush, woven rug between the four–poster bed and fireplace.

It was an epic room, but it wasn’t Ty.

It wasn’t Ty at
all
. It felt weird that these emo, skinny/homeboy jean–wearing boys were shouting obscenities at each other from a ten thousand dollar–looking sofa, with a seascape painting staring down at them. Probably painted by someone famous and worth a mint.

"This place is amazing," Nikki said.

Jeri closed the door behind us. "Lifestyles of the rich and famous, right?" she said with a quick, tight smile. “Though they haven’t all been like this: trust me. Hi, I don’t know you,” she said, looking at Nikki.

“That’s Nikki,” I said.

“Yeah,” Nikki said. “That’s pretty much what I was going to say.”

“Sorry.”

“Nikki’s famous,” Mads added.

Nikki raised one eyebrow, confused.

“Is she now?” Jeri said, propping her chin against her fist. “Fascinating. Do go on.”

“
Someone
wrote a song about her.” Mads said with a smug smile. She looked pointedly at me and turned back to Jeri again. I loved her and all, but Mads could be such a bitch sometimes.

Jeri puzzled over it for a moment and I could practically see when the light bulb switched on over her head.

“You’re the girl? From
The Kiss Off
?” Jeri glanced nervously at me and back to Nikki. “The uh, the…”

“The ho bag, yeah, yeah,” Nikki said, glowering at Mads. “The backstabbing, boyfriend–stealing best friend or whatever. It’s my super awesome claim to fame.”

“But we’re totally past all that now,” I added quickly before throwing a pillow at Mads. “And I maybe overreacted a little and made it sound way worse than it was.”

“Oh,” Jeri said.

“Poetic license and all that.”

Except for the sounds of explosions and laughter traveling in to us from the living room, the room was silent, and not a comfortable silence, either.

“Moving on?” Jeri asked.

“Let’s.”

Before she could speak, Ty opened the door, strode straight across to me, grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward the balcony.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything Jeri,” he said, sliding the balcony door open, “but she’s not here to see you. You can play with Poppy later. Give a guy a chance.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and steered me out onto the balcony, pulled the curtains together and closed the door behind us. It was a long balcony, stretching past the French doors that led into the living room. There was a table and some chairs up the other end. I imagined couples sipping champagne in their fluffy white robes, holding hands and watching the sun go down. Maybe that could be us.

Before I could even get a word out, he had pressed me against the wall, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one who had been looking forward to kissing someone’s face off. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer to me as we kissed, long, deep and hard.

Well.

After a couple of minutes we pulled away and I stared into his eyes, catching my breath. My hand was pressed against his chest, and I could feel his heart beating fast underneath my fingertips. We both grinned.

Only then did I notice the screaming.

Forehead furrowed with confusion, I looked around. What was going on? I looked down at the back of the hotel, at the pool, the lounge chairs and umbrella–shaded outdoor tables. A couple of people on lounge chairs were looking up at us. One of them turned her head away, and I followed her gaze.

Outside the metal railings of the fence was another huddle of fan girls, staring up at us, screaming and cheering.

Ty made a little noise from the back of his throat.

My cheeks flamed with embarrassment and I hid my face against his chest. We’d come outside for some privacy and instead gained an even bigger audience.

Ty turned me around, held my hand in the air and waved it at the fans. “Just grin and bear it, Poppy,” he said through his teeth. He smiled good–naturedly out at the fans and blew them over–the–top kisses. A couple of girls blew him kisses back and he pretended to catch them and slapped them onto his cheek.