Star Power (13 page)

emily

Much to Emily's surprise, Disneyland looked exactly like she had expected. It was crowded with tourists, cameras in hand and fanny packs securely at their middles. The only surprise was the parking lot, which seemed to stretch for miles. They never showed that in brochures.

Emily had convinced the union driver, Charlie, to take her to Disneyland for her secret date with Davey, since Erin was notoriously bad at keeping secrets. If Mac found out, she'd be furious—but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Now Emily walked toward the VIP entrance, which looked like a green phone booth with gold trim, and was tucked away from all the general admission lines. Davey had told her to meet him there, but she still felt like an imposter. She, Emily Mungler, from Cedartown, Iowa, was going to meet Davey Farris Woodward at the VIP booth at Disneyland, and she hadn't even won a radio contest. Her mind was spinning, wondering what he wanted to talk to her about. She imagined Davey asking her if she felt the same way about him. She'd look into his blue eyes and say
Yes, Davey. Oh, yes.

Emily was about to send Davey a text to let him know where she was when she gasped.

Walking toward her, blond hair blowing, arms crossed, aviators on, was Mac. She looked like a drill sergeant.

“Nice try,” Mac said as she stopped in front of Emily, wearing J Brand jeans and a tight striped cardigan. She crossed her tanned arms triumphantly.

“What are you doing here?” Emily hissed. She scoured the parking lot for signs of Davey, terrified he would see them talking and then invite Mac to hang out just to be polite. And then they would never be alone.

“Did you seriously think you were fooling me?” Mac asked. “You're here to ‘meet a friend,'” she said, quoting Emily's iPhone schedule. “And since I know where Becks and Coco are, and it's definitely not in
Anaheim.
. . . Well, who else could you be meeting?”

Emily shook her head, flabbergasted. For a second she felt guilty for not telling Mac, but then she snapped out of it. She didn't have to tell Mac everything. Did she?

Before Emily could protest, Davey strolled toward them in Diesel jeans and a navy polo shirt. Seeing Mac, Davey smiled warmly and waved.

“Mac Attack!” Davey said. “Didn't know we'd have a third tonight.”

“We don't,” Emily said hastily, surprising even herself with her boldness. After all, if Emily could improvise on a movie set, in front of hundreds of cast and crew, then surely she could do it in front of just Davey and Mac? “Mac was just dropping off a script for me.” She smiled coolly. “But we're all set now. Thanks so much, Mac.”

Mac's jaw dropped and she stared at Emily, her eyes wide with shock.

“It's silly to leave now!” Davey protested. “After you drove all this way.”

“Oh, but Mac knows we don't have an extra ticket,” Emily insisted.

“No worries, I got a silver pass,” Davey said, adorably enthusiastic. “Gets me in everywhere, plus three guests.”

“Um, hello Davey! You're a movie star!” Mac raised her eyebrow. “Why did you buy a silver pass when you have a golden ticket? Your
face
will get you in anywhere.”

“I don't want special treatment just because I'm famous.” Davey shrugged. “I just want to be normal.”

“Normal is not for people like us,” Mac scolded, shaking her finger cutely at Davey.

Emily stared at Davey, expecting him to be annoyed by Mac's bossiness. But instead he was grinning.

“Well, we'll miss you!” Emily sighed, fake sadly. She took a step toward the entrance. “We should get going!”

“Aren't you coming, Mac?” Davey was practically begging.

“Listen
Dorkey Woodward
.” Mac ran her fingers through her blond hair, which went all the way down her back. “I don't do lines.”

“I bet you a pair of Mickey ears that we won't wait more than five minutes,” he shot back, undeterred.

Mac tilted her head while she considered the offer. “Fiiiiine,” she said finally, as though she were doing them a great favor by third-wheeling it. “But only for a little bit.”

 

An hour later, Emily was experiencing levels of frustration she hadn't known were humanly possible. It should have been a thrilling time—everywhere they went, people seemed to do doubletakes when they saw Davey. First a look, then a whiplash headspin that seemed to say,
Did I just see Davey Woodward?
Emily wanted to be proud that she was with him, but being angry at Mac was taking up too much energy.

They reached Fantasyland, where Snow White and one of the dwarves stood in front of a tulip garden.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Emily asked Davey quietly, when Mac was safely occupied checking a voice mail.

“Oh . . .” Davey glanced over at Mac. “Maybe it'd be better if we talked later,” he whispered. Emily felt a fresh wave of annoyance at Mac, but she was glad that Davey wanted to keep this quiet too. The way things were looking, they'd have to be sneaky if they wanted to get around Mac.

“What are we talking about?” Mac asked nosily as she ambled over, shutting off her phone.

“Um, we're going to take a picture!” Emily said quickly, pulling out her iPhone to snap a portrait of their group. “With Snow White and the dwarves!” she added, moving toward the tulip garden.

“Oh my God!” Snow White put her hands on her mouth when she spotted Davey, reaching for Dopey's gloved hand.

Dopey shook in his blue velvet pants and ripped off the dwarf head. Apparently, in real life, Dopey was an eighteen-year-old redheaded girl. Seeing Davey, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Easy now!” Davey put his hands up.

“WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!” Snow White yelled. She didn't sound sweet or gentle, like Snow White. She sounded scary and obsessed.

Davey looked at Mac and Emily. “Follow me!”

With that, he took off, running through the park. They ran through Fantasyland, and Frontierland, and Critter Country—with Snow White and Dopey behind them, screaming, “Davey Woodward!” at the top of their lungs.

Soon other people had caught on to the Davey-chase. Panting and out of breath, Emily glanced behind her, and saw the Disney characters, plus a few cheerleaders in yellow-and-black uniforms tailing her like love-struck bumblebees. She just kept following Davey's navy polo shirt through the crowd. Soon he made a sharp right turn behind a little shack near Splash Mountain. He yanked Mac and Emily to his side and they all hid behind a green trash can.

“We're safe here!” he whispered. “Just wait for them to pass.”

Emily clamped her mouth shut and waited while the girls stormed by. Sure enough, they didn't think to make the sharp right turn.

When the girls had passed, Mac reached into her Balenciaga bag and pulled out a blue bandana. “It's a good thing I always carry backup,” she said, tying the cloth around Davey's head like he was Axl Rose. Then she slid her Ray-Bans over his eyes. “It's a disguise!”

Davey laughed and Emily felt her heart in her feet. Of course
Mac
was the one to save the day.

“You guys wait here, okay? I need to grab something else for my getup.” He smiled and a tiny dimple next to his lips emerged.

When Davey was out of earshot, she turned to Mac. “Whatever happened to trusting your clients?” she hissed.

“Exsqueeze me?” Mac pretended to be shocked. “You were the one who lied to
moi
.”

Emily bit her lip and focused her gaze on Mac's eyebrows—it was easier than looking her in the eyes—and steadied herself to tell Mac how she really felt.

“Listen,” Mac cut in, her tone more serious now. “I'm doing this for
you
. It's like me and Pinkberry—sometimes the things you want most in life just aren't good for you.”

Emily opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get a word out, Davey returned, smiling broadly, with a pair of mouse ears.

Mac looked at the ears suspiciously. “What are you doing with those?”

“I thought they'd be good for my disguise.”

Suddenly Davey's expression turned serious as he looked at something behind them. “Guess some people see through this disguise.”

Emily followed his gaze and spotted a man in a khaki-colored vest lurking by the line, snapping photos of Davey.

Emily couldn't help but smile. Maybe she'd wind up in pictures with Davey in
Us Weekly.
Then their relationship would be out in the national media, and there would be nothing Mac could do to stop
that
. Emily smiled her best
look at me I'm in love
smile, hoping the photographer would see her natural, happy glow, and know that this one was a front cover.
Young Hollywood's Newest It Couple!
But every time the photographer inched closer, Mac leaned closer to Davey, blocking Emily with her body. The photographer took a giant step closer, as if to take one last shot.

As Emily stepped closer to Davey, she realized the flashes had already gone off, and the photographer had gotten his shot. Emily knew he hadn't captured the first image of SkyWard—instead, it was of
MacWood
.

Emily was too flustered even to fake-smile. Mackenzie Little-Armstrong—her supposed BFF, her agent, and now her
babysitter
—was officially ruining everything.

mac