Starstruck (12 page)

‘Or
you can tell me now?’

‘No,
it can wait,’ she reassures me with a smile.

‘Well
in that case, I shall speak to you later. Bye team!’ I tell the room before
making my exit.

‘Bloody
part-timers,’ I overhear Vicky tut as the door closes behind me.

Sitting
at my office desk, I stare at the blank Word document on the computer screen in
front of me. I was first in the office today. The others have since arrived, although
I am yet to be disturbed, I must have my concentrating face on.

I
am tackling – well, trying to tackle – my Two For The Road tour piece while
it’s still fresh in my mind. I’m having a little trouble because it’s a little
too fresh in my mind if you know what I mean. For me, all the moments I
remember are the ones that involve me and my chaotic love life – absolutely not
stuff that can go in the magazine. Listen to me referring to it as my love
life, love doesn’t even come into it. Then again, I can’t really call it a sex
life because none of that happened either. In a way I’m lucky Eddie broke his
leg, it gives me something to focus on.

Vicky
barges her way into my office – without knocking, obviously. She pops a cup of
tea down on my desk and Vicky never does anything nice so I am instantly
wondering what she has done wrong.

‘Oh!
Thank you!’ I say, trying not to sound too surprised.

‘You’re
welcome.’ She places the cup down next to me. ‘Any word back from Scott Hale
today?’

Shit,
I totally forgot about Scott.

I
check my emails and there’s nothing from him. There is an email from Luke Fox
though. Subject: Sorry.

‘Nope.
No reply from Scott,’ I tell her and she loses interest and heads for the door.
Before she closes the door behind her, Vicky turns around.

‘Emily
and I are getting on really well you know.’

‘Awesome!’
I reply, with just a hint of sarcasm.

‘She
has a boyfriend you know.’

‘What?’
I’m unable to hide my surprise.

‘Oh
yeah. She didn’t tell you?’ She smiles. Oh, she is loving this.

‘I’ve
been busy.’

‘Ok.
Laters,’ she replies, finally closing my door.

‘Laters,
bitch,’ I say - when I’m fairly confident she can’t hear me.

So
Emily has a boyfriend? I thought we told each other everything! I called her up
last night (after Vicky was sleeping) to tell her all about TFTR, every little
detail, and she didn’t tell me anything about a boyfriend.

Alone
again, I read my email from Luke.

“Nic,
what can I say? The past few days have been pretty fucked up. Ed’s leg is going
to put us out of action for a while, not sure when or if the tour will resume
so I won’t get to say this to you in person. I’m sorry for that happened, I
wasn’t myself that night. You know what it’s like on tour, you get carried
away. The way I feel about you hasn’t changed. I hope we’re still cool? Luke
x.”

What
an infuriating email. It’s so like Luke to say so little with so many words.
The way he feels about me might not have changed, but how exactly does he feel
about me? I guess it’s something that he apologised so I’ll send something back
telling him we’re fine and then I’ll get any silly ideas of something happening
between us out of my head. I was stupid to think anything more than a few
awkward minutes on the tour bus was what he meant.

Back
to my Word document. It doesn’t take me long to finish the article – after all,
it’s only about two tour dates and I put most of the focus on Eddie’s accident.
People would much rather read about a rockstar jumping into a swimming pool
during a wild night on tour anyway.

I
don’t stick the working day out much longer before grabbing my bag, saying
goodbye to the team and heading for the door. I’ll ask Emily about her
boyfriend later.

It’s
been a few days since tour, and everything seems back to normal. Well,
everything except Dylan and his accidental wife-to-be, but to be honest I’m
sort of coming around to the idea now. Well, maybe not coming around to it, but
I’m certainly adjusting to it. I think this might be good for him, calm him
down a little.

We’ve
had a hectic couple of days in the office – hectic, yet uneventful. I didn’t
get a reply from Scott, and he didn’t take the story about me down either. I
guess I’ll just have to try and forget about that. Oh, and pray to God that my
mother doesn’t come across it if she Googles me because that is her number one
method of keeping tabs on me while she’s away.

The
reason the past few days have been hectic is just because there’s so much to
do. We’ve got a new issue of the magazine to get online and then I’m off to
London for Dylan’s stag do - oh and his wedding, mustn’t forget that part – so
everything needs to be ready.

Today
should be fun, we’ve got a new band called Chillz coming in for an interview.
They’re a three-piece punk/metal crossover band. The boys have got that typical
metal look about them, all hair, make-up and piercings – I’m just looking at
photographs of them to try and learn their names before they arrive. The
singer/guitarist is called Dominic, he has long-ish hair covering his face so I
can’t actually see what he looks like. I guess I’ll know him by his stubbly
beard and excessively pierced lips. The drummer and the bassist are twins, Kane
and Killer - I’m going to hazard a guess that Killer isn’t his real name.
Facially these two are identical, but Kane has long hair down to his waist and
Killer has a shaved head, making them look a little like a before and after
photo. With Halloween at the end of the month, and with these guys being a
scary hairy metal band, we thought we might do a tacky Halloween photo shoot.
Jake and I went out and bought loads of dressing up stuff and loads of spooky
decorations to set the scene so we’ve taken over the ByteBanter photo studio
for the afternoon. Metal bands aren’t always down for being a bit silly -
serious artists and all that - but these guys were well up for the idea
straight away.

We’re
all messing around with the Halloween supplies. Vicky, who is rather
appropriately wearing a witch’s hat, is whispering with Emily at the other side
of the room. I finally got some time alone with Emily yesterday and I think I
might have upset her. She was getting worked up telling me all about what it’s
like living with Vic, and poor Emily is too nice to throw her out. Apparently
Vicky had a huge argument with her mum and she’s not going home. End of. She
also told me all about how much Vicky complains about things, and all the nasty
things she says about other people, but it was when we started talking about
Emily’s new boyfriend that she got upset. Emily teases me about only dating
musicians and I rip her about the boring normal guys she goes for, but when I
made a joke about her new fella she got really upset.

‘Oh
Nic, he’s such a gentlemen. I slept over at his and after it was 4am, so he
made sure I was safe in a taxi,’ she told me.

‘He
kicked you out at four? Not much of a sleepover,’ I teased.

‘What
do you mean?’ she replied.

‘He
humped ya and dumped ya in a taxi in the middle of the night. Oh, you’re so
right, this guy is a keeper.’

Although
what I was saying was basically true, it was all part of the usual teasing. She
got super upset though. I put it down to her feeling wound up over Vic, but
she’s been a bit quiet with me today.

I
opted for a pair of devil horns today, although we all know I’m a perfect
little angel – unless you happen to catch me on a bus with a bunch of fit lads
with instruments.

Finally
the band arrives, and I am pleasantly surprised to see them looking normal -
although I’m told they have their make-up bags with them. In traditional lead
singer style, Dominic is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a shame he’s going to cake
himself in make-up and put those big lip rings in because I’d sure as hell buy
his album if you know what I mean.

As
Emily and I arrange the backdrop for the photos, the band are going through the
dressing up stuff with real enthusiasm. I look over to see how they’re getting
on and spy Kane and Killer trying to talk Jake into letting them “metal him up”
which is something I’d love to see, but something that Jake isn’t going for. I
can also see Vicky trying to chat up Dominic as he applies copious amounts of
eyeliner. I wondering just how unprofessional a person can behave but then my
mind is dragged back to a couple of days ago. Visions of Mark and Luke flash
before my eyes and wipe the smile off my face.

With
the band made-up and ready for action, I crack on with my interview. I love
meeting upcoming bands, they’re so genuine, so obliging and so honest. If they
make it big, that will all change in no time at all. In my experience, bands turn
into arseholes when they hit the big time – take Dylan. The day I met him he
was such a poser, the big I am. I’d seen him doing interviews on TV and I’d
always thought he was full of himself, and when I met him I realised he is
actually his own biggest fan. It was only after we hit it off that he started treating
me like a human being. I’ve seen other people interviewing him and he’s still
got that arrogance about him. It’s not nice to watch, as an interviewer or a
human being.

After
the interview we do a few silly photos with the band, making full use of all
the Halloween gear. As soon as they leave it’s straight back to work, and I’m
not even back in my office five minutes when my phone rings. It’s Charles Pace.

I
answer his call and we chat politely. Thinking about it, he’s got a very sexy
voice. You can tell he’s a Londoner, but he’s not quite as apples-and-pears as
Dylan. I was in shock the first time I spoke to him, so I can forgive myself
for not noticing.

‘I’m
calling on behalf of my client, Dylan King,’ he tells me rather formally. Who
else would he be calling about?

He
continues, ‘Basically, it’s about the stag and hen parties the night before the
wedding. We want everything to run as smoothly as possible.’

‘Don’t
worry, Dilll has already asked me about this. He said he wants me to tag along,
as an honorary boy, and keep him out of trouble. It’s nothing I haven’t done
before,’ I assure him, and it’s absolutely true. There have been a few
occasions where I’ve had to undress Dylan and put him to bed, and then stay by
his side all night, wide awake, just watching him to make sure he didn’t choke
on his own. Dylan has absolutely no idea when to stop drinking. He thinks
because he can afford it, that it’s ok to blow thousands of pounds at the bar
and drink until he can’t drink any more. It occasionally crosses my mind that
he might have a bit of a problem with alcohol.

Anyway,
at least he isn’t hitting the drugs hard like certain band members I know. I am
now certain Luke was on something the other night – how else could you explain
his weird behaviour? He was aggressive and frustrated, I’ve never seen him like
that before.

‘Yes,
about that,’ Charles starts, and I know by the tone of his voice I’m not going
to like what he tells me. ‘Well, Dylan has invited me along to keep an eye on
him – so you are relieved of that duty. He has asked me to ask you if you’d
attend Miss Slater’s hen party, and keep an eye on her.’

‘What?
He wants me to hang out with Crystal? I’ve never even met her!’

‘Off
the record, Miss Wilde, he trusts you and he doesn’t trust her. You can keep
her out of trouble and I’ll keep Dylan out of trouble. We’ll all be in the same
hotel, it’s where the wedding is being held the following day – did you receive
your invitation?’

‘I
did.’

‘Shall
I tell Dylan you said yes, Miss Wilde?’ he asks.

‘I
guess you’ll have to, but please call me Nicole!’

‘Sorry,
Nicole.’

‘So
why didn’t he call me and ask me himself?’

‘To
be honest, I think he’s a bit scared of you,’ he laughs. ‘I think he cares a
great deal about you and about what you think. He clearly has a great deal of
trust in you.’

I’m
glad he trusts me, of course I am, but babysitting a heavily pregnant stranger
on her hen do does not sound like my idea of fun. Getting trashed with Dylan,
Mikey and the band, now that sounds like a fun, and the perfect way to
celebrate the end of the poor bastard’s life.

‘Tell
him I’ll do it. No, tell him I’ll be happy to do it. Tell him that my present
doesn’t need to be anything too big, though,’ I say, only half joking.

‘Big
present, I’ll tell him. So we’ll finally get to meet at this wedding. It will
be nice to put a face to the lovely voice.’

I
wasn’t expecting Mr Formal to say anything like that, I’m a little taken aback.

‘Likewise,’
I reply, in a much higher voice than usual.

He
laughs. ‘Ok then, I will see you in a few days. Anymore problems, I’ll give you
a call.’

‘Great,
and if Dylan wants to ask me anything else you tell him to man up and ask me
himself.’

After
our call, I can’t help but think about meeting Charles face-to-face for the
first time. I wonder if he has a sexy face to match his sexy voice. There’s
only one thing for it, I’ll have to Google him.