Page 113 of Kind of Famous
My eye twitched.
It sounded like a convenient excuse. It still didn’t add up to me. “Why didn’t you just stay with them?”
She exhaled a growl of irritation. “First of all, my sister-in-law hates me. Apart from that, she’s on bed rest. My brother doesn’t want anyone stressing her out. I was only supposed to be here a few days.”
“Where do they live?”
“In Williamsburg. You might know that if you ever spent time on the site getting to know anyone rather than just managing people and sharing news about the band. You think I’m the spastic fan? You don’t even bother to talk to people unless we’re talking about what goes through Adam’s head when he writes songs.”
I felt gutted. “You’re not hoping to meet Adam?”
She threw her hands up. “Of course, I’m hoping to meet him. You think I’m insane? This almost famous shit’s really gone to your head, Layla. You know they don’t belong to only you.”
“Are you expecting me to introduce you? You don’t expect Jo to introduce you to Micah?”
“Put yourself in my shoes for a minute, Layla. I mean, I know you’ve been an insider for the breathtaking span of a month, but if our roles were reversed, wouldn’t you harbor the possibility of meeting him?”
Then I remembered that I’d had that exact hope when I’d first met Jo. It was an innocent desire. I didn’t really expect to meet Micah or Eden or Adam, but by virtue of knowing Jo, the door had opened.
“Cause if you think you wouldn’t have wanted to, you’re fucking crazy, Layla.”
Her last words hit me, hard, right in the heart. It was exactly what I’d said to Shane.
“Oh, my God.” My head began to spin, and I laid my forehead in the palms of my hands. “Oh, shit.”
Bless her, Ash didn’t ask the Uber driver to stop and let her out. She laid a hand on my knee. “Are you okay? What’s happening?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I lifted my face from my palms, unsurprised to find them damp. The dam threatened to break, and my voice cracked. “I’m such an asshole.”
She took my hands, despite the tears. “I hadn’t ever thought so before today. What’s going on?”
“Everyone crawled out of the woodwork. People I’d never talked to before. They all started wanting something from me. At first, it was nice. But then it kept happening, and—”
“—it got creepy. I can imagine. I’ve had a few people hitting me up to find out if we could set up a site-level meet and greet for one of their New York shows. I told them not to be presumptuous wankers. Ever since Adam came by for the Q&A, they all feel closer to him.”
“To be honest, I did feel like you. Exactly like you. Only I hid it. I pretended I wasn’t a huge fan. I didn’t tell anyone about the site. I thought it would scare them off.”
“Well, that seemed to work out then.”
“Except it didn’t. Not with the one person who matters.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Little clue here?”
“Shane.” My breathing sped up with the mention of his name, and the sobbing kicked in for real. “Now I get it. I get what he meant.”
“Hello? You want to get me up to speed?”
“If I’d spent years like this instead of days . . .”
“So, I guess you’re just going to talk to yourself now. You need a minute alone?”
Her words registered, and just like that I started laughing. “He wanted me to prove it was always him. How could I do that? He’d never believe me.”
“A one-sentence summary would probably suffice. Otherwise, I’m not gonna be much help.”
I blotted my face with the hem of my shirt. “When Shane found the site, he jumped to conclusions. He thought I was only dating him to get to the other guys—Noah or Adam.”
“But Adam’s married. Wait.” Her mouth dropped open. “You’re dating Shane?”
