Page 15 of Seeking Stars
"Of course. If anyone shows up in the frame, I can edit the image out."
A server came with their drinks; she sipped some of her coffee.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked.
"I have an idea." He turned his cup on its plate, drawing out the moment. "I want to run it by you."
"Okay..."
"So now we know we'll go on a trip. I'm thinking of a few places I want to go to; there's a couple of locations by the ocean and one in the mountains we could go to as well. How does that sound?"
"Amazing. Honestly." She willed herself to keep her scream of excitement inside. The waiters aided her by bringing their food and distracting them.
"Anyway," Liam took a sip of coffee and continued once they were alone again, putting his cup down with a clink. "I was thinking I'd like to go on the trip next week, if that's okay with you? The first place I want to go to is available right away."
"It's really up to you. I don't know if you have a sister, but you can think of me as a pesky sister who has a lot of questions and is obsessed with cameras. You wouldn't ask that sister if she's okay with the plans surrounding a fun trip you're taking her to, right? You'd just tell her to get ready and then you'd be very patient with her about all the questions she will ask while you're driving."
"You don't know if I have a sister? You didn't look me up online?"
"I haven't, actually. I know you have a brother but that's all. Is it just the two of you? Are you six siblings? No idea, and I want to keep it that way. I'm trying really hard to get to know the real you, not what is shown on YouTube, magazines, and tabloids."
Ana said nothing about how while she hadn't read up on Liam, Ely had sent her a bunch of pictures they had lusted over, or how Ana had to constantly correct her own preconceptions about him. Biting the corner of her mouth, she told herself she spoke the truth: she aimed to know him for who he really was.
"I don't have a sister," he finally offered, stabbing a strawberry with his fork. "Only the one brother. I'd prefer a different example, though; I'd much rather not see you as my sibling."
She let out a small sigh of relief and smiled again. "Why is that?"
"My brother and I are not that patient with each other, let's say that. My experience of siblinghood is of tense undercurrents."
"Okay, then." She buttered a piece of bread. "New suggestion. Think of me as your shadow— but a shadow that interjects, has an opinion, and a thousand questions."
He laughed, the sound of it expansive and open. She didn't care that she could see a couple of people staring at them from the corner of her eye; he appeared relieved, as well. "Sounds good. You can be my shadow and ask me a thousand questions. I will say that it kind of falls in line with something else I was thinking. If you're going to be like my shadow, then my idea makes even more sense."
"Oh?" She took a bite of bread, barely registering the delicious piece of heaven. He drank some more coffee, something in the way he moved telling her he was stalling.
His eyes were cast on his plate. "During that road trip, we're gonna be all over each other. I mean, we're going to be together all the time. So I was thinking about it and realized it doesn't make sense to send you to a hotel for two nights before we go on the trip and spend the next few weeks with each other, every day and night. I have plenty of room at home and so maybe you should come stay at my place. In the guest room. You're supposed to get a close-up look at my life, right? It'd give you a chance to see me in the privacy of my own space. I think this makes sense."
Her eyes zeroed in on him. He had shared his idea in one long, quick breath, and she didn't know what to say to it. The possibility alone of what he proposed brought her thoughts to a halt.
"I don't know, I might be wrong," he offered, hands still in their place on the table. He released something like a frustrated huff. "My thought was that we can start getting comfortable around each other before being on the road. Is it a bad idea? I've never done this before so I could use your guidance if I'm off base."
She took another bite of heavenly bread to gain some time. He ate more of his food, too, not looking at her, letting her think.
On one hand, the director side of her loved the idea. Being with him all the time could only multiply her chances to really get to know him. And access to his home like that? Content gold. The kind of material she could film by spending all day with him glittered in her mind's eye. On the other hand, being with him so much could make him feel like she invaded his life completely— more than she already was. Who could be authentic under those circumstances? Not to say anything of the overwhelming notion that she, a small-time director and a hot-blooded woman, was in awe at the idea of spending so much time with him.
"Not necessarily off base." She spoke slowly, thinking fast. "If I stay at your place that would be different from what usually happens during filming because, typically, I just meet my people for a few hours at a time. Maybe a full day here and there. What you're saying is… risky. Don't you think it could get suffocating?"
"If it is suffocating in LA, it's going to be suffocating on the trip."
"You're right about that. And as a director I love the idea but, are you sure you want to sacrifice that part of your privacy, too?"
"If it's too much, we can always spend time in our own rooms, go out alone, whatever. Even if we're both in my house it doesn't mean we have to be next to each other all the time."
"And then, what? I'm guessing we'd just go out as needed together, if you're going somewhere?"
"Basically," he confirmed. "But I'm a homebody anyway. It'll save us time and hotel costs and such."
"Then… then I guess it'd be wonderful to get to see you at home, if you're okay with it."
