Page 102 of Seeking Stars
She sighed. "Maybe you're right. It's only been one day, but..."
"Think about it, okay? I'll be happy to have you as soon as you're ready."
***
Ely called her early the next morning with a severity in her tone Ana had never heard before.
"You're going to delete all your social media apps right now," Ely said. "You're not to visit any websites or read anything about yourself or Liam online."
Ana's blood left her skin and found its way to the ground. "What happened?"
"Don't worry about it. Just delete the apps, okay? And don't go and read anything online."
"Ely, I need to know." Her voice shook. "What are they saying?"
"You don't need to know, believe me."
"Is it me? Or Liam? Are they attacking my career?"
"They're saying shitty things. That's it, okay? Now delete the apps, please."
"Fine. I'll delete the apps." Her hands shook.
"Good. Come stay with me? You can hide here. I'll wrap you up in a blanket until it's all gone."
A small smile appeared on her face despite the chaos within. "You're the best, Ely, but I'll stay here. You're already risking being dragged into it by coming here—"
"— you couldn't stop me if you tried—"
"— and I love you for it, but I'm not going to risk your home. Or my parents' home."
"Fine. But I have my eye on you. Text me if you need anything or you hear anything— hell, call me if you just need to talk in order not to panic. And I'll take dinner to your place tonight and we'll have a nice time. Maybe we'll watchLove, Neveragain and be like, can you believe you're dating him?! Until we're blue in the face. And please, please go to LA to stay with Liam ASAP, okay?"
***
That afternoon, Ana bought a plane ticket to LA, departing in a week. She hoped it would give her enough time to pack her equipment appropriately and close up her apartment again, leaving it empty for as long as she ended up staying with Liam.
"I think you made the right choice," Ely said. They were sitting together on Ana's sofa, after having a quick dinner together. They hadn't watched the movie yet.
"I hope so. I can't lose sight of the goal. I need to come up with a plan to deal with all of this, pack my shit, and go to Liam in LA."
"I'm glad that TCA fields a lot of the publicity stuff, too. Can you imagine how it'd be if you were also trying to manage calls from journalists and stuff?"
"I don't want to think about it, honestly."
Ana's phone rang. "It's Liam. Give me a minute?"
"Sure," Ely responded, grabbing her own phone for a distraction.
"Hey," Ana said to Liam. "Did you get my email with the flight details?"
"Yes. I'll be sure to go home that night," he replied.
"I'd love for you to be there when I get to your house." She had this image in her head of him opening the door like the first time but, instead of awkwardness, this time he kissed her and welcomed her to his home for a while, not for interviews, but just for them.
"Then I'll do my best to make it happen and be home when you arrive. I'll just have to get up early for my call time the next day."
"How early?"
