Page 78 of Seeking Stars
"Can I tell them? Please, Ana." Ely put her hand on Ana's forearm. "It's not possible to keep this a secret. You know I'm right."
Ana's stomach swirled with indecision. She trusted Christina and Maggie, but what if Liam preferred to keep it private? Would that be the red flag that Maggie had talked about? Whatever her relationship with Liam, it would always be different from other relationships. It would be scrutinized, written about. She couldn't treat it casually. It had to involve a lot of intentionality and this was perhaps one of those times.
Ana could see Maggie's and Christina's eyes shifting between her and Ely, back and forth, wide open.
"If the relationship works, they'll have to know," Ely said. "Are you hesitating in case it doesn't work? Is that the problem?"
"Is he someone famous?" Maggie said, making a wild guess. "You were in LA, you signed with a big representation agency. You were out and about with someone everyone knows, so you might have brushed shoulders with other celebrities. You must have met him there, either at the agency and he's famous or works with famous people, which would make it harder for us to find him… but not impossible."
"Okay, I need to know now." Christina grabbed her phone but didn't unlock it yet. "There's something big here."
"I can't pretend I'm not going to do a quick search online before bed tonight, I'm sorry," Maggie said. "I'm not gonna look too hard but—"
Ana stared at Ely with panicked eyes, asking for help without words.
"We should be thankful none of us are interested in tabloids," Ely said. "I think it's better if you tell them. They'll eventually find out, anyway. Would you rather they hear it from you or find out from a grocery store magazine cover?"
Ely was right but Ana's vocal cords refused to activate. Recognizing the problem, Ely sighed and talked directly to Christina and Maggie.
"Go to twitter. Check the hashtag, mcana. M-C-A-N-A."
"Is that how you're going to tell them?!" Ana exclaimed, putting her elbows on the table and covering her face with her hands. Christina and Maggie were probably already reading tweets about her and Liam, and they would likely—
"Oh my God!" Maggie almost screamed, catching the attention of other people in the restaurant.
"Shh!" Ely commanded.
"You're datinghim?!" Christina managed in a half-whisper, half screech.
"And he just called you from Edinburgh?!" Maggie added, voice shrill. "Liam and Ana will make such cute babies #mcana. Another,I wonder what #mcana are up to right now. I can't, Ana. I can't."
"There's also some horrible ones." Christina's voice came back to normal. "Wow. People can be mean."
"Yeah, don't read those out loud," Ely said.
"In fact, don't read any of it out loud, please," Ana begged. "It's too weird. And please, please don't tell anyone."
"Like that'd go well," Maggie said. "Hi, did you know my college friend is dating Liam McMillan? Yes, the Hollywood actor. The one that is in that movie franchise, yes. The one on your daughter's poster, yes."
"Ugh." Ana took her face away from the mask of her hands, but let her head hang back from her shoulders, her eyes closed. "Please, don't."
"I can't believe it," Christina said. "It wasn't just work between you two, apparently."
"So no one else knows?" Maggie continued to look at her phone from time to time, continuing to scroll and read.
"Well, you two and Ely. A section of the internet, of course. And our agents suspect."
"This is so weird," Christina said. "You're dating Liam McMillan."
"She lived with him for almost a month, too." Ely brought her fingers to her mouth in a chef's kiss. "Epic."
"Youlivedwith him? For the documentary?" Christina asked. "Not just interviews? I have so many questions."
"Not just interviews. We were together 24/7," Ana confirmed while throwing daggers at Ely. Ely only smirked and winked. "I currently have over a hundred hours of never-seen footage of Liam in my home."
"And if any of it disappears, we know who to blame," Ely joked. Maggie flapped at Ely's arm.
"If you went from not knowing each other to living together for a month and it went well, then there's a high chance this can work out." Christina finally locked her phone and put it back on the table, screen down. "Unless it's just lust. And long distance is a big problem."
