Page 98 of Seeking Stars
"Word must have gotten out through social media," he said.
She caught someone taking a picture of them with their phone.
"Let's go talk to the airport people," he suggested. "Maybe they can get us in some office or some place else that's private, before my plane gets here."
"Good idea."
She walked away from the coffee place with as much aplomb as she could muster, one of her hands in Liam's.
They managed to find staff that would help them. On the way to the private area, a couple of people had built up the courage to come ask for selfies and autographs. Liam was polite and friendly, but Ana did her best to keep things moving and get through to privacy.
When they finally made it to an empty administrative office, he let out a big sigh. She hugged him tight, unsure if she did it to provide comfort or obtain it. They held, kissed, and stood in silence for several minutes, arms around each other.
"I know you said you didn't need a gift or celebration," she said onto his shoulder, "but it's really bumming me out that you have to leave on your birthday… that we need to hide in this drab office to say goodbye."
"It's not goodbye. It's see you later."
She closed her eyes, daring to believe him, letting his surety settle in her blood.
A knock on the door interrupted them. An office assistant entered the room, accompanied by a flight attendant.
"We're ready for you to board, Mr. McMillan."
"One more minute," he said to them. With a nod, they left the room without closing the door.
His arms tightened around Ana, before he created distance between them. He sought her hands and guided them to his waist, before putting his hands on her face. He kissed her once more, reverently, sweetly.
"I'm quickly falling for you, Ana Lira," he whispered against her lips. "It makes all of this worth it."
"It's worth it," she said, before they kissed one last time.
Chapter 20 - Grumble
It didn't take a full two hours for things to go wild on the Internet. Liam and Ana weren't trending; wild was a subjective term online but, for Ana, the amount of talk about herself and her relationship with Liam seemed riotous. And terrifying.
Ana uploaded a short tease of the documentary to her YouTube page and comments flooded in. The video was of the technical type, in which she talked about the editing process; she had even used a neutral bit of footage, a wide shot of the ocean and the cabin. Despite the dry content, within minutes of it going online, messages and comments filled the page. Most of them had nothing to do with the process or the project, but were about her and Liam. Some were excited,did Liam take you there? Amazing!; others were nosy,were you there with Liam all alone?And yet others were downright mean.
You shouldn't use him for publicity. You're disgusting!
Ana left her computer processing footage and took a shower, hoping the warm water would help her regain her calm. It didn't work. A wrecking ball swung chaotically in her mind, thewooshof it as it flew back and forth creating havoc, and insisting that people would never see her work for what it was ever again, that Liam's fame would overshadow everything Ana tried to accomplish. By the time she'd gotten dressed, her stomach ached and her chest constricted her lungs into shallow breaths.
While she would have typically walked to the grocery store, she drove there just in case there were still photographers lurking around. She thought that'd be enough to evade them, so she wasn't prepared to feel so closely watched at the grocery store, nor to have her cashier inform her they'd been to high school together and had seen her pictures online.
Her hands were trembling by the time she got home.
Liam called her a short while after that, having made it home. She smiled as she answered his video call, trying to hide her distress. She didn't want to worry him.
He smiled on the phone when the video came on, but it quickly disappeared.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She sighed. "I didn't want you to worry."
"If we're together, I'm supposed to help when something's going on."
"You have very lofty ideas about relationships."
He lifted an eyebrow. "You don't?"
