Smile for the Paparazzi

A few weeks after I had come to visit, I had been assigned to do the weekly shopping with Ryan. We were checking out when I saw it. I was perusing the magazine stand when a picture caught my eye. It was a stalker-esque picture of Ryan and me holding hands, plastered on the front of some trashy magazine.

I put it on the conveyor belt and when Ryan saw it, he raised his eyebrows.

I shrugged. “I like to see what people are saying about me.”

He shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.”

When the cashier, a woman who was probably in her late fifties, saw it, she looked up at me, then back down at the magazine, then up at me again. Her mouth dropped open and I could see the blue gum she was chewing.

“C-can you sign this for me?” she asked, grabbing a paper bag from underneath the counter.

I smiled, “sure thing. Do you have a marker or something?”

She produced a sharpie and I scrawled my signature on the bag.

After Ryan and I put the groceries into the backseat of his car, I snagged the tabloid and slipped into shotgun.

When we pulled up to a red light, I glanced up from the magazine and looked at Ryan.

“Oh my God, you’re pissed!” I said, incredulously. “Why?”

“Nothing, no reason, I’m not pissed,” he said, trying to rearrange his features to look less irritated.

I glanced back down at the magazine in my hands when suddenly it dawned on me.

“You’re jealous!” I exclaimed.

“What? That’s absurd. Why would you think that?”

“That cashier recognized me and not you. She wanted my autograph. And you got jealous. Admit it.” I said, shooting him a look.

He glanced at me, then looked back in front of him. “Yes,” he admitted softly.

I reached over and grabbed his hand. “Ryan. You shouldn’t be jealous. A woman who was probably like fifty eight recognized me after she saw a picture of me. You get hundreds of teenage girls screaming your name wherever you go.”

“I guess I am being ridiculous.” Ryan said, a smiling gracing his features.

I smiled in return. “Yes, you are. But I forgive you.”

I turned my attention back to the tabloid, but Ryan and my hands stayed entwined for the rest of the drive back to his house.

“What was the article about?” Ryan asked, pulling into his driveway.

I laughed. “Oh, nothing. It was just talking about how my ‘standards have fallen’ because I was dating a movie star, and I left him for a ‘whiney emo guitar player’,” I said, using air quotes. “The funny thing is, neither Nik, nor I, confirmed our relationship. We were really just good friends. People look too far into these things.”

I noticed his jaw clenched. “Don’t worry about it. You’re not whiney, you’re not emo, you’d be a way better boyfriend for me than Nik,” I said, laughing. My former co star was gay, a fact that the paparazzi and fans did not know. They were probably the only ones who didn’t.

I kissed his cheek and got out of the car. He popped the trunk for me so that I could grab a few grocery bags and bring them in.

“Food!” I shouted, entering his house.

“Thank God!” Brendon shouted, running out of the living room where I assume he Jon and Spencer were playing Rock Band. “There’s no more peanut butter left!”

I rolled my eyes, reached into one of the bags and tossed the jar of peanut butter to him. “Jon ate the last of it?”

“Yes!” He said, screwing open the top and sticking his finger in.

I picked up some of the groceries and started putting them away. I noticed Ryan had followed me in with a few more bags.

“Your friends are so weird,” I told him.

“Hey, your brother is one of my friends!”

“That doesn’t make him less weird.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Jon said, walking into the kitchen, followed by Spencer.

“I don’t care!” I replied. “Help us put away the groceries.”

After the food was put away, Jon told me that they were going to work on the album some more. I nodded, making plans to invite Trixie over.

“You guys get in the car, I need to ask Kate something,” Ryan said right before they left.

“What’s up?” I asked him, leaning against the counter.

“Do you want to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?”

“Hmmm, let me check my schedule…” I said sarcastically. “Of course. I’d love to.”

He smiled and kissed me. I kissed him back and I guess we took a little too long because Brendon shouted, “Hey! Stop making out and get in the car Ryan!” from outside.

Ryan blushed, and I felt my cheeks heat as well. He pecked my lips one more time before heading outside.

When I heard the car drive away, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I dialed Trixie’s number.

In about ten minutes, she was over and we were playing Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas.

Carry on my wayward so-o-on! There’ll be peace when you are done! Lay your weary head to re-e-est! Don’t you cry no more!

We were both belting out song lyrics and jamming on our plastic instruments when Trixie paused the game.

“Did you hear something?” she asked quietly.

We both strained our ears for a minute, but then I shook my head, “Must’ve been your imagination.”

“I guess,” She said, resuming the game. When we finished, we moved on to Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. A minute or so into that, someone grabbed me from behind.

I screamed loudly, making Trixie shout “HOLY SHIT”. I turned around quickly to face Brendon with a devilish look on his face.

“Give me a heart attack, why don’t you?” I said, placing my hand on my chest, trying to regain normal breathing.

He laughed, “Sorry, I came back for something and I couldn’t resist.”

I smacked him, “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Ow, you don’t need to be so mean,” he said, rubbing his arm. He snatched his phone off of the coffee table and waved. “Bye,” he said curtly and left.

Trixie and I looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

After a few more songs on Rock Band, we decided to watch Disturbia because Trixie loved it. We got to the part when Shia Laboeuf found the dead woman’s face behind the airvent when we heard the doorknob open slowly.

We looked to each other, eyes wide, and grabbed each others hands.

The door creaked open ominously. “Hey Kate, we’re back!”

We sighed in relief at the sound of my brother’s voice, and turned our attention to the television. Unfortunately, the face of a decaying woman filled the screen. We screamed.

“Um, we can leave if you want…” Jon said, walking into where we were sitting on the couch. He glanced at the TV and sighed. “Oh.”

I smiled sheepishly at him.

The next day, for our date, Ryan took me to a 50’s style diner. At the sight of it, I bit my lip. It looked like a place that would have a ton of meat on the menu, and a salad for a vegetarian option.

I was pleasantly surprised. There was a whole section on the menu dedicated to meatless foods.

“So, how’s the record going?” I asked after we placed our orders.

“Kate! I brought you here to escape work!”

“Oh, come on. Your job is to hang out with three of your best friends all day, and to do what you love doing. Can’t you give me just a little hint?”

“Okay,” Ryan caved. I smiled triumphantly. “It’s going to have brand new songs, nothing off the first two albums. And…it’ll feature guitars, bass, and drums.”

I glared at him. “Very funny.”

He smiled, “That’s the only hint I can give you. You’re so cute when you’re trying to be mad.” He grabbed my hand on the table.

I stuck my tongue out at him, but all he did was chuckle at my immaturity.

“Cheeseburger with fries and a veggie wrap,” Our server said, setting our entries in front of us.

“I’ll trade you a bite of my wrap for a few of your fries,” I bartered, smiling charmingly. The decadent aroma of the golden brown fries made my mouth water.

Ryan agreed and I handed my wrap to him. I snagged a few of his fries in return. Mmmm, soggy. My favorite.

Ryan took a bite and his eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, this is actually really good. I’ll trade you.” He offered.

I laughed and replied, “Not on your life,” before stealing the wrap back.

When we got our check, I reached for it, but he grabbed it before I could get it. I looked at him quizzically.

“Ladies shouldn’t pay.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. “At least not on the first few dates.”

We had similar conversations to this one on dates prior to this. I decided to let him have his way, like I had done before. I resolved to grab the check first on the next date, though.

Since I was living with him, he had to improvise on the walk-to-the-door thing. We kissed before coming in, but we had to keep it short. On TV shows and movies, they always have the girl’s dad watching her and her boyfriend from inside, making sure they don’t get too passionate. Instead of my dad, we had to worry about my older brother.

It didn’t bug me too much, because I was living with my boyfriend. We could make out whenever we wanted.