She'll Fall in Love With You

"Penny for your thoughts." someone whispered into my ear.

I snapped around real quick to see Pierre behind me with a grin on his face.

"I didn't mean to scare you, but I didn't want to bring a bunch of attention to us either." he motioned to the throngs of screaming fans.

"Oh that's okay. I was just absorbed in my thoughts." I smiled back. "So, I'm pretty hungry.
Where do you want to go?"

"Well, I figured that since neither of us knows this area very well, we'd just walk around until we found somewhere that looked good. Hopefully there will be a place pretty close because I'm starving."

"Alright, just one problem; There are about 150 people between us, and the outside of this hotel. It'll take at least 3 hours to get through that. And I might be dead from starvation by that time."

"All taken care of, I have a secret side exit that I like to use. It makes me feel like a secret agent when I use it." he laughed.

"Well hey, it looks like you've got everything under control so I'm just gonna follow you."

He led me through the conference room, into a long hallway, through the hotel kitchen and through a door that opened up into an alley way on the side of the hotel. As I looked around when we got outside I got a deja vu kind of feeling. Like I had been there before.

"Ooh. I'm having a deja vu kinda feeling. Like I've been here before."

"Really? Um, I usually don't bring this kind of stuff up on dates because I find it kind of embarrassing but if you've seen the video for Don't Wanna Think About You, this is the alley we get locked in. See? There's the fire escape." he pointed down the alley to the metal fire escape adorning the opposite building. "Maybe that's why you're getting deja vu."

"Hey! You're right! Well, of course you're right. I mean- well- whatever. You know what I mean. I'm just gonna shut up now." I sighed.

"Please don't. I enjoy your conversation." Pierre pleaded.

"Well, thank you. I think I ramble too much about unnecessary things, but if you like that then hey, I can be your very own rambler."

"I would love that." he replied.

We walked out of the alleyway and quickly past the front of the hotel because there were about fifteen girls outside trying to see into the hotel's lobby, probably trying to steal a glance at the person who was currently running behind them with me. I noticed a few more teenage girls a little way further up the sidewalk and pointed them out to Pierre and he nodded. He took my hand and quickly led me across the street and into a pizza parlor. The guy behind the counter saw us walk in and nodded at Pierre and then unlocked the ‘Employee’s Only’ door and let us through. As we walked to the back of the restaurant Pierre yelled back to the employee.

"Sorry... Thank you!"

The guy waved us on, with a lopsided grin on his face. I wondered how often this happened as Pierre led me through a door at the back that opened up onto yet another alleyway, and from there onto a street.

“Wow you just have all kinds of secret ways to get around don’t you?” I teased.

“Well yesterday when David and I were trying to leave the hotel we got ambushed and that guy helped us out and said we could use his place to get through to this street since the street the hotel is on is pretty much loaded with girls. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love our fans and without them I wouldn’t be having so much fun in life, but they’re so damn grabby! At the airport one girl grabbed my butt while we were taking a picture! Pat even got it on camera. Little jerk.” He laughed.

“Oh that’s cool. I understand.”

“So what kind of food are you in the mood for? I see a Mexican place across the street and there’s a Thai place that David and I went to yesterday around the corner.”

“Well, I had Mexican yesterday and you had Thai so let’s find a different place.” I replied slowly.

I actually hadn’t had Mexican yesterday, but since both of these places were relatively close to the hotel I wanted to ensure a long walk to and from the hotel for maximum chatting time. I didn't want this ending anytime soon.

“Okay, then let’s keep walking. So I’ve learned a lot about you today and last night, but there are still some basics I don’t know like what you do for money. Work, that is.”

“Well I have the glamorous job of a cashier at Le Target. What about… never mind.” I laughed as I realized my goof.

“You were gonna ask about me weren’t you?” Pierre smiled mischievously.

“Yea, but I caught myself!” I said defensively “How about this, what would you be doing if you weren’t ‘Pierre Bouvier: Lead Singer of Simple Plan’?”

“Well, even if I wasn’t ‘famous’ I would most likely be doing this. Music I mean. It’s what I love so I would probably still be doing something related to it.”

“Makes sense to me.” I shrugged.

We kept talking and walking and learning things about each other and then fell into an easy silence. After a few minutes, Pierre spoke again.

“Do you like sushi?” While still holding my hand, he pointed to a sushi place up the street.

“Uh, I like certain things on the menu… it’s just the raw stuff that isn’t in some sort of roll that gets me.”

“Yeah, I’m the same way. Do you want to eat there or should we keep looking?”

“It sounds fine, plus I’m starting to get really hungry.”

I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. It was already 3:00. I thought back to when I was going down to meet Pierre for lunch and how nervous I was. All of that had disappeared. It was so relaxing to be around him. I felt an easiness that was hard to explain. I felt safe. I looked over at him and smiled and he smiled back; the genuine smile he had given me the night before when I was crying. Pierre and I ordered some California Rolls and Shrimp Tempura to share and just talked while we ate our sushi.

"No way! I don't believe you!" I said shocked.

"Yes, it's true. Jeff used to have long hair." he said laughing.

"See, I think he would look really weird with long hair, but that's probably just because I've only seen him bald."

"He's actually not that weird-looking with hair actually. It's really strange. Anyway, why are we talking about Jeff? I'd much rather be learning more about you." he changed the subject while smiling that charming smile I couldn't resist.

"Well, I'm really a simple girl. I come from a crazy family, but who doesn't? Hmm, I live in a small town and I work at a crappy job to get through college and that's about all there is to my life at this point in time, unortunately."

"Ha, I wish my life was that simple. I would love nothing more than to just work a normal job and work toward a degree in something. But then other times I think about how great the life I am already living is and I don't want to leave it for the world. It's weird how my feelings change on a whim."

We fell into an easy silence. Suddenly I had to use the bathroom. I excused myself and went to take care of business. As I walked back to the table through the hallway the bathrooms were located in, I stopped short because there was a girl standing at our table talking to Pierre. My heart immediately leaped into my chest and I could feel myself turning red. I realized that I was jealous. If I was jealous wouldn't that mean that I had feelings for Pierre? And why was this girl talking to him anyway? She was certainly no fan. He was talking to her as easily as he had been talking to me, giving her that some reassuring smile he had given me. What the hell was going on? I was starting to get angry. I marched over the table.

"Hi! I'm back! Who's this?" I asked lacking politeness and wearing an obviously fake smile.

"Uh uhmm Emma-Lee, this is uhhh......"