It's Not the Life It Seems

“I was wondering if I would hear from you love”, came the smug voice of the arrogant producer.

“Your damn right you’re going to hear from me, what the fuck were you thinking with that little bit at the end of the show?” Honey demanded to know, as she stood in the middle of the bus, her fists clenched with everyone’s worried faces staring at her.

The producer, Clive, chuckled on the other end of the line, “Well we didn’t show anything that didn’t happen, did we love?”

“It didn’t happen like that”, Honey hissed back at him, “You manipulated the footage to make something that was entirely innocent seem like flirting and insinuated that Gerard and I are more than just friends”.

“Like I said, nothing that wasn’t already there”, Clive shot back at her.

“Fuck you”, Honey seethed at him, “Didn’t you have to get my agents and publicists permission before sending the show to air?”

“Yes”, Clive said back to her.

“Well there is no way they would have allowed that”, Honey snapped.

“Well sorry love, but they did. They said something about wanting to show the world that you still liked men, not ladies”.

Honey closed her eyes for a moment before snapping her phone shut, hanging up on the MTV show producer. She then turned around to the men sitting behind her and shrugged.

“What can you do? Gerard, you talked to Eliza yet?” Honey asked him.

“Yeah, just quickly before. I explained and she understood. I guess she trusts you now”, He replied.

Honey nodded in agreement and went and sat on Bob’s lap, leaning back against him as if he was the couch.

“I need to get me a boyfriend, take all the attention away from all this silly little rumors”, Honey said with a sigh, “Mikey go through my phone will you and find me a man?”

Mikey looked at her as if she was crazy, but picked the phone up none the less.

“Uh…Orlando Bloom?” He started, flicking quickly through the phone. Honey wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

“You have Tom Cruise’s number? Wow, Johnny Depp…moving on”. Mikey continued looking though the phone numbers, eyes widening every now and the when he saw someone particularly famous.

Honey nudged Bob, “Oo who’s that hunky gardener off Desperate Housewives?”

Ray jumped in with the answer before Bob even opened his mouth, “Jesse Metcalfe!”

“Yeah him, Mikey see if I have his number”, Honey said clapping her hands together and bouncing up and down on Bob.

“You do!” Mikey said triumphantly.

Honey’s eyes lit up as she snatched the phone from Mikey and called Jesse, standing up to go to the end of the bus for some privacy.

“Hello Jesse? Hi, it’s Honey here”.

A few moments later Honey returned with a sour expression on her face. “He’s taken”, she muttered and resumed her place on Bob’s lap. Gerard rolled his eyes at her.

“Were you seriously going to ring him up and just be like ‘Hi, it’s Honey. Date me’?” He asked her.

Honey shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe. This is the longest I have been without a boyfriend in so long, I never have no one”.

“Your like Gee, he doesn’t like being alone either”, Frank commented as Gerard glared at him.

Honey poked Mikey with her foot. “What about Jared Leto? He’s hot, has a pretty cool band, very datable”, Honey told him as Mikey once again picked up the phone and trawled though it.

“Yup, he’s in here”, Mikey said handing her the phone.

“Great”, Honey said bouncing up once more and heading for the back of the bus to make her phone conversation in private.

“She’s crazy”, Ray said to Mikey, who shrugged and nodded.

A few hours later Honey was resting on her bunk, thinking about her up coming date with Jared. He had seemed excited enough about, but it was more the fact that in Hollywood, if Honey dated you, then you instantly became the new ‘it’ boy.

“Honey”, Ray said popping his head down to look at her on the lower bunk, “You have some mail”.

Honey sat up and looked at him. “I got some mail…on a moving bus?” Honey asked him slowly to make sure she heard right.

Ray nodded, “Don’t ask me how because I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Here it is anyway”.

Ray threw a colorful purple envelope on top of her, which Honey ripped open immediately.
I cannot believe I got fan mail on a moving bus,she thought,they must really like me.
Honey pulled the letter out, which was framed with love hearts and began to read.

My dearest Honey,

How have you been my love? Keeping well? I hope those boys are being nice to you, although not toonice. I have been watching your show. You’re amazing. The way you talk, act, the way your nose wrinkles when someone asks you a too personal question, the way you smile just shines and your eyes sparkle when you are truly happy. I was sad at first when I heard you were taking a break, thinking I might have to pass by your house just to catch a glimpse of you, so you can imagine how happy I was to hear you were doing a television show. It meant I would be able to watch you for a whole hour every week. It is the best hour of my week. I love watching your show; it means I get to watch the real Honey. It is just beautiful. Your beautiful and perfect in every way. No other woman can compare to you.
I will come for you soon my love and we will be able to meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. I know you’re the one for me Honey and I won’t let anything stand in our way.

Love always and forever

Harry.

Xoxox

Honey shuddered as she closed the creepy letter, hoping he didn’t mean what he said. Honey didn’t like getting letters like that. She received many letters a week, the majority being from teenage fans, however a small portion of those letters were from people in prisons, hospitals and often mental homes. Honey wandered out into the lounge and sat next to Frank, who was busy playing the X-box with Mikey. He nudged Honey in the side.

“Ray said you got a letter on the bus! Your fans are so cool, so much better then ours who have never tried to send a letter to us on the bus”, he said pouting.

“Frank shut up”, Gerard called from the kitchen, as Frank scowled upon hearing him.

“Trust me Frankie, you do not want to get a letter like the one I just received. A total nut case”, Honey told him. Frank’s eyes lit up and he paused the game, ignoring Mikey’s protests.

He jumped on Honey. “You got a letter from a nut job? I wanna see”, he winged to her like a child would to their parent. Honey laughed and pushed him off, handing over the letter which Frank greedily grabbed, finding it very entertaining.

He started laughing as he read it, wiping the tears from his eyes as he handed it back.
“We will meet, and fall in love and live happily ever after”, Frank quoted dramatically, holding his hand over his heart and another to his forehead before he erupted in another fit of giggles at the cheesy lines in the letter.

“Frank what the fuck are you talking about?” Gerard asked, emerging from the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hand. Frank whipped around to face Gerard.

“Honey got a love letter from a creepy weirdo”, he told him with a smirk.

“Let me see”, Mikey said reaching over for the letter, only to have Gerard snatch it first.
“Gee-rard, give me the letter”, Mikey said with a frown.

“Got to be quicker then that”, Gerard mumbled, his eyes scanning the page as he read.

“That is creepy”, Gerard said handing it over to Mikey.

“What’s creepy?” Bob asked as he and Ray entered the room.

“That”, Frank said pointing at the letter.

***

The man stood in line, waiting impatiently for his turn. As he waited his thoughts turned to Honey, wondering if she had received his letter yet. He had worked incredibly hard to ensure that it would reach her on the bus, but he knew she would appreciate it. He wondered what she was doing now. He hoped that she would be re-reading his letter, finding hope and comfort in it. The letter would show her she didn’t need some stupid emo fag like Gerard to make her happy, Gerard only liked her because of the way she looked. He hoped the letter would let her know that he was the only man in the world who didn’t like her because of her looks, they were just a bonus. He liked her because to him she was perfect.

“Sir”, came a voice interrupting his thoughts. He turned to where the voice came from and walked over, rolling his suitcase behind him. Wordlessly he placed his boarding pass on the counter, along with his ID. He then put his suitcase on the conveyor belt so that he was only left with his carry on bag.

“Off to New York then?” The chirpy woman asked him as she typed quickly into her computer. He nodded at her dully.

“Business or pleasure?” She asked him.

“Pleasure. Definitely pleasure”, he told her, his face creeping into a grin.