Famous By Association

Lacey received a message from Amanda:
Escaped thru back. Get a ride from some1.
It was no surprise she had had to escape. I mean, she had flawed for the first time. But it was pretty rude to just say get a ride from someone.
She noticed her battery was running low. It had been pretty stupid not to charge it before she left.
“Hey, are you ready?” Ryan asked, solemn as ever.
“Sure,” Lacey squeaked.
It was a miracle she had responded at all. Her knees were shaky and her stomach, full of butterflies.
“There’s a nice coffee shop nearby. Wanna go there?”
“Sure.”
She sure was boring to talk to. I mean, it was a one-sided conversation with him trying to be polite and her replying in monosyllabic phrases.
The short way there was terribly silent. There seemed to be a wall between them, blocking them from showing any true emotions.
“Here it is.”
They sat down at the back of the café, where there was no one else. The waiter took their order- a chamomile tea for her and a decaf for him- and they were once again in silence.
“Lacey, I-”
She opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her.
“No, please. I need to say this. If you stop me I don’t know if I’ll have the guts to later.”
“Ok.”
“Lacey, ever since the first day I saw you, I felt something for you. I loved how it didn’t matter if I was famous, apart from other things…”
“Ryan, please-”
“Lacey, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
Her heart raced as he looked at her expectantly, smiling. She wanted to accept with all of her heart, but she couldn’t be that selfish and push aside her sister’s career.
“Ryan, I- I”
He grabbed her hands and held them in his. He look so happy, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. She dug her fingernails in her palm. If she was going to say it, she’d have to do it quick.
“I have a boyfriend,” she uttered.
His expression changed suddenly, and he withdrew his hands.
“I… I had no idea. I didn‘t mean to…”
Ryan stamped a bill onto the table, and got up.
“Ryan, I’m sorry. Really,” she called after him.
He looked back at her. His face was one of absolute deception.
“Me too.”
“Wait-” she called out, but he was too far away to hear.
She stared at her half finished cup of tea, and the mug across the table. In less than a minute she had messed everything up. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to start that silly argument at the party, and refrain from telling him how she really felt. In the end, she had nothing to fear, because she had done exactly what she had dreaded. She had broken his heart.

Lacey sat on a curb in the parking lot, and stared ahead. She had forgotten her wallet in her house, her phone’s battery had depleted and there was no one familiar in sight. How was she going to get to her house, all those miles away?
She got up, and walked back and forth, back and forth. What was she going to do? There had to be some solution.
After ten minutes of going to and fro, she started to get impatient, apart from dizzy. She spotted a Starbucks down the street, and headed towards it. Once, when Amanda’s phone didn’t have coverage, they had let her borrow the store phone. Ok, she wasn’t Amanda, but it was worth a try.
As soon as she opened the glass door, a strong coffee aroma hit her. It was one of her favorite things about coffee shops.
She got in line, which was quite lengthy, behind a lady. She was shockingly tall, a good ten inches over Lacey, and plump, with chaotic blonde hair cut short, and a tiny hot pink purse dangling from her arm. She looked straight out of a cartoon.
Lacey hoped there wouldn’t be too many people around when it was her turn to “order.”
It would be rather embarrassing to get shooed, and have an audience, too.
About twenty minutes later, it was almost her turn to order. The lady in front of her, in a deep voice, asked for a normal coffee with a croissant.
The moment would soon arrive. She would have to act cool, calm and collected, pretend what she was asking for wasn’t a little weird. When the woman finished ordering, Lacey saw the guy behind the counter was really cute, fact which had gone unnoticed due to the woman’s large body covering her view.
“Hello, how may I help you?” the guy asked, smiling.
She looked into his chocolaty brown eyes, sensing something familiar in them. It was almost as if she knew him from somewhere. Maybe from a fashion show? Or maybe she’d just seen him down the street before.
“Can I ask you for a favor?”
As soon as she spoke, the guy froze.
“Are you-”
Don’t tell me this guy’s going to go crazy just because I’m Amanda West’s sister?
“Are you Lacey West?” he managed to say.
“Hey, will you hurry up ordering?” someone said from behind her.
“Yeah, just a minute,” she said, turning around and talking to no one in particular.
“And, yes I am Lacey West. Now about that favor-”
“It’s really you, Lacey?”
“I already told you that, yes, I am Lacey West. There’s no need to freak out, the famous one is my sister.”
Why did she say that? People started crowding around her, their hopes confirmed. She really was Amanda’s sister, and it wasn’t just a surname coincidence.
Lacey found herself engulfed in a crows asking for her sister’s number, address, even a used tissue.
The Starbucks employee was still staring at her. What was wrong with him? She wasn’t pretty enough for him to be that lost in her.
“Is something wrong?” she called out towards him.
He swallowed, and opened his mouth to say something, but that was when her eyes drifted to his name plaque.
In neat, black block letters was printed Tim. Tim, as in Timothy. It was Timothy.