Shiny Celebrity Skin

"Let me at her," I said, charging through the Vancouver airport.

"Whoa," Josh grabbed me by the back of the jacket, holding me back. "First of all, Matt is the one picking us up. You're not mad at him, remember? Second, you don't even know where she is. You can't go running through an airport uttering death threats."

"I wasn't uttering anything. I was blatantly threatening her. There's a difference."

"Even so," Josh released his hold on my coat but kept a hand on my shoulder, almost as a warning. "She's not here. And until you are face to face with her, you should hold off on spilling blood."

"I can't wait to wrap my hands around her throat until her eyes pop out and she stops struggling."

"And when the cops show up on my doorstep, I will claim that I never heard you say that."

Despite my rage, I took a moment to smile at him. "That's all I ask."

"Hey guys," Matt greeted us as we hauled our luggage through the airport. His shoulders were hunched forward, and he looked exhuasted.

I dropped my bag and hugged him tightly. "How are you doing?"

He forced out a laugh. "I'm alright. Be happy, Beck. I'll never doubt your judgement of a girl again."

I rolled my eyes as I released my grip on him. "That's right, Matt, make jokes. A crazy bitch is stalking you, but that's no big deal."

"Really, it's okay. Now that you're home, things will go back to normal. She'll stay away as long as you're around."

"Damn straight, she will. If she doesn't, I'll poison her coffee at work."

Josh stared at Matt and nodded toward me. "You've created a fine-tuned killing machine."

"Maybe we should ship her off to Ian's," Matt proposed.

"No!" I interjected, much too loudly. I could feel the rest of the room staring at me as I set my jaw defiantly and glared at Matt through narrowed eyes. "I want to go home, not to Ian's!"

"Okay, okay," Matt muttered, grabbing my bag. He seemed genuinely thrown off by my childish tantrum. "I'll be sure to mention to him that drum lessons are a waste of his time."

I hit him hard on his arm. "Shut up. Don't say anything about that to him. It's been a long week, and I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed. And if I get to chase a crazy bitch down the street while wielding a pointy stick, that's just a bonus."

Matt and Josh exchanged a quick look over my head. The three of us hurried out of the airport, and I could feel the urgency pumping through my veins. Maybe I could just talk to Leilani. Surely she would understand. Maybe she would even fire Shannon. I could only hope that it would be that simple.

Matt drove his truck at an agonizingly slow pace as he headed toward Josh's apartment. My fingers tapped impatiently on my knees. Both men ignored my temperament and chatted about the weather. Apparently, Christmas this year had been beautiful in Vancouver.

I sighed heavily. "Matt, you drive slower than my great-grandmother. And she's dead. Can we pick up the pace?"

"What's the rush?"

"I want to go home," I replied simply.

"And?"

"And call Leilani, I guess. She should know that I'm home and can come back to work right after New Years."

"Are you sure that's it?"

I scowled. "You know it's not," I grumbled, slouching down and crossing my arms.

Josh lifted his hand and patted my head in a patronizing manner. "She's such an angry little thing. You really don't know what the last few days were like in that house, Matt. She was so furious that even Markie didn't dare piss her off. I think her mom was actually happy to see us leave."

"You're exaggerating," I snapped.

"Beck, I'm okay," Matt assured me. "I don't let strangers into the apartment, and when someone calls and asks for Mom and Dad, I never tell anyone that they're not home."

Matt and Josh both laughed. I shot Josh a dark look, and he froze.

"See what I mean?" He hissed at Matt. "She's so angry!"

"I'm worried, okay? Forgive me for believing that Shannon is capable of so much worse than just showing up at his parents' place."

"Okay, I'm happy you're home. I'm glad that you will be around in case she shows up. But she hasn't yet, so I don't think that will happen. Will you at least act like you're happy and not mildly insane now?" Matt bargained.

The truck slowed to a stop in front of Josh's apartment. I had to admit that I had been more than a little moody over the past few days. As Josh climbed out of the truck, I followed. He cocked his head to one side as he pulled his suitcase from the truck bed.

"I'm sorry, Josh," I apologised quietly. "I kind of made the last couple of days hell for you. I promise that I'll be better when we go visit your family in a couple of days."

He let out a breathy laugh and pulled me tightly against his chest. "I understand, Becky. You worry about Matt. He's your best friend. To be honest, I would be freaked out if it didn't get to you. And besides, it distracted you. You didn't notice any of the girls that said hi to me since Christmas."

"Right, so constantly have me in a state of panic and I'll never notice again."

Josh kissed my forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow. Try and sleep, okay?"

I waved as he walked away, then I climbed back into the truck. Matt had heard everything that had been said, and he was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"You love me," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, unfortunately I do. Can we go home now? I want to bulletproof the front door."

"Beck-"

"I'm kidding!"

"Seriously, Beck, it'll be fine. I haven't seen her in two days. Please don't do something that you'll regret. I'm just not sure if I have enough money to bail you out of jail."

"I promise I won't get caught," I vowed, raising my right hand. "Feel better?"

Matt grinned, but didn't reply. We both knew that I was going to come up with a scheme, regardless of what he said. I would, however, keep my promise to try my best not to get caught.

He helped me carry my bags up to our apartment, and he followed me into my bedroom as I began to unpack. He sprawled out across my bed and grabbed the black and white stuffed bear that had been given a permanent home on my nightstand.

"Are you ever going to get rid of this thing?" He held it up to the light and admired it.

"Nope. Someday, it's going to be my newborn baby's first toy."

"Yeah? And what will you tell them?" He cleared his throat before speaking in a high falsetto tone, which seemed to be the voice he reserved for mocking me. "'Back before mommy and daddy were married, mommy had another boyfriend. But even before that, when mommy and daddy dated for the first time, that old boyfried was mommy's best friend. And they went to a fair and he won her this. And it's not weird at all that she still has this bear even though they broke up.'"

I threw a plastic hanger at him. He used the bear as a shield and expertly deflected my shot.

"No," I corrected. "I'll tell them that it was given to me by my best friend. And whenever I missed him, the bear reminded me that we were still best friends. Even if we hadn't talked in a few years."

"How did we ever survive? I mean, really, looking back I can't remember how I ever went without you. The last week was hard. Touring is rough. And we talk all the time. How did we lose touch for all that time?"

"We were young and stupid. And it will never happen again."

"So you won't forget about me when you move in with Josh?" The question reminded me of a child that was frightened and unsure, pleading with a parent for a positive solution.

I dropped the sweater in my hand and dove onto the bed beside him. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed until I was certain that he must have been more than a little bit uncomfortable. "Never, Matt. Josh knows that as well as I do. No matter what, it's you and me. You'll be the one that I want to talk to everytime something goes wrong, or when Josh and I have a fight. You'll be crazy Uncle Matt that my kids always beg me to go visit. And I'll pretend that I have to really think hard about it so they think that it's a big treat for them, but really I'll be dying to come and see you even more than they are. I love you even more than I love Josh, you know. It's just a little different with you. And I'm not ready to change that just yet. So don't get too attached to the idea of me moving in with Josh, because it's not going to happen right away. I'll be here to save you from everything that goes bump in the night until then. Got it?"

Matt clasped his hands together over my arm, which was still wrapped around him, and batted his eyelashes at me. "My hero," he said, using the annoying high-pitched tone again.

I let him go and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. "I'm on his lease. That was my Christmas present."

"Yeah, I know. He told me about it."

"Is it weird that I didn't even think about it? I just knew that it wasn't time yet. We've been together a long time. What if I never feel like it's time?"

Matt patted my hand in a comforting way. "You will. Maybe once I find a girl who isn't crazy, it'll be easier for us to do our own thing. You know, when you don't have to ride in on a white horse and rescue me."

I snorted. "White horse? Come on, with us it's more like a pink elephant."

"We're not drunk all the time."

"But our best memories are from when we were drunk."

"Yeah, the few occasions that we actually remember," he chuckled.

I closed my eyes for a moment and let out a sigh. "I won't do anything stupid," I said finally. "But I won't let her hurt you in any way."

"Shouldn't I be the one trying to protect you? Isn't the girl usually the one in need of rescuing? I feel like I should find a way to help you. Like maybe Josh has been replaced by an evil robot that feeds on the souls of the innocent. Hey, I should write a movie script. This is gold!"

I laughed. "You've already helped me time and time again when it comes to Josh. Maybe that's why I feel like it's not time to move in with him. You won't be there to protect me when things get hard."

"That's where you're wrong. I'll always be there. I might not be just across the hall, or even just across the city. But you know that I'm always more than willing to talk it out with you. And you might think that it makes me this great guy, but that's not really the truth. It's you, Beck. Everything in life that's worth having involves a little bit of give and take. It just doesn't feel like work with you. It feels like it's almost too easy sometimes."

I gave him the same teasing smirk that he had given me earlier. "You love me."

With a tinkling laugh, he replied, "yeah, I guess I do. And for the record, I'm going to be such a cool uncle to your kids that they are never going to want to come home. But they'll have to. Because I would go crazy if I had to take on someone else's kids."

"I don't think you have to worry about being cool Uncle Matt anytime soon. But it's nice that you think you're up to the challenge."

"I think it'll be quicker than you think."

"I think you're nuts."

Matt opened his mouth to voice some snappy comback, but was interrupted by his phone. Scowling, he pulled it out of his pocket and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

I watched as his face paled visibly. His complexion faded from warm to chalky, and his eyes settled on me. I didn't have to ask; I knew exactly who had called him.

"She's here, isn't she?" I asked.

Matt nodded.