After Tonight

“Abbey, what’s that guy’s name you went out with last night?” Jo’s phone call woke me up. She’d begun yelling at me and I figured I had to have overslept.
“Rob.” I groaned, pulling the crisp sheets above my head.
“Rob what?” Her tone was demanding.
“Rob Pattinson! Jesus Joplin, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Holy shit,” Jo whispered. “Abbey, get here as soon as you can.”
I lunged out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans. Where, oh, where was that white shirt I’d picked up from the dry cleaners yesterday on my lunch break? Screw it. I threw on an old baseball t-shirt and pulled my hair into a messy bun.
It had taken me ten minutes to get ready for work. My heart was thumping out of my chest the entire time. Had something happened to Rob? Was he in the paper? My stomach lurched at the thought of a freak accident. Oh man.
“Jo—” I shouted, running into the back entrance.
“Is this him?” Jo threw an USWeekly at my face, her eyes like saucers.
“You know I don’t read this stuff. Was this all a joke, because I look like shi—” I skimmed the pages furiously as I talked. Then I saw it.

Hollywood’s Heartthrob and His New Leading Lady

Underneath were pictures of Rob and me everywhere; outside the theatre kissing, in the coffee house, in the park, outside of my apartment! I stood still, my body frozen in shock and my mind unable to think. Was I kind of dating a celebrity?
“Did you make this up Jo?” I knew that was impossible, but I could not believe the truth.
“How the hell could I Abbey? Shit, like I went through all this trouble just to—” Jo’s eyes flashed and she placed her hands on her hips, a signature move of us Jones women.
“I can’t believe this…” I muttered.
“So it is him!” Jo beamed. She suddenly burst into a fit of giggles and shouted. “Abbey’s dating a movie star!”
Inside I felt sick—these were pictures of me. I read over the page and the brief article.

The latest craze to hop across the pond was spotted out and about in the Big Apple with an unknown woman. Up until his move to New York three weeks ago, Pattinson has denied all reports of a relationship of any kind, especially to accusations linking him to Twilight costar Kristen Stewart. Reps for the celeb have no comment. “It is probably just a friend.” Friend? It doesn’t appear to be just that. An onlooker says the pair “looked quite in love” as they enjoyed a winter walk last night. It looks like Pattinson found someone to keep him warm this season.

Below was a picture of Rob playing with my hat. I felt like I was going to hurl. But it wasn’t over yet. The next was a picture of Rob kissing me on the steps in front of my door.
"Those bastards!” I fumed.
“He never told you, did he?”
“Didn’t even mention it.” I said softly. Why hadn’t he? “He said he moved here for business.”
“So are you going to call him out?” she asked excitedly.
I didn’t know what to do; I really liked him. This definitely put a damper on my plans for bringing him to Thanksgiving dinner.
The hours dragged on and the entire time I felt nauseas. Who knew who could’ve taken those pictures? Maybe they followed me to work!
And then it hit me—those girls at the diner recognized Rob. It all made sense; he didn’t want me to know. It was really time to call him. However, Rob beat me to it—one-upping me even. I groaned as I watched him casually walked through the door, a pair of dark sunglasses covering his eyes.
Was he incognito at the moment?
“Rob!” I squeaked, slapping a hand over my mouth to cover up for my childishness.
“Hey love.” He smiled that heart melting smile and walked up to the counter.
“Just the person I wanted to see.” I replied calmly.
“Oh really?” He asked, his eyebrows arched. As I led him into the kitchen, his expression fell. “Of course.” Jo had torn the magazine cover off and posted it on the refrigerator.
“Is this for real?” I asked, wringing my hands. “Like, this isn’t a joke?”
“I really didn’t want you to find out like this.” Rob answered. “It was my fault, I should have been more careful when we were out together.”
“Oh my god.” I whispered. “So you’re…you’re a…” I couldn’t even get the last word out at decibel humans could hear. “A movie star?” I whispered, panicked.
“Er, yeah…” he admitted, scratching the top of his head. “Surprise.” he added meekly.
And I laughed.
“I don’t believe this!” I giggled hysterically. “This can’t be happening! How the hell did this happen?” I couldn’t stop laughing, much to Rob’s dismay, and he looked worried.
“Abbey I was going to tell you, I swear it, but it was just so nice being with someone…” he explained pleadingly. “Someone who didn’t know.”
“I can’t believe this is happening." I moaned, my spinning head coming to a halt in reality. “Shit. Oh shit! My pictures are in magazines Rob!”
“Abbey. It’s OK.”
“No, it’s not! People all over the world are looking at me right now! How do you live like this?” I cried. This was too surreal.
“We can deal with it.” Rob pleaded. “Right? I mean, I’m not asking you to commit to me this instant…but I kind of fancy you Abbey.”
“I think I need to go home.” I rushed past him and through the kitchen doors. “Joplin I’m taking my lunch break.”
“Abbey it’s like, nine in the morning.”
“Then it’s my fucking breakfast break, alright?”
I made a pros and cons list, one of my many obsessive habits. Sitting against the pillows on my bed, I wrote down everything that I liked about Rob…which of course was difficult because I’d only known him three days and had absolutely loved everything.
“Dammit.” I muttered, crumpling the paper and tossing it to the floor. What to do, what to do?
I called Allie. Allie would of course know about the pictures by the time I’d gotten a hold of her—her favorite channel was E!.
“Just do it Abbey. Just think—Oscar Parties, lunch dates with Angelina Jolie, birthday parties for Leo DiCaprio!”
“That’s not all there is to him.”
“I knew you would say that. So, that means you should talk to him and work it out. If you really like him, that is.” And that was Allie for you—the voice of reason.
As I should have expected, Rob beat me to the phone call, outdoing me yet again by showing up at my apartment door.
“How did you get in?” I asked somewhat breathlessly as I let him inside.
“An old man let me in, but that’s beside the point.”
“Were you ever going to tell me? I mean, maybe I overreacted but how did you expect to pull that off?”
“Abbey.” Rob nearly pleaded as he stepped past me. “I should have been straightforward about it, but, like I said, it was just so refreshing to be around someone who wasn’t there because of my name. You have no idea how it felt having dinner with you and not talking about whether or not I’ve met Johnny Depp. I just wanted you to get to know me.” It got quiet and we just stared at each other.
“So.” I folded my legs Indian-style and sat across from him on the couch.
“So?” he asked, facing me. “I would still really like to see you…”
“I guess that would work out…” I mused. I just couldn’t say no to that smile. Rob grinned, pulling me into a soft kiss. It left me breathless.
“It won’t bother you?” he asked earnestly.
“Yes.” I laughed. “But, I kind of like you.” I felt a slight blush creep into my cheeks. “How do you deal with that stuff though?”
“I usually pay no mind, though sometimes if I hear something crazy I stop at a newsstand and take a peak.” he explained, relaxing back into the cushions. “Like today, my publicist left me a voicemail asking who ‘this girl’ was and I freaked out. I wasn’t really sure if you were into this tabloid stuff so I wanted to tell you myself, but uh, yeah…
“I can’t get over this!” I laughed. "So, have you been doing your movie-star things these past few days?"
“Do you really want to know?” he asked, leaning closer to me and totally playing it up. I nodded.
“Well, I was out all night bar hopping with Jack Nicholson—crazy bastard. Brad Pitt and I met for lunch a week ago and I just dropped off a shirt I borrowed from Jude Law.”
I was speechless. And entirely too gullible for my own good.
“For real?”
“No.”
Rob laughed at my expression and began to feel around for the remote control like it was no big thing--which to him, it wasn't. “Movie?” he asked. Again I nodded.
“So do you know Johnny Depp?”