Starcrossed

Everyone was pleased when Mr. Thick sent the expected text regarding curfew. Sophie had already been down to breakfast and had returned to the room with little gossipy bits of information. A small group of boys had left the hotel at 5 AM, doing everything in their power for a full day in London- 12 hours until most tourist sites closed to the public. A few of the girls were dressed to the nines, excited to be in the fashion savvy city. And Mr. Thick had been flirting with one of the breakfast servers all morning- an event which brought on a delicious round of jokes and mocking comments from his pupils. Sophie filled in her friend as she put on her make-up then glanced over at her thoughtful smiling mate.

"Are you even listening to a word I say?"

Snapping to the present from lovely thoughts of her secret good-night phone call, Makenzie replied, "Yeah. Boys left early, girls dressed up, and Mr. Thick with the breakfast lady."

"Lucky guesses," Sophie whined with a grin. "Still thinking about last night?"

"Lucky guess," the girl winked, repeating her friend's words.

"It was something, wasn't it. Thought I had dreamt it up until your phone buzzed earlier."

"My phone?"

"Yeah. Wait. You haven’t read the text yet?!"

"What are you going on about?" Sophie ran to her best friend's mobile on the night stand, Makenzie in toe, and threw the device to its owner. "You got a text from someone under the name Ben on your phone and it looked a bit familiar."

Fingers tapped until she found the, not one but two, messages in question. Her grin was too large for comfort as far as Sophie was concerned.

-Call whenever convenient.

-If inconvenient, call anyway.

"You daft thing," she laughed. "It's lines from Sherlock. He texts these to John."

"Wait, so Ben is… Is… How did he get your number?"

Makenzie suddenly turned a bit pink, not wanting to hurt her mates feelings. She thought of the best way possible to break the impossible news that would surely give her friend a bit of pain.

"Soph, last night Benedict called checking on you," she calmly began.

"He did what!" Her eyes lit up and she ran over to her friend grabbing her at the shoulders. "He called checking on me?! How mad is that? Oh, the sweet handsome thing. Isn't he wonderful? I wonder if he checks in on all girls who have an episode with him."

The blubbering girl continued but Makenzie could only smile. Her best friend had entirely missed the part of Benedict calling her- Sophie more than thrilled that he called at all and herself being the subject. It was far better to leave her in the dark for as long as possible.

But what did the charmer want this morning? He told her to expect to hear from him today but she would have never guessed it would be this early.

"So what are we doing today, miss tour guide?" Sophie asked from the bed.

With her mobile still in her hand, she happily sighed, "I've got to pop out a bit and make a call, Soph. Be right back."

Makenzie snuck past her fellow classmates and teacher outside to the front steps of the hotel. Giddy as a school girl, she reread the texts sent this morning from the celebrity. How had she seen Mr. Thick's texts and not those from Benedict Cumberbatch? She took a deep breath then called. As the ringing began, he heart started pounding in her chest in a way that was completely foreign to her.

"Miss Daniels," he sounded too pleased to hear from her. "I was hoping you'd call this morning."

"How often do you send those texts?" she giggled, brave enough to be playful and playful enough to ignore his sentiments.

"Probably more than I should," he chuckled in return. "I was thinking this morning, it's been ages since I was on a proper school outing and wondered if you thought your teacher would mind an extra chaperone for the day."

Her stomach flipped but she kept her voice as calm as possible; excitement still filled her tone when she announced, "We actually have another free day today. Our teacher wants everyone back by eleven but we're free to roam London until then. I'm afraid college outings do not call for chaperones. They seem to think they can trust us," she smirked. Independence from one's educator brought on opportunities that would not exist otherwise. Opportunities like having celebrity's mobile number.

"Did you and Miss Sophie have any set plans for the day?"

She truly hoped he was trying for a second meeting. But didn't the bloke have things to do?
"I had a few ideas but nothing set."

"Would the two of you be interested in spending the day with a man dying for a spontaneous day in London?"

"I couldn't be more pleased. We couldn't be," she corrected herself, including her best friend that was sure to faint again from the excitement alone.

"Wonderful. Are you ladies almost ready for the day?"

"Yes, should only be another ten or so minutes." It was becoming more difficult to hide the immense joy from her voice. A few nervous giggles had still managed to escape her but he hadn't let on that he noticed. This was, after all, the most unexpected of circumstances. "Where would you like us to meet you?"

"I wouldn’t dream of you ladies walking around London on your own. Much too dangerous. I'll pick you up. Say fifteen minutes? Be waiting outside."

"You really don't have to do this Mr. C-" she quickly glanced around. "Ben." A brief pause. "Really. We were out yesterday and-"

"And almost was involved in a shooting if I remember correctly," he half chuckled. She imagined his eyes glowing as they had during their private conversation on set. "Fifteen minutes Miss Daniels."

"Alright then. See you soon." They were about to hang up but she felt another jolt of bravery. "Oh and Ben."

"Yes?"

"It's Makenzie."

"As you wish Miss Makenzie."

The call was ended and the moment after, she found herself swimming in adrenaline. Had that really just happened? Was she to spend even more time with her favorite celebrity? Oh, Sophie was absolutely going to die!