Less Invisible

by Emma Rose

  Blayke: That was the best kiss I've ever had

  My heart fluttered. I had never heard anything that made me feel so self-assured in my life. Now, I couldn't wait to tell him how I felt.

  Me: Now it's my turn and you can't tell anyone this ... Promise?

  Blayke: Cross my heart

  Me: That was my first real kiss but I never want to have another with anyone else just with you

  Blayke: ♥️♥️♥️ I want to see you again

  Me: Me too

  Blayke: I have an idea but it might be a little crazy especially for a good girl like you

  Me: Hey I can be crazy!

  Blayke: Ok, let's sneak out. I know someplace we can go where nobody will find us

  My first instinct was to decline. I didn't know L.A. at all and walking around after dark is a big no-no for a 5'5", 120 lb., nineteen-year-old female celebrity. Plus, I get recognized pretty much everywhere I go. I didn't want Blayke to think I wasn't fun though so I fought my intuition. Plus, I reminded myself that I handled myself fine before fame so I'm sure I could do it again.

  Me: I'm in.

  Blayke: Ok, where are you at rn

  Me: I'm in the hotel on the corner right down the street from the stadium

  Blayke: Ok I'm just a block away from there. As soon as Zach is fully asleep I'll put on a disguise and then I'll come and meet you right outside your hotel. Make sure you put on a disguise too... Hoodie, face mask, glasses, no make-up okay?

  Me: Ok! I'll be waiting for you.

  I quickly got up and rummaged through my suitcase. I hadn't packed much, but I did bring along one pair of grey sweats for sleeping in and a black sweatshirt. I threw them on and went to the bathroom to put my hair in a low bun. I was already wearing my glasses because I have horrible eyesight and I had a bare face because I had taken off my makeup before going to bed. I slipped on a pair of black sneakers over my pink socks. Finally, I put on a blue, disposable face mask. I always bring one of these along in case I go somewhere where there could be smog or lots of germs in the air.

  I examined myself in the mirror. I definitely didn't look or feel like a celebrity. I hoped my disguise would be effective. I could only imagine the headlines if someone saw me sneaking around with Blayke. The world would never let me forget it.

  I sat down on the hotel bed and mindlessly scrolled through Twitter waiting for Blayke to text me. Suddenly, I felt a wave of nerves wash over me. I barely even knew this guy and now I was just about to sneak out with him. What if he tries to kidnap me?

  Then a warm, happy feeling washed over me again. I remembered the kiss.

  Somebody who kisses that good is worth the risk,” I thought.

  My heart skipped a beat when a text buzzed through.

  Blayke: I'm here ;)

  Me: coming :)

  I texted back immediately.

  Ok, so I was really doing this.

  I quietly opened the door and peeked my head out. The coast was clear.

  I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I made my way to the staircase. I dashed down the seven flights as fast as I could while making as little noise as possible.

  Much to my relief I was able to make it outside without being noticed. Blayke was waiting for me by the side of the building. He had his mask and sweatshirt hood over his head making him barely recognizable in the dark night.

  "Hey," I whispered.

  "Hey," he whispered back in that cool way of his.

  "So, where are we going to go?" I asked.

  "Come on," he said grabbing my hand, "I've got a getaway car."

  Blayke led me around the block to a parking garage.

  "I can't believe you agreed to do this," Blayke said as we walked.

  "I can't believe you snuck out without being noticed. What would the boys say if they found out you were taking me on adventures at one in the morning?" I asked teasingly.

  "Oh, God. Let's not try to imagine that. Zach would be the most pissed. He's super worried about the band having a good image. He's always on my case about being a positive role model and all that. But it's not fair. I'm just trying to have fun," Blayke pouted.

  I laughed out loud and Blayke quickly covered my mouth with his hand.

  "Shh... don't blow our cover," he warned me before removing his hand.

  "Sorry," I giggled, "I just think it's kind of funny that your bandmates treat you like a little brother."

  "Well, I don't think it's very funny at all," Blayke said sarcastically.

  We reached the top level of the parking garage. Blayke's blue rental minivan was parked in the corner.

  "Snazzy getaway car," I teased as Blayke opened the door to the passenger side for me.

  "Only the best for you, princess," he winked.

  "I can't believe they let you rent this thing," I said as Blayke turned the keys in the ignition. It didn't make any sense to me how a nineteen-year-old without a U.S. driver's license would be able to get his hands on a rental car after midnight.

  "I googled worst car rentals in Los Angeles and bribed the owner," Blayke bragged. He thought he was very clever.

  I should have been appalled by Blayke's shady actions, but instead, they made him seem even cooler.

  Blayke turned on the stereo. Hotel California was playing.

  "You know this is my favorite song?" he asked.

  "Yeah? You know we're in California too?" I replied smartly.

  "I know. I've been waiting my whole life to sing this song in California."

  I laughed and Blayke began belting the lyrics.

  He put the windows down and the warm night air flooded the car.

  We drove and sang classic rock hits with the wind in our hair. We let ourselves just be ourselves, silly, young, and free. We didn't think about tomorrow. We were living for the moment.

  Soon enough, the car stopped. That's when I realized I didn't know where Blayke had been driving us but it didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that I was with Blayke.

  I looked out the window. We had reached the shore of Venice Beach.

  "This is your secret place?" I asked.

  Blayke nodded, "But it's only secretive this time of night. Come on, let's go!" Blayke exclaimed stepping out of the van.

  He came around to the passenger's side and opened the door for me. I jumped out into his arms. Blayke closed the door then whispered, "Race you to the ocean!" He took off running toward the

  water and I ran after him.

  When we reached the sand, we kicked off our socks and sneakers before continuing forward.

  The ocean looked dark and ominous to me, so I stood at the water's edge apprehensively while Blayke splashed around in at his ankles.

  "Jemma, don't be a baby, step in," he called.

  I shook my head. "I don't want to get my jeans wet," I said as an excuse.

  "Just roll them up, love," Blayke called back.

  I shook my head again. Something about the seas at night just freaks me out.

  Blayke wasn't taking no for an answer though. He came back up to me and squatted down slightly in front of me.

  "What are you doing?" I laughed.

  "Hop on. I'm giving you a piggyback ride because you're such a wimp," Blayke explained.

  So, I jumped onto his back, wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Blayke stood up and walked further into the water.

  I kissed his shoulder.

  "Are you comfortable back there?" he asked giving me a little shake.

  "Yes," I chuckled, "Now I can see the whole world from your point of view. I can finally know what it's like to be Blayke Beck."

  Blayke laughed dryly. "It's not as easy as you think."

  "No? Then, what is it like?"

  Blayke looked out at the horizon for a moment contemplating how to respond.

  "First, it's more work than everyone thinks. We're constantly rehearsing here, doing press work there and it gets exhausting," Blayke said.

 
"Welcome to my world."

  "You know when you're in school and you think that your life is boring and so tedious and then you go and follow your dreams, but it's not what you expected and part of you just wishes things could go back to the way they were even if everything was so awfully dull."

  Blayke's comment reminded me of Oliver and summer days spent slaying dragons with sticks in Central Park. For a moment, I longed to be back there again with him. Then, I remembered things had changed between Oliver and me. We couldn't go back even if we wanted to. Things would never be the same between us.

  "Maybe sometimes, but I'm quite happy to be here with you right now."

  Blayke laughed and spun me around. Water splashed up on me, but I didn't care. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't lonely.

  "Put me down," I cried.

  "Fine," he said as he plopped me down in the salty water. Now I was standing next to him and letting the water wash over my feet as the tide went in and out. I held Blayke's hand for balance but also because I wanted to feel his touch.

  "So, I told you what it's like being Blayke. Now it's your turn to tell me what it's like to be Jemma."

  "It's fun most of the time. I'm super grateful to have the opportunity to do what I do. It's just sometimes... I don't know-"

  "It all gets a little too much?" Blayke offered.

  "Exactly and it's the strangest thing to be so well known but to feel so lonely sometimes."

  Blayke wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed the top of my head which was easy for him to do because he was an entire half foot taller than me.

  "You don't have to be lonely anymore. You have me now. You see that whole wide ocean out there?" he asked, squeezing me a little tighter.

  "I'd cross that ocean and all the oceans in the world to be with you," Blayke declared.

  I blushed. Blayke seemed so perfect and romantic. I know they say love at first sight doesn't last and you need to spend more than a day getting to know a person, but with Blayke the sparks flew instantly and I felt like I had found the love of my life.

  "I know this sounds crazy, but I wish I could spend every day of my life with you. You'd make everyday fun."

  "Like this?" he asked while starting to tickle me under my armpits.

  I laughed and squirmed away, "Stop it," I cried through giggles. I ran out of the water and onto the sand to escape him. I had to sit down halfway up the beach to catch my breath.

  When Blayke caught up with me he sat down in the sand by my side.

  "Jemma?" he asked.

  "Yeah, Blayke?"

  "Let's build a sandcastle."

  "With what?"

  "Our hands, sand, water..." he said as if it were obvious.

  "Alright, if you think it will work," I agreed.

  Together Blayke and I made a sandcastle that really just ended up being a big sand hill. We gathered seashells to decorate it with. We gave the blob of sand seashell eyes, a seashell nose, and a smiley mouth and he became our sand monster.

  Then, we took a walk down the beach and told each other our stories. I told him about growing up homeless and about how Will had taken a chance on me and how I became a star. Blayke told me about growing up as the third youngest of six children in London. He told me about being bullied in school because he wanted to sing and act instead of playing sports. He told me about feeling like his parents didn't have time for him and that he got lost in the shuffle with five siblings. We promised each other that if we ever became parents we would do a better job than our parents did.

  Both of us were tired after our walk so we laid down in the sand to rest for a moment. Blayke lay on his back with his hands behind his head and I lay on my side with my head on his chest. Inevitably, we fell asleep.

  We hadn't meant to fall asleep at all but once we were out, we were out. We slept for hours like that until the light of dawn woke me up.

  I looked around nervously. There was only one person on the beach that I could see, an old woman doing yoga.

  "Blayke," I said, shaking him. "We fell asleep. Come on; we got to go."

  At first, he grumbled, and then like that his eyes opened wide and he sat up quickly.

  "Shit, shit, shit," he said rubbing his eyes. "We have to get out here before anyone notices and before my crew wakes up or I am toast, we are toast."

  I nodded in agreement. We pulled our hoods over our heads and rushed to the rental car. We breathed a little easier once we had gotten safely into the minivan without being noticed but the challenge wasn't over yet. Blayke still had to drop me off at my hotel, drop the rental van off, and somehow get back to his hotel without the paparazzi finding either of us and we had to do it all before his bandmates woke up.

  I could tell Blayke was stressed and he was slightly speeding which was not good because he wasn't even used to driving on the right side of the road. He looked beyond exhausted and grumpy as well. I felt bad for his bandmates who were going to have to deal with him being cranky the rest of the day.

  I was thinking about these things when all of a sudden, I felt my body lurch forward violently. My head whipped painfully and I felt something large punch me in the face, I couldn't see anything for a moment, but I knew I wasn't seriously injured. Then my thoughts rushed to Blayke. Was he alright?

  "Blayke!" I screamed. I looked over to the driver's seat. His airbag had gone off too.

  He seemed dazed and in pain. "Blayke, are you alright?" I asked again when he didn't respond.

  Blayke turned his head slowly to look at me. His nose was bleeding and his face was bruised. "Yeah," he moaned. "I'm alright. Are you okay, Jemma?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine, just a few bruises," I said. I was so relieved to hear my baby's voice. I almost thought I had lost the best thing that happened to me in less than twenty-four hours of it happening.

  That's when I looked over at his hand. A sharp piece of glass had sliced the back of his left hand deeply from the knuckle of the pointer finger to the little divot in his hand right before the wrist bone.

  I gasped. "Blayke we got to get you to the hospital!" I exclaimed. Quickly I pulled off my sweatshirt and gave it to Blayke to hold onto his wound while I called 911.

  Blayke started crying. "No, please, don't call. Then, everyone will know. They'll know we're together and they'll know I crashed the car and our reputation will be ruined."

  I couldn't believe how hysterical he was acting. "Blayke, listen," I said after I had gotten off the 911 call, "It's okay. You need help. Don't worry about what people are going to say about us, alright. It's going to be okay," I reassured him.

  He continued to cry while I inspected what had happened. I got out of the car which was partially parked on the sidewalk and partially on the road. From the looks of it, Blayke had swerved off the road and into a street sign in the process breaking the driver's side window and setting off the airbags. Other than that, the damage was minimal, just a few scratches and dents, nothing Blayke's large royalties from Reason Being's albums wouldn't cover.

  Carefully, I opened the door to Blayke's side. "Come on, Blayke, you gotta get out of there," I said calmly.

  He looked up at me and nodded. I grabbed his uninjured hand and helped him get out of the car without getting scratched up by any of the glass lying around. I led him to the curb where we sat down and waited for the ambulance and police to come.

  I rubbed circles on Blayke's back with my left hand while helping him put pressure on his cut with my right hand. "Shh... Blayke, you're safe. Everything is fine."

  "No, it's not okay," he said angrily, "I almost hurt you."

  "Ahhh, Blayke, even if you hurt me I would still love you."

  Blayke started choking on his tears. "But I would hate myself."

  I pinched his nose, "Blayke, I don't ever want you to say that. Don't hate yourself. Okay, now I need you to be brave for me. Stop this crying and man-up, alright."

  Blayke bit his lip and sucked it up right when the first responders arrived. They helped
Blayke into the ambulance and we said goodbye. I wanted to go with him to the hospital, but they wouldn't allow me. I was left at the crash by myself, but after I explained the ordeal to the officers, they were kind enough to drive me back to my hotel.

  I climbed the stairs wearily up to my room. It was only 7:10 a.m., Will and Skylar would just be getting up. I had made it back without getting caught, but only with enough time to get a shower, get dressed, and meet the crew to check out and hop on a plane back to New York City.