by Mia Archer
The convention hall was absolutely incredible once we actually managed to get in there. I learned the hard way that people in impressive and/or sexy costumes quickly got waylaid by anyone with a camera. It didn't matter whether or not they knew this was Kaitlyn Morgan they were taking a picture of because the sexy costume and two attractive girls in said sexy costumes was more than enough to draw attention all on its own. It seemed like no matter how many people came up to take a picture there was always somebody there ready to replace the person who just left.
I had a feeling if I’d stayed in the first spot we got stopped, right off of the elevator into the main lobby of the hotel where thankfully the flimsy mask seemed to be enough to hide Kaitlyn's identity after all, it would’ve been possible for me to stand there for the entire convention and never run out of people trying to take a picture.
Thankfully Kaitlyn pulled me away. She seemed to have more experience with crowds of people wielding cameras, and why not? She'd probably been to plenty of these since she first hit it big, and I'm sure people with cameras trying to sneak a picture was part of the territory for her. Walking along at a brisk pace coupled with keeping our heads down and shaking our heads at anybody who held up a camera seemed to do the trick until we got into the dealer hall. From there it was packed tight enough that we didn’t have to worry too much about people trying to stop us. The flow of the crowd was enough to keep us going past anyone who held up a camera hopefully.
All their hopes were inevitably dashed by the flow of traffic or angry dealers telling people to stop blocking their booth for a picture. I was thankful for those dealers even if some of their anger seemed directed towards us as much as it was towards the assholes with the cameras who were holding up traffic in the first place. Talk about misplaced annoyance.
“So what do you want to do first?” Kaitlyn asked. “We’ve got an hour before I have to give the opening speech, and after that everyone's going to know about this costume and it'll be useless as a disguise for the rest of the convention.”
I looked around the room at the crowd. I couldn’t help but feel like a country girl visiting the big city for the first time even though I was anything but. There was just something about being at my first big convention that was dazzling me.
“This is amazing. It’s so crowded!” I said.
Kaitlyn’s masked head turned to me and she shrugged. “This is actually just the advance crowd. People who got VIP tickets or whatever so they could gain entrance before everybody else. Just wait until you see how packed it gets later this afternoon just before I give the keynote and they let the real crowds in.”
I looked around at the crowds moving through the dealer hall and I couldn’t believe there’d actually be more people. It was amazing being surrounded by this many fans of the Elassa series. Seeing so many people who were kindred spirits, so many people who loved the series as much as I did, all in one place was incredible. Hell, some of these people probably had a lot more dedication than I did. They’d actually paid their way out here. I just happened to get lucky and had no intention of attending the convention until I stumbled into Kaira. Kaitlyn. Whatever her name was. I was still getting the names mixed up. It was hard not to after living so much of our romance online rather than in person.
Something Kaitlyn said finally sank in. Something she said twice, actually, but I'd been so distracted by everything else that it had whooshed right past me the first time she said it.
“Did you say you're giving a keynote?” I asked.
Kaitlyn looked around and grinned at me. “Why yes. I do a keynote every year. I figure it's the least I can do since I haven't actually come out with a new book in a couple of years.”
“Do you have to?”
It was odd, but there was something about being in front of a crowd that was bothering me for a couple of different reasons. The first was that I didn't want to share her with anybody else, not yet. Even thought that was a ridiculous line of thinking since this was a convention dedicated to her works and it was only natural she was going to be the center of attention at some point.
Which brought me to the other reason why I was suddenly feeling a little bit of apprehension. We were supposed to spend the whole day together. That meant we'd be together at the keynote when all the attention would be on her. I desperately hoped that she wasn't planning on doing something silly like pulling me up on stage, though even if she didn't do something like that all attention was going to be on her and it's only natural that people would start asking questions about the girl standing next to her. What sort of answers would she give?
She wasn't out yet. I wasn't out yet. Hell, despite all the recent evidence I still felt like the jury was out on whether or not I had an orientation that needed to be "out" at all. I was probably kidding myself, deluding myself into avoiding the truth because of what it would mean, but there it was. If she was afraid to be out to the crowds, open secret or not, then what about poor me who wasn't used to life in the limelight?
I was coming to the realization that I was about to be pulled into that limelight in a major way even if I wasn't a main fixture. I was going to be the new girl with Kaitlyn Morgan, and I'm sure that was going to raise questions. Even more questions considering she wasn't out, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On the one hand I wanted to shout this to the world, but on the other hand I was still a little scared about my private life becoming the public's business. Especially when it was such a major lifestyle change.
In short, I was fucking confused. I wasn't sure how I felt. All I knew was that all the ramifications of this being a woman I was falling for, a woman who led a very public life, had me scared as much as it had me excited. Talk about fucked up, right?
“Well I am the author of the books that started everything. It’d be a little silly if I didn’t say something at my own convention, right?”
I shook my head. I'd been walking along in a daze indulging the worst-case-scenario part of my brain and meanwhile she was going on as though nothing was out of the ordinary. I needed to stomp down on those worries and just enjoy myself, damn it. I needed to stop gaming everything out and worrying about being in the limelight or being out or any of that stuff!
“I suppose that makes sense," I said. I almost brought up the question burning at the forefront of my mind: what was she going to tell people about me, but before I could ask I got distracted by one of the many wonders on offer at the convention.
She pulled me into a booth that had costume supplies. I was so distracted by all the pretty costumes on display that all other worries and concerns left my mind. Damn. They didn't have costumes like this at the regional cons I'd been to, but then again I suppose something like this really was the big leagues for these dealers. I saw plenty of toys I wanted to get my hands on while we were looking at the costume booth, but the prices were enough to dissuade me from actually trying to buy anything.
I studiously avoided looking too interested in any of them for precisely that reason. I glanced sidelong at Kaitlyn who was doing the same to me. The last thing I wanted was for her to step in and start buying me things left and right. I didn't want her to think she could buy her way into my heart, or that she needed to since it was completely unnecessary. I also felt like she'd already spent way too much on me already.
“I could get one of these for you, no problem,” Kaitlyn said.
I held up a hand to forestall her. I guess not looking interested wasn't enough. Or maybe it was being too obvious, since the costume she went for was a corset that I'd been not looking at so hard it had to be damn obvious how interested I was.
“Please. You’ve already done more than enough. You don’t need to spend any more money on me.”
“It’s really not a prob…”
“Seriously, it’s okay,” I said. I glanced down at my phone. “Besides, if we don’t go soon we’re going to miss that keynote.”
I was starting to worry we weren’t going to be able to get into the
opening keynote anyways. I’d heard those things filled up pretty quickly, and it was only fifteen minutes until Kaitlyn was supposed to take the stage. I had a feeling we’d get there and find a line of people running through most of the convention center trying to get in and being turned away because the fire marshal frowned on overcrowding rooms even for a major convention appearance by a world-famous author. Not that it would stay overcrowded for long if that world-famous author didn't make an appearance.
Idly I wondered what it would feel like to be stuck in the middle of a riot as Kaitlyn glanced down at her own phone and cursed.
“Shit. I’ve really lost track of time this morning,” she said. Then she glanced at me and grinned. “In the best possible way, of course.”
I grinned right back at her and blushed at the same time. I knew exactly what she was referring to. “So how do we do this? You're not going to make it through the crowd in disguise and you're not going to make it through the crowd if you reveal who you are.”
Only I didn't get an answer. Kaitlyn was furiously tapping something into her phone with one hand and the pulling me along with the other. I stepped out of the booth we were in and looked around. I really didn’t see how we were going to make it to the opening ceremony. The dealer hall was still packed, probably with people who couldn’t get to the keynote in time or who couldn’t afford the VIP seating but could afford to show up to the convention a day early.
“There’s no way we’re getting there in time,” I said.
Kaitlyn lifted her attention from her phone for the briefest of moments and winked at me. “Just wait.”
A beeping noise sounded off in the distance and a moment later that beeping noise turned into a golf cart working its way through the crowd. It had a yellow light flashing up above and it came to a halt right in front of us. Kaitlyn turned to me and grinned. The golf cart with the flashing light was drawing its fair share of attention, but I suppose at this point it wasn't a huge deal if security was here to beat a path for us. A crowd of people watched us, no doubt wondering who the hell we were that this golf cart was picking us up.
I didn’t have much time to think about the gathering crowd though. We were whisked through the convention center and bypassed the long line of people that started outside the dealer hall and ran all the way to the massive room where they were holding the opening keynote. We pulled up to the door where a group of guards took a look at our VIP passes, giving a second look to Kaitlyn when they read the name on the badge but thankfully they kept their mouths shut and avoided inciting a small riot at the entrance to the massive room where they were holding the keynote, and we were escorted right up to the front. An old phrase I'd heard somewhere or another came to mind: it's good to the be the king. Or the queen, in this case.
My seat was front and center. I glanced at my watch. We had five minutes to go. Five minutes until Kaitlyn took the stage. I was so nervous, and I wasn't even the one going up on stage! I looked up at Kaitlyn who was standing over my seat smiling down at me and giving me a once over that sent a chill down my spine at the same time. I couldn't wait until later when we had a chance to get back to the hotel room for round two, especially if she kept looking at me like that!
“You okay here?” Kaitlyn asked.
“I’m fine. Now get up there and do your thing!"
Kaitlyn stood to her full height and looked out over the crowd. I noticed a couple of people taking pictures of her, but it's not like I could blame them. Even if they didn't know she was the main attraction at this thing her costume really was damn impressive. Kaitlyn looked down at me again, took a deep breath, and pulled her mask off.
I know I said that it was ridiculous that something as simple as a mask could be enough to hide someone's identity, but sure enough as soon as she pulled hers off I heard a couple of people around us gasp. It's like they couldn't make the connection between the girl they saw on the back flap of all the Elassa books and the hottie wearing a bikini outfit. Sure it was a little out of character to wear an outfit like that, but it's not like it completely changed what she looked like.
Kaitlyn smiled and gave a little wave to some of the people who recognized her. Some of them started pulling out cameras and phones and taking pictures which had me ducking down in my own seat since it'd be pretty damn obvious that I was with her and that was opening up a confusing can of worms that I didn't want to deal with. Then Kaitlyn turned and headed for the stage.
“What’s your girlfriend up to?”
I looked up and saw Megan taking a seat next to me and looking at Kaitlyn with a slightly bemused expression.
“Well she's sort of the whole reason this convention is happening. Kinda makes sense for her to give a speech. What are you doing here anyways?” I asked.
She held up her pass and it had the same VIP credentials I had. Of course we’d be sitting together. Duh. I felt like an idiot for not thinking of that.
I looked up to the stage where Kaitlyn slipped past security, I noticed a couple of the guys giving her a once over once she was past them and they didn't think she could see which didn't seem like a good idea for their career longevity.
On the other side of the stage a pretty blonde girl in a polo shirt was moving out to a microphone. She had the look of Elassa Corp staff, or maybe a volunteer, and she had the fakest smile I'd ever seen plastered on her face. I blinked as she came up to the microphone and put her hand around the stand.
I recognized that blonde girl, but it was impossible. There was no way she should be here at this convention. She hated genre fiction. In particular she seemed to hate Kaitlyn Morgan. She should be back at our tiny college town and not up there on stage introducing an author that she hated. What the hell was Carrie doing up there?
As she moved up to the microphone she turned and looked out over the crowd and for just a moment her gaze passed me and my breath caught.
"Damn, what did you do to her?" Megan asked.
"What the hell is that bitch doing up there?" I asked.
It made no sense. She hated this stuff with a deep and abiding passion. She was always giving me shit for writing "genre crap" in class. It defied explanation that my nemesis from a small creative writing class at a small college in a sleepy quiet college town would suddenly be right in front of me staring daggers, and yet here she was.
I guess sometimes reality was stranger than some of the improbable twists and turns fiction could take. Figures that reality would be stranger in a way that brought one of the people I least wanted to see in the world to a convention that had otherwise been going pretty damn well.
"No missing that. That was a grade-A bitchy look if I ever saw one," Megan said.
"Yeah, but I want to know what the hell Carrie is doing here," I said.
"Carrie? You mean that crazy chick from your class you're always going on about?"
"None other than," I said.
"Weird," Megan said. "What are the odds?"
It was weird. Very weird. I racked my brain trying to remember if I'd ever noticed anything that would indicate she actually liked Elassa. Sure she knew about Kaitlyn Morgan and seemed to know the series, but other than that I was bringing up a complete and total blank. What the hell was going on here? As though I needed more confusion right now.
Carrie reached the microphone and beamed. "Are we ready?" she shouted, though the shouting didn't really seem necessary since she was shouting into a microphone and all. Leave it to her to grandstand at a thing that wasn't even her event. That was so like her. I crossed my arms and scowled up at her for lack of anything better to do.
The entire room erupted in cheers. Carrie glanced at Kaitlyn and then back to the crowd, but I noticed that was one hell of a lingering glance she gave Kaitlyn. A lingering glance that showed a great deal of interest. Far more interest than I cared to see between another woman and Kaitlyn. What was going on there?
Carrie threw her hand out towards the crowd and her voice boomed through the room as she smiled for
the first time, though it looked like a forced smile.
"Okay then! Let's get this con started! Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, her voice echoing through the room. “The one, the only, the great Kaitlyn! Morgan!”
Kaitlyn was a rock star. The room erupted in a standing ovation. They were applauding, screaming, hooting, and making more noise than I'd heard even at rock concerts. Meanwhile Kaitlyn was beaming at the crowd, a calm rock in the middle of that wave of adoration crashing around her, but she also took a moment to look down at me, smile, and wink.
Yeah, this was a whole new world all right. I was still confused about what the hell Carrie was doing up there on stage, but it's not like there was anything I could do about it. So for the moment I just sat back and went with it. Decided to enjoy the show.
I could figure out what the hell was going on with that bitch and why she was staring at my girl later.
16: Action Plan
“So what did you think of the keynote?”
What did I think of the keynote? I thought I was still stunned about this whole thing, and seeing her up on stage with that massive crowd cheering at her had driven home how crazy this was in a major way. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still in the middle of some sort of geek girl fairytale. After all, it wasn’t every day that you got to meet your favorite artist in the whole world, let alone have a little fun with her in your hotel room and maybe find yourself falling in love with her at the same time!
“I honestly don’t know. I was still so busy processing everything that it kind of went by in a haze,” I said.
“Well did you like it?”
I grinned and reached out to take her hand. Gave it a good squeeze as we walked along the hard concrete. "Yeah, it was a great speech!"
We were being led by a convention staffer who kept a respectable distance through one of the many tunnels that ran under the convention center. One of many tunnels that was cleverly concealed, I might add. I hadn't even realized the things were here until a door opened and we were whisked away to this subterranean world while a horde of fans clamored against a wall of security guards on the other side.
