by Sian Ceinwen
It was odd seeing Ariana so subdued. She had a haunted look about her as she said it, looking so sorrowful that Heather wondered where this was coming from.
“How do you know all that?” Heather frowned, putting the queen of clubs down, and was frustrated as Ariana picked up the second trick to put it on top of the first one that she’d won.
“I can just imagine,” her voice was quiet, and that haunted look was still in place as she raised her eyes to meet Heather’s, “and the idea of it is scary as fuck, Heather.”
Ariana put the king of diamonds on the table, but Heather couldn’t even muster up any exhilaration as she put the ace on top of it and picked up her first trick of the hand.
“You have to get over this fear of celebrity,” Heather told her, as she put the jack of spades down, hoping that the card she was still holding would be able to win her the third and final trick that she needed. “It’s really not as dangerous as you think it is.”
“It’s not a fear of celebrity, as such,” Ariana put the ten of spades on top of Heather’s jack, “it’s all the stuff that comes with it. I’m scared of that, Heather, fucking terrified. I don’t want people digging through my trash to see if they can find a pregnancy test because they’re trying to figure out if I’m pregnant or not.”
“Just because it could theoretically happen, doesn’t mean it will,” Heather told her, as she picked up the trick and put it on her first one.
“Just because you don’t think it will happen, doesn’t mean it won’t,” Ariana warned her.
“I love you, darling, but you’re really worrying about nothing.” Heather smiled and put the ace of spades on the table between them.
“I’m really not,” Ariana said as she placed the jack of clubs on top of Heather’s ace, “and you’re Euchred. Two points to me.”
Heather hadn’t placed a huge amount of importance on the conversation at the time. It had been one of many they’d had on the topic, amongst too many conversations to count about other things. Something about that day struck her now, though. It was the memory of Ariana’s haunted look—the naked fear on her face as she spoke.
Had there been more to her fear than Heather had been able to get out of her at the time? Why wouldn’t she have shared it with her if there was? They had been best friends. Heather had held nothing back from Ariana in their friendship, so if there really had been a reason behind her all-consuming fear of the life of a celebrity, what would that have been?
These thoughts whirled around Heather’s mind all evening. They had dinner, but the group’s mood was strained after hearing about what had happened to Ariana, and Heather’s stress was coming back. Her show was tomorrow; it was the biggest day of her life, something she’d been working toward and dreaming about for a long time. She made her excuses to the guys shortly after dinner that she needed to go to bed early, but she was still lying awake when Harrison joined her in bed and wrapped his arms around her.
She dreamed about Anna Wintour screaming at her that her designs were awful, as they stood in trash that had been strewn everywhere, and Ariana told her with that haunted look on her face, “See, Heather? I told you it would be like this.”
Chapter 9
LIGHTS, CAMERA, WHY THE HELL DID I DO THIS?
THE PHONE ON THE table next to Heather wouldn’t stop ringing. She picked it up and heard a far too cheerful voice announcing to her that it was six-thirty and that they were providing the wakeup call she’d requested. She felt awful; she’d woken up from that nightmare about Anna Wintour and Ariana sometime around two, but she’d struggled to get back to sleep.
The more she’d realized that time was ticking away and that she really needed to get some sleep, the less she’d been able to actually get any. She last remembered looking at the clock somewhere around four-thirty this morning. Now, she had to face the most important day of her fashion career so far, on less than four hours of total sleep. Brilliant.
Harrison moved closer to her in the bed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her lips gently.
“Good morning, angel. I missed you. So much. It was so good to sleep in a bed with you last night. Did you sleep okay?”
“I barely slept a wink,” she said and then cringed.
“You only have to be strong enough to get through today. I promise that you can be completely and utterly non-functional as soon as we get back here tonight. Just hold it together until then.”
“There’s so much to do! What if it all goes terribly?” she moaned.
“It won’t, but if it does, I’ll be there. So will Ally, Seb and Hayden. We will work it out.”
Heather relaxed into his embrace. She needed to get up and get the day started, but she wanted just ten more minutes of bliss before then. She began running through the day in her head; there was a set order in which things needed to happen today.
She would freak out if she thought too hard about what was happening, so she decided to focus entirely on the first thing on her list—getting up and ready to leave. Taking on each task as its own thing, instead of looking at the day as a whole, was the only way she would manage to survive.
Step one, get the fuck out of bed. Heather kissed Harrison one last time, squeezed him tightly, and then made her way to the shower for step two. Two things down now, only about five hundred and eighty-three to go.
She put on the carefully considered outfit that she had chosen to wear this morning. She was saving her show outfit for later but knew that she would appear in plenty of photographs before the show, wanting to make sure that she looked stylish but not like she was trying too hard. She had decided to go with tight, black pants, red ankle boots, and a red, silk button-up shirt. Not that anyone would see the shirt, as it would be hidden under a soft, woolen red coat that hung mid-thigh.
Harrison had ordered breakfast for them while she was showering, and they sat in the living area to eat it together.
“Gabriel and Ariana said to wish you good luck,” Harrison said, tentatively, seemingly unsure of how she would react to their well wishes.
“Oh, that’s early for them, isn’t it?” Heather stalled for time.
“I was speaking to Gabriel last night after you’d gone to bed.”
“That makes more sense,” she measured her next words carefully, “well, let them know I said thank you.”
“I will.”
They slipped back into silence, again, as they finished their food, but Harrison looked pleased with her reaction. For the first time in a long while, Heather thought that it could be possible for them all to get back to an easy friendship sometime in the future. She’d felt practically on the verge of a breakdown with the stress she’d been under lately, and it had become obvious to her that she needed all the support she could get.
Holding on to this emotional burden from two years ago might kill her if she didn’t let it go soon. With so much external pressure coming at them, Heather knew that Cruise Control didn’t need to be dealing with petty in-fighting, as well. The fact was that Ariana must have changed; it was without question because the Ariana of old would never be in the position she’d been put in with that reporter.
“I’m going to shower, angel; I’ll be ready to leave in half an hour.”
He stood up as he said it, coming over to give her a soft kiss before making his way to the bathroom. The topic of Ariana was something that Heather would need to discuss with Harrison later; she simply didn’t have the emotional or mental reserves to broach that issue right now.
She made her way to the bedroom to do her makeup. She used just enough to look human but added her signature red lipstick. She didn’t want to make too much work for Jessica, who would have to remove it all and do her makeup again, later.
Heather sat on the sofa to wait for Harrison and tried to check her social media feeds, but there were so many mentions of her that she was overwhelmed. Instead of replying to any of them, she took a selfie, relaxed on the sofa, wit
h the big, glass windows behind her providing an amazing background with an excellent view of the city. She captioned it ‘The calm before the storm.’, and it had been up for less than ten seconds when her phone started blowing up with notifications of replies.
She quit the app and started checking her emails, responding to a question from Ally about the jewelry the models would be wearing. There were quite a few press queries that she flicked on to her PR firm. Eventually, she locked her phone and rested her head against the back of the couch, then closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.
She was still sitting there, in quiet mindfulness, when Harrison came out to the living area, fully dressed and ready to leave. She beamed at him as he walked toward her; he looked incredibly handsome and stylish. He had black jeans and boots on, with a grey T-shirt and an open, black blazer. His hair was slicked back from his face, and she couldn’t resist going over to kiss him.
“You look great, honey. Shall we go?”
“Yup, I’ve called the car company. They should be here and ready when we are.”
“Well, I guess there’s no sense in delaying, is there.”
Harrison took her hand in his after they left their room and headed toward the elevators. Sebastian and Hayden would be coming to the show together, later, with Heather and Harrison’s family. Harrison had opted to go early with her to support her with the dress rehearsal, and she couldn’t be more grateful for that.
They arrived in the lobby, and as soon as the doors of the elevator opened, they could see the crowd that had already gathered at the entrance of the hotel. Harrison squeezed her hand, and she felt comforted. She had him here with her; this was far less scary than it was yesterday. Their limousine was visible behind the crowd that was waiting for them.
As they walked across the lobby, the hotel’s morning manager approached them.
“Good morning, Mr. Fletcher. Miss York.”
“Morning.” Harrison smiled brightly at him.
“We have prepared some security personnel to assist with yourself and our other guests getting to and from their transport today.”
“Thank you, Daniel. We really appreciate it,” Heather could see the men in black suits standing by the doors to the hotel.
“No worries, have a great day, and good luck today, Miss York!”
They had almost reached the doors now, so she thanked him politely as the security guards walked through the hotel doors ahead of them, clearing space in the crowd as they made their way through. It was an explosion of camera flashes and questions, the same as yesterday, but it was over much quicker, and it was much less scary than before. Once they were in their limousine, Heather wasn’t shaking and terrified like she’d been yesterday. The idea of getting some kind of personal security might not be such a bad one, after all.
“That wasn’t too bad,” Harrison voiced her own thoughts aloud.
“No, it really wasn’t. Maybe Ally is right.”
“It’s possible. We’ll see what happens; I might talk to Cooper and see what he says.”
Heather nodded, then they drifted into silence. Her brain was running a million miles a minute right now. She pushed the media and security issue to the back of her brain and began focusing on what needed to be done. Next up on her list, run The Gauntlet to get into the venue, and once she was inside, there would be a lot to get done.
Harrison put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him so that her head was resting on his chest, and she physically relaxed. She hadn’t even realized she’d been as tense as she was. His thumb stroked her skin softly, and she put her arm around him, closing her eyes and simply focused on the sound of his heart beating in his chest. The world was reduced to nothing but that comforting sound and the feeling of his arms holding her safe against him.
It was entirely too quickly that they arrived at the venue for the show. Heather saw the group of people gathered out the front of the venue and steeled herself for the walk inside. It wasn’t even eight-thirty in the morning yet, so she was surprised that so many people had already made it here; there were even several eager fans.
Their driver opened their door and smiled at them. Heather thanked him and stepped out; she was getting used to this feeling, the racing heartbeat and butterflies in her stomach as her senses of sight and sound were assaulted.
“Heather! Good luck for today!”
“Harrison, where’s the rest of Cruise Control?”
They answered a few questions this time, also posing for some photos. These reporters had done the right thing by coming to her show rather than waiting at their hotel, and Heather felt they should be rewarded for that.
Harrison made his way over to the group of ten or so Cruise Control fans who were calling out to him and signed some of their T-shirts and albums. He posed for a few selfies with them and chatted politely as Heather answered more questions from the media.
“Heather, what was the inspiration for your collection?”
“I’m focusing on the feelings of serenity and freedom, so I’m hoping that others who look at it can see and embrace those feelings. No restraints.”
“Why isn’t Gabriel here today?” someone else asked her a few minutes later.
“He had commitments in Chicago, and unfortunately couldn’t make it today.”
“What do you have to say about rumors of a rift in the band?”
Heather tensed slightly, then forced herself to relax so that she wouldn’t show it. She did worry that it might cause some issues between them when they were trying to record the new album next month. She heard Harrison’s voice as he answered the question for her.
“We say that’s insane.” He’d returned to Heather’s side and laughed as he continued, “But I’ll certainly text Gabriel and let him know we’re apparently splitting up!”
Even the person who’d asked the question laughed at his response.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Harrison said to the group as he took her hand in his, “I’d better get my gorgeous fiancée inside, though. No doubt, there’s plenty to be done in there.”
Harrison waved goodbye to the fans and smiled at them in particular as they walked away from the group of people outside, and into the venue. Heather loved how sweet and kind he was. As much as she would have liked to have him by her side for every second of those interactions, Harrison didn’t have it in him to ignore the fans who had gone to the effort of coming out this early to see him.
Heather’s mouth fell into a silent ‘O’ as they walked into the venue. It looked like a real fashion show; it was nothing like the tiny showings she’d held in Chicago. She knew that it was a real fashion show, of course, but she was still stunned. Heather only had a moment or two to take in the stage, the lights shining on it, the backdrop with the word “Serenity” on it in her stylized logo, and the chairs that would later be filled with guests before Ally rushed over to her.
She was looking more stressed than Heather had ever seen her. She was wearing a tight blue dress that accentuated her curves and was carrying a clipboard with the itinerary on it and had a headset on that had a mic near her mouth.
“You’re here! Great, right on time! We have so much to do, let’s go. Hi Harrison, nice to meet you.”
Ally held out her hand and shook Harrison’s before turning and heading backstage. Heather and Harrison followed her dutifully. Harrison caught Heather’s eye and mouthed, ‘I like her.’ Heather smiled and mouthed back, ‘me too.’
The backstage area was a hive of activity. To the side of one of the entrances to the runway, there was a big board that had pictures of all of the models wearing their outfits for the show, in the order that they would appear on the runway.
There were people everywhere, some were carrying items around, but most were models. A few were standing near the craft services table with food on it and chatting, but a lot were in various stages of dress, getting either their hair or makeup done. Heather could see Trist
an working on one of her favorite models, and he gave her a quick wave before going back to his work.
“Okay, the dress rehearsal is at ten,” Ally told them, “as you can see, not all of the models will be fully ready for that, but it’s okay, they never are. It’s just to give us an idea and decide on any last-minute changes we want to make. I’ve already had word that two models won’t be able to make the dress rehearsal, but can make the show. We need to decide if we’re okay with that.”
“Which models?” Heather asked her, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Liia and Carrie.”
Heather cringed, Carrie had been one of her absolute favorites and was set to literally open the show.
“I know. Look, it isn’t a huge deal. Carrie is good, she’ll be fine, and Liia was okay; she’s mid-show, so not a lot to screw up there. I say we run with them and have them do a run-through backstage.”
“I trust you,” Heather decided to take a leap of faith, “if you think it’ll be okay, let’s go with that.”
“Awesome, I’ll let the agencies know. I’ll also let them know I’m pissed. Harrison, you sit your gorgeous butt over there and relax”—she pointed to a cream, leather sofa at the edge of the room near the craft services table—“I’m going to get your wonderful fiancée to come and give her approval of the accessories. All we need from you is to sit there and look pretty!”
“I’ll do my best,” and Harrison laughed as Ally winked at him.
He gave Heather a quick kiss and a hug before he headed over to the sofa as instructed. As soon as he sat down, quite a few of the models who had been eating before rushed over to talk to him, and Ally rolled her eyes.
“I thought that might happen. I’ll save him in a few minutes if you’re okay with that?”
“I’m fine. If Harrison wanted to leave me for a model, he would’ve done it long before now!”
They walked over to the racks of clothing at the back of the room. Each one was carefully hung up with an outfit, with the matching shoes and accessories sitting underneath them along with a picture of the associated model attached to the hanger.
