His gaze kept going back to the same place in the crowd. He nodded, winked and pointed each time he said the word darlin’. I put my hands on Jason’s shoulders to lift myself a little. Just then the girl Oliver seemed entranced with turned and high-fived someone behind her. Her eyes landed on me high in the air and she waved frantically then pointed to the stage and waved at me again.
Gretchen.
There was a loud gasp so I glanced back to center stage to see what Oliver had done to warrant such a response but I struggled to find his slight frame. I searched the entire width of the stage. Nothing. Maybe he hopped down into the crowd, which would certainly warrant a gasp.
But, then I saw his bandmates react. Everything played out in slow motion. Max and Theo dropped their guitars, Calvin hopped down from his keyboard and George almost toppled his drum kit. They all convened at the same place and dropped to their knees. That’s when I realized one of the large floor speakers obstructed my view but of what I could see, there appeared to be a body lying where Oliver had just stood.
The guys began flailing their arms toward the backstage. Calvin put his hand up to his ear using the universal “call someone” sign. Roadies dressed in black rushed the stage like ants and huddled around the band and what I could only assume was Oliver. Collapsed.
There was a stretcher within seconds and I heard the screams of a siren. My heart pounded so hard, I could hear it inside my own skull.
“Oliver.” I said his name out loud. The crowd was eerily silent and everyone stood still. I, too, was frozen, unable to move and barely able to breathe. Oliver.
Jack came up to the only mic that hadn’t been knocked over in the onstage chaos just as the EMS team lifted a stretcher that held Oliver’s limp body. They rushed him offstage and the band followed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we will push through and bring out the next local band for you. Hopefully, Oliver Walt’s condition will improve and they can wrap up their set later. We will keep you up to date on the likelihood of that happening. But for now, please welcome Frog Pond Polly!”
There was a half-assed welcome to the new band and Jason lowered me into the crowd.
“You staying?” He handed me yet one more cold beer from his beer-runner friend and smiled.
“Yeah, I am. I’m here with friends.” I had no idea where any of them were, though. But as I looked around I noticed the crowd was thinning a little so I assumed my best bet was to try and get as close to the stage as I could. The panic I felt concerning Oliver was far more than any ice-jam scare; I’d climb over people if I had to just to get closer to where he was.
“Okay, Kate. Maybe I’ll see you out at the Beta Sig house tomorrow night?” I had no idea where I’d be in five minutes, let alone the next day.
“Sure, yeah. Maybe.” I turned to map out my path to the stage then turned back again. “Sorry, I gotta run. Thanks for letting me sit on you.” I rushed in the direction of the stage and realized how stupid I just sounded to Jason and his friends. Thank you for letting me sit on you? I didn’t even care.
The ground in front of the stage became significantly less occupied and although my crowd-related panic slowly diminished, my Oliver-panic was at self-destruct level. I saw an opening toward the side of the stage so I took off running.
Just as I got to the gate where the security guys stood, someone jumped in front of me and I slammed into them with a force that should have stopped my already-stuttering heart.
“Kate, did you see? He hit his head pretty hard.” Gretchen’s hands were on her cheeks and she shook her head back and forth.
“I didn’t see anything. I was looking to see who he was flirting with and then I heard everyone gasp. What happened?” My eyes barely landed on her as I spoke. I was searching the premises to figure out a way to get to Oliver to make sure he was okay.
“Well, he was flirting with me, of course.” She rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed that wasn’t common knowledge. “He spun around and his eyes rolled back and he went down. I heard his head hit the stage, Kate. It was awful. But it was me. He was flirting with me.”
Just then my back pocket buzzed. I assumed it was MacKenna or Ally wondering where I’d gone.
“Kate, my friends want to go but I want to stay and see if Phobia5 comes back out. Are you staying?”
How could I leave? I needed to know he was okay.
“I’m staying.”
“Girls! I’m staying with Kate. You guys go ahead.”
I looked down at my phone and stopped breathing.
Walter: Oh Lexi, I need you. Come to the right side gate at the back of the stage. I texted Moose your profile pic so he knows it’s really you, he will bring you to me.
My heart sunk deep into my gut. Moose would never believe I was Lexi. I looked nothing like my profile picture. But maybe just knowing about the text would be enough to get me backstage. I had to try. I wove my way through people, hopped over a couple cinderblocks holding tethered ropes and somehow made it to a large man in a black SECURITY t-shirt standing at the back gate.
“Hi! Moose? I need you to let me see Oliver, please.” I assumed he’d already gotten the text.
“Honey, I wasn’t born yesterday. Get yourself back around the other side of the stage and you can see him from there if he comes back out. Now go.”
“No! You don’t understand! He told me he was going to text you. I’m serious! I’m not lying to you. Please check your phone.”
“Sweetheart—”
“CHECK YOUR PHONE!” Realizing how forcefully that came out and knowing being a bitch wouldn’t get me anywhere with Moose, I quickly toned it down. “Moose, I’m so sorry for yelling. I’m terrified for Oliver. I just need to get back there. Please check your phone.”
Moose shook his head and reached for his back pocket. He pulled out his phone, slid his thumb up the screen as if scrolling through notifications. Stopped. Pulled his phone closer to his face and time stood still. This was it.
He looked back up at me and smiled. “Honey, you’re right. He texted me. But this picture isn’t you. Now move along before I have to have you removed.”
I made it a few steps before the tragedy of it all gripped my chest and my legs gave out beneath me. I gasped for air as the moisture from the wet ground soaked up through my jean shorts.
I needed to get to Moose, but I also I needed a miracle to pull this off.
“Kate, you look ridiculous! Don’t sit there! Why are you doing that? GET UP!” Gretchen knelt before me and her dark, raven hair tickled my knees. And that’s when I realized, I was looking into the face of my answer.
I got to my feet, stunned. Gretchen looked almost exactly like the profile picture I’d posted months ago on Lexi’s Twitter account. I grabbed her by the arm and retreated back to Moose.
“Forgive me, Moose. My name is Kate, and this is Lexi,” I said. I heard Gretchen gasp. “Oliver texted me also with the directive to bring her back to him ASAP! That’s how I knew he’d text you. Can you let us back there now, please? It’s urgent that I get her to Oliver, now!”
Moose looked back at his phone and shook his head. He opened the gate and waved us through.
Five
“Kate? What the FUCK is going on?”
I ignored Gretchen, grabbed her hand and took off toward where Moose was pointing. As I ran, I realized my troubles were far from over. Oliver had hit his head. Why? Was he doped up on something? Was he just exhausted? Who knew what state he would be in when we got backstage? And here I was¸ about to charge back there and reveal I’d been lying to him for months. I knew how fragile he was. This could send him over the edge. I stopped and turned to Gretchen.
“Gretchen, you have to swear to God you won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.” I tried desperately to control my shaking voice. “I’ve backed myself into a corner and I’m in trouble. I’ve lied…a lot. It’s a really big lie and it snowballed out of control. I was planning on coming clean today, but due to certain circumstanc
es it wouldn’t be good to reveal the truth today. And that means I have to keep up the charade. Which is why I need you.”
“Kate, you’re being very cryptic. It’s kind of annoying. I get the gist of what you’re saying but I still have no idea how I fit into this.” She pulled her hair back, swirled it around into a bun and tied it in a knot at the base of her neck. She was unbelievably gorgeous. She was the perfect Lexi.
“Listen, I created a fake account on Twitter and I’ve been using it and posing as some hot party girl named Lexi for the past couple months.”
“Keep talking.”
“There’s this guy.”
“Walter?”
“Sort of. We’ve become close but he’ll never believe I’m a hot party girl named Lexi.”
One eyebrow on Gretchen’s perfect face rose ever so slowly. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. I needed Gretchen to do agree to be Lexi for the day. But I was afraid if I laid it all out there at once, she wouldn’t see the whole picture for all the details that stood in the way.
“I’m the hot party girl? Well, Kate, I’m flattered.” She batted her eyes and that quickly I wanted to claw them from their sockets. If Gretchen agreed to pretend to be Lexi, I would have laid the groundwork for someone far more beautiful than myself to take my place.
“I never posted any pictures of anyone’s face. The pictures I did post were blurred and artsy, but the girl was obviously dark-haired, tall and thin. That’s who he’s expecting, not this.” I used my hands to “Vanna White” myself. “I need you to pretend to be this fictional girl, Lexi. Just for today; that way I can make sure everything’s okay before I drop this bomb on him.”
This is so messed up.
“Look, Kate, I’d love to help you and your geeky stagehand, but I’m really not into this kind of ‘catfish’ thing. You’ve seen the show, right? It’s awful to do that to someone. And then I’d be the one convincing him that Lexi was real. What if he thinks he’s gonna get a piece when we meet up today? Ew. I know what everyone thinks of me, but I’m really not THAT easy.”
“Gretchen, please…” My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out knowing full well who it was calling.
“Hey…” I plugged my other ear and strained to hear Oliver’s voice but it was impossible.
“Is that him? Is that him?” Gretchen once again thought she was being quiet but you can’t whisper over a live band, especially when in close proximity to the stage.
“I can’t hear you at all. Text me.” I waited a second to see if I could hear his response. My phone buzzed in my ear. I pulled it away and looked at the screen.
Walter: Love…
Me: We are on our way.
Walter: Who is ‘we’?
Dammit. I wasn’t made for lying. This was a freaking nightmare. And then I had an idea.
Me: My friend Kate is coming with me.
“I didn’t agree to this, Kate!” Gretchen and her commentary. She went from annoying to more annoying real fast.
Me: Are you OK?
“Give me that!” Gretchen grabbed my phone in what I assumed was an attempt to text that we weren’t coming. But before she could text anything my phone buzzed again and her eyes widened and she slapped her hand across her mouth. Then she handed me my phone back.
Walter: I’m fine. Wish I could have finished the song! Hit my head pretty fuckin’ hard.
Gretchen gasped and I swear she almost swallowed my head.
I shoved my phone in my pocket and Gretchen hadn’t moved. If she didn’t blink soon her corneas would dry up and fall off and then she’d be of no help to me. I was impressed with my bitchy wit.
“Come on—I need you!” I grabbed her hand and fought my way past security guards and roadies.
“FUCK ME! Not only am I going to get to meet Oliver Walt…but he’s going to think I’m the girl he’s been diggin’ on since summer? How the hell did I fall into this one?” She was right up next to me with her face in my ear. “WAIT!” She stopped dead in her tracks and I almost pulled her arm off.
“What?!” There was nothing about the situation that made me relaxed. I was a ball of nerves. Oliver’s sanity and well-being were at stake. My little “experiment” was fucking with his life.
“Kate! Have you thought this all the way through? I know nothing about what the two of you have shared.”
“Lexi is sensitive and supportive, caring and kind. She and Oliver are very close.” I rolled my eyes and tried to be nice. I was tossing her into a situation she was nowhere near prepared for; I decided to be a little more patient.
“I’m nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I’m happy to be your puppet now that I know whose eyes I’ll be staring into just before he kisses me, but—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, okay. He just collapsed on stage. We are not going back for you two to hook up. Are we clear?” That quick I forgot the definition of patience and all of a sudden I was the one getting loud. But another band had taken the stage and it sounded like they were trying to outdo Frog Pond Polly’s earsplitting set.
“Listen, Kate, with all due respect, I’m doing you a huge favor so I expect to get something out of this.” She pulled her knotted bun down, shook her hair out and put it back up again. “How am I supposed to know what to say to him? What if he says something under the radar, like an inside thing between the two of you, and I have no idea what he’s talking about? Won’t he suspect something’s up?”
I had to give it to her, she was thorough. Further proof she was a very good liar. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead. Quite frankly, I’d only been worried about the state of his health and his first impression of Lexi in the flesh. Flesh. I hoped there’d be no flesh anything happening between the two of them.
“All right, so, if he says anything that you’d need to respond to a certain way, I’ll interrupt and re-direct the conversation, or ask him a question or answer for you. Something. I got this. You just need to remember your name is Lexi. And you can’t act like a groupie…he hates them. Won’t touch them with a ten-foot pole.”
“That’s not what I heard. Do you not read the tabloids? Have you not seen Twitter today?”
“Gretchen! Focus! I know him better than any trashy magazine and their imaginative sources. I promise you. He finds groupies gross and vulgar.” I had to delete anything in her brain that had her thinking she would use this ruse to hook up with Oliver. In less than a couple minutes, I would personally put Lexi in the palm of Oliver’s hands, but, I wasn’t about to put her in bed with him as well. The mere thought of that being the outcome made me sick to my stomach.
“Good to know. Fake it ’til ya make it, right? Let’s go.” Gretchen could win an Oscar on her chameleon-like abilities alone.
There was another large man standing in front of a door that had “PHOBIA5” scribbled on a piece of paper that was haphazardly secured with tape. We walked right up to where he stood and I waited for Gretchen to speak.
Nothing. I elbowed her.
“Oh, oh, right. Sorry. I’m just a little flustered. I’m Lexi. Oliver is waiting for me.” She flashed a sexy smile and puckered her lips a little. What the hell?
“Well, Lexi, how do I know you’re really the girl Oliver is waiting for? How ’bout you tell me your last name.” He was gruff. Not a happy guy. But that didn’t faze Gretchen. Until she realized she had no idea what her last name was.
“Cartwright.” I answered for her. She’d fallen into the ditzy groupie role. “She’s Lexi Cartwright and I’m her friend, Kate. Oliver is expecting both of us.” I smiled but no one knew—this guy hadn’t taken his eyes off Gretchen’s cleavage since we walked up. And when he wasn’t staring between her boobs, he was looking into her belly button, which was on display right between her low-rise jean cut-offs and her vintage Aerosmith concert shirt that was torn and came just to the bottom of her ribs.
“Right this way, ladies.” He unlocked the door and led us through a maze
of ladders, poles and curtains that seemed to go on forever.
I yanked on Gretchen’s arm. “You can’t be so ditzy. Remember, he hates groupies.” Now, I was the one loud-whispering but Grumpy Guy’s long legs had him at least ten steps ahead of us.
“I wouldn’t have looked ditzy if you would have told me I had a last name. Come on, Kate. We got this.” We? Right. It was now Gretchen and me. We had to be a unified force. A team…a tag team of liars.
By the time we rounded the corner into the band’s dressing room, my chest was tight, I could barely breathe and my whole body was tingling.
And there he was. In all his glory. Oliver Walt. I didn’t expect him to be even more beautiful and perfect than what he was a half hour ago, but as hard as it was to believe, he was. More beautiful. More perfect.
“Lexi…” His arms were outstretched toward Gretchen before he finished saying her name. He glanced over at me and smiled a sincere welcome.
“Oliver.” She stood perfectly still. Her voice was deeper and breathier than usual. I couldn’t blame her. The entire room was filled with the buzz that was Oliver. He definitely had a very unique presence. Something I’d never experienced in all my life. I was actually, for a moment, glad I hadn’t registered too high on Oliver’s radar because Gretchen handled his presence much better than I did—and he hadn’t even talked to me. I had to concentrate on just staying upright.
The room tilted as I watched Oliver push his fingers into Gretchen’s waist and pull her hips into him very, very gently. His hands snaked around to her bare back and the tips of his thumbs disappeared under the edge of her top. Gretchen’s hands instinctively went to the belt loops on Oliver’s jeans.
“I can’t believe I’m really touching you.”
A shiver overtook my body and I was instantly covered in goose bumps. It was like I was watching the most intense love scene on a big screen. My whole body reacted to what I saw. Because Oliver’s words were really for me. And they were landing on my heart purposefully. It was intensely titillating to be accepting the words meant for me without anyone but Gretchen being the wiser. I hated that she was the one accepting his touch and I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
When I Lied Page 6
