She crept along behind him, staying out of sight.
Be like water, Ivy told herself. Olivia’s martial-arts-obsessed dad had taught her that. She slid from a tall fern to a marble column to a sunglasses stall.
It was going well until, just outside the camera store, Brendan looked back over his shoulder. Ivy was next to a booth selling self-help books, so she ducked behind it. An old woman with a wart on her chin, sitting on the stool and tending the booth, looked at her.
Ivy smiled like nothing was abnormal, but then she noticed a security guard on the other side of the walkway staring at her. He pointed two stubby fingers at her, and then pointed them at his own eyes. I’m watching you, he was saying.
Ivy immediately straightened up and tried to look innocent by grabbing one of the books from the display and opening it to a random page. Bald is Beautiful! it declared in large print.
Ivy panicked, slammed the book shut and shoved it back on the shelf.
‘Can I help you?’ the old lady said in a scratchy voice.
‘Uh, just browsing!’ Ivy turned away to check where Brendan was, but the one thing she really didn’t need to happen had happened.
Brendan had disappeared!
Chapter Two
I can only feel two of my toes, Olivia thought. Ivy had been gone for half an hour and the line hadn’t even started moving yet.
‘Ohmigosh, I just can’t believe you got to be in a movie with him!’ said Janie. ‘So, how come you have to wait in line with the rest of us?’
Olivia wondered if there was actual steam coming out of her ears. ‘That’s a very good question, Janie.’
Just then a huge collective shriek erupted from the front of the line. Olivia stood on her tiptoes to see that the doors to the bookstore had finally opened.
The line surged forward and, despite being about 200th in line, she got all the way to the front door of the store very quickly. There must have been another 200 people behind her. She tried to peer past the window display, to see if she could catch Jackson’s attention – or even see him – but the store was so packed with people clutching copies of his new book, Jackson’s Journal, that his signing desk was hidden from view.
‘Look what he gave me!’ squealed a girl who was leaving the store. She was the ice skater from the front of the line and was waving something red and heart-shaped over her head. ‘It’s a picture frame and he signed it: “Love, Jackson”. He loves me!’
The girls still waiting for their chance to meet Jackson all crowded around her, desperate to see. Olivia got jostled around like she was holding the last purse in a sale.
Janie turned to Olivia and clutched her hands. ‘I have to have one,’ she said. ‘I just have to!’
Olivia sighed. Even though Valentine’s Day wasn’t until the end of the week, this was her only chance to see Jackson before she left for Transylvania.
It doesn’t matter, Olivia thought to herself. Once I get to the front of the line and give him his V-Day present, this will all be worth it. She touched the crinkly wrapping paper on the small box in her jacket pocket and smiled. The Valentine’s present she’d bought for Jackson was silly, but sentimental. It was a little pair of ceramic cowboy boots. She’d painted a red heart on the front of both and put her initials on one and his initials on the other. The first thing she’d ever said to Jackson was, ‘Yeehaw’ and ‘I like your boots’ and he teased her about it all the time.
‘Could you stop mooning?’ said an impatient girl behind her.
Olivia blinked and realised the line had moved way inside the store.
‘Sorry.’ She scurried forwards into a wider aisle with ropes down either side. At the far end, she could see a big pink backdrop and could just catch a glimpse of Jackson’s blond hair. When she caught up to the line, Janie turned around with tears in her eyes.
‘Oh, no,’ Olivia said, reaching to give the girl a hug. ‘What’s wrong?’
Janie held out her fist and opened it, palm up. The candy heart was still there but the message now read, ‘I EAR U.’ The letters had smudged off in her sweaty hand.
She sniffled. ‘What am I going to give him now?’
Even though it was weird to have so many people obsessed with her boyfriend, Olivia couldn’t let Janie be upset. She spotted a bunch of construction paper pink hearts taped up on one of the book displays. She looked both ways, to make sure no one was watching, and gently pulled off one of the smaller hearts.
Janie watched, her bottom lip trembling.
Olivia dug in her bag and pulled out a black pen. ‘We’ve got this.’ She held up the heart. ‘And this.’ She held up the pen. ‘And we’ve got about five minutes for you to write something for Jackson on it.’
Janie’s eyes lit up. ‘Thanks!’ She took the pen and the heart and wrote, ‘I ♥ YOU,’ in the middle. She spent the following four minutes admiring it.
‘Next!’ called a woman in a dark green tailored suit with an orange silk scarf. It was Amy Teller, Jackson’s manager.
Janie took a deep breath and stepped up to the table. Olivia watched as Jackson turned his full attention to her, giving a trademark wide white smile.
‘Hello. What’s your name?’ he asked. His attention was fully on the little girl and he’d totally failed to see that Olivia was next in line. She couldn’t help smiling to herself. He’s so good to his fans.
Janie was clutching the little pink paper heart so hard she was crushing it.
‘J-Janie,’ she replied, then thrust the heart out to him.
‘Thank you,’ Jackson said, his blond hair flopping over his blue eyes as he read it. ‘That’s really sweet.’
‘I messed up your first present,’ Janie confessed and stepped to the side, pointing at Olivia. ‘She helped me.’
Jackson looked over and Olivia felt her heart cartwheel. He half stood up and leaned over the desk, almost knocking a pile of books over but not taking his eyes off her. She felt a flush of excitement and her heart raced.
‘Olivia!’ He looked happy but confused. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Remember, I said last night . . .’ Olivia began, wanting to give him a hug but feeling like it would be inappropriate.
Jackson winced. ‘You totally did. I’m really sorry! Why didn’t you call?’
‘I tried,’ Olivia replied, glad that it was all over now and she could talk to her boyfriend at last.