Seeing Stars (The Celebrity 1)

When he answered the phone by crooning my nickname, Sparkles, the tears sprang free. I couldn’t speak; I just sobbed. I needed to get it together, but I had no idea that hearing his voice would affect me like that.

“Madison, I was kidding,” he said quickly. “I won’t call you that anymore. Are you there?”

When I sniffled, he breathed out a sigh into the receiver. “Are you crying? What happened? Madison?”

“I just quit my job,” I managed to get out before repeatedly sucking in jagged breaths.

“You quit?” He paused for a moment, and I could hear him breathing. “What happened?”

“C–can you come over?”

He paused, but it was too long a pause. I?

??d made a mistake in calling him. I was just about to tell him to forget it and tell him I was sorry for bothering him when he asked, “Can you meet me out here instead?”

I nodded.

“Madison?” He repeated my name, obviously unable to see me nodding through the phone.

I nodded my head again like an idiot. “Yeah. I can meet you there. Where?”

“The Ripcurl Café in Malibu. You know the place?”

My heart stopped beating and I nearly dropped the phone in my lap. Yeah, I knew the place. I hadn’t thought about that restaurant in years, and now that he was suggesting it, I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t go back there. I’d vowed never to step foot in that place again. And I hadn’t. Not since I was a teenager.

“Can we go somewhere else?” I said, my voice shaking. “I’d really rather not go there.”

He’s going to think I’m crazy.

“It’s my favorite spot. You don’t hate it, do you? You can’t hate it.”

“I don’t hate it,” I murmured, my mind sorting through the memories I’d locked away tightly all those years ago. Every single one of them flooded over me and I started to hyperventilate. Concentrating on my erratic breathing, I willed myself to calm down. It was only a restaurant and it had been a lifetime ago. Surely I could go eat there with my new friend, and not completely lose my shit over it?

I hoped.

“Madison?” Walker’s voice broke through my semi freak-out, instantly calming me.

“I’m here.” I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. Just because I’d had my heart ripped out at that café as a teenager didn’t mean that I needed to act like one now.

Grow up. You need to move on.

“Can we go there? I’d really like to take you there.” His voice was overly chipper and I suddenly wanted to smack him for it.

“Fine.”

Walker sighed. “I have a feeling that when you say ‘fine’ you’re just giving in, but that doesn’t mean you’re happy about it. I promise you’ll be happy about this. Meet me there in an hour.”

“Fine,” I said again, and hung up.

The moment I pulled my car onto Pacific Coast Highway, my chest tightened. Being in Malibu hadn’t made me feel like this in years. It wasn’t the town bringing back all the memories, it was the venue.

Turning right into the café’s gravel lot, my heartbeat quickened. As I pulled into a parking space, I thought about turning right back around and leaving. I’d simply tell Walker that I couldn’t do it. We’d have to meet somewhere else. Shaking my head as I took deep breaths to calm myself, a quick rap on my window caused me to jump and my breath to catch.

Walker’s hazel eyes greeted me through the glass, their familiar color imprinting on me again. I narrowed my eyes as I examined the flecks of green and brown in his, their soulful depths virtually calling me home. Or maybe just to the bedroom.

“You all right?”

I collected my thoughts at the sound of his voice and pressed the button to roll down my window. “Sorry. Give me a second.” I breathed deeply again, reminding myself that I could be here. I could do this. I’d make new memories here, today. Starting now, I’d no longer associate this place with pain from the past. My old remembrance of it would be replaced with memories of Walker and happiness, and how he was there for me when I stood up to my asshole boss and quit the first job I’d gone to college for.