Happy Again (This is What Happy Looks Like #1.5)(7)
“I love him,” she said, and Ellie nodded miserably.
She was pretty sure she did too.
Ten
Once he was gone, the crowd seemed to wilt.
A few people began to leave, while others shifted restlessly, still looking off toward the line of cars as if a surprise guest might step out at any moment. But with the departure of the film’s two stars, the red carpet was now mostly filled with publicists and producers and assistants.
“I wish we’d gotten a selfie,” Kara said, spinning around.
“Or at least something better than this,” Sprague said, thrusting her phone at them. Ellie leaned close to see a muddled picture of the back of Graham’s head. But even that was enough to make her throat go thick, and she stared at it for a beat too long, blinking fast, still shell-shocked by the nearness of him.
“You okay?” Lauren asked, and Ellie realized there were tears in her eyes.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly, brushing them away. “Just a little cold.”
Once she said it, she realized it was true. It was only September, but with the sun gone, there was a chill in the air, and she rubbed at her bare arms, wishing she were wearing more than just jeans and a T-shirt. She could picture her gray hoodie in the backseat of Sprague’s car, and was annoyed she hadn’t remembered to bring it.
“Dinner?” Lauren asked, raising her eyebrows at the others. Sprague shrugged, and Kara gave the red carpet one last hopeful look before agreeing.
But just as they turned, ready to make their way toward Seventh Avenue, Ellie heard her name.
She hesitated, her whole body tense, before swiveling around.
She hadn’t realized how high her heart had lifted until she felt it fall again. For a moment, she’d thought it might be Graham. But instead she found herself staring at the round, bearded face of his manager, Harry Fenton, who was standing a few feet away, in the middle of the red carpet, wearing a look of confusion that made it seem like she’d been the one to call out to him.
“Ellie, right?” he asked, taking a few steps closer. “Ellie O’Neill?”
Ellie glanced nervously at the other three girls, who were all staring at her.
“Yeah,” she said eventually, in a voice that didn’t quite sound like hers.
She’d never properly met Harry Fenton—she’d only seen him from afar during some of the shoots in Henley—but she knew enough to know that he hadn’t been a fan of hers. Even before she and Graham got in trouble for a scuffle with the paparazzi and that incident with a stolen boat, Harry had been worried that Ellie was a distraction for his biggest client.
So it was no small surprise to see him smiling at her now, holding out a hand, and Ellie had to inch past Kara to greet him.
“I thought that was you,” he said, pumping her hand up and down. “Does—”
“No,” she said quickly. “We were just walking by, and—”
“Oh, well, you have to come in then,” he said, gesturing at the theater behind him with the friendly enthusiasm of a game-show host. “You probably haven’t seen it yet, have you?”
Ellie shook her head, wondering how he thought she might have seen it, given that this was the world premiere. Her face was burning now for no real reason except that she could feel everyone watching her, and she wished she had the power to make herself invisible.
“I can’t,” she finally managed to say. “I don’t…I’m not dressed for it, and we’ve, um, got dinner plans, and…”
Harry’s gaze shifted to the semicircle of girls standing behind her with what Ellie could only assume were mystified expressions. “Bring your friends. There’s popcorn inside.”
Ellie had just opened her mouth to refuse once more when Lauren appeared at her side, jabbing her hard in the ribs.
“We’d love to,” Lauren said, beaming at Harry. “That’s so nice of you.”
“Well, great,” he said, looking pleased. “How many are you? Four? Super. Let me just…”
He held up a finger and then spun around, walking over to a girl with a headset, who nodded immediately and started punching at her phone.
“Whoever that is,” Lauren said, her eyes still trained on Harry, “he’s my new favorite person.”
“Who is it?” Kara asked, unable to hide her excitement. “What’s even happening right now?”
“We’re going to a movie premiere,” Lauren said triumphantly. She gave Ellie a little slap on the back. “This night just got much more exciting.”
“Yeah, but how do you know him?” Sprague asked, staring at Ellie. “This is so random…”
“He’s a…family friend,” Ellie lied, her stomach churning. But it would be impossible to sum up the whole story without sounding ridiculous. Even the long version was pretty hard to believe.
Besides, she had bigger things to worry about right now. Already, she was making frantic calculations about the odds of seeing Graham in there. Harry would probably have to find seats for them somewhere way in the back, and surely they’d be getting there so late that the movie would start almost immediately, which meant the chance of her running into Graham was tiny.
When Harry motioned them forward, a huge security guard with a wire in his ear lifted the barricade and swung it open just enough for them to slip through. The other girls whispered excitedly as they walked past jealous fans, but Ellie just stared at her feet, taking in the grubby flip-flops and chipped nail polish on her toes.