We walked slowly through the crowd while he talked quietly into the phone. The only thing I heard him say was "Five minutes... yes... I understand..." Tristan's eyes stayed glued to the floor as he made his way through the throngs of people.
I eased my step to follow his trail because his much larger frame moved through the crowd easier than my average-sized one. He was so tall that the top of my head only grazed his broad shoulder. He turned around to make sure I was still following him, even though he was on the phone.
Having memorized the map of where Andrew Wood's signing booth would be, I knew we were really close, and I spotted a small line just a few feet ahead. A giddy feeling spread through my body all of a sudden, knowing I was just minutes away from meeting the man who had kept me company for so many nights via the internet.
We were right in front of the booth at the same time that Tristan ended his call with a long, drawn out sigh. The line was already about ten people deep, facing a large poster of a girl with a Texas-sized amount of jizz spread all over her face. "ANDREW WOOD" was printed across the bottom of the poster in huge, block font.
Like the perv I was, my eyes stayed glued to the pearl necklace made of bodily fluids spotting the girl.
I eased my way into the short line while my new acquaintance pocketed his phone and cast a wary glance at the line of females ahead of me. He ducked his head a little more before facing me again.
Tristan gave me a soft smile. "I'm sorry about that. Someone is waiting for me. I need to get going."
I wanted to ask him why he'd been so vague every time I had seen him, but that would have been kind of weird. We barely knew each other, so I just nodded and forced a smile. "Okay."
My auburn-haired companion shoved his hands deep into the front pockets of his low-slung jeans, and I caught sight of the sliver of creamy skin where his hoodie failed to meet denim. "I'm," he whispered, as he took a step closer to me when the woman in front of me turned to give us a curious look. "I'm glad that I found you digging in your butt."
"Oh God, I was only picking my undies out," I murmured, trying to keep my voice low enough that the nosey woman didn't hear us.
He smiled a big, toothy grin only a foot away from my face since he was ducking to talk to me. "Whatever you say," he teased. "Thank you for lunch, Kat."
"You're welcome."
"I really need to go," he said, straightening up. "I'm glad I met you."
I couldn't help but smile a little weakly, disappointed that he was in such a rush to leave. "Me too."
Tristan stepped back but smirked a split second later, he then took two steps closer to me, his shoulder hovered only a couple inches away from my face. I caught a whiff of his clean, soapy scent. His warm breath tickled my ear as he leaned in and made a sound like he'd inhaled my scent too, but I was so focused on how close he was that I really couldn't know for sure. A fire ran up my spine at his proximity.
"I think you should find a younger porn star to watch from now on," he said in a husky voice before brushing his hand down the length of my ponytail and stepping away. "Bye, Kat."
My ponytail whispered to me that she would never be the same again.
I felt like I'd been put under a spell from the moment he started breathing right against my ear until he was out of sight. Was I in a trance? My ear felt warm and tingly even in the long moments after he'd left.
My brain was in such a daze I didn't hear the nosey woman in front of me talking.
"Hmm?" I asked, trying to focus in on the heated words coming out of her mouth.
The woman, who looked to be in her late twenties, rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Was that Robby Lingus?"
"Who?" I asked her again.
"Robby Lingus." she whined, her pale eyes looking in the direction Tristan had walked.
"No." I snapped back at her, annoyed by her sharp tone.
Her eyes narrowed in my direction like she didn't believe my answer, but she turned back to face forward again, completely ignoring me. I busied myself with sending Zoey a text to let her know I was in line at the Wood booth, and then started looking around trying my best not to think about Tristan again. I knew I'd probably never see him again, so it was pointless to get caught up thinking about him. I mean, he could have asked for my number if he was really interested, right?
"There you are!" Zoey's sweet voice rang out through the masses as she slid through the people in line to stand next to me. Linking her arm through mine like she usually did, the nosey woman in front of us turned to look back again.
Her eyes narrowed at Zoey and me, with a sneer on her face.
I've had people give us that look before and just like every other time, it managed to piss me off instantaneously.
My sweet Zoey was extremely affectionate. Even before all of this madness of porn and girls, she'd always been very touchy-feeley, and I liked it. I didn't care. Being an only child, and then on top of that losing my mom at such a young age, had left me the tiniest bit starved for attention. My dad loved me, I never had any doubt of that, but he wasn't much for outward displays of affection. As the years rolled by, Zoey had started getting recognized more often but every once in awhile, the appreciative looks she usually received were replaced by ugly, mean sneers courtesy of people who didn't understand.
They didn't know her the way I did. If they wanted to think something bad about her, or about the both of us, so be it. But,really? If someone recognized her, they weren't exactly in a position to judge anyone else. So, the look on nosey-ass' face made me mad. Fortunately, Zoey was oblivious as she looked everywhere but ahead.
