‘No, you aren’t,’ he replies. ‘It’s fine. If they ask you questions while photographing you, just say “No comment”. I’m so used to it.’
‘I’m not. Oh, this is bad,’ I say, thinking of my mum. What an awkward conversation this is going to be later on.
‘Are you married?’ Sam asks suddenly.
‘What? No. Are you?’
‘No, of course not. But I can’t work out why this is so bad for you. Are you in a relationship? Is someone going to see these photos who you don’t want to?’
Why does Ollie pop into my head, now of all times? ‘No,’ I reply firmly. ‘No one. I’ve just never had this sort of thing before. I don’t like it.’
‘Better get used to it,’ Sam says with a shrug, before pocketing his phone.
‘No, I don’t need to get used to it. I’m not famous.’
He taps the phone in his pocket. ‘You are now. And you were vaguely recognisable before.’
That’s a backhanded compliment. ‘No, I wasn’t.’
‘I recognised you.’
‘Ugh,’ I say, which makes him laugh.
Next to me my phone lights up. I’m eight hours behind most of my friends and family, and the messages have been pouring in throughout the night.
‘When’s your flight?’ he asks.
‘This afternoon.’
Sam moves towards me, dips his head and gives me a kiss, before moving off towards the hotel-room door. ‘Maybe see you around?’
I nod. ‘OK.’
‘Aurora?’ he asks before he reaches the door.
I look at him. ‘Yeah?’
‘Remember, “No comment”,’ he says before leaving my room.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Who’s ghosting who? Are you kidding me with that?I type to Ollie.I’ve waited so long for you to talk to me and you re-enter the chat with that? What are your reasons?I ask.
Then I look at the barrage of other texts that have landed in seriously large numbers. Liv has sent about a hundred, each one just a sentence long each time, as she’s train-of-thought gabble-texted me non-stop. Did she even sleep?
I’ve some missed calls from Mum. She doesn’t really read celeb websites, so someone has obviously alerted her to the fact that her daughter has one-night stands with anyone who’ll ask.
‘Aargh,’ I cry out in frustration as another message from Liv arrives asking why I’m not replying to her.
Ben has chimed in too, and I notice a couple of missed calls from him. His messages are mostly smug, about how he got there first. Sometimes I love Ben and sometimes I really don’t like him. Now is one of those moments when I’ve gone completely off him.
Ollie hasn’t sent anything after the ghosting comment and I don’t know what to make of that. In a way I’m relieved. Maybe he hasn’t seen the photo. But then he sends another.
Can I call you?Ollie asks.
Yes,I reply immediately.
I’m still in bed, in desperate need of coffee and a shower. My sheets smell of Sam’s aftershave and I’m clutching my phone while I wait for Ollie to decide whether or not he’s going to call me.
