It all happens in an incredible rush and hurry.
Calvin calls Hadley that night. In the morning she comes to the cabin and we immediately hit it off. She very simply explains what I can expect to happen over the next four weeks. She doesn’t pressure me to sign any paperwork right away, but she does give it to me to look over.
She immediately books me a flight for this evening. Arranges accommodations for me in Los Angeles.
And then Kale and I pack. It’s depressing.
I keep looking over at him as I stuff my things into my bag. He’s somber. He’s serious. Something he almost never is. Leaving my leggings hanging half out of the bag, I turn to him and grab his arms until he’s facing me.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask, meeting him eye for eye. They’re sad and heavy. “What’s going on behind those serious eyes?”
He bites the inside of his cheek and his eyes dart away from mine, searching the room for answers. “I just…I don’t want to go. I’m not ready for you to go.”
“I know how you feel,” I say quietly. “It feels really scary to me, too.”
Finally, he looks back down at me and something in his eyes softens. “Look, I know it’s only been like…six days since we met, but…hell, I don’t know how to say what I want to say.”
“It’s okay,” I say as I brush his hair back. It’s a mess right now, something I’m pretty sure no one but me has ever seen it as. “It doesn’t have to sound perfect.”
He reaches up and cups his hand around my jaw. He runs his thumb over my cheek. “I know what distance does to people, but I don’t want this to even begin to fall apart before it begins. I want you, Whitney. I want you, and I want you to want me.”
Something stings at the back of my eyes, but it’s good. “I do want you. Every bit of you.”
“Then let’s be together,” he says with a breathy, once only laugh and a smile. “I want you to be mine, just mine, no other guys allowed to touch you, you get to bitch slap any other girl who looks at me, mine. And I don’t mean in the super possessive, creepy way. Just…be with me, Whit.”
A crazy smile breaks across my face, and I press my lips to his just once. “Only if you’re mine.”
“Without a doubt in me,” he says as he looks at me with dancing fire in his eyes.
I smile and squeeze him tight to me.
“Okay, so I have to be in New York for one week,” he says. He talks quickly and with excitement. It only takes a second for his mood to whiplash. “I have three shoots, and then Calvin says I’ve got like two months before I have to be in Paris for some show. So as soon as I’m done in New York, I’ll fly out to LA, and then we’ve got lots of time. How does that sound?”
“It sounds perfect,” I respond as I press my forehead to his. And that’s the truth.
In all the unreality of the past two days, I forgot about real life.
I have exactly twenty minutes to collect what I want to bring with me from my apartment to LA. I fly around my room, gathering things, hoping I won’t forget anything important. Kale doesn’t even bother going back to Sage and Julian’s. Apparently, he almost always stays with them when he comes back from New York. Which I’ve learned he’s only around for maybe a month combined throughout the entire year.
It starts hitting me how hard this is going to be, for us to be together, if my life really does go the way it’s looking like it will and Kale keeps working like he does.
But somehow, we’ll make it work. We will.
First, before we go our separate ways, I have to deal with some real life things.
My parents.
“Turn left here,” I tell the driver. “That building there. Yep. This one.”
He pulls up to the curb and Kale hops out, followed immediately by me. I look up, to the fifth floor where I know I’ll find them.
“I’m really nervous,” I say aloud, not really meaning to.
“Would they really not support you in this?” Kale asks, his brows furrowed when he looks at me. He slips his fingers through mine, squeezing tight.
I shrug. “It’s not really that. I mean, I know they love me and want me to be happy, but this isn’t a particularly logical direction. My parents are just…”
“Concerned for you,” Kale says, pulling me close and wrapping his free arm around my shoulders. “I’m sure they’ll see how badly you want this, and they’ll be happy for you.”
“I hope so,” I say into his shoulder.
“We only have ten minutes here,” Tony reminds us. He’s standing just to the side of the car, watching the crowds.
“’K,” I say, taking a deep breath and fixing my eyes on the doors.
We ride the elevator up in silence. Kale keeps looking over at me, concern rolling off of him. But he doesn’t say anything. He also never lets go of my hand.
We get off on the fifth floor and walk down the hall to apartment 5E. The same apartment I grew up and lived in since I was nine years old.
For half a second, I have the ridiculous urge to knock on the door. Already, I feel like an outsider to my scientific family, and I haven’t even told them what I’m going to do.
I open the door, and we step inside.
They both must have just gotten home from work, because Mom is bustling about making coffee, and Dad is sitting at the table looking over his papers. This is how it’s always been, as long as I can remember.
“Whitney,” Dad says when he sees us. His eyes pause on Kale for a long moment. “We weren’t expecting you today. Is everything okay?”
And that statement, it makes me feel like I’m not welcome. Like there must be something wrong for me to come home.
“Yeah,” I say, my voice breathy and nervous. “Everything is great.”
“Who’s this, honey?” Mom asks as she crosses the kitchen, her hand extended. Kale shakes it. “No, wait, you’re the boy from that video of Whitney, right?”
“This is Kale,” I say, looking over at him. It’s hard to tell what he thinks of my family. “My boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Mom asks, one eyebrow rising. “Well, that’s not a word we’ve heard come from Whitney more than once.”
“Well, I’m honored to hold the title,” Kale says. And I’m pretty sure I detect a hint of a hard edge in his voice. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
My eyes flick to the clock on the wall above the kitchen sink. We only have five minutes left.
“I need to talk to you both,” I say in a rush. “You might want to sit down, Mom.”
Her face instantly blanches. “You can’t be pregnant. I never heard of this boy until last week, and I know there haven’t been any others.”
“Mom!” I shriek in horror. Kale’s jaw drops. “No! I’m not pregnant!”
“Oh thank heavens,” she says dramatically, slumping back into the armchair. “Having a baby would have totally derailed your next few semesters.”
I shake my head, feeling my blood rise in temperature.
“Settle down, Monica,” Dad says, giving Mom a look. “Let the girl talk.”
“I’m sorry,” Mom says and it’s hard to tell if she actually feels sorry or not. “Go on.”
“Thank you,” I say, feeling annoyed. I should just leave with no explanation. “You’ve seen all the attention our video got over the last few days. Well, it also got attention from music labels and management companies. I just signed with a manager, and we’re headed down to LA right now to sign a contract.”
“What do you mean by contract?” Dad asks as he takes off his glasses.
“She means a deal with a music company to record an album,” Kale says. He squeezes my hand, giving support. “Whitney is going to be famous.”
“I don’t understand,” Mom says as she closes her eyes and shakes her head. “How are you going to keep working at EM if you’re going to be stuck down in Los Angeles for who knows how long? When will you be back?”
My eyes fall away from them, because I feel it rising up in me. G
uilt. That I’m letting my parents down, that I’m derailing our plans that we’ve had in place since I was in diapers.
Kale rubs a thumb over the back of my hand, and I look up at him. There’s so much support in his eyes, so much confidence. It’s still a wonder to me how he came to be in my life and how, in such a short span of time, he’s come to mean so much.
“I called Lance this morning and told him I couldn’t keep working at EM,” I say as I look back over at my parents. “And I don’t know when I’ll be back. If things go well, it might not be for a long while.”
Kale’s phone starts ringing. He looks down at it and I see Calvin’s name on the screen. One second later my own starts ringing and it’s Hadley.
“But what about your real life?” Mom says. “What if this fantasy doesn’t work out? What if all their promises mean nothing and you go back to just being Whitney and life goes back to normal? What will you do then?”
My teeth clench tightly, and I take two quick breaths in and out through my nose. My eyes narrow at Mom. “Then I’ll be extremely grateful that I got as far as I did. Most people don’t get that opportunity. We have to go now.” I stand, pulling Kale up with me, never letting go of his hand. “We both have a plane to catch.”
Kale looks dazed and out of sorts as we cross back to the door. I open it and Kale steps out. I pause, looking back at them. “I can do this,” I say, giving a small little nod. “I know I can. Someday you’ll see it.” I sniff when the back of my eyes sting. “I love you both.”
And before any other words can be said, I close the door behind me.
“You did good,” Kale says as we walk back to the elevator. “They’ll see it someday. It’s just too new and fresh right now. Give them some time.”
“Yeah,” I say as I discreetly wipe at a stray tear.
Kale pulls our hands up and presses a kiss to the back of my hand.
We get back to the ground level and climb back into the car. Suddenly, I’m exhausted. I relax into Kale’s side as the driver pulls back onto the road.
“It sounds like Hadley will have an apartment arranged for you pretty quick once you get settled in LA,” Kale says. His mood is instantly back up, excited and confident. I’m positive that he’s trying to pick my mood up. He talks enthusiastically, like he’s not worried about the distance or the work or the time. And I try to mirror his excitement. “So, either I can get a place close by or…”
“Or you can just stay with me?” I suggest shyly. “I still want to take things slow, but this weekend was really…incredible.”
“I was hoping you’d say that, angel,” he says with a smile. He leans forward and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
And rights everything once again.
All too quickly, we pull up to the airport.
Tony will be traveling with me and Hadley. I don’t even have money yet, or anything, and I’ve already got a manager and a security man in my employ. It’s a surreal and panicking feeling.
So, with hats and glasses on, Kale and I, and the whole entourage head into the airport.
Kale gets more than a few glances in his direction. He’s recognizable, even in his sunglasses, since he models in them frequently. Heads perk up, whispers spread. Twice, women come up to him asking for autographs, which he quietly gives them. But always, he comes back to hold my hand.
I see eyes lock on my face, as well. They whisper. But thankfully, everyone keeps their distance.
We’re taken through a separate security check, individual TSA workers take our bags.
And in the blink of an eye, it’s time.
Kale and I are taking off from separate terminals. And both our flights leave in less than twenty minutes.
He meets my eyes when I stop in front of him. He wraps his arms around my waist, and my arms loop behind his neck.
“It’s only seven days,” he says, and the way he says it, it sounds like he’s trying to reassure himself. “I’ll see you at your new place exactly a week from today.”
“You’d better show up,” I say. I try to make it sound light, like a joke. But there’s a very real part of me that’s scared of the fact that anything can happen in seven days. The seven days we’ll be apart is longer than the six days we’ve been together. He could change his mind. Or forget about me. Or remember that he’s used to glamorous girls who are far more up to his level than I am.
“That’s not funny,” he says to my surprise. And he actually looks upset. “You better answer all of my calls. I expect at least four a day.” At this, he does chuckle.
“I promise,” I whisper. He leans in, and our lips connect like magnets that were made to polarize to one another.
“Whitney,” Hadley says from behind me. “It’s time to go.”
“We’re going to miss our flight if you don’t get moving,” Calvin says with impatience.
And regretfully, we break apart.
“Call me when you land,” I say as I look over my shoulder.
“The very second,” Kale calls as he walks backward in the opposite direction.
I hold his eyes until I round the corner, and he disappears for the next seven days.
CHAPTER EIGHT
One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, rocket speed.
That’s about what it feels like.
We land. Drive to meetings even though it’s six in the evening. Kale calls just before I have to step into our first one, giving us thirty seconds to talk. A bidding war starts. Hadley may look innocent and inexperienced, but she’s a bulldog in the conference room.
The numbers that are rocketing out of everyone’s mouths are making my head spin. They don’t seem real. The tours and the promo photo shoots and everything can’t possibly be attached to the name Whitney Ford.
But they are. And this is happening.
By the end of the day, I’m exhausted. Someone drives Tony, me, and Hadley to an apartment not far away. It’s gorgeous and bright and comfortable.
It doesn’t feel like mine, though. With only one bag that contains all of my things, how could it ever feel like my place? Suddenly, I feel kind of homeless. Where am I going to live? What is to come? Will I get to go home to Seattle, or will I live the rest of my life in this crazy, smog-riddled city with ten million people and no trees?
The next morning, Hadley brings me coffee to the apartment. We go over contract offers. Numbers. I’m smart, so yeah, I can process them all. But I can’t believe them.
Together, we pick the best label, at least the one we think will be the best fit for me. It’s not the highest offer, but Veronica, the PR person they are assigning me, seems great. She’s already got a photo shoot set up and a line of shows in two months they’re ready to schedule.
Like I said, rocket speed.
The following morning, Hadley and I sign the papers, contracting me to the huge label, Elysium Tracks. I know every one of their artists. And my heart breaks into a sprint. Cause on Monday, we’ll meet about the track list and start figuring out my backup instrumentation.
“Not so bad, right?” Hadley says as we walk to the elevator, Tony leading the way.
“No, I guess not,” I say as we step into it and Tony pushes the button for the ground floor. “I have to say, I’m glad to have you in my corner.”
“I might not look like much,” Hadley says with a smile. “But I’ve got plenty of fight in me.”
I chuckle. “I’m pretty sure Tony does, too,” I say as I bump him with my shoulder.
He smiles down at me, and I’m surprised at the warmth in his eyes.
“Thanks for upending your life and coming down with us,” I say to him. “Bet last week you never would have thought you’d be in LA.”
“Believe me, this is far better than walking the dark halls of Digit Securities every night,” he says in that crazy deep, rumbly voice of his.
The elevator lets us out into the lobby. And the second we open the doors to step outside, I’m blinded by flashing lights.
“Miss
Ford!” everyone yells, begging for my attention. Microphones and recording devices are pushed into my face. “Is it true you just signed with Elysium? Are you and world famous model, Kale McCain, an exclusive couple? What do you have to say about that picture he posted today?”
“What?” I say, trying to shield my eyes from the crazy flashes of the paparazzi and reporters. “What picture?”
“Don’t say anything,” Hadley hisses as Tony bulldozes his way through the crowd, and we dart to the car as the crowd presses in and keeps firing off questions.
“Do you expect the two of you to be the next big celebrity couple?” another question assaults my ears as someone hits me in the cheek with their recorder. “Is Whale going to be gracing the covers of all the magazines? Are you concerned about the distance and demands of your careers?”
My eyes are wide and I probably look like a spooked puppy as we finally duck into the car and Tony slams the door behind us. He climbs into the passenger seat and our hired driver takes off, swerving to avoid the crowd.
The second I take a deep breath, my phone starts ringing.
“Kale?” I breathe as I watch men and women with cameras chase after us.
“Whit, I am so sorry,” Kale suddenly starts talking really fast on the other line. “I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I just missed you and I forget that people are crazy and don’t want to respect the fact that we’re actual human beings.”
“What are you talking about? And what where they saying about some picture?”
But just then Hadley hands me her phone. There on her screen, is a picture the two of us took together, that night at the cabin. Our faces are close, Kale’s lips lightly on my temple. Below the picture is a caption, Miss this girl like you wouldn’t believe.
“That’s…sweet,” I say as a smile crosses my lips. And seeing his face, seeing us together, it makes a sharp ache form in my chest. “But holy aftermath.”
“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry. I’m watching TMZ, and there’s already pictures of you popping up. And they’re replaying that video I made of you that night over and over. The media is going nuts.”