Connor
I am such an idiot, I thought as I listened to CeCe's message on the hotel phone for about the tenth time. She had given me no less than three opportunities to tell her who I was, but I was having too much fun enjoying her company without my celebrity being in the way to tell her. It was a serious violation of her trust. I knew it. I even knew it at the time. Like I said, I am such an idiot.
Connor? It's Cecelia. I... I... You probably know I left by now. I'm calling from home. I've had a few hours to think about it and I'm not sure if I'm more angry at you for deceiving me or angry at myself for being so... Naive? Trusting? Stupid? Seriously. I hope you'll have fun when you tell your friends about the girl you fucked at the Con who didn't even know who you were. God! I am so stupid. I really liked the guy I met last night. Too bad he doesn't really exist, I guess. Have a nice life.
(I hear the noise that she makes in her throat that I already know means she is frustrated. Then this coda in a mutter that I'm pretty confident she doesn't intend for me to hear.)
I am soooo going to invent something that allows people on cell phones to hang up angrily because just hitting a soft button on a smartphone doesn't really cut it.
The problem is that the guy she met last night is the 'real' me. It's the celebrity who is the fake.
I seriously hate going to these conventions. Sure, for the most part the fans are incredible, but just one or two bad ones and the whole thing goes to shit. I always bring my crew along to keep things real. My brother is the ringleader, but they are all guys I've known most of my life, from at least before I 'made it'. With my friends around it at least makes things bearable.
We were hanging out in the bar of the hotel we were staying at, watching baseball and joking around with each other on the night my life got turned upside down.
"Did you guys see the rainbow-haired beauty at the bar," my oldest friend, Matt asked the crew as we sat watching a baseball game. "I've watched at least a half dozen guys go up to her and get shot down with barely a sideways glance. She is cold blooded."
I looked over and immediately saw who he was talking about. Wild hair, cute face, luscious full lips, and an hourglass figure. Her posture was ramrod straight as she ate her dinner and sipped her drink.
"She's got a body made for fucking, that's for sure," my entirely too crude brother whistled softly.
"Jesus, Damon! Show some respect. That is clearly a lady you are talking about."
"Listen to you! Already defending her from the dogs surrounding her."
"She seems pretty good at defending herself," I replied.
"I'll bet you can't get her to talk to you either," Damon snickered.
As I watched, I saw her deflect yet another suitor with a quick word. She looked like she didn't belong here with the unwashed masses. She was so coolly self-contained.
"I'll bet I can," I said as I watched the bartender hand her one of the trivia consoles.
I walked over to her and tried to strike up a conversation. At first she wasn't interested, but I persisted. Eventually she even looked at me, but I didn't see the light of recognition in her eyes. She started teasing me like we were old friends almost immediately, which had me reciting baseball statistics in my head in an effort to tamp down my flaring arousal.
She allowed me to be her partner in the trivia game and I had the best 'date' of my life with this gorgeous, smart, and funny girl who had no idea who I was. I must admit that the fact that there were no less than three trivia questions that were about me or one of my movies, all of which she answered without my help, made it clear that she was familiar with me and my work. I should have taken the opportunity to reveal my identity, but selfishly kept it to myself.
As the night dragged on I could barely keep my hands off of her, eventually I stopped trying. She didn't seem to mind my touch, other than that her killer instinct had her adorably hungry to win so she complained about me distracting her. It was hilarious that she had absolutely no idea how distracting her presence was to me.
It took every ounce of self-control I had not to pick her up and carry her to my hotel room after she returned the passion of my victory kiss with equal passion of her own. I couldn't risk paparazzi photographing her in my arms like that. I knew I had to protect her from that at all costs. I told her to follow me at a discrete distance and the minutes I spent waiting for her to come to my room, worrying that she wouldn't come to me, were the longest minutes of my life.
What a night! She was everything I've ever dreamed of in a woman. She smelled like heaven, or at least like citrus and vanilla, which is what I will think heaven smells like until provided with other evidence. She tasted delicious. I couldn't get enough of her. Her body responded to mine in ways that were beyond my experience. I took her to heights of pleasure and followed right behind. It was glorious. At least until the condom broke. God damnit. The look of panic in her eyes was unmistakable. I immediately wanted to protect her from her fear. The thoughts that bounced around my head surprised me, though. I wasn't panicked at all. I mean, what's so bad about a broken condom with a woman like her? There was a line of thought I wasn't willing to follow just then.
We spent some time just talking to each other after that. I can't express how good it made me feel to hear her tell me that she enjoyed my intellect. I don't think anyone has ever told me that. This gorgeous, witty, genius of a woman thought that I was smart. Talk about an ego boost.
And then I made love to her. It was sublime. It was like we were destined for each other. We fell asleep wrapped up in each other. I woke once to find her curled up on her side facing away from me. I couldn't resist being her 'big spoon' and folded myself around her, tucking her against my body and cupping her breast. I fell back to sleep, thinking about how I had to reveal my identity to her in the morning. I'd already let it go too long and I had the feeling she'd be mad. I just didn't want her to feel like I tricked her. When I woke much later, she was gone. Damn! I needed to find and talk to her before she found out who I was from somebody else.
It was pretty late in the morning when I gathered the crew together to head over to the Con. I planned to stop at the front desk to see if I could leave CeCe a message, but it turned out I didn't have to since I ran into her when getting out of the elevator. Her face absolutely lit up when she saw me, but I could tell she was embarrassed, too. I nervously asked her to dinner, and she accepted. But like a coward I did not take the opportunity to tell her who I was. 'Bad mistakes... I've made a few', as the song goes. I am not sure what I was thinking would happen. Honestly I was not surprised at how she reacted. I had violated her trust. I'd kept vital information from her. I just wish I had a Mulligan. I'd do anything to fix what I broke with CeCe. I'm pretty sure she's my soulmate and I ruined things within the first 24 hours of knowing her.
How am I ever going to fix this? I'm sure I can find her. How many twenty-something women named Cecilia Banks can there be in the world? But maybe I shouldn't. She'd made her opinion of me pretty clear. Maybe I should just leave her alone.
Cecilia
"Want to tell me about him," Jennifer asked me.
"Hmmm? What?" I answered.
"The guy you've been mooning about since the weekend. Who is it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Jenn just rolled her eyes at me. We were sitting together at a round table in the cafeteria at our work. It was well past 1pm so there were only a handful of people in there.
"Come on, CeCe. I know you. You are preoccupied to say the least. Have you made any progress on projects this week? You can never concentrate on work when you are having relationship problems. You are all hung up on some guy."
I glared at her for a long time but didn't say anything, but she stared right back.
"Fine. It's complicated."
"So was it someone you met on your weekend of adventure out west?"
"Maybe... ."
"It WAS," Jenn was so excited, her eyes dancing. "Did you hook up with some dude?"
