Foolish Games Read online

  That was fast I thought, as I dumped the contents in my arms on the counter. The Hispanic lady behind the counter looked down at my food choices with a wide smile and boasted, “Someone’s hungry.” More like nauseous, I thought as I forced a smile.

  Although it was pointless, I couldn’t stop from grabbing up every one of the magazines just so that no one else could. I laid the thick stack of magazines of Lizzie on the counter which made the lady’s eyes widen as she muttered something in Spanish under her breath.

  “Do you want a bag?” she asked.

  “No, just a trash can.”

  After paying her, I made my way back over to the van and managed to prop the door open, dropping all the contents from my arms onto the driver’s seat. There was a trash can nearby so I grabbed up all of the magazines with some effort and dumped all but one into it. There was no question that the article would be bad and I didn’t have the guts to read it so I just tossed it behind me and started up the van.

  The sun was coming up along the horizon as I returned to the hotel. With my sun visor pulled down, I thought it was sure to be another hot, uncomfortable and sticky day in the van. After, parking the van, Riley texted me, “Are you down in the parking lot?”

  “Yep,” I texted, too angry to elaborate.

  “We’re heading down now,” he texted back.

  I grabbed the steering wheel with both of my hands just in case I “accidently” grabbed onto Lizzie and shook the shit out of her. Trying to keep myself centered and calm, I saw both of them come out of the hotel. Riley looked ever so cool with his dark aviators on and his wet hair slicked back. Lizzie, however, looked pale and hungover next to him. She was still tugging at that sequined dress from hell as they walked over to get in the van.

  Leaning over to unlock the passenger side door, I realized for the first time that it was unlocked, too. “Did you accidently leave the doors unlocked last night?” I asked Riley after he had climbed up into the passenger side.

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’d remember,” he said. “Why?”

  “Both doors were unlocked this morning,” I explained, as I pulled out of The Holiday Inn.

  “That’s weird.” Riley’s face pinched.

  “What’s really weird is that not a single dollar or ticket was taken,” I explained. We stared at each other for a long moment before he turned to look at Lizzie behind us.

  “You ask if you care, 'cause I don’t,” I said, glaring ahead at the long stretch of road while searching for the highway signs. The rising sun cast a golden sheen over the fast food restaurants and gas stations along the street. It was still pretty early in the morning and everything looked vacant or closed. With the exception of one other car that passed us while heading in the opposite direction, we were the only ones on the main drag.

  “Lizzie, is any of your stuff missing?” Riley asked.

  “What?” She braced her head with both hands as she spoke, clearly still hungover.

  “Is any of your stuff missing?”

  “Why?”

  “Just check,” I snapped at her.

  “Okay, okay.” She sat up. “God.”

  She went through her bags of clothes. “No, I’m not missing anything,” she pushed her bags to the side, “but there is a pocket knife back here.” She held it up.

  “That’s weird.” Riley took it from her hands to examine it more closely.

  “It’s probably something my dad left behind in the van.” I dismissed it. “I don’t think anyone has cleaned it out since he had it. Hey, I just thought, is my camera still back there?”

  Riley turned to look and gasped, “What the hell?” He reached back and grabbed up the magazine from behind us. His eyes bugged out as he looked down at the picture of a half-naked Lizzie.

  “Yeah, that was the kind of night I had,” I said with an edge. After we merged onto the highway, I glanced out my side window and carefully passed by a slow moving Subaru while waiting for Riley to give it to her.

  “Lizzie McIntyre!” he said like a reprimanding parent. “What did you do last night?”

  “Did it make the front cover?” Lizzie exclaimed, apparently forgetting about her hangover. She jumped forward and grabbed it out of Riley’s hands.

  “That’s what you care about?” I asked with utter revulsion, pulling the van over to the second lane while hoping to avoid impatient speeders and oncoming traffic from the exits.

  “Someone had to make it interesting because you and Hawkins dancing around the subject wasn’t going to make it.” Lizzie flipped through a couple of the pages. “Seriously, the two of you should just do it already.”

  “You guys talked?” Riley asked.

  “More like, they huddled together in the corner of the club. I thought that maybe Joie was going to get some action for once…but no,” Lizzie quipped. “Maybe you just need to grab on to Hawkins the way you did Kosic last night.” She aimed a crooked little grin my way. “Then we would have a real story to blog about.”

  “You what?” Riley dropped his mouth open in shock.

  “Yeah, so why isn’t she getting the reprimanding parent spiel?” Lizzie huffed.

  “Because I didn’t do it half-naked,” I reminded her as a semi-truck came up close behind us. Gosh, there were five other lanes to pick from on the highway. Why was he riding my bumper?

  “And it wasn’t like that,” I said, flipping the truck driver the bird when he zoomed past us.

  “Honestly, Lizzie, if you noticed all that, how come you didn’t notice the cool breeze on your chest?”

  “This dress slides down so much…I was just trying to have a good time,” Lizzie mumbled to herself.

  “How do you even remember anything that happened last night?”

  “I’m really good at this too when I’m drunk.” She held out her arms while one by one she brought her hands in to touch her nose.

  “That’s a real talent.” I rolled my eyes.

  Lizzie cleared her throat and read out loud, “The love saga continues to heat up between J.T. Hawkins and Lizzie McIntyre. McIntyre recently blogged that, ‘I’m not talking to his fan base now when the only thing he really cares about is Jack and Coke. Forget about your hair color, girls, because the only action you’ll be getting is watching him down another drink while texting away on his BlackBerry all alone.’ Just days later, Hawkins was seen at The Mirage night club with two girls who wore shirts with the slogan ‘Jack’ and ‘Coke.’ In response to McIntyre’s blog, Hawkins tweeted, ‘You supposedly have these rules: no backstage visits, no tour buses, no hotels…but I have yet to see you follow any of them. Well, get ready to be a hypocrite, you should be used to it by now.’ No more than hours later, media hungry McIntyre was seen flashing her boobs to the paparazzi at the same night club. ‘I think that it’s disgusting,’ a fan said, who was there at the club. ‘Hawkins deserves someone so much better.’” Lizzie abruptly stopped.

  “Bitch,” Lizzie muttered. “I think McIntyre just needs to show Hawkins how to relax and enjoy the show.”

  “Stop improvising, Lizzie.” Riley laughed.

  “What? That’s what it says,” Lizzie insisted, but she couldn’t keep a straight face.

  “At least none of it was unexpected.” I tried to stay optimistic as I passed the damn Subaru again. Pick a lane and stay there, buddy! Man, this six lane highway was not my idea of a good time.

  “What do you mean not unexpected?” Lizzie asked.

  “I don’t know, Lizzie, with you being half-naked on the cover, I’m pretty sure they could have practically written anything and everyone would have believed them.”

  “Chill out already,” Lizzie groaned.

  “A tweet is up from Hawkins,” Riley announced to us.

  “Errrr.” Growling, I clunked the side of my head off the nearby window. Here it comes, I thought.

  “It’s gotten so bad that the girl is flashing me now,” Riley read the tweet out loud.
/>   “Good one,” Lizzie laughed.

  I felt my eyebrows pinch together. What?

  “She couldn’t handle not being the center of attention,” he continued. “@Brooklyn86 asked, ‘why haven’t you tapped that yet?’ Hawkins responded, ‘who says that I haven’t?’”

  I looked over at Riley to make sure that he wasn’t joking.

  “He wishes,” Lizzie said hotly.

  Riley looked up at me with a grim expression, “That’s it.”

  “What are you going to blog?” Lizzie asked me excitedly.

  “Where would I even start? What the hell!” I shouted. “You damn Subaru!” I took all my sudden frustration out on the road as the car passed us.

  “Someone’s not happy.” Lizzie bugged out her eyes.

  “Foreign piece of crap!” I yelled out my window. “Try keeping the jobs in America next time, buddy!” I flipped him the bird as well.

  Riley softly chuckled beside me. “You do realize that you’re driving a Volkswagen, right?”

  “And you realize I’m driving you around, right? So whose side are you on?” I glared over at him.

  “Yours, definitely yours.” Riley grinned.

  I started to think again about how Hawkins had been easy on me. Not one real insult among them so why was I baffled and pissed? I knew the rest of the world was taken with Lizzie’s beauty. Hawkins had earned some bonus points for being the only one who was seemingly unfazed by it, but as of a whole two seconds ago that all came to a crashing halt. Even so, I could still remember the fiery glare Hawkins threw my way after Kosic had kissed me. Men, who knows what they’re thinking? I knew that I was the writer and Lizzie was the muse, but I also knew that Hawkins didn’t approach me last night just so the details would be more convincing. No, he had approached me to make my life a living hell, but with the new tweets I couldn’t be certain where Hawkins was going with this?

  I looked up at the signs for Charlotte. “I’m going need a little help with the exit.” I refocused back on the road as Riley pulled up the directions.

  “You want exit 38.” He looked at the sign up ahead of us.

  “Cool.”

  “I hope the paparazzi aren’t there tonight.” I sighed.

  “Why?” Lizzie asked.

  “Seriously? You may feel comfortable getting naked in front of the paparazzi, but I don’t.” I veered off the six lane highway, glad to see it go. It instantly felt like the world of traffic stress was gone as my shoulders began to relax.

  “Okay, let’s not make this all about you,” Lizzie said. “He was commenting about me, remember?”

  The vision of beating a pillow over her head popped back into my mind but I decided to save what I was feeling for my blog. Heaving a sigh, I said, “Okay, I’m ready to comment.”

  “Are you sure?” Riley said with a slightly emphatic tone.

  “Yeah, why?” I said as calmly as possible.

  “Okay.” He raised his eyebrows.

  Riley could sense my bullshit a mile away, but he didn’t press me. Besides, how could he know something I didn’t understand myself? Dictating my blog to him, he typed, “Hawkins hasn’t tapped away at anything but his BlackBerry where he comments about me at a time that is most advantageous for his wallet. As for his attention, if a half-naked girl can’t get it, I can only make assumptions about who would.”

  “That’s hysterical.” Lizzie giggled. “I can’t wait to see his reaction.”

  “He’s probably just jealous that Kosic kissed Joie,” Riley countered.

  “I don’t know,” Lizzie murmured as she rummaged through her clothes in the back. “Maybe Hawkins saw something he liked?”

  Riley scoffed at the notion as he typed up his review for the show last night. My eyes drifted to the wild orange lilies that overflowed the center of the highway. The van didn’t even have to put up a fight along the flat stretch of road. So why was I restless and annoyed?

  I was brought out of my thoughts when Lizzie reminded me “You know, technically he’s still a free agent. No one has made enough of a connection with him yet to call dibs, right?”

  Glaring ahead, I remained silent, but I caught Riley looking over at me expectantly. He just shook his head at me and said, “I do.”

  “You don’t count, Riley,” Lizzie said dismissively. “He’s straight.”

  “This is from the same girl who wondered if he was batting for my team?” Riley reminded her.

  “He finally met the right girl to set him straight,” she offered as Riley snarled at the insinuation.

  “What’s wrong with Warren?” I asked.

  “He’s dependable, but everyone knows that Hawkins is the real showstopper with him being the lead singer of the band and all.”

  I snarled at her now. God, did she ever freaking stop?

  We exited the highway and parked at the venue. I opened the side door and noticed that people walking by kept looking our way. A couple of brave stragglers approached us, “Are you Lizzie McIntyre?”

  “Yes, I am.” She flashed her dazzling smile.

  “Can I have your autograph?” A young teenage boy asked. She signed her John Hancock across the cover of the magazine like she was proud. I tried to stop myself from groaning; I didn’t want anyone to encourage her behavior.

  We heard The Larks playing in the distance as we walked up to the amphitheater. We were moving slowly because most of the crowd that was just walking in only came to see The Grimm Brothers Band.

  Up ahead, I spotted the Nicholas Johnson booth. We stopped so I could pick up a bag of memorabilia, pamphlets of information, and a few pins. Leaning into the booth, Riley took a few photos with the camera in his cell phone. I asked to take my picture with a clip board stating that I was a huge fan, just in case I needed evidence for my mom later. Riley could barely hold the phone up straight he was laughing so hard. By the end we only had one credible looking photo, but that was better than none at all.

  While we were busy at the campaign booth, Lizzie easily scored a free couple of beers for Riley and herself before we headed down the aisle. The crowd was already standing up with anticipation for the band as we inched down the row to our seats. Once we found them, I noticed the girl beside me was practically bouncing on her toes. By the way everyone was acting before the band took the stage, you would have thought it was Christmas morning.

  A girl with a long homemade patch-like dress raised a sign in front of us, blocking off our view. The frat guys behind us started to boo her, but this flower child was in her own world while she swayed the sign back and forth. I assumed the band took the stage due to the thunderous applause and cheering around us, but I couldn’t tell as the sign “Stalking Hawkins” bobbed up and down in front of me. Suddenly a hand jetted out over my head as one of the frat guys from behind me ripped the sign out of the girl’s hands.

  I glanced up at the stage just in time to witness the spotlight zeroing in on Lizzie beside me. She jumped up and down excitedly, causing the crowd to cheer and boo around us. But as I glared up at Hawkins, I realized he was only looking down at me. “You got my attention. Now what are you going to do with it?” he said into the microphone.

  With a lot of effort, I tried very, very hard not to smile. The spotlight moved away from Lizzie, but she continued to sway sexily beside me while watching Hawkins.

  As the music began, it was somehow different tonight. There was an energy coming from Hawkins that even eclipsed yesterday’s performance. It was so infectious that I danced right along with Riley. Before I knew it, Hawkins hit the last chord and the music had suddenly stopped at the end of the night. The band slowly exited off the stage to the cries of fans. My eyes blinked a few times from the sudden contrast of the loud, beautiful music next to the silent murmuring of the crowd around me.

  Lizzie had already strutted off in the direction of the backstage. Riley and I had already agreed on crashing at the nearest Walmart parking lot so I gave him a quick hug, before heading off that way myself. I race
d to catch up to Lizzie who had already broken away from the exiting fans. When we arrived, Harrison pushed open the backstage door while keeping his eyes peeled on the crowd. Once inside, Cyrus was already standing there waiting for us.

  He quickly walked ahead of us down the hallway and pushed through the exiting doorway to the parking lot. Within minutes, we took off in the black Escalade with its heavily tinted windows. The SUV slowed down, but didn’t come to a complete stop when Cyrus flashed his pass to the security staff outside of his window. They directed us around the traffic to a lane reserved for only paramedics, police, and band members. We drove out of the place like we were part of the presidential motorcade.

  After ten minutes, I smiled to myself when Cyrus pulled up into parking lot of a hotel. I knew it. Hawkins may have tweeted about Lizzie, but he clearly wanted to send me a message. Lizzie got out, looking less excited about the hotel, having already seen her fair share of them. We left Cyrus in the Escalade and entered into the Ritz Carlton Hotel with its cream and light brown lounge chairs scattered elegantly throughout the lobby. We were greeted by Hampton who escorted us across the glossy cream floors, past the receptionist desk to our right and on to the elevators.

  Another bodyguard stationed by the elevator checked our names off the top of the list and leaned in to press the fifth floor button before the doors closed. The elevator steadily climbed the floors without stopping in between. The doors dinged back open to a tightly cramped hallway filled with people. I laughed to myself while thinking that this was a far cry from the scene we saw the night when we tried to “save” Lizzie.

  “Nice.”

  We overheard loud laughter in the next room. Lizzie rounded the corner with me right behind her. The room was packed with people—some were smushed side by side on the long, beige couch that extended down the length of the room to the left, some were standing along the walls while others sat on the ground. Across from the couch were three beige and white checkered lounge chairs. Hawkins was sitting in the middle chair with his elbows resting on his knees.