“How long do these things usually go for?” Brenna asked a week later as she shifted in her seat.

“Radio interviews? Anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes usually.” Trace checked his watch. “He’ll be done soon. And after this I’m going to class and you and Justin have a photo shoot at ten to get to. Do you have the address written down?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”

“Good. The photo shoot will take a couple hours probably. And then that’s all you have today.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“And tomorrow we, uh…” he trailed off and looked over to his left where a woman was sitting, looking at a magazine. He stared at her for a minute before speaking to her. “Hey, do you mind? Could you go away? You’re really not subtle.”

Brenna raised her eyebrows at Trace’s rude voice but was then surprised as the woman rolled her eyes and stood up, walking away. Trace waited until she was out of the door before turning back to Brenna.

“Tabloid writer.”

“Oh. How did you know that?”

He shrugged. “I’ve seen her around before. And after a while you can tell tabloid writers.”

She shook her head. “I never would have known.”

“You’ll pick it up. You just have to be really aware of the people around you. If anyone’s ever paying a little too much attention to you or standing a little too close, just be really careful about what you’re saying. Cause they’ll take anything you say and it’ll be in a tabloid the next week.”

She nodded. She was still having trouble getting used to the fascination everyone seemed to have with Justin. Having everyone around her blatantly staring at him when she was with him still unnerved her.

Trace checked his watch again and started to tap his fingers against the armrest of his chair. After a couple more minutes of silence, he stood up.

“Okay, I really have to go. This is taking longer than I thought. My class starts in half an hour. Are you okay here by yourself?”

“Sure. How are you going to get there?”

“I’ll get a cab.” He picked up his bag. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” She watched him leave and then closed her eyes briefly. Trace’s first day of school was that day so she was being Justin’s PA for most of the day from that point on. In a couple months, Trace would move to San Francisco and then she would be Justin’s sole PA.

The past week of doing PA work hadn’t been too hard but there also hadn’t been a lot to do. The day before Justin had gotten a relatively clean bill of health from his doctor so his schedule would be getting busier.

She looked up when a door opened and saw Justin coming into the room, followed by an older man who had introduced himself as the manager of the radio station when they had first arrived. Brenna stood up as Justin and the man exchanged a few words and then shook hands. Justin joined her and they began to walk to the front doors of the radio station.

“Where’s Trace?”

“He had to go or he was going to be late for his class.”

“Oh. Yeah, it went longer than it was supposed to.” He pushed open the door of the radio station and motioned for her to go through. The same paparazzi who had been there when they had first arrived was still there and Brenna fought to ignore the flashing camera as she walked with Justin to his car. Trace, Justin, and Kate had all warned her about the paparazzi and told her to try and ignore them but she found it difficult.

“Think we have time to get something to eat before the photo shoot?” Justin asked as he unlocked the doors and they got in.

She checked her watch. “We have to be there at ten and it’s nine thirty.”

“Just coffee then?”

“Um…I guess.”

“It doesn’t matter if we’re a couple minutes late,” Justin said, putting the car into drive. “Blame it on the radio station.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s professional.” She reached over to take the cd playing out so she could put in a different one but he slapped her hand away.

“We’re listening to this. You got to pick the music on the way to the radio station. It’s my turn.”

She sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Fine.” After a few minutes, she glanced in the side mirror. “That photographer is following us.”

“Stan.”

“Stan?”

“He’s around all the time. So me and Trace named him.”

She laughed. “You make it sound like he’s your pet dog or something.”

“Too annoying to be a dog.” Justin glanced in the rearview mirror. “I’m getting a little tired of him today though. I wonder if I can lose him.”

“How would you do that?”

“I dunno. Think he’d follow me through a drive through?”

“Doubt it.”

“I’m gonna see.” He drove a few more blocks until they reached a Starbucks and he pulled over to the drive through window. “Nice. He’s following me in.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You’ll see.” He pulled up to the speaker. “What do you want?”

“Bottle of orange juice if they have it.”

He turned to the speaker and ordered their drinks and then slowly drove towards the window. “Good. He’s getting something too.” He lifted himself up from his seat a bit to get his wallet from his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. Brenna watched in amusement as the drive through window opened and the girl holding the drinks did a double take when she saw Justin. He flashed her a smile.

“That’ll be, um…five thirty nine,” she managed to get out. Justin handed her the bill.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Her eyes widened a bit. “Kristin.”

“Kristin, could you do me a favor?”

“Uh, sure.”

“When the guy behind me gets up here, could you keep him here as long as possible? Just delay him a bit.”

“Um, sure.” She began to pass him his change.

“You keep the change. I owe you anyways.”

She smiled and blushed. “Okay.” She handed Justin his coffee and a bottle of orange juice and he tossed the bottle to Brenna. She caught it and shook it a couple times.

“Thanks so much, Kristen. Have a great day.”

Brenna rolled her eyes at Justin as the girl stuttered out a reply and he started moving the car forward.

“Now we can lose Stan,” he said proudly. “And it only took five minutes to do it.”

“And you made little Kristen’s day as well,” Brenna said, twisting the cap off her bottle.

He grinned over at her. “Great how they’ll just do anything for you, huh? Being famous has its nice little bonuses.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Uh huh.”

They managed to make it to the building where the photo shoot was a couple minutes before ten and Brenna got out of the car and followed Justin inside. A man who had been standing by the front desk talking to a receptionist looked up and smiled when he saw them. He came around the desk and offered his hand to Justin.

“Justin, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Max Bilxby. I’m the photographer.”

Justin shook his hand. “Hi.” He pulled Brenna forward. “This is Brenna Michaels. My PA.”

Max shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Brenna.”

“You too.”

“We have the set all ready upstairs,” Max said. “If you’d like to follow me.”

Brenna followed behind Justin and Max as they talked while walking towards the elevator. They traveled up to the fourth floor. Once on the photo shoot set, Justin was ushered to hair and makeup, leaving Brenna alone. She found a couch to sit on and pulled her bag onto her lap. She had quickly learned how much downtime she had during interviews and photo shoots and she was starting to come prepared so she wouldn’t be bored while she waited for Justin. Settling back into the couch, she pulled out a book and began to read. She looked up when Justin came onto the set but soon went back to her book as Max began instructing Justin on where to stand.

She had just gotten into her book when her cell phone rang. She dug through her bag, searching for the small phone. She found it at the bottom of the bag and answered it on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

She smiled when she recognized Drew’s voice. “Hi.”

“What’re you up to?”

“I’m at a photo shoot with Justin.”

“Oh. Damn. I was gonna see if you wanted to do something.”

“I can later. After this I don’t have anything else to do today.”

“Cool. What time will you be done?”

“I’m not sure exactly.” Her eyes drifted back to Justin. “Might be a couple hours.”

“Do you just sit there while he does the shoot?”

“Uh huh.”

“Why do you have to be there then?”

“Cause he might need something and he wouldn’t be able to get it while he’s doing the shoot.”

“Oh.” There was a slight pause. “So what did you do yesterday?”

“Not too much. Spent a lot of the day unpacking.”

Drew laughed. “You’re still not finished?”

She smiled a bit. “No. And I spent so much time doing it yesterday and I still have so many boxes full. I spent most of the day yesterday rearranging the furniture and then moving it back to where it had been before.”

Drew laughed again. “Sounds productive.”

She giggled. “Oh yeah. Completely.”

“Hey, why don’t I come over and help you with that tonight?”

“Isn’t that boring?”

“It’ll be fun. If you want to do something different we can.”

“No, that’s fine. If you’re fine with helping me unpack, that’s good. I don’t’ know how much longer I can stand looking at all those boxes all over the place.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to stand it. I’m too much of a neat freak.”

“Usually I am too. I just haven’t had the time to finish it.”

“Exactly why you need my help.”

She smiled. “I guess so.” She relaxed further into the couch as Drew began to talk. She stayed on the phone with him for the next hour until the other line on her phone beeped. She said a quick goodbye to Drew and then went to the other line.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Trace.”

“Hey.” She checked her watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

“Ten minute break. I thought I’d call and see if everything was going okay.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Photo shoot’s taking forever but that’s about it.”

“Yeah, they can last for a while. Hey, when you’re done, can you tell Justin that I won’t be back at the house till tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Awesome. I should get back to my class. Looks like my teacher’s starting again. See you later.”

“Bye.” She ended the call and set the phone back in her bag. She opened her book on her lap but barely looked at it at all and instead watched the photo shoot progress. Close to two o’clock, Max Bilxby called it a wrap and Justin left to put on his normal clothes. When he appeared again, she stood up. He said a few words to Max and then headed over to her.

“Damn, get me outta here,” he said when he reached her.

“It was that bad?” she questioned, walking with him to the elevator.

“It just went on for so long. I thought it was never gonna end.”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. Brenna hit the button for the main floor.

“Trace called and said he wasn’t going to be home until tonight.”

“Is that who you were talking to the whole time?”

“No. Drew called. Is it okay if he comes over today? He was going to help me unpack.”

“Yeah, sure. You don’t have to ask, Bren. It’s your house too.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“When is he coming?”

“Maybe around four or five. I have to call him when we get there.”

“Let’s go for lunch. I’m starving. Usually they have food at photo shoots. Especially if they last that long.”

“They had food on a table in the corner.”

“Oh. I didn’t see it. Well, I’m starving. Let’s get lunch. My treat.”

The elevator doors opened and she followed him out of it. “How could I refuse that?”

Justin grinned. “You can’t. That’s the whole point.”

* * *

Brenna ran downstairs when she heard the buzzer sound, signaling that someone was at the front gate. She went to the intercom and through the camera, saw Drew’s car. After pushing the button to open the gate, she went to the front door. She opened it just in time to see Drew’s car pull up in the driveway. She smiled and stepped outside. She had such a good time when she was with him and when she wasn’t, she was thinking about when she was with him last. She felt like she was ten years old again and had a crush on the popular boy in class.

“Hey, girl,” Drew said as he came over to her.

She smiled. “Hi.”

He snaked his arm around her and leaned down to kiss her. She still got butterflies in her stomach when he kissed her and she loved it.

Drew pulled back and smiled down at her. “How’re you doing?”

“Good. Regretting that I suggested unpacking.”

“It’ll be fun.”

She smiled and pulled back. “You’re so optimistic,” she said as she went with him back to the house. He slid off his shoes and she led him upstairs to her room.

“How did you spend all day yesterday unpacking and it still looks like this?” Drew asked, looking around the room.

She sighed and stepped over a box. “I don’t know. It’s a mess.” She sat down on her bed crosslegged and surveyed the room. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Drew joined her on the bed, sitting behind her. She smiled when she felt his hands on her shoulders, massaging her skin gently.

“What did you do today?” she asked, leaning back towards him a bit.

“Taught a couple classes at the Vortex this morning,” he replied, naming the dance studio where he and Tyler worked. “Nothing too strenuous.”

She nodded and was silent. She let the massage go on for a few more minutes before slipping away and turning to face him.

“Guess we should start tackling the mess,” he said. “Do you have some music we can listen to?”

She got up and grabbed her cd case from on top of one of the boxes. “You can choose.”

AS he looked through the cd case, she sat down on the floor and pulled back the flaps of an open box. Drew put a cd into her stereo and then joined her and helped her pull out clothes from the box. They spent the next two hours unpacking and talking and by time it was six thirty, all of the boxes were empty. Tired from all the unpacking, she collapsed onto her bed on her back and closed her eyes. She had only been there for a few seconds when she felt the bed shift and then Drew’s presence beside her. She turned on her side facing him and he put his arm around her back, pulling her a little closer. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him staring at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He dipped his head down and kissed her. The butterflies were back and she shut her eyes as she kissed him back. Her hand make its way up to grip his shoulder and she moved a little closer to him. He massaged her lips with his and after a moment slipped his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss. She heard a small whimper escape her as his other hand came up to her hair and immediately she cursed herself mentally for sounding so pathetic. That thought quickly left her mind as Drew kept kissing her and preventing her from thinking any coherent thoughts.

She had no idea how much time had passed when his kisses slowed and he pulled his lips away. It could have been minutes or hours, she didn’t know. All she knew was it had been a good few minutes or hours.

“You’re a very good kisser,” he mumbled, his face a few inches from hers.

Her eyes popped open in surprise at his words. “Me?”

He laughed. “Yes, you.”

She felt her cheeks warm a bit. “Oh. Well thank you.”

He smiled and pulled his head back a bit more. “Tomorrow night one of my friends is having a house party. Can you come with me?”

“Okay.”

“Cool. Kate’s coming too.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes again as he began to run his fingers through her hair.

“Your hair is so soft,” he said, bringing his hand up so her hair slipped through his fingers.

She smiled and opened her eyes. “You’re just full of compliments today.”

A knock on the door sounded before he could reply and Brenna wrinkled her nose at the interruptions. She slowly pulled away and sat up, running her fingers through her hair. Drew sat up as she stood and went over to her closed door. She opened it and found Justin standing there.

“Trace called and said he’s on his way here and picking up some take out. Do you guys want any?”

Brenna opened her door wider and looked back at Drew. Drew shrugged.

“I could go for something. Hey, Justin.”

“Hey, Drew. How’s it going?”

“Good, thanks.”

“What’s he getting?” Brenna asked, leaning against the side of the door.

“Mexican.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, it’s actually clean in here,” Justin said, looking around the room. “I never thought I was gonna see the floor again.”

She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“That’s not what you were saying yesterday when you tipped over a box and fell on your face,” Justin grinned.

Drew began to laugh and she glared at Justin. “You said you wouldn’t mention it again either.”

“I lied. It was way too funny to not bring up.”

She frowned and began to close the door in his face. “Just call us when Trace gets here.”

Once the door was shut and Justin laughter was fading down the hall, she turned back to Drew. “I hate him sometimes,” she mumbled, shaking her head as she went back over to him.