“Nothing. It’s nothing.” She sprawled across her bed, overwhelmed with the urge to be alone. She felt the heavy blanket of anxiety still smothering the breath out of her. It would lift soon, she told herself. Any minute now, the drug would take effect. “I’m OK,” she said. “Just leave me alone, please.”
Her mother lingered in the doorway, a crease of concern between her eyes. “Sweetheart, if someone came at you with a knife, you need to—”
“No,” Tessa moaned. “Forget it. It wasn’t even about me. I was talking about Eric.”
“Who?”
“Eric Thorn! A fan attacked him. It was on the Today Show just now.” She waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the TV.
“Eric Tho—this is a celebrity you’re talking about?”
Tessa saw her mother’s face change, the mask of worry replaced by irritable impatience.
“It was scary,” Tessa said.
“Unbelievable. A singer. Something happened to some singer, and that’s it? We’re done? You know I changed my whole schedule—”
“I know!” Tessa cut her off. “I’m sorry! You don’t understand. I tried to tell you. I’m not in the right place mentally today—”
She broke off as her mother knelt to pick something up by the foot of the bed. She tossed the object in Tessa’s direction, and it bounced beside her on the mattress: the TV remote control.
“Here. Go ahead. Watch your Today Show.”
“Mom,” Tessa said miserably. “Don’t. I’m sorry.”
The bedroom door slammed as her mother left the room, but Tessa could still hear her grumbling all the way down the hall. “That’s fine, Tessa. Take your time. I’m going to bed. When you’re in the right place mentally, let me know.”
13
EXPOSED
“OK, thanks, everyone. Take ten.”
Eric gingerly disentangled his limbs from one of his delightful new love interests. Olga or Oksana? He couldn’t say for sure. Day four of shooting, and he still couldn’t keep their names straight. Neither could the film crew, from what Eric could tell. Maybe the director should have thought of that before he cast a pair of Latvian identical twins to star in the latest music video.
Music video, Eric thought with a grim smile. What a joke. Ever since the Billboard charts started counting YouTube views, the whole video business had taken an ugly turn. They should dispense with the pretense and call it what it was: soft-core porn. A footrace to see who could expose the most flesh without getting banned by the FCC.
Eric slipped a robe around his shoulders and ran a towel across his face to rub away the lipstick stains. Makeup would have to touch him up before he undressed again for the next scene, but that could wait. Right now, he needed privacy. He’d passed the last several hours shooting the threesome scene with his lovely costars, and he’d spent the entire time with his mind on someone else.
Eric glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one followed him back to his trailer. Then he eagerly whipped out his phone. He’d sent out the selfie before shooting began, but he hadn’t found a spare moment to check for a response.
Eric Thorn @EricThorn
Selfie day! Tweet me a selfie wherever you are at this exact moment, and maybe we’ll use it in the new #MusicVideo
He had to hand it to himself: one of his more ingenious Twitter ploys. He needed something to look forward to today—anything to take his mind off yesterday’s ugliness at the concert. The answer had come to him this morning as he sat staring at his selfie, struggling to compose a caption. He’d been wondering for weeks now what Tessa looked like. He didn’t dare ask her for a pic. But this was perfect. She was sure to send one. After all, it wasn’t just some random stranger off the Internet asking to see her. It was her idol. Her obsession. Her true love, Eric Thorn.
Had she seen it? He scrolled eagerly through the replies.
The response was overwhelming, of course. His notifications overflowed with pictures of teenage girls making faces at their phones. Kissy faces. Duck faces. Oh look! One of them made a GIF of herself twerking. He scrolled past all of them, scanning for the only username he cared about. Where was it? Hadn’t she sent one?
He didn’t have time to wade through all the noise. He entered her name into the search bar to pull up her profile. There it was at the top of her recent tweets:
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThorn Here’s a kiss from someone cute. Glad you’re OK!
pic.twitter.com/1cdI6DZmTe
Eric bit his lip as he clicked to expand the picture. He couldn’t help but laugh at what he saw. She’d arrayed a mountain of Eric Thorn fan paraphernalia at the head of her bed: poster, T-shirt, coffee mugs, CD cases… Was that a pillowcase with his face on it? The only sign of her own presence in the photo were her feet, decked out in a pair of fuzzy pink bunny slippers. She had one bunny positioned next to the poster, kissing his image on the cheek.
Eric shook his head. So frustrating! He couldn’t see anything. Hell, he couldn’t even tell how big her feet were!
Still, he couldn’t erase the grin plastered across his face. Here’s a kiss from someone cute. She was awfully cute, wasn’t she? Even if he couldn’t see what she looked like, at least she made him smile. Probably the first real smile that had crossed his face all day.
Eric wondered if she’d replied to him on his fake account as well. She hadn’t answered his DM earlier, but that was hours ago. She must have seen it by now.
He clicked the privacy latch on the inside of the trailer door, and then he leaned his weight against the edge of the makeup counter as he quickly switched accounts.
No more @EricThorn. Back to @EricThornSucks.
Time Stamp 9/16/16, 1:29 p.m.
Tessa H: Hey, sorry I was off-line before. Not having the greatest morning.
Eric’s initial pleasure gave way to a sliver of concern. Something must have shaken her. He had a feeling he knew what it was.
Taylor: What happened? Was it because of the concert last night? Did that freak you out?
Tessa H: Yeah, among other things…
Taylor: Are you OK? That kind of scared the crap out of me too.
Tessa H: Thank you! Everyone else seems to think it was funny. I don’t understand how people can make jokes about it!
Taylor: Trust me, I’m right there with you. I didn’t sleep a wink last night.
Tessa H: I didn’t hear till this morning. I was supposed to go sit on the front stoop with my mom today, and I totally bailed. She’s so mad at me now.
“Crap,” Eric said under his breath. Tessa had mentioned her therapy exercises before, and he knew this one was a big deal for her. She hadn’t set foot outside in months. He hated to think that he might have set back her progress.
Taylor: Do you want to tell me about it? I don’t have a ton of time right now, but I can talk for a couple minutes.
Tessa H: It’s OK. At least Eric’s OK, right? He must be fine if he went on with the show afterward.
Taylor: I guess. He seemed kind of shaken up. He did the rest of the concert from the main stage.
Tessa H: Poor Eric. I just hope he has someone there to give him a big hug :(