Ch-117

I took a generous amount of my special blend of face cream and carefully applied it to my skin. I like to think that I'm not that vain, but I have to maintain an image while going out. Although I'm not expecting paparazzi or reporters here in Phoenix, you never know.

"I think you are overdoing it for this date," Tobias commented from behind me.

I looked at him through the mirror and said, "It's not a date. Emily invited me to hang out with a group of her friends. I rarely get a chance to do it back in London or Los Angeles because of how people crowd around me. Also, this is not excessive. It has SPF-50, Vitamin C, and everything else your skin needs to keep it soft and supple for years to come. It came highly recommended by my dermatologist."

"You sound like a TV commercial I saw yesterday," Tobias remarked smugly.

"Fuck you too, Toby," I shot back jokingly before donning my baseball cap and sunglasses. Being a celebrity can be such a pain sometimes. I really didn't like wearing anything over my head, but it helped to blend in a little. At least in America, it does. In a sunny state like California or Arizona, almost everyone wears a cap like this.

Dad, who had some work in LA had sent along Tobias with me as a companion when I told him what I intended to do for a week before Sundance. Tobias would remain with me only when I was at the hotel. I also had three bodyguards assigned to me at all times.

"Hey, Troy," Tobias said casually. "I was thinking."

I turned back to him to see that he wasn't looking at me, but rather seemed lost in thought.

"Yes?" I prompted.

He looked up at me and seemed to steel his nerves before saying, "I don't think I can be your manager."

My eyes widened in genuine bafflement. "Are you gonna quit?"

"No! Woah!" He shook his head vehemently. "That's not what I meant. I…" He paused for a few moments as if searching for words before finally saying, "I saw how your father handled the situation with Warner. He is good at negotiating. Heck, even you are better than me. It's not my strong suit."

"But your work on [Perks] and [Brick] was very good," I remarked. "Half of the things that you managed I didn't even realize until much later."

"Exactly!" Tobias agreed. "I know I'm good at film production stuff, but negotiation is not my forte. I fucked up [Dawn of the Dead] and you didn't even want to do it that much."

"That wasn't your fault," I said.

"And then, in the meeting with Warner," Tobias continued as if I had not spoken. "I couldn't add anything substantial just because they ambushed us."

On second thought, he wasn't wrong. I hadn't noticed it till now because Dad was with me. But if I had been just with Tobias, as I was during the meeting with Universal, I don't know what I would have done had he clammed up like he did. I need a better manager than that. Not necessarily a manager, but a good negotiator at the very least. While my parents were good, I needed some independence as well, especially when I turned 18 in two years. I can't rely on them blindly for anything and everything related to my career for the rest of my life.

"Okay," I nodded slowly. "You can continue being my assistant and work on my film productions. I'll get someone else to negotiate my future contracts for me."

He nodded in relief. "I think you should go now or you'll be late for your date."

"It's not a date!"

(Break)

"It's totally a date!" Rachel said excitedly to Emily when they were away from everyone else. "If he goes out with you solo and someone takes a picture, then everyone will think that you're his girlfriend. But if you are in a group, no one will suspect anything. It's so sweet that he's trying to protect you from the media."

Emily rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. Despite Rachel's words, she didn't believe for a moment that it was a date. Moreover, she just wanted Troy to meet her friends—friends who had started arriving one by one outside the bowling alley they had decided to come to.

"He's late," she said casually after a few minutes, as Troy was the only one yet to come.

"Who is your friend exactly?" Rowan, one of her male friends who was also a neighbor, asked curiously while looking down at his watch.

"Just a guy I met while filming that movie I told you about," Emily replied.

"Right, the 'movie'. I get it." Rowan mockingly made air quotes with his fingers.

Sometimes Emily wondered why she was still friends with this guy. He was the only person in the friend circle who didn't believe at all that she had gone and done a movie in Hollywood.

"Shut it, Ro," Lisa, another of her friends and Rowan's girlfriend, said furiously. "If you don't believe her, you didn't have to come here at all."

"I'm just kidding," Rowan raised his hands in surrender. "You know that, don't you, Emily?"

She shook her head gently, not willing to answer him.

"Why don't we get in and start a game until your friend comes?" Chris, the last person in the group and Rachel's boyfriend, asked.

This was the biggest reason she had invited Troy for bowling. Both Rachel and Lisa were coming with their boyfriends, which made her stick out like a sore thumb in the group. Usually, whenever they arranged an outing like this, she would decline, but today she didn't want to.

She was about to say yes to Chris when suddenly her eyes fell on the boy coming through the parking lot. He was casually dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, a cap, and sunglasses and looked quite normal, like any other teenager. Yet, there was something about the way he walked that made him stand out if you were looking directly at him. His confidence and demeanor made him very desirable. Then there was the fact that he was bloody gorgeous, as the Brits would say.

"Hey, Emily," Troy said casually as he stopped in front of her and hugged her lightly. "I'm so sorry for being late. Tobias was being a dick." Then he turned toward Rachel, who was looking awfully smug seeing the gobsmacked expressions on the faces of the other three.

"Hey, Rachel," Troy offered her a hand, which she shook.

Then he turned back to Emily and asked, "Aren't you gonna introduce me?"

"Sorry," Emily suddenly realized that this was not the time to be smug and made quick introductions. "Guys, this is my friend, Troy. Troy, these are Rowan, Lisa, and Chris."

Troy shook hands with each one of them, but the other three were yet to speak a single word. To his credit, though, Troy never called out any of them—probably used to a reaction like this.

"So, shall we get in?" Emily asked Chris, who seemed pretty eager just a few minutes ago but was now starstruck.

"Holy shit, dude!" Rowan broke the silence. "You're like, the Troy Armitage. Harry Potter."

Troy chuckled good-naturedly, "Just call me Troy. And please keep it down. I don't wanna be noticed here. My security is around if anything extreme happens, but why take the risk of announcing my identity out loud?"

"Oh," Rowan shrugged. "Don't worry, dude. I don't like [Harry Potter] to begin with." He may have tried to act cool, but even a blind man could see that he was just feigning nonchalance.

Troy smiled at him in amusement, "Good for you, mate."

Lisa, being the one with the sane head in the relationship, punched her boyfriend in the arm. "Stop being an ass, Rowan. Ignore him, Troy. He likes measuring his dick against others."

"Hey!" Rowan complained.

"It's true! If I were a boy, that's exactly what you'd have done all day every day with me."

Troy could only laugh at their antics before turning to Emily, "I like your friends."

"They are a bunch of assholes," Emily announced before taking Troy's arm in hers. "Come on. Let's get in and get the show on the road."

It was lucky for them all that it was a slow day at the alley, with only six or seven other kids bowling when they walked in. Emily took the lead and was about to pay for the whole group when Troy overtook her and pressed his credit card forward.

"Don't worry about it," he said before she could even argue, as the alley employee took his card, not recognizing Troy.

It didn't take long before the six of them were inside the bowling area, knocking some pins down.

"So, Troy," Lisa began curiously when it was Rowan's turn to bowl. "Since when are you and Emily an item?"

Troy looked over at Emily, who was barely resisting the urge to bash her head against the wall or something. Everyone else was listening eagerly to the conversation now.

"To be honest, I've been head over heels for her ever since I saw her in New York," Troy said, shocking everyone, including Emily. "She was so confident and cool. I just knew right then that wanted a friend like her."

"Aww, that was so sweet of him," Rachel whispered so only Emily could hear, and she had to agree with the sentiment. Troy knew just the things to say to make her melt without even realizing it.

"That's not what I asked," Lisa said, catching how Troy had avoided answering the question.

"And that's all you're gonna get from me," Troy replied. "You wanna know anything else, ask Emily."

Emily closed her eyes in mortification as the realization hit her. She needed to clear this up with Troy. But it was his turn to bowl, so she waited. He picked up a neon green ball and took aim, knocking down all ten pins in one go.

"Strike!" Troy called out excitedly before giving a high-five to Emily.

"That was good," Emily said.

"It was my first time," Troy confessed. "It's rare for me to go out like this because of, you know. So I'm enjoying it a lot."

"Really?" She asked, surprised. "What else have you not done? What about laser tag? Or paintball? A water park?"

"No, to the first two," he replied. "I have been to a water park, but I was 8 or 9 last time I went."

Emily felt a little bad for him. "Troy," she lowered her voice a little. "I didn't tell anyone that we're together. They just assumed that on their own."

Troy shrugged. "Would it be too bad if they thought we were together?" He took her arm in his. "You're so beautiful, any guy would kill to have you as their girlfriend."

Emily snorted. "See, you say stuff like that once in a while, which confirms that you're lying through your teeth." Troy opened his mouth to retort, but Emily beat him to it. "What about Emma, huh? She's much more beautiful than me."

Troy closed his mouth and looked pained for a moment before going back to normal.

"She broke up with me," he said after what felt like an eternity.

Emily could only gape at him in shock. Is he for real? Why the hell would Emma break up with someone as amazing as Troy?

"So those photos of her with Nicholas Hoult were real?" Emily asked before she could stop herself. "Did she cheat on you?"

"Emily," Troy said firmly. "No."

That one word was enough to properly chastise Emily. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," Troy said with a small smile. "Let's just forget about it all and enjoy the day here."

As Emily went to take her shot at bowling, she realized now why Troy flew all the way to Arizona to see her. He just needed a change of scenery.

(Break)

January 2005, Sundance Film Festival, Utah

As I fixed my bowtie for the umpteenth time in our limousine, I couldn't help but think back to the amazing time I had with Emily back in Phoenix. I hadn't even realized how much I missed being like other teenagers and just enjoying life with people my age. Emily understood that as well, because the next day after bowling, she took me and her friends for a game of laser tag, followed by a day at the water park. It was weird to know that there was a water park in a hot state like Arizona that was as abandoned as it was. Then again, it was January. Its quality wasn't the best, but it was the peace that I wanted above anything else. A few people recognized me there, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been if the place was crowded.

"You look fine," Evan said pointedly. "Let's just go. I'm getting bored over here."

Turning to him I said, "You won't have the fashion police judging your every accessory to the minute details."

He rolled his eyes and opened the door, which caused a flurry of flashes to start even before I got out of the car. Asshole.

I fixed a smile on my face and stepped out of the vehicle, causing a usual blinding effect. I was used to this treatment by now. I stepped forth and saw a group of fans shouting my name. My smile widened as I took a step forward and started signing a few autographs and taking a few photos.

"Marry me, Troy!" the girl in the very front shouted at the top of her voice, startling me.

I chuckled before shaking my head. Not wanting to indulge her, I turned around and started walking away when I found that I couldn't move. Something—or rather, someone—was clutching tightly to my left leg, refusing to let me go. I looked down to see that a little boy, around the age of seven or eight, was holding onto my leg for dear life.

"My brother won't let go until you agree to marry me," the same girl shouted. "Timmy! Hold tight for your big sis."

I probably shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself at that moment and started laughing. On some level, it was very invasive and a little creepy, but on another, it was a little cute as well. Had I not had someone demand something similar at gunpoint, I would have freaked out by now. Given how I was much stronger than last time, and the boy was a cute little fellow, I didn't mind too much.

Just then, security came over to try to diffuse the matter and pushed the girl back into the crowd. They were about to separate me from the kid as well, but I raised a hand to stop them. Then I bent forward as much as I could with a koala-like kid attached to my leg and patted the little guy's head, "Hey, can you let go of me, Timmy?"

"Will you marry my sister?" he asked challengingly.

"I don't even know her name," I replied. "Don't you know you need to know each other before you marry someone? What if your sister doesn't like me?"

"She loves you," he replied innocently. "Our whole family does. Daddy says that he'll allow her to marry only someone like you."

"Did he?" I shot back, to which the boy nodded dutifully.

"Okay," I said before fishing out a card from my pocket. "I will marry your sister. Take this card, and tell her to send me an email after the premiere is done."

The email mentioned on the card was not managed by me anymore but by Tobias. Someone had leaked my original email online, so I had given that email to Tobias to manage my fan mail weekly. For some fans like Benji, whom I had been in contact with for a long time, I had given them a new email address. (However, Benji didn't count since he had my phone number as well.)

The boy's eyes shined brightly as he saw the card in my hand. He released me to get hold of it, and right at that moment, security made their move, scooping him up and dropping him back to his sister.

I couldn't help but chuckle again as I made my way inside the theater where [Brick] was having its premiere. It was also competing against 15 other films in the Dramatic film competition. While [Perks] was also being premiered here, it was out of competition because its budget exceeded $10 million. Maybe in a few years, they will ease up on the regulation about this, but right now, films above $10 million can't compete, though they can still be premiered as long as they are truly independent of studio influence during production.

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