Page 43 of The Heartbreakers
My head snapped up. “Am I okay?”
“Yeah. You got quiet.”
I couldn’t tell if Oliver was joking, or if he was really going to pretend that I was one who was acting weird and not everyone else. “Igot quiet?”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “Are you just going to repeat everything I say?”
So he was going to pretend. I didn’t want to push Oliver since things seemed to be going well between us, so I dropped the subject and smiled. “Are you just going to repeat everything I say?”
“Okay, you’re a jerk,” he said. “I so didn’t miss you.”
“Yeah,” I said, biting my bottom lip. “I so didn’t miss you either.”
Chapter 12
By the time we arrived at the radio station for the interview I was starving, and I had already eaten my banana. Oliver was right—there was no time for lunch.
But I didn’t care. I was too engrossed in my surroundings to be concerned about my complaining stomach. I’d never been inside a radio station before—unless you counted the autograph signing in Chicago, and that was only the lobby. Being here with the band, I got the chance to go behind the scenes and see how everything worked, and I found all the computers and buttons exciting.
The boys were in the middle of their interview. They were sitting in the studio with the two radio hosts, Jack and Kelly, and everyone was crowded around a circular table that had microphones sprouting from the middle. JJ was telling a story about how the band had been locked out of their dressing rooms during a show in Toronto, and I was watching the entire discussion through the long, rectangular window that looked in on the room.
My stomach was being loud, and I knew I should go hunt down the vending machine we passed during our tour of the station, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. The Heartbreakers were captivating. During the short time we’d hung out together, I’d gathered as much, but this was different. With the attention on them, the boys turned up the charm and were charismatic in a way that made it impossible to hate them. While I was listening, it occurred to me that this was why the boys were able to wiggle their way into millions of girls’ hearts. They had star power.
“…and so then Oliver was running through the halls in his boxers, and he ran smack into a fan who’d managed to sneak backstage,” JJ said, finishing his story. Everyone laughed.
“She must have had the surprise of a lifetime,” Jack said, still chuckling. “I bet she didn’t expect to find one of her idols gallivanting around the halls in nothing but his underwear.”
“She practically jumped me,” Oliver said. “Security had to pry her away. I had nail marks on my shoulders for a week!”
“So it seems you’re quite popular with the ladies,” Kelly said then.
Oliver lifted both his shoulders, shrugging in an attempt to seem casual, but he had a knowing smirk on his face. “I suppose.”
“Is all the attention hard to deal with?”
“It can be overwhelming at times,” Oliver said, “but it helps to have three other people who know exactly what I’m going through. If I’m stressed, I can turn to them.”
“None of us would be able to do this on our own,” Xander added. “We’re each other’s support system.”
Oliver was nodding his head. “These guys are my family. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“You four have accomplished so much together,” Jack said. “I bet it’s impossible to imagine it any other way.”
“Exactly,” JJ answered.
“That’s incredible,” Kelly said, shaking her head as if she truly was impressed with everything the band had told her. “Now, we’re almost out of time, but before we wrap up, I want to take this conversation back to girls. Oliver, have you ever dated a fan?”
“I’m not saying that I wouldn’t date a fan, but I’m not one to date in general,” he responded. “It’s just too hard when we’re on the road all the time.”
“So there’s no special girl in your life right now? Not anybody?” Oliver paused and I held in a deep breath. I felt JJ’s gaze flicker in my direction, so I quickly looked down at my phone and pretended to be reading a text.
“Oliver?” Kelly prompted, and I peeked back up.
Pushing back his bangs, he offered her a devilish smile. “Maybe,” he said, and my heart started to flutter like the wings of a hummingbird, light and quick.
“Ooh,” Kelly said, her eyes sparkling as she leaned in. “Someone we’ve heard of?”
He continued to smirk. “Definitely,” he said, and his words shot the hummingbird right out of my chest. Oliver was seeing some other celebrity?
