Chapter 2

I watch as the crowd starts to multiply, right in the middle of Heavens-Dale street.

Not only were there adults, but the number of screaming teenage girls, clutching posters, seems larger than before. They're peering down the street, as a fleet of trucks, cars and minivans pass them by, and the girls chase after them, screaming his name.

I follow the crowd, smiling to myself as a little girl starts waving her own handmade poster, lettering: "Marry Me Ryan!"

You wish, kid. He's mine.

As soon as all the cars come to a halt near the beach, a limousine also pulls up and the screams are becoming distinctively louder. It takes almost nine bodyguards to pull back the crowd of screeching girls, in order for the chauffeur to open the limousine door and let out the star.

And that's when I see him.

Although I'm quite a long distance away, nowhere near the crowd, the first thing I can see is his distinctive emerald green eyes. They're lighter than they were, a couple months ago, when I last saw him. He lifts his hand and waves at the crowd, before raking his fingers through his perfectly tousled, blonde hair. I observe him as he greets his fans, takes pictures and kisses the cheeks of the younger girls. I can't help but smile. He really does love them all, and the smile on his face is anything but forced. It's real. He's in his element, and I couldn't be prouder.

It's over, all too soon as the driver leads him away again, towards the troupe of tents on the beach. As he finally disappears from my sight, my phone goes off, alerting a text message.

I tear my eyes away from the scene to read the text:

R Y A N: Where are you? x

I bite my lip and smile, before typing a quick, reply.

M E: Closer than you think. x

I shove my phone in my back-pocket before hurrying across the sand, shoving past the huddle of fans, who were now gushing and whispering amongst each other. They don't give me a second look, too absorbed in their own private bubbles as I make my way towards the stern-looking guard, standing right in front of the huddle of tents. Huge tents that I could probably fit my flat inside a couple hundred times.

"He's expecting me." I announce, keeping my voice low in case anyone else hears me. The guard frowns, peering at me from head to toe quizzically. I sigh, crossing my arms with a raised eyebrow. "For heaven's sake, are you going to let me in or not, Andrew?"

"Password." he grunts, still frowning.

"You're not serious..." I grumble.

"Password or no entrance, ma'am." he says, staring ahead.

I shake my head at him. "Poopsicle Ice-cream. Now let me through the goddamn entrance, before I castrate you."

"Verbally threatening an officer. I could write you up for that, you know."

I fake a sweet smile. "But you won't."

Andrew grins, shaking his head at me humorously before lifting the red rope for me to enter "After you, Miss Knight." he winks. I grin, striding past him, taking care not to drive any attention to myself.

I scan the tents, trying to find his own, with his name imprinted on a star plate, but I can only find other actors. Such as Channing Tatum, Paul Wesley, Anna Kendrick etc. etc.

Finally, I find the right tent with a star plate reading 'Ryan Westford'. I take a deep breath and open my mouth to speak. "Open up, Ryan. It's me."

"Who's me?" his gruff voice responds rudely, but there is no mistaking the humour laced through his voice. He knows it's me, the rude little bastard.

"Your soon-to-be ex girlfriend, if you don't open this blooming tent flap." I grumble, tapping my feet impatiently. Miraculously, the tent door opens and he pulls me closer by the arm, before shutting the flap behind us.

"That wasn't so difficult, was it?" I breathe out.

He grins, and I'm almost rendered to silence. The way the corners of his mouth quirk upward, leaves me absolutely breathless. I can never take my eyes off of him, when we're this close. I stand up on my tiptoes and press a quick kiss on his lips before pulling away, grinning.

"I missed you." I whisper, a huge smile tugging across my lips.

"You have no idea-" he mumbles, cupping my cheeks and kissing me again, this time with more passion and force. "-how much I missed you." he finishes, smirking. I melt into him, pulling myself closer as the kiss gets more heated. Just as he bites down on my bottom lip, the loud zip of the tent finally snaps us to our senses, and we quickly pull away from each other, as if struck by lightning.

A familiar middle-aged woman, with ginger hair and owl glasses, enters the room and I release a groan, throwing my head back in agony. Out of all the people in the world to interrupt us... it had to be her?

Ryan grins, as Becky shuts the flap behind her and she shoots me a heavy glare, squinting at me through her glasses. "You're not supposed to be here." she says with a stern frown.

Meet Becky Wilson. She's Ryan's manager and a real pain in the ass. You have no idea, how many times I've wanted to break her saggy, wrinkled face. And there's no doubt in my mind, that she isn't quite keen on me either. Ever since Ryan's acting career took off, she's been constantly by his side. And I respect that she's done a lot for him throughout the years, but shes got a very short attention span.

"And you're supposed to be getting ready. They'll want to see you in 30 minutes, so we don't have time for- whatever this was!" she waves her arms dramatically, almost dropping her clipboard in the process. She may be a small woman, but she can be exceedingly frightening when she wants to be. Ryan hardly ever argues with her... although I, on the other hand, tend to enjoy getting on her nerves.

"You." she points to me.

"Me?" I feign shock, pointing towards myself with wide innocent eyes. Ryan chuckles at this, but Becky's frown doesn't falter. She grunts, shaking her head and narrowing her eyes.

"Out." she then points to the exit tent flap. I pout, glancing at Ryan from the corner of my eye, signalling for help. He releases a sigh, shrugging his shoulders.

"Can I have a few minutes alone, with Charlotte?" he asks, before clearing his throat, gesturing towards the exit. Becky shakes her head firmly. "There's not enough time, Ryan."

"C'mon, Becky. Just give us a couple minutes. Ten minutes at the most, and I'll be done and ready." he narrows his eyes sternly and Becky shakes her head in defeat. "Six minutes." she states.

And she turns and storms out of the tent, muttering curse words under her breath on her way out. I can't help but burst out laughing, well aware she could probably still hear me outside. "You're so bad, Char." he smirks fondly, shaking his head with a grin on his face. "You know how Becky acts around you."

"Some say if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of me not giving a fuck." I smile innocently and he reels me in by my waist, so we're only inches apart, our breaths mingling. "So tell me... when are you planning on telling your fans about us?"

"I've been trying to persuade Becky." he bites his lip. Can I just comment on how fucking gorgeous he is, when he does that? "She doesn't think it's good for my image to have a girlfriend."

"Maybe I could persuade her!" I offer generously.

"I'm not counting on it." he says with a smile, but I groan, throwing back my head. Why the hell not? "You never let me do anything." I whine.

"Can you blame me?" he raises both his eyebrows.

He really does make a fair point.

"It'll happen soon, I promise. Oh.. and for the record-" he stops, reaching into his back pocket to take out a small, black box the size of my fist. "-happy two year anniversary, secret girlfriend."

I can't help but break into a wide grin as I snatch the box from his hand and rip it open. As I catch a glance at what's inside, I place a hand over my mouth and gasp.Ryan smiles, nodding his head.

"It's beautiful." I mumble, carefully detaching the white, pendant necklace from the box and holding it up properly to get a good look at it. Never in my life, have I owned anything so beautiful and valuable-looking. "Oh my God, Ryan-"

He takes it from me and gestures for me to turn around. I turn my back to him willingly and hold up my hair as he carefully places the necklace around my neck. "Just know that wherever I go, whatever I do and whoever I meet... you're the first and last thing on my mind each and every single day."

I turn around again to face him, and press a quick kiss against his lips. "You really are amazing." I giggle. "Thank you- but I didn't get you anything!" my eyes widen in realisation, but he shakes his head, pressing a kiss against my forehead.

"I don't care. You came, and that's the best gift you've given me in a very long time. I have to go, but will you still be here after rehearsals?"

I shake my head sadly. "I can't. I need to go home as soon as possible, and help my Mum pack. I promised her."

"Pack? Are you moving? What did you do this time?" he frowns, but the glint of humour in his eyes is evident. "Don't tell me you threatened another teacher-"

"That was one time!" I protest. "And I didn't threaten her, I just warned her, that if she continued using frogs for dissecting experiments, all the wildlife creatures would gang up on her and attack her in her sleep."

"How could I forget?" he rolls his eyes. "So what did you do, this time?"

"I set the Science lab on fire."

"Is it bad that I'm not surprised?"

I giggle shaking my head. "Enough about me... what's this movie about?"

"I'm supposed to be a teenage delinquent in some action movie-"

"What, like a mini 'James Bond' or 'Tom Cruise'?" My eyes widen, an excited grin crossing my lips as he slowly nods his head reluctantly.

"Yeah, something like that." he says nervously.

He's so damn cute. It really should be illegal.

"You're a professional actor. You can handle it... Marie would be so proud of you." I say the last part of the sentence quietly and I watch as his eyes soften at the sound of his mother's name. She passed away when we were both twelve, the same month Ryan's acting career took off.

"What are you two up to, in there?" Becky's voice cuts through the atmosphere.

"Just having sex!" I yell back at her, and I could practically picture her face steaming red and her eyes popping out of her sockets. Ryan shakes his head at me fondly before raising his voice to call out to her.

"She's just joking! We're talking!" he yells back and I hear Becky give an unsatisfied grunt. I burst into laughter before Ryan catches both my shoulders, turning me to face him properly. "What am I going to do with you, Charlotte Knight?" he shakes his head with a grin.

I shrug, and before he's able to protest, I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips against his. He responds immediately, our lips moving in sync. As his hands circle my waist, mine tangle in his hair. I tug his curls and he releases a keep moan into my mouth.

"I don't hear much talking, going on in there. Ryan, they need you. Now. Do you want to lose this position on your first day? You've got thirty seconds!"

We slowly pull away and Ryan shakes his head. "I have to-"

"I know." I nod, placing both hands in my back-pockets with a smile. "You go knock them dead. Just don't go around kissing any supermodel actresses without sending me a warning text just yet."

He just grins and kisses me one last time, before Becky storms back in and shoos me out of the room, with her clipboard. As if I'm some unwanted little wasp, flapping in her ear. I roll my eyes at her and leave, pushing open the flap of the tent, trudging across the sand.

"Do me a favour and never set foot in this area ever again. I'm sick of you distracting Ryan from his work. I still don't understand how your relationship lasted this long!" she yells after me. I frown, turning around to face her. And I do the one thing I should've done a long time ago.

I hold up my hand and flip her off. And the priceless expression on her face was totally worth it.