Behind the bright lights *LH*

Chapter 4

Thunder cracks right as I push the revolving doors into Chicago's Spinal Institute. It's a wet, chilly April morning. My bed has been calling to me ever since I left it at 5am this morning. I wipe my boots and shake my umbrella out on the welcome mats. Once adequately dry I begin my pursuit to find Jami's. Jami is my best friend. She is the only other PA here and is a few years older than me. During medical school, I volunteered under her and we became really close. She hired me immediately out of school.

    I go into the elevator and push the button to the 8th floor, where all of our offices reside. The doors shut and I am zipped up to the top floor. The doors open and I spy her immediately in line for a drink at the coffee stand. I dash, causally,  over to her and push her out of line. I grab her by the arm and yank her to my office.

    "Hey!" She yells. "I was next in line, I've been waiting for like 10 minutes." She whines. We enter my office and I close the door immediately.

    "I met a guy." I gush. Her mood switches from annoyed to intrigued. "And he's famous."

"What's his name?" She walks over to my desk and sits down at my desktop computer. "I'm going to look him up."

"Luke Hemmings." I join her at my desk. I've controlled myself up until this point. I wanted to be with Jami when I finally stalked him hard core. If there is anyone that can figure out a guy by just looking at a picture, it's her. "I guess I re-met him. We used to be neighbors."

Her fingers go to work on the keyboard, quickly typing his name into Google. The first thing that pops up is his Instagram, which I have already been through. Jami moves to click on Images.

Hundreds of pictures of him display on the screen. Pictures of him smiling, playing guitar, standing on stage at award shows. There are pictures with his band and other celebrities. He has a multitude of different hair styles and images with a lip ring and some without. My eyes land on an image of him and his family. His brothers got old, but then again so did we.

"Well, hello there neighbor. He's hot." She turns to look at me. "I understand why you pulled me out of line." I laugh and nod vigorously. She scrolls down on the page and more photos load of him with what I assume to be fans. There is a picture of him hugging some girl. A couple images over, there is one kissing that same girl. Jami switches back to the main results and clicks on his wikipedia.

"Net worth 25 million!" She exclaims. "Jesus, what does he do?"

"Holy shit." I verify the words she speaks by reading them on the screen. "He's a singer, in a band. Apparently it's a pretty good one." We read through the rest of the page. The 'personal life' category states he is in a relationship with someone named Karina Rose since 2018. Sadness washes through my body and my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

How could I be so stupid. Of course he has a girlfriend. He probably just wants to catch up as friends. Jami must've read the same thing I did. She opens up a new tab and searches for Karina Rose.  Apparently, she's a beauty and lifestyle influencer on Instagram.

"Fuck, she's pretty." Jami mutters. And she was right.  She is absolutely gorgeous, only two inches shorter than Luke, deep brown eyes, dark tan skin, and long curly brown hair. Basically everything I'm not, which didn't make me feel the best. "Did he ask you out?" She turns to look at me, visibly disappointed herself.

I lean up against my desk and look at her. "First, he asked me to get drinks with him. Which I said no to be-"

She cuts me off. "Why would you say no!"

"Because he was my patient, but the-" She interrupts again.

"He was your patient!!!" She shakes her head in disbelief.