Wish You Were Here

Chapter 21

You spot him way further up the red carpet, posing with the kids, stopping to chat to reporters. Is it just you, or is he stalling? He must see you out of the corner of his eye, but he pretends not to until you're close.

You can feel your heart pounding. He looks so handsome in a suit. Black tuxedo with a bow tie. You're trying to remember the lyrics to a song to distract yourself, any song, but your mind is a vacuum. He turns in your direction and his hundred-watt celebrity smile transforms into what you know to be his genuine smile, pleased to see you. You smile back, walk a little closer.

He extends an arm and you close the distance to let him kiss you on the cheek. The cameras are clicking like crazy, but over their sound you whisper in his ear. "Happy birthday."

He looks at you sideways. "How did you know?"

"You look older."

He laughs, making you laugh too as you separate. You step back, stumble a little, but he keeps a hand stuck to your waist. The flashing lights are making you dizzy and he's equally the reason your legs almost give out and the reason you're still standing. He waits a few seconds until you're confident you can walk without falling over. "I'll see you later," he promises you. "Are you coming to the afterparty?" You tell him you will, but you don't know if you'll hold yourself to it.

Earlier in the year you had pictured him saving you a seat beside himself in the cinema, waving you over if you got separated in the crowd, his hand on your knee for the entire runtime. But he is long since seated by the time you are guided to your chair. You can see him across the room when the lights are on, a few rows ahead of you. Occasionally he holds up a cup with a straw to his mouth. You smile. Some things never change.

As distracted as you are by him, you do find yourself lost in the film for most of its runtime – it's not bad, and you hope most readers will be satisfied with the small changes and omissions the filmmakers have made to the story. Some of the CGI is pretty awful and there's a few inconsistent accents and pronunciations here and there. His death scene, as expected, draws gasps and sniffles from the crowd. Overall, on a scale of Percy Jackson to Good Omens, it's definitely one of the better fantasy adaptations. A Stardust out of 10.

Against your better judgment you do end up at the afterparty, where there are small platters of food and much larger displays of alcohol. You see him in the crowd every now and then, hear his wheezing laugh from across the room. He tries catching your eye a few times, calls out your name when the speakers overhead blast Shallow, but each time you manage to slip away, hide in the restrooms hoping he'll forget. Finally he manages to sneak up on you, grabs your arm when you are passing in opposite directions. "Can we talk?"

"Here?"

He looks around at the bustling crowd surrounding you. "Somewhere else. Come on." You follow him through a maze of doors outside into the back alleyway. Your dress is sleeveless and you immediately feel the chill of the temperature dropping.

"I just wanted to apologize to you," he says. "I'm really sorry about what I said the last time we spoke."

"Oh." In all the hurt you'd experienced, you'd almost forgotten about his comments. "Don't worry about it."

"I knew it was wrong even as I was asking you to come with me," he says. "And I'm sorry about the other stuff. If you felt pressured. It's none of my business at all. I put my needs above your own, and I never should have done that."

It's the sincerest apology you've ever received in your life. "I understand," you tell him. "I'm sorry about what I said, too."

"Everything you said all came from a place of feeling," he says. "As did mine. I never wanted to hurt you."