Love in the Spotlight

Ch.11: Henry

"You ready to go," I ask as I put my hoodie and mask on to hide my face. I just changed my clothes to dark jeans and a dark red hoodie with a black mask. "Yeah, are we taking the car to the hotel?" Astrid asked as she turned toward me. She decided to stay for the 3 days that I will be having a show here and then we will go together to Los Angeles so she could meet Gobber and sign the work contract. "I thought we might take a walk but if you want to return to the hotel we could do that," she said. Her head with a smile. "No, a walk sounds amazing" With that we both start to walk toward the park near us. "Are you mad at me for hiding the truth?" I ask after some time. She wasn't mad when I explained to her my motives for hiding but still, I wanted to be a hundred percent sure. "Honestly if your sister hadn't told me why you might have done it I would have gotten a little bit mad," she said. "Did she tell you what happened while we were at school?" I ask softly. "Yeah, she did." I could hear tame fury in her voice. It's similar to the tone me and jack use whenever someone brings the topic up. Full of contained wrath and protectiveness. "Henry I understand why you felt hesitant to tell me anything I do" I stopped in front of her looking at her intensely. "It has nothing to do with trust you know. If it did I would have never let you meet Hannah." She took a sharp breath as she stared at me. I caught her off guard. "It's been a long time since someone treated me like a human being and not someone popular. For a long time, I gave up on that." I took a deep breath before continuing "When I hide my identity from someone intentionally I'm always paranoid that they will know who I am but with you, I was not. I was more afraid that you would be mad than you finding out"

She smiled that smile of hers that made my knees go weak in an instant. "You know I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would sing the bridge of one of my songs with a superstar in a stadium filled with hundreds of thousands of people on it." She changed the subject. Her face turned pink as she avoided my eyes. "Thank you" I chuckled and put my arms around her shoulders. "Maybe next time you will be with me on stage" she gave a cute chuckle "Your fans would go crazy wouldn't they" Now it's my time to chuckle. "Maybe but would that be a bad thing." She thought about it for a minute before saying. "I don't know usually fans go crazy when their favorite celebrity starts dating and start attacking them." I gave a disapproving TSK before saying. "If my fans start attacking the people I love especially someone I chose to date then those are not people I want to be my fans." She gave me a surprised look "Really, don't you appreciate your fans." She asked. "I do but I know that my true fans will want me to be happy no matter who I end up dating people who hate on me once I start dating anyone they were never my fans and will never be." I could tell that she did not expect that answer. "Honestly I'm impressed, from what Heather told me a lot of people care so much about their fan's opinions that they let it control their lives" I shrugged. "Everyone is free to do what they want to do but for me, I make sure my fans are happy but in return, they should be happy for me whether I am dating someone or not" I continue, changing the subject. "So are you excited about meeting Gobber in a few days?" I asked. "A little it feels a bit surreal that in a few days, I will officially work in GH studios"

A few days ago Gobber contacted Astrid about working with the Studios after I sent him the demo of one of the songs. It's safe to say that he loved it so much that he wanted to make her work with him exclusively. However, I argued that it was not fair for her. She will work with the other artists in the studio as a freelancer and with me semi-permanent while having the option to work with any label she wants. In my opinion best of both worlds. Astrid was over the moon when she got the offer she jumped on me the moment she saw me later that day. Her mother had baked the most delicious cupcakes that I have ever tasted in celebration of the news.

"You will do amazing plus I'm happy that we will work again together. In my humble opinion we make a great team aren't we M'lady" I smirked as her cheeks turned into a beautiful shade of pink. My arms had tightened around her shoulders. "I guess we do work well." She retorted. "Just well. Some would argue that we are a power couple when we work together don't you think M'lady" I acted offended for a moment.

She broke into laughter at me acting dramatic and soon I broke into laughter too. "Are you hungry?" I asked as we calmed down from the laughter. At that moment she looked beautiful. Astrid is always beautiful, however in that moment she had a different sparkling in her. It makes her shine brighter, and I just couldn't bring myself to look away. Not even for a moment. "Not you?" I shook my head no. "Not really. want to head to the hotel I will just call my assistant to book a room and bring our stuff there" She nodded "Yeah let go" She took my hands in hers as we began walking in the direction of the hotel. My heart is racing right now and I'm sure she had no idea she was the reason behind that.

"I'm so sorry sir but they were all sold out I could only get a room with a king-size bed," my assistant Carly said as she handed the room keys to us. Carly had worked as my assistant since my last year in college. She is truly a valuable employee. "There were no other hotels with rooms free," I asked. "No sir this is the only hotel with opening. For two rooms. I booked a room for you two and a room for myself." I nodded as she took her bag and left. "So we will have to share a room huh" Astrid said awkwardly. "Yeah if there is a couch up there I will take it end of discussion," I said. "We will see about that," she said mischievously.

Turn out they don't have a couch big enough to sleep on.

Amazing.