A Side Effect of Celebrity

Five

I think being famous is more of a hindrance, a constraint, than just letting yourself be free – Martin Yan

It was the hottest day of the summer so far and Claire was feeling the heat. Or, more accurately, her hair was.

The humidity and stickiness that filled the air had attacked her, forcing her hair into a halo of chestnut frizz. No matter what she did to tame it, the beast wouldn't budge. Even in a braid, it frizzed, leaving Claire with half-a-mind to chop all of it off into a pixie cut. She had stared at herself in the mirror for ten minutes before leaving the house, trying to decide if it was a style that she could pull of it.

It was not, she'd decided in the end as she'd tried to force the behemoth of her hair into something that could be seen in public. Still, by the time she'd reached the Kosciuszko Pool in Brooklyn where she was meeting Griffin, her hair had doubled in size.

"Screw tanning – the first thing I'm doing is going into the water," she said as they looked for a place to set their towels and shoes. The rest of their belongings had been securely tucked away inside of the lockers. "Maybe then my hair will finally give up in its attempt to resemble the world's largest haystack."

Griffin laughed. "It's really not that bad."

"Honestly, Griffin Maxwell, you're the worst liar I've ever met. Your nostrils flare when you lie and they are flaring like crazy right now mister." Claire glared at him as they claimed a set of chairs.

Claire kicked her shoes off and set the towel down as she headed for the water. Griffin followed, not hesitating as he stepped into the water. It was cool, a welcome break from the heat. "God, I've been dreaming about this all week."

Next to her, Griffin dunked his head in the water. When he popped back up, there was a broad grin on his face. "You and me both."

"How's work?"

Griffin had been at Vortex I.T. for just over a week now, fixing up broken phones and computers for a variety of businesses. They held contracts with several large companies across the city and dispatched technicians like Griffin whenever there was an issue.

"Good," he said – and then a hint of a flush rose up his neck and onto his cheeks. He looked a little abashed.

Claire raised her brows. "What?"

"My coworker, Katrina...She asked me out to coffee."

"Like a date?"

"Yeah."

Like the night of the dinner party, Claire felt as if she were on the verge of identifying something important but wasn't quite sure what it was. There was a hint of tightness to her chest – a slight discomfort.

Yet she smiled and said, "That's great. What's she like?"

Griffin shrugged and then placed his hands on the top of the water, watching as little ripples formed as he moved them around. "Nice. Funny. Pretty smart. She wants to go out again soon but—"

"But what?"

Claire jumped, startled at the interruption as Ellie beamed down at them from the lip of the pool. She'd crept up quietly, appearing with hardly a sound. She was in a pink bikini that was the same colour as her hair which she'd piled into a ballerina bun on the top of her head.