Celebrity

A Turn For The Worst

"I'm sorry," she said, whilst trying to clean up the mess she had made. "It's alright," I said nervously. From the way she appeared, she really didn't want anyone to recognize her. But being a super fan, I couldn't fail to recognize her. She was wearing a black hat with some black sunglasses.

"I'm... my name is Thomas," I said rationally.

"Nice to meet you, Thomas. Sorry for the coffee again," she said with an apologetic smile on her face. She then excused herself and left. She left me standing by the entrance, not even sure if that was real. I stood there, just watching her walk into the distance.

"Can you please move out of the way!" a customer said angrily. I didn't even realize that I was blocking the entrance. I just kept on thinking to myself, "Have I really just met Ava Wilder? She's like the most talented musician right now, and she's young and beautiful.
Not only that, she was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She has lovely curly blonde hair, not to mention her seemingly perfect teeth, her brown eyes, and her effortless beautiful smile. Meeting her completely made me forget about my hangover and the bruise on my cheek. Not only that, I even forgot what I was doing at that coffee shop. But one thing's for sure, I'm so glad I was there. But the smell of coffee ruined my euphoria and reminded me that I needed to change my shirt.

When I got to the hallway of the dorm rooms, I saw everyone looking at me because of my huge coffee stain on my shirt. But I didn't care, because they've never been spat coffee on by a celebrity. I walked into my dorm room to see Max on his phone, lying on his bed. He looked over to me and burst into laughter. "What happened to you?" he asked. "You look like you took a shit and wiped your ass with your shirt."

"You can never believe who I bumped into today," I said with so much excitement.

"Who?" Max said.

"I bumped into Ava Wilder."

"No way," Max said in disbelief.

"She's the whole reason why I have this coffee stain on my shirt."

"Did you get an autograph?"

"No."

"What about a photo with her?"

"No."

"Then where's the proof of meeting?"

"My stained shirt." When I replied with that, I realized how stupid I sounded, because I didn't really have anything that proved I met her.

"I'm starting to believe you never met her and you're making this up," Max said. "Is it the hangover from last night?" He might be right; it might have been the hangover that made me see her. Too bad I'll never meet her again.

A month had passed since then. I told myself not to drink again or go to any more parties. I had been thoroughly enjoying my stay in America, and the classes that I've been attending have been amazing - certainly a step up from home in Africa. The only thing that I wished for was more friends. So far, I only have Max, and on occasion, Kyle gives me a greeting, but it's super rare. But I wasn't here to make friends; I'm here to fulfill my Dad's dream.

***

I was studying in the evening alone in my room. It was like 8 PM at night, but I got tired, so I decided to finally visit the park for the first time. I got my shoes and a black sweatshirt because it was cold, especially tonight. I got to the park like thirty minutes later and was strolling around it till I saw a bench which was before a pond, and there was someone sitting there, seemingly crying. So I decided to go try and see if I could help. I sat right at the opposite end of where the person was sitting because I didn't know how I was supposed to approach this person. So, about five minutes sat there, just watching this person cry. I was surprised that they didn't notice me there, so I summoned up the courage to finally approach this person. I tapped on their shoulder. "Excuse me, can I help?" To my surprise, when they looked up to see me, it was none other than Ava Wilder. I was shocked to see her crying.

"Do I... know you?" she asked.

"I'm the guy you spat coffee on earlier," I replied.

"Oh, sorry about that. I'll take my leave now," she said, wiping the tears off her face. She began to stand up and leave till I grabbed her hand. "Wait, why were you crying just now?" She looked at me with watery eyes, like as if she was trying to hold in her tears.

"None of your business," she said with an assertive tone of voice. "Now let me go." I contemplated about letting her go, but I held tighter. "The only way you can let go of your feelings is if you talk about them." Suddenly, she burst into tears, this time crying louder than when I saw her at the bench.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, as I took her into my arms whilst I gently began to run my fingers through her hair.

"It's just that... it's so hard being a celebrity," she said, which were words that I never thought I would hear. "I mean, the money is great and all, but it's so demanding that I never get any fun of my own, plus there is the press that follow you around." I never thought that's how celebs feel; they look so happy and never really show that they're hurting inside. She wiped her tears and got up again, looked at me with her eyes red from crying.

"Anyway, thank you for listening. I know you had other things to do," she said.

"It's my pleasure," I replied.

"If there's anything that I can do for you, it will be on me. I owe you one; just let me know," she said. After saying that, she took her leave and entered a car that was parked right outside the park.

A few minutes later, I was back at the dorm room. I found Max sitting there, like he had been waiting for me this entire time. "Where have you been?" he asked, with his arms folded to his chest.

"I went to the park to get some fresh air," I calmly replied. He began to study me carefully with his eyes, but I never showed any emotion.

"Did you go to the strip club?" My eyes widened at the sound of those words.

"Hell no!" I shouted. "Why the hell would I be there?"

"Where else would you be at this hour?"

"Like anywhere else."

"Anyway, I'm going to bed," Max said, as he got off the seat and threw himself onto the bed. I switched off the light, as I decided to go to bed as well.

***

I took a while last night to fall asleep because I kept thinking about what happened earlier that night - like, literally, I had Ava Wilder in my arms. So what if the situation wasn't favorable? It's still unbelievable to think about. I kept it from Max; I felt like it was something I should keep to myself. When I got close to campus, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I answered and said, "Hello."

"Hello, it's Mike from the sponsorship company. We deeply regret to inform you that we are relinquishing our sponsorship to you towards your studies," he said.

I was shocked at what I was hearing. I immediately dropped to the floor in confusion. "Why?" I asked.

"The company got into debt and can no longer pay for your studies," Mike replied. That's when Mike hung up the phone, and I was left there with the question of what I was going to do?

It took a while to get this chapter done, but it's done! What do you think is going to happen next in the next chapter? Leave it in the comments! And please 🙏 vote on the story to get more reads, so that they can also enjoy the story.