A Side Effect of Celebrity

Nine

You become a celebrity, not because of your work or what you do, but because you have no privacy – Lisa Kudrow

"Brace yourself," Griffin said as he stood in the doorway of Claire's apartment. His mossy green eyes were insistent.

"What?" Claire asked.

She was still in her pyjamas, chestnut hair a ratted nest. It had been the abrasive knock at the front door that had roused her from sleep. The banging hadn't halted until she'd run from her bedroom and thrown the door open.

Claire certainly hadn't been expecting to see Griffin standing in front of her. A few days had passed since they'd last seen each other. They'd each been working a lot and with Claire adding the extra time in her schedule to do the dog-walking run-throughs with Jay, her availability to hang out with her friends had decreased substantially over the last week.

There wasn't time for Griffin to respond to Claire's request for more information when a person using the force akin to a battering ram shouldered its way past him. Short and pale with hair of deep violet and wearing an expression that was absolutely murderous.

Ellie.

Oh crap, Claire thought. Her stomach began to drop. This can't be good.

Indeed it wasn't. In fact, it was worse than bad. Hell, it was worse than really really bad.

"Are you dating Jay Dawson?!" Ellie screeched. Behind her, Griffin gently closed the door but he didn't remove his eyes from the scene that was unfolding before him.

Claire's mouth opened and closed like a fish. She forgot how to speak. Forgot what words were as every thought eddied out of her head.

Ellie thrust her phone into Claire's face and it was there that Claire realized what the situation truly was. Beneath a headline that read 'Could This Be Jay Dawson's New Leading Lady?' was a photo of Claire. Not a clear one and not even one of her face. It was the back of her head taken two days ago as Jay had escorted her out of his apartment building after her first trial run of walking Scout. Jay could be seen just behind her in the doorway, a broad and bright smile on his face.

For those that didn't know her, there would be no way to know that it was Claire in the image. Even the article below, which Claire quickly scrolled through, didn't mention her by name. Though as her shoulders slumped in relief, Claire also realized that she wasn't out of the woods.

Especially as Ellie began tapping her foot against the ground, waiting for an answer.

Claire swallowed thickly, her eyes darting between her two friends as she handed Ellie's phone back. "It's not what it looks like."

"Oh really?" Ellie said dryly. "My best friend is hanging out with mega superstar celebrities and all she can say is 'it's not what it looks like?'"

Beneath the sharp tone was barely concealed hurt within Ellie's blue eyes. Griffin wasn't as outwardly disturbed but from the tick in his jaw to the furrowed dark brows, Claire knew that he was feeling equally wounded.

It wasn't a betrayal really but this kind of news was huge and something that most people shared with their friends. After all, it wasn't often that a regular person was on a first-name basis with, as Ellie had called him, a mega superstar celebrity. Yet telling her friends and family that she knew Jay Dawson felt like a betrayal of his trust and privacy. It was a delicate line to walk and Claire found that perhaps she hadn't been toeing it as well as she'd thought that she had.