Alright, be cool, be cool, I thought. I was trying my hardest not to freak out or scream in his face but really, what would you have done if you were standing face-to-face with your celebrity crush of 9 years? Probably screaming. I should get an award for not screaming right now. But why am I not screaming? My voice has been knocked out of me by the sexy man in the room.
I opened my mouth to say something cool, like "Sup bro," or even a "Hi, nice to meet you," would be better than the reality. I started talking, but instead of words, an odd sound - a cross between a quack and the bleat of a goat - escaped my lips.
I quickly covered my mouth in shock. Did I seriously just quack/bleat? DID I JUST QUEAT? IN FRONT OF JOSH HUTCHERSON? No. I was definitely getting this whole "celebrity" thing wrong right now.
Josh looked at me expectantly and gives me a reassuring smile, as if to say that whenever I was ready, he'd be ready to talk. Aww, that's so sweet! I find sweetness is a really sexy trait in a guy...
NO!!! Alondra, pull yourself together! I thought. Gosh woman! If you think of him that way, you'll only make this harder! That sounded incredibly wrong...ew...I am really not helping myself right now.
Deep breaths. That's all I needed. Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...
Okay. I was finally calm. My racing heart had now at a normal pace. I hadn't realized until that moment that my eyes had been squeezed shut to prevent myself from looking at Josh again and freaking out.
After a few more deep breaths to ensure that I was really calm, I slowly opened my eyes and turned back to Josh.
"Hi," I said quietly.
He grinned. "Hello," he said. "It's great to meet you, I've heard only great things."
When Adele said it, I smiled. When Josh said it, I blushed profusely and looked down at my feet. Why is it so hard for me to talk to this guy?
"It's great to meet you, too, I loved you in the Hunger Games," I answered.
Okay, REALLY? 'I loved you in the Hunger Games?' Did I just indirectly say that I love him? WHAT IS MY PROBLEM WITH THIS???
Josh smiled. "Well, thank you. I'd be lying if I said I didn't love your music." He bit his lip and looked down.
Wait, what? How do I answer that? MEHHH this is hard...
"Um...thank you!"
Josh and I both looked down at our feet, unsure about what to say next. Well that was awkward. Ooh, Awkward. I could definitely go for an episode of Awkward. right now...
NO! Stahp it, Alondra, Stahp. You're about to be on TV, calm down.
HOLY DAMN I'm about to be on TV!
I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering the same time the year before and comparing it to then. The year before, I had been watching the TCA's with Katie and Chantal, watching Demi Lovato and Adele accepting awards, and now I was at the TCA's, next to Adele and Josh Hutcherson, and maybe I would be accepting an award too.
This would be a great thought to share with Josh without seeming too strange! I thought. I mean, I'm not entirely normal (but then again, nobody is), but it can't hurt to make Josh think I'm normal, at least until he sees who I really am. If he's the guy I think and hope he is, then he would still like me for who I am.
Okay Alondra, I thought. Very slowly, you're going to open your eyes...and you will not scream when you see him. He's just a normal guy, like the ones you went to high school with...only hotter. Well, except for that one guy...was his name Jacob? Yeah, he was cute...but Josh is cuter. And if you scare him away, you're screwed.
I slowly lifted my eyelids. I blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light and took a deep breath. I turned toward Josh at a reasonable pace so he wouldn't think I'm insane.
As much as I tried to calm myself down, my mind was definitely not prepared for what I was seeing. Talking to your celebrity crush was one thing, but this...this is beyond that.
Seeing Josh Hutcherson having a slightly-more-than-friendly conversation with Taylor Swift is a little bit more than I had prepared myself for.
I felt a pang of jealousy as I watched him tell her jokes and she laughed a bit harder than she should have. I mean really? She had had so many boyfriends, why couldn't she have just let me have this one? I mean, Josh isn't just some prize to be won, but I didn't want Taylor to use him when I knew I could have treated him so much better, the way he deserved.
I thought I had left this insane drama behind when I graduated from high school.
