Who They Really Are

eight

Kat feels the heat reach her as she walks outside, letting the door close behind her. She looks around and realizes she's in a small parking lot at the back of the building.

"What do I do now..." She whispers aloud.

"Do you have a habit of talking to yourself?" A deep voice says from behind her. Kat jumps, then turns to see who it was that said it.

The person is hidden in a shadow, but Kat can see his cigarette smoke trailing up to the sky.

"Do you have a habit of doing things that will end up killing you?" She returns, crossing her arms.

The person laughs, then stands up and slowly emerges.

"I do actually," he says, now completely serious.

He's standing fully in the moonlight now. "I'm Noel. And you're... Kat?"

Kat nods. "You're the lead singer in the band that played tonight, aren't you?"

Noel nods. "And you're every American teen's choice model," he says with a smirk.

Kat shrugs. "Apparently. I don't see why."

"I do," Noel says mysteriously, but before Kat can respond he's asking her a question.

"What're you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, couldn't I?"

They both start to laugh, when all of a sudden they hear voices getting closer.

"The guy told me she went out back. She's gotta be somewhere around here."

"What's she look like again?"

"Tall, blonde, hot..."

Noel looks at Kat with a confused look on his face.

"Damn. That douche must've told the paparazzi where I went," Kat says, worry starting to fill her voice.

But Noel doesn't even question anything. He just grabs her hand and starts to walk in the opposite direction of where the voices were coming from. "C'mon."

Kat knows she shouldn't be following this random guy she just met down a dark alley, but he seems trustworthy enough and she really just wants to get out of the photographer's area. Then she can just ditch him and go back to her hotel.

Noel leads Kat down the alley then down a small, narrow street filled with little shops and restaurants. He stops at a café that had a little neon sign on the door saying "open all night".
He opens the door for Kat as she walks in, then follows behind her.

"Grab a table. I'll be right back."

Kat gives him a look, but makes her way to a little booth in the corner. There's only one other person here, some older man reading a book.

Weird... Kat thinks to herself, then notices that the café is also a small bookshop, too.

"I don't know if you even like coffee, but I got you some anyways. You look like you need some energy," Noel says, handing her a cup.

"I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I can really use it right now. Thank you," Kat says.
Noel slides in the seat across from her and takes a sip of his own drink.

"Thank you for getting me out of there, too. This guy must've tipped off the paparazzi for where I went," Kat says with a sigh, waiting for Noel to question her about who would've done it.

But he doesn't. He just nods, taking another sip of his drink.

"How'd you know about this place?" Kat asks.