A Side Effect of Celebrity

Eleven

We all have to lead double lives, not just celebrities. The face we put on publicly with our jobs and certain situations. I think that's part of the human condition – Greg Kinnear

It's a date.

It's a date it's a date it's a date.

The words had been running through Claire's mind for the better part of days on a steady loop. Slowly, it was driving her mad. Mostly because she had no way to clarify with Jay what he meant by 'date.' Claire didn't know if he meant it as a guarantee that they would hang out and catch up after his weeks away or if he meant it like a date date.

She had tried to call him but the message had gone straight to voicemail. It had been the same the second time she attempted to get a hold of him. Claire soon realized the reason for the communication problems wasn't avoidance but rather because he was in Beijing and the time difference left them on totally opposite schedules. Add that to his busy schedule and Claire knew that the last thing he had time for her was her.

Though she could have left him a message or sent a text, it didn't seem the appropriate venue to clarify the questions she had. No, it was better to wait and ask Jay after he returned from his press tour tomorrow.

What Claire couldn't decide is if she wanted it to be a date date. Sure, Jay was nice and a great guy...but he was also a celebrity. And she was just...Claire. She wasn't famous, nor did she ever want to be. It also didn't make any sense for Jay to be interested in her romantically. Not when he had the entire world at his disposal. Jay could date actresses or singers or models if he wanted to.

From the quick Google search Claire had done on his dating history after their brief conversation, he had dated those people. His first documented relationship in the spotlight had been with one of his co-stars from his Disney show when he was fourteen. In the seven years since, he'd been linked to over a dozen famous girls.

Really, what was Claire compared to that?

She felt very insecure which was not an emotion that she was used to. Often, Claire felt quite confident in herself and where she'd stood in her past relationships. But even the slight prospect that Jay had meant this in a real romantic type of date had her clamming up and nervous.

Though since Claire had no way to get answers about what was going through Jay's mind, she forced herself not to think of him or what his words had meant. Instead, she focused on her two jobs and spending time with her parents. The summer had shifted from July into August and Claire was now also preparing for her upcoming college experience that would be starting in about a month. She browsed the course catalogue at NYU and even went to the campus bookstore so that she could begin reading some of the texts for her classes early.

Griffin was the one who came with her to the bookstore and then they spent the afternoon slowly making their way through Manhattan and back towards Brooklyn. They walked through midtown and then made their way towards the Upper East Side where they grabbed lunch at a little café around the corner from where Claire's mother's antique shop was located.

She was glad for the time that she and Griffin got to spend together, if only because they hadn't had the opportunity for much one-on-one time lately. Until recently, Griffin had been spending a fair amount of his free time off of work with Katrina but now Claire got the sense that he'd be around a lot more.

Yet there was something bothering Griffin that Claire still couldn't figure out. For most of the day, he'd been bright and upbeat. He'd laughed at her jokes and grinned at her over their sandwiches at lunch. They'd walked side-by-side and rode the subway standing close to each other without a hint of awkwardness.