The Crew | On Hold

Chapter 25

"I was planning on giving these to you today, but..." Andrew smiles sweetly as he hands me a bouquet of flowers. There are a lot of flowers in the bouquet and my heart flips from joy when I see lilies, white roses and baby pink peonies. They all look beautiful together, but their scent combined is just wonderful, reminding me of summer weddings.

"Andrew... They're so pretty!" I choke, trying to conceal the sadness in my voice, caused by the realisation that I have to give this beautiful bouquet away.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiles and shifts from one foot to another, putting his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

I look at him, my vision starting to blur as my eyes fill with tears of joy. "I don't just like it. I love it, Andrew."

A strong impulse to kiss him almost takes a hold of me, but thankfully my mind becomes overly aware that there are people around us in the studio's parking lot, so, instead, I lean in to hug him in a friendly way, pulling back quite quickly as stress bites on my nerves about our secret love confessions.

Andrew smiles a cheeky smile, and pulls out a small box from the trunk of his expensive-looking Tesla. It is a beautiful car, completely white and neatly vacuumed. Even the trunk is organised and clean, making me feel a bit ashamed that I am not this organised in any way.

"Let's go?" He asks as I eye the small box. It's no bigger than my palm and I wonder what's inside there. A necklace? Earrings? Car keys? With Andrew you never know.

We walk through the security and are met by Matilda, who is holding a massive bunch of balloons. They are all multicoloured and filled with helium so they float in the chilly fall breeze like grass stems do in a summer breeze.

"They're so pretty!" I exclaim in awe. I see Andrew smile from the corner of my eye, so I turn to look at him. Our eyes meet for a few seconds, but I manage not to swoon under his gaze. Instead, I focus on the environment around us.

Matilda smiles at us. "Those are really beautiful flowers, Emma." She compliments and I notice tiny crowfeet appear around her eyes as she smiles. She is not really that much older - maybe in her late-twenties or early-thirties, but her eyes are already starting to get surrounded with tiny lines. Not that it is bad - my mother told me she had crowfeet around her eyes at the age of 17.

Every couple of seconds my mind wanders off to dwell on the memories of the best weekend I had with Andrew. How we kissed. How warm he felt. How nice it felt to talk to him, to reveal my secrets. Even now it is enjoyable to be standing so close to him, feeling the warmth that is radiation off of his body... If only I could snuggle up to him. But I can't.

"Do you need any help?" I offer, hoping that doing something would take my mind away from the guilty and craving part of my brain that is annoyingly thinking about Andrew all the time. I made a promise to myself that I was going to act like nothing happened, but here I am, desperately fighting the urge to lean into Andrew, kiss him and even look at him longer than three seconds.

Matilda looks around her. "Hmm, I'm all set here." She scratches her scalp and the sleeve of her white business-like jacket rides down, exposing a tattoo. It is a small tattoo, some sort of a colourful drawing, but, before I can understand what is pictured there, she quickly re-adjusts the sleeve, hiding the tattoo from my curious eyes. "I guess you can call everyone here. Anna is going to be here in 10 minutes."

I nod, and break out in a light jog towards the trailers. People are already standing outside them in a big circle, and I can hear Alex's voice loud and clear in the middle. "Alright, so you take this, Marie. Ella, you need to carry the plates and forks for me. Michael, could you carry the cake, please? Make sure you don't drop it, big guy."

The crew members quickly obey Alex's orders, and the circle soon splits up. People are scurrying through Alex and Matilda's trailer, carrying out what they've been told to carry. For a second I admire their fast pace and ability to follow commands so well. Thank God this crew has literally no one I'd want to trade for another person. Every one of them is nice, friendly and obey orders without a single word.

"Hey!" I call out, causing a blush to appear on my face. I'm not used to being in the spotlight, so this feels awkward to me. Anna is usually the one to command. I just obey. Now they're all staring at me, and waiting for me to give orders. What a weird feeling! "Anna is going to be here in 10. Get your stuff and get down to the security, where Matilda will tell you where to stand exactly!" I instruct. My eyes scan the small crowd, quickly jumping over Mila's annoyed gaze. "If anyone needs help with carrying or doing something, please let me know."

As I finish my small speech, the crew members all stare at me for an extra second, and then they all start to rush again, reminding me of an ant's nest. The buzz is exactly the same here as it is in the nest. And Anna is our Queen Ant.

Nobody asks for help, so I just tag along Nicole, who is the last one to go. Her blonde locks are tied up in a bun and, as usual, her outfit makes her look a lot older and meaner than her face does. She's not mean, of course, but she does appear to be intimidating. Probably because of those army boots and leather pants that make her appear like a badass girl.

The both of us don't speak much. She compliments me on the bouquet, I compliment her on the pretty jewellery case with Anna and the crew's names on it. Anna's name is big and bold, of course, since it's her gift, but the rest of the crew's names are on the case, too, making it more personal and sweet. No doubt Anna will love it.

We barely make it to the security, as ovations break out, signalling that Anna has arrived. After a second, she does appear, carrying a massive white box that is usually used for carrying cakes. A brilliant smile is plastered on her face as the crew starts singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. A tear escapes Anna's right eye and I can tell that everyone's hearts just swoon.

My eyes search for Andrew in the crowd, since he is not standing here I left him, but, when I finally find him, my breath gets stuck in my throat as my eyes focus on Andrew's arm around Mila's waist. 

Hello, my dear reader! Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, that you'll vote for it, and, most importantly, that you'll continue reading the story. :)