Let's Be Alone Together

Chapter Three: So We Meet Again

Chapter Three: So We Meet Again

 

I returned home and immediately called my mom.

“You are never going to believe who I just met!” I exclaimed.

“Who?” my mom asked.

“Patrick Stump!”

“Oh my gosh, honey that’s great! I know how much you love him!” she replied.

I told her all about what had happened and told her that I would send her the picture as soon as I got off the phone with her. When I had finished talking to her, I sat down on my couch. I sent her the picture and then opened Instagram. I began to scroll down my newsfeed. And there, on Instagram, was the picture that Patrick and I had taken. The caption read: “Look who I just met. Fangirling.” He had tagged me in the picture, but I got so many notifications from fans tagging me in things that it must have gotten lost among them. I doubletapped to like the picture.

I then uploaded the selfie that we had taken and wrote underneath: “Still cannot believe I met Patrick Stump! Dying.” with a smiley emoji. I then uploaded the picture to my personal Facebook page so that my real friends and my family could see it too.

It had been a good day.

 

The next morning, I walked a few blocks to this little coffee shop that I had fallen in love with. It was one of the first places I found when I had moved into my apartment, and it was a place that I visited quite frequently. The staff had known me before anyone else in Hollywood did, and it was nice to be able to go somewhere and be treated like a normal person.

When I walked in, Cara greeted me. She was the owner of the place and was such a nice lady.

“How are you, Cara?” I asked her.

“Great, and you?” she replied.

“Really good,” I answered with a smile.

“The usual?” she said.

“Yes, please,” I told her with a smile. She began to make me a cup of mocha coffee, which was what I always got when I came here. She also grabbed a cinnamon raisin bagel and cut it in half, putting it in the toaster.

“So how is everything?” she asked, leaning on the counter while waiting for my bagel to toast.

“Good, I’ve just been really busy with advertising for the new movie,” I told her.

“Well I for one can’t wait to see it,” she said, smiling.

I smiled back. “Thanks.”

She grabbed my bagel out of the toaster and began to put cream cheese on it.

“How’re the kids?” I asked her. She had two kids, both of whom were in middle school.

“Oh, you know. The same old. Kristen just got an A on her latest project and Mike got another detention.” She laughed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy!”

I laughed too. “I’m sorry, Cara! Boys will be boys I guess.”

She shook her head as she wrapped my bagel. “That boy is going to drive me crazy.”

She handed my bagel to me and poured my coffee into a cup. The bell behind me dinged, signaling that another customer had just come in. She placed my coffee on the counter and began to ring me up.

“Scarlett?” said a voice behind me.

I turned around, and Patrick was standing there.

“Patrick. Hi,” I said, surprised to see him here.

“So we meet again. Twice in two days,” he replied, smiling.

“Are you following me?” I joked, handing my money to Cara.

“Definitely,” he responded sarcastically, making me laugh. He pointed at my coffee cup as he said, “What do you have there?”

“A mocha coffee. It’s my favorite,” I told him.

“Can I get a mocha coffee as well?” he asked Cara.

“Of course, sir,” she told him, and went to work making him one. She raised her eyebrows at me and I looked away. I’d explain later.

“So what brings you here?” I asked him.

“Well, I drove by here the other day and really wanted to try it,” he told me. “What about you?”

“It’s only a few blocks from my apartment, so I come here all the time.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” He looked around. I felt a bit awkward, not really knowing what to say. After all, I had only met him yesterday.

“I listened to Lay Me Down, and you were right. What a beautiful song,” he said, looking eager. I was shocked that he had actually taken the time to listen to the song I had told him about.

“Isn’t it?” I said, nodding. “The vocals on Sam Smith are just incredible.”

He nodded in agreement.

“What’re you doing tonight?” he suddenly asked me. I was taken aback a little bit, because I knew that he was married.

“I … um,” I hesitated. “Nothing actually.”

“Awesome, you should totally come to our concert tonight!” he said.

Phew. I smiled and told him, “I would love to.”

“We’re playing at the Roxy Theatre. Come around like 4 and you can meet the rest of the band. I’ll give you my number so that you can let me know when you get there,” Patrick said.

I handed him my phone and he put his number in.

“Just text me so I have your number,” he told me. I sent him a text saying, “Hey it’s Scarlett.”

“Cool, thanks,” he said aloud and added my number to his phone. Cara handed him his coffee at that moment and rang him up. He paid her and thanked her.

“See you soon, Cara,” I told her as Patrick and I walked out. She waved.

“I hate to leave again so soon, but I have to go pick Pete up because he’s too lazy to drive himself. I want to get to the venue early to help set up. I’ll see you soon though?” He posed the last part as a question, almost as if he wasn’t sure that I really wanted to come to the concert tonight.

“Yes, you will,” I replied, with a smile.

“Okay.” And with that, he turned and walked a few stores down and climbed into his car.

I started walking back towards my apartment, not believing my incredible luck. I was already deciding what to wear that night in my mind. Was wearing one of my Fall Out Boy t-shirts too fangirly of me to wear? Or would they be flattered by it? I sighed. Decisions, decisions.