Reality And Romance

Chapter 2

“Holy sh*t, it’s cold.” Libby muttered to herself, as she finally arrived at Hillcrest international.

In the end, she had chosen tight black pants with a silvery metallic top that hung down just low enough to reveal the smooth curves of her bre*sts. On her shoulders was Andrew’s dinner jacket. On her feet were a pair of comfortable flats, with a set of heels in her bag. The plan was to change into the heels on the top floor, because there was no way she was going to walk the twenty minutes to the building in four inch stilettos. Sure, Libby liked to look hot, but there was a limit. She only hoped Andrew’s date plan didn’t involve a lot of walking.

She walked inside the building. Libby wasn’t sure exactly what happened inside of there, much less why it made for a good place to meet before a date, but it sure as hell looked fancy. It was all sleek mahogany furniture and massive windows. Unsure if she was supposed to check in, she walked past the women at the desk and made her into the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor.

The hallway was dark, except for the windows on the wall that let through a small amount of light from the city and the glowing moon. It was beautiful. She stood there for a while admiring the view. After a couple of minutes passed, she started to get impatient. That was when a horrible thought struck. What if he wasn’t coming?

After all, he was Andrew Thompson. He was a celebrity. He should be dating long legged models, with perfect hair and perky bre*sts. Sure Libby looked good, but her appearance required maintenance goddammit! Libby needed a Wonderbra, about five pounds of makeup and a reliable pair of SPANX to look this good. There was no way she could compete with these women just looking like herself. Sure, she was okay, but okay didn’t date reality television stars.

Libby paused, as an even nastier thought entered her mind.

What if it was all a joke? What if he was only pretending to be interested in her? He was a reality TV star wasn’t he? Maybe this was part of that. There were plenty of prank shows around and although she had never seen anything like that happen on StarGazing, that wasn’t to say he couldn’t be a guest star on one of those shows. Sure he had seemed sincere, but how sincere could someone be when their first interaction with you was as a half-dressed lunatic, pummeling you with a light saber.

Libby groaned, debating whether she should leave or not. She had only been waiting five minutes, but her worries were taking a toll on her. As she readjusted her bag over her shoulder she heard a rustle.

“Took you long enough,” She began to say, but before she could finish a set of hands had grabbed her and hauled her up into the air.

Libby struggled with all her might, but she couldn’t break free. From what she could make out, the man who had grabbed her was in some kind of latex costume. He had opened the fire exit and was carrying her up a set of stairs and onto the roof. Adrenaline ran through Libby’s body like electricity. She couldn’t do anything while they were on the stairs, but once they got the top she would attack.

Fighting back the nauseous terrified feeling that was twisting her stomach, she bit the man as hard as she could, spitting out the blood that filled her mouth, and using his gasp of pain as an opportunity to grab one of her stilettos from the bag and pummel him with it.

“Ow, ow! Hey…stop!” The man called out, as she pounded the heel into his side. “Hey, it’s me.”

Libby paused and her eyes widened in disbelief, “Andrew?!”

“Yes!” He took off his mask. “Fu*k me, that really hurt. Why do all our encounters have to begin with you hitting me?”

Libby look at him, her eyes wide and disbelieving. “What the fu*k, do you think you are doing?”

Andrew shrugged, running a hand through his hair, “I thought maybe you would find it funny…you know, you attack me with a light saber…I….”

“Grab me out the blue and pull me onto the roof?” Libby finished for him, still furious.

“I guess I thought it would be romantic.” Andrew smiled weakly.

“Kidnapping me…is romantic? Are you fu*king insane?”

“I thought girls liked a little…danger.” She raised an angry, incredulous eyebrow. “But I now see that I was very, very wrong.”

 “Oh yea, danger is really romantic. Put a ransom on my life and maybe we’ll get married.”

“Alright, look I’m sorry. I’m just new to this whole dating thing.” He held his hands up in surrender.

“Well, tip number one is not to kidnap your date, if you’re looking for romantic gestures flowers and perfume will do.”

“I’m not really sure what I was thinking. I’m really sorry.”

Libby frowned. “Alright. But don’t pull that sh*t again. Also this date had better be amazing.”

Tentatively, Andrew smiled. “It will be.”

“I mean like life changing amazing.”

“I’ll try my best. If I haven’t freaked you out too much, then follow me.” He held out his hand, and she took it tentatively. His grip was strong, and his skin was warm. It felt nice, really nice. So nice, she could almost forgive the whole kidnapping thing. Almost.

As they began their walk to wherever the hell they were supposed to be going for their date, Libby took a moment to more closely observe the outfit Andrew had selected for their date.

“What’s up with the costume anyway?” She asked.

“You know who I am right?”

“Andrew Thompson, from StarGazing.”

“Have you watched the show?”

Libby flushed and Andrew smirked. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”

“Only ironically.” Libby lied. There was nothing ironic about her love for a good set of shoulder muscles.

“Then you’ve seen the press outside the mansion.”

“Yea, but I thought that was just part of the show. To demonstrate what big celebrities you guys are.”

Andrew sighed, “I wish. They’re not just outside the mansion, they’re everywhere and they can get pretty rabid. I thought things would be hard for you if they saw us dating. It might get nasty. I don’t want to expose you to that, not yet at least.”

“So the latex one piece…”

“It’s a disguise, I wanted to see you, but I wasn’t sure how to escape the press. I was watching Spiderman, and I figured, maybe this would be the best way. A duel identity kind of thing.”

“You dressed up as a superhero and kidnapped me?”     Andrew laughed guilty, “I guess when you put it that way it does seem a little insane.”

 “Just a little,” she exhaled. “Well, you’re interesting, I’ll give you that.” In all honesty, she wasn’t sure what to make of this man. He was sexy, but also seemed clinically fu*king insane. That said, she had attacked him soaking wet, in a Star Wars shirt, with a light saber the first time they had met, so maybe it was one of those bird of a feather affairs.

“My brother, and this other guy McKenzie, you might have heard of him, he’s a journalist, been on the show a couple of times….”

“Yea I know him, he’s the punky green haired guy, right?”

“Yea that’s him.”

Libby grinned, he had a lightly mean look around him, but not in a bad way, the way a highway man, or a lawless cowboy in a television show might. As far as Libby was concerned, Aaron had good taste.

“The producers decided to hide his relationship with my brother. They thought it might ruin Aaron’s image as ‘a player’. I thought it was awful, I don’t want that to happen to us.”

“You think they’d hide me?”