"Are you Chloe?"
Emma had to yell over the noise of the crowd even though she was almost standing next to the woman now who gave her a smile and nodded, knowing it was too loud to say anything in response. She seemed to welcome Emma easily as if knowing Chase was enough to be welcomed in this place.
She turned to see the three actors smiling and waving on stage while the moderator for their panel was standing off to the side. Vanessa was blowing kisses to the crowd while Hunter was casually waving.
And then there was Chase, who was totally hamming it up. He was pointing at people in the crowd, waving at others, moving across the stage to make sure everyone got a chance to see him. It definitely matched his personality — or at least the version of his personality that Emma saw when she first met him. He seemed to have mellowed out a bit around her now, like when they sat on the side of his pool and it was just the two of them with a bottle of wine and leftover cake.
But in this moment, he was movie star Chase Warwick making sure everyone in the crowd knewthat he saw all of them, and that they saw him.
And that's when someone gave him a mic. Oh, this was going to be interesting.
"Lyonhearts, how are ya?" he yelled to more roars from the crowd. "You all look amazing! And I'm not just saying that because you're the crowd in front of us."
The crowd laughed at his little joke as he charmed this group so well that Emma couldn't help but get pulled into it. His co-stars and the moderator took seats behind him, but Chase was still standing up front taking over the spotlight. It almost seemed like this was something he had done before, like he was the hype guy who warmed up the crowd before they started a panel to make everyone from his co-stars to the fans more comfortable.
"I see some new fans out there and some familiar faces too. Andrea, you know I'm talking about you." He pointed to a middle-aged woman with brown hair in the front row who waved back at him. "And I thought I saw Danny somewhere." His eyes scanned the crowd until he found a man on the side with his hand up. "On the left! Well, my left, your right. You know what I mean." He pretended to get a little flustered and the crowd laughed in response. "Before we get started, I just wanted to acknowledge another familiar face that isn't with us tonight. Some of you may remember Dorothy Colton."
"Nana!"
Emma's head snapped to the sound of her grandmother's name somewhere back in the crowd. Emma thought she was the only one who called her grandmother "Nana" but it seemed like everyone in the Project Lyonheart fandom, and even the other actors, called her that.
"Yes, Nana." He gave the fan a small smile, then took a deep breath and looked out over the crowd. "Unfortunately, Dorothy passed away a month ago and it's just been a real loss for our Lyonheart fandom."
"Oh no," came a quiet voice in the crowd.
Emma turned to see some of the fans looking sad, one wiping their eyes. She heard a few sniffles too. It started to make her get a little choked up on her own. She knew Nana had stories about seeing friends at some of these conventions, especially people who also lived in southern California and would go to these things together. But she didn't realize just how many people from this fandom knew her grandmother. It was touching and a bit unnerving too. She knew her grandmother liked to keep this part of her life as her own and not drag Emma to these conventions, but now Emma wondered what she had been missing.
She wondered if maybe this challenge with Chase was Nana's way of showing Emma this part of her life.
She could understand why Nana may have wanted her to see some of this, especially to see Chase in this room looking at Emma with a warmsmile on his face.
"I did bring a guest with me this weekend though. Dorothy's granddaughter Emma is here, so can you all say hi to her?"
Chase gestured towards Emma standing off to the side and everyone started clapping for her. It felt weird to see people smiling and even getting a few woos from the crowd, but it was nice. It was good. She was even keeping it together instead of breaking out in tears, which surprised her. It was just a lovely way to acknowledge her grandmother.
No one seemed to be smiling as big as Chase was, standing in front of the crowd clapping along with a warm look on his face. He even gave her a wink before bringing the mic back up to address the crowd.
"Alright, alright. That was lovely, thank you," he said as he took a bow to the crowd. "Now if you've been to these things before, you may have been lucky enough to have Nana compliment you on a question you asked. So let's do Nana proud and chat a little and then take some great questions from the audience. How does that sound?"
The crowd cheered again and Chase finally started to head to his seat for the panel discussion. As soon as he sat down, he looked back to check on Emma and catch her eye. She couldn't help but smile and give him a small wave and she saw him wink at her again.
What a weird turn of events this was turningout to be. She felt like things were changing between her and Chase, and yet she couldn't acknowledge it — at least not yet — because Chase was up on stage in his element talking to his fans. Real feelings would have to wait for later.
Chapter Eleven
Chase found this bar in Palm Springs a few years ago when he was in town for a press junket for a movie he did. The movie bombed, but The Platinum Bar became a part of his visits in the city. He liked the high-backed booths that gave him privacy to enjoy his drink without people bugging him, and the staff had a reputation of treating celebrities well without going overboard.
He also liked bringing Nana here during a convention. It wasn't a high-end bar, but she would still show up for their "date" in a pair of black pants and a nice shirt that was usually a little grandmotherly. It reminded him of his own grandmothers who both died when he was a teenager.
The first time he had a drink with her was an accident. They both ended up at the same place, and he noticed her eyes go wide when he sat down next to him at the bar. He had chosen that seat because he thought she was just a nice old lady and didn't realize she was a fan. Nana started by asking him a question or two about the Project Lyonheart movies, but the conversation turned to their shared origins in the Midwest, their favorite old movies, and the best songs from the eighties.
And that's how it became a normal thing they would do at conventions. On their nights out, Nana would occasionally bring up her granddaughter — "Conventions aren't her thing, but maybe I'll get to her come one day!" Chase would mention a friend of his from home scoring tickets to a Packers game and they would talk about football and Nana would ask about his parents.
He did a few conventions in California every year since they were easy to get to. He would usually see Nana at a few of them. This convention in Palm Springs was always a highlight for him because it was smaller than some of the big conventions and felt like he had a closer connection to the fans. He also made sure to carve out some time on Friday night to have a drink with Nana even if it was only a martini or two. It was just their thing to sit in a booth in the back of The Platinum Bar together for a few hours.
Nana was the only fan Chase had this tradition with and he always liked seeing her. Maybe that's why tonight felt different. Tonight at The Platinum Bar without Nana was when he realized he missed her the most.
And yet he was still enjoying his time in this booth at this bar because Emma was sitting across from him with a smile on her face as their martinis arrived.
