“It’s okay, Cam,” Lacey told her with a genuine smile on her face. “I can take it for you if you want,” she offered.
“Oh, my God! Yes, please. Thank you,” the woman said and handed Lacey her phone.
They stood up, and the moment they did, Cameron knew what would happen next. Everyone stared as Lacey took a few shots and handed the woman back her phone.
“Thank you so much,” the woman said.
“No problem,” she replied, and when she sat back down, she told Lacey, “I’m going to have to go soon.”
“Why?”
“Can we, I don’t know, go somewhere else?”
“Are you asking formeor foryou?” Lacey asked back and took a drink of her coffee.
“Both, Lace. This is my life, but you haven’t signed up for it. If you want to go, we can. I also don’t look great today, for obvious reasons.”
“I think you do,” Lacey replied. “I always think you look great, though. On a big screen, a billboard, the TV, in a bikini top and board shorts, after you just woke up and walked into the living room with somewhat messy hair. I can go on.”
Cameron smiled at her and replied, “Lacey Sue, are you flirting with me right now?”
Lacey chuckled and asked, “Do you want to go?”
Two people off to the side aimed their phones at them and could’ve been taking photos or recording. Cameron didn’t know which, but she didn’t want anyone to overhear this conversation or have it recorded.
“Yes, let’s go. If they post any of those online, paparazzi could be here soon. It’s not LA, but anyone with a phone can get paid for a picture now, so I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Want to go to the park down the street?”
“I’ll get us coffees to-go,” Cameron offered.
“They were pretense anyway, Cam. Let’s just go.”
Cameron nodded, and when they stood, she wanted to take Lacey’s hand and walk her out of the café past the now two more people holding out their phones at the door.
“Excuse us,” she said and motioned for Lacey to go first before she held the door for her and followed her out. “I’ll drive.”
“You’d have to. I walked here.”
“You walked?”
“I live down the street. And I can’t stay long. I have an appointment in an hour and have to get home to get my table and car, obviously.”
“Okay. Well, by the time we get to the park and actually sit down, we–” She paused and looked over at Lacey. “You totally did this on purpose, didn’t you? Gave us less than an hour to hang out and had an excuse ready to go?”
“Excuse? Cam, I work for a living,” Lacey told her with a little laugh. “It’s a weekday. Why do you think I asked if you could meet so early? I didn’t have an appointment first thing today, but I… I didn’t want to wait until the weekend to see you, either.”
“I’ll drive you home, Lace.”
“I don’t need to gonow. We can go to the park.”
Cameron noticed a few people on the sidewalk, suddenly very interested in her conversation, so she nodded for Lacey to head into the parking lot. Once they were inside her car, Cameron turned it on and pulled them out of the lot as quickly as she could.
“I’m sorry about that. No one knows yet that Ken and I broke up. We still need to tell Jessie and figure out a plan to announce it. I also don’t want you to have to deal with a bunch of people asking you to take a picture for them. I’m not trying to scare you off.”
“Cam, I grew up in Southern California. I’ve spent a lot of time in LA. I know how this works. It’s weird, yeah, but it doesn’t bother me.”
“It will,” she said. “Like when you’re just minding your business, sitting at a table, trying to ask a beautiful woman to go out with you, but you get interrupted by someone wanting a picture.”
