I groan. “Mm. Oh, shit. Did I fall asleep while you were telling me about the production assistant who always bakes cookies?”
“Yes.”
“I’m so sorry. I want to hear that story. I want to hear all of yourYard Linestories.”
He squeezes my shoulder, then starts pouring the drinks. “Trust me, I didn’t mind. I liked it. I run my mouth all day in interviews talking about my career, and when I saw you sleeping soundly it just made me happy.” He glances up at me. “You fall asleep a lot more easily these days.”
“I do. No liquor means my sleep is deeper, actually.”
I don’t ask if Emily walked in to see me lying on the couch with Logan this morning, or if he was awake before then.
“I’ve got the webcam set up for you over here,” Emilycalls over to Logan from the dining table. “It’s a great shot of Central Park through the windows behind you, so it’ll look good on TV.”
“Got it,” Logan says. He squeezes my waist gently before he walks over to sit in front of his computer.
Only a minute later, the sound of a screaming crowd starts to come from the little laptop speaker in front of him. Then the morning TV show host starts to talk over the crowd.
“Well, good morning everybody out there waiting to hear from everyone’s favorite TV fantasy boyfriend, Logan Stone! As you can see, we’ve got a sea ofYard Linefans here waiting to see the actor who plays Damien Vance, or Big D, on the award-winning show. Logan, can you hear me?”
I lean on the counter in the kitchen, looking over toward Logan, watching him morph into Logan Stone, the superstar.
When he answers the TV host, the crowd in the background goes nuts all over again. They proceed with the interview, and first the host asks him some questions before moving on to invite a few audience members to come up and ask things.
One fan asks him if he always knew he wanted to be an actor.
“Yes,” Logan says. “There was never a question in my mind. I was in a play when I was six, where I had a tiny part where I played an orphan kid by the seaside selling taffy. My only line wasstrawberry, vanilla, or orange cream, get your taffy here!”
The crowd erupts into laughter as he tells the story.
Another fan asks him about his hobbies, and he says he doesn’t have enough of them, because he’s always busy with work, but that he used to build Lego sets all the time.
Didn’t know that.
Very cute.
Another comes up, and with a nervous voice, asks what he loved about theYard Linescript when he first read it.
So many people are nervous to speak to Logan.
I get to be here, in his hotel room, anytime I want, and when I first met him I didn’t even know who he was.
Lucky, lucky.
Seeing Logan the way the rest of the world sees him always throws me off.
It’s like he’s part of this biggerthingthat fame threw him into, and somehow I slipped behind the curtain. Logan nods thoughtfully at the woman’s question aboutYard Line, and I’m amazed at how he’s taking every question seriously, not just tossing off canned answers to please the crowd.
“I loved that the show focuses on the transformative power of football,” he says. “A lot of football shows focus on the masculine bravado of the sport, or the glory of winning a game. ButYard Lineis more personal. I get to play a man who seems perfect out on the field, but inside he’s struggling so deeply. It meant a lot to me to have that nuance.”
The final fan who asks him a question actually begins to cry as she speaks to him.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s really you,” she whispers, trying to collect herself. “Okay. Wow. Well, I wanted to ask if you ever see yourself doing theater again? A Broadway play?”
Logan nods. “Thank you so much for your question. I would love doing theater again. I won’t be able to while I’m still starring inYard Line, because I have to be in LA to film. But if I was cast in a Broadway play, I’d happily spend time in New York.”
I look down at the kitchen counter. I swirl the espresso in my cup and pick it up, tossing it back and letting the bitter coffee hit my tongue. My heart’s doing a little backflip in my chest, and as the TV host wraps up the segment with Logan, I tune out, looking out through the windows toward Central Park.
It was just a question.
