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No more.
Lily continues, “Connor said you both made GBA Entertainment News last night too.” I pegged him as a daily C-Span viewer. The guy still reads the paper. As in newspaper. Printed. In his hands.
“He watches entertainment news?” I say with cinched brows.
“That was my reaction.”
Maybe to check himself out. He is a narcissist.
I flip another comic, recalling other trending Twitter topics. “You also forgot about Garlow Engagement and Wilson Engagement.”
Fans still can’t decide on a ship name, which are dumb anyway. Willow loves ships though and even owns Raisy, Coballoway, and LiLo merch. She’s too kind to play favorites, so she supports all three of our ship names too.
“Does all of this bother you?” Lily asks me. “You and Willow never talk to us about the media presence.”
Because they’re the cause of our fame, and it feels shitty to complain when they’ve done a lot for us.
I shrug. “Being around you guys, it just comes with the territory, and we both kind of gradually stepped into it.” Thank God we weren’t thrown into the deep end at the start. If the paparazzi were all over me back then like they are now, I don’t think I could handle it.
I tilt a comic upside-down, the panel sort of backwards. Brown hair hangs in my eyes. Need a haircut. It’s starting to bug the fuck out of me.
My stomach is still in knots. And I know it’s not about my hair.
Paparazzi.
Coming home from the engagement in London was pure hell. Fans and media bum-rushed us at the airport, and I could barely see. Barely breathe. Rabid crowds, I’ve dealt with before, but for maybe the first time, the spotlight was centralized on me.
If I think too hard, I can still feel hands scraping down my arms. Tugging my body. Pulling at my shirt, choking me at the collar until Lo’s bodyguard shoved them away.
Sickness churns at the thought of that happening again.
But at some point soon, I have to go back to the airport. I have to see Willow.
And next time, Lo, Ryke, Connor, and their security won’t be with me.
“Lily…can I ask you something?” I peek over at Moffy, ensuring he’s not listening. Last thing I’d want is to scare him about the media. Especially when they’re raising their kids to be accustomed to crowds and cameras.
He’s climbed into a plushies box with Luna and chats to his sister. She baby-blabbers back.
Lily smiles fondly at her kids, then nods to me. “Sure.”
“I just…” I shake my head. Don’t complain. “Forget it. It’s stupid.” I chuck a comic aside.
“I bet it’s not.” She sidles closer.
I stare down at an issue called Battle of the Extent and just let it out. “The airport—I don’t want to be mobbed like that when I go to London alone.” I inhale. “I just…I don’t want to be touched like that again.”
Lily holds a breath, concerned. “Are you scared to go back to the airport?”
I shrug and then nod.
“I can ride to the airport with you when you need to go, and there’s this thing we can do.” She explains, “We can drive right up to the private plane and bypass the normal airport entrance?”
When Willow left for London, she did that, but I didn’t think the offer would ever be extended to me.
I frown. “We can do that?”
“We’ve done it before. The airport gives us permission because we cause a lot of disruption. It’s safer for us and for everyone else.”
“But it’s just me…I don’t usually fly in a private plane.”
“Yeah but you can take our planes alone. We don’t mind. We’d want you to.”
I’m already shaking my head. “It’s too much for just me.” I don’t know what I expected her to offer—but this feels like the entire world, and I just need…
I don’t know.
Air.
“Then I’ll send Garth with you,” she says, offering me her 24/7 bodyguard for travel. “He’s the best. If it’s only you, the crowds won’t be as bad. I know they won’t.”
I have a temporary bodyguard that I sometimes use. He’s okay, and I know that bodyguards who are constantly around the families and assigned to specific people are ten-times better. They’re trained for everything. Even kidnappings.
But I don’t love the idea of someone following me all day.
Even if they say nothing and just stand there.
It’s creepy.
Having two bodyguards in the airport would definitely help, so I nod to Lily.
“Have you told Willow?” she asks.
“No,” I force out, hoping she doesn’t tell her either. “If she knew, she’d start flying to Philly to see me instead of the other way around.” I lick my dry lips. “Willow gets anxiety when she’s stuck in the middle of crowds. I know she’d brave it out for me, but…”
“You want to brave this out for her,” she realizes.
I nod more firmly. “Yeah.”
Moffy shouts, “I think you’re brave, Uncle Garrison!”
