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“It was right here a second ago...” I muttered, genuinely mystified.
Then the whispers started, creating a ripple of excitement coursing through the Starbucks patrons. A few of the girls started laughing.
“What a psycho!”
“Oh my god! Is that—is that who I think it is?”
“Alice Darling? Holy shit—you’re right!”
“She’s obviously on drugs,” another girl chimed in with a sense of authority. “Look at her. Did you see that video on YouTube of her falling out of a limo without any underwear on?”
“Yeah! Did you hear that she hired a bunch of child laborers to make her shoes in some horrendous overseas sweatshop?”
“What a greedy piece of shit,” the ringleader said before casting her judgmental gaze at me. “Hey Alice! Dobetter!”
My heart was thumping so fast that I felt like throwing up. I needed to get out of there before these underage bitches ate me alive or the paparazzi showed up.
“Officer, I swear I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all just a misunderstanding. Please, I just need to get home. My lawyers can deal with whatever questions you have.”
Alice?My heart froze at the sound of Jack’s voice in my head.Where are you?
“I’m at Starbucks. Can you get me out of here?”
I’m trying find you, but I don’t remember what it looked like. I was only there for five seconds.
“It’s got big windows,” I told him, whirling around as I tried to find him.
“Who the fuck is she talking to?” one of the girls asked her friend.
The two police officers shared a glance. Then one of them called for backup. I knew the codes for murder and robbery and an overdose, but I didn’t recognize the code they called in for me.
Desperation clawed at my throat. Why was no one listening to me? Why did no one believe me?
I rubbed my temple and gazed down at my feet...my silvery-gold encased feet, and that’s when it dawned on me—
I was still dressed in my battle armor.
I lifted my left arm in front of my face, studying the intricate engravings on the custom-built gauntlets Jack had created for me. Anxiety bloomed throughout my entire body as I looked at my armor, then at the Starbucks seasonal menu, then back to my armor.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” I said, my voice shaking. “I’m perfectly sane.”
“I dunno, it kinda looks like Alice Darling is having a mental health crisis at Starbucks,” one of the girls taunted as she aimed her phone’s camera at me. For all I knew, she was live-streaming this entire incident.
“Maybe she’s doing cosplay? Or a movie?” my favorite barista suggested. They gave me a helpless wave of recognition, accompanied by an awkward smile, not knowing what else to do.
“Really? Huh. She’s even taller in person.”
“You think I can I get a selfie with her?”
I groaned as more people lifted their phones and started snapping photos and taking video.
As if my life wasn’t already spiraling into chaos, now I had the added weight of my famous name bearing down on me.
All I wanted in that moment was to crawl into Jack and Chess’s arms. When they looked at me, they didn’t define me by the worst moments of my life the way everybody else in the world did. My eyes started to sting as I realized the horrible mistake I’d just made.
“Alright, everyone calm down,” another officer intervened, attempting to diffuse the situation. “Put the phones away. Let’s get statements from everyone involved and sort this out.”
“Statements? For what?” I hissed, my anxiety flaring. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”
