In the Crowd (Tye)

Chapter 4

Nico ripped open the bag of chips, making loud, annoying sounds. “I’m guessing we’ll be buying that too?” I asked him. Nico shook his head.

“Nah, already bought it.” He reached over the cart to grab food off of a shelf. “Can we get this too?” Without waiting for my response, he dropped the box into our grocery cart. I shifted the sunglasses that I wore to get a better look around the store. Ace had insisted we wore them so that fans wouldn’t recognize us. No such luck. We just looked like damn idiots.

“Nico! Nico! Do you want me to buy this for you?” this girl screeched, batting her eyelashes. Nico smiled at her.

“Thanks,” he replied. The girl sighed in that stupid way girls do and ran over to the cash register. News people swarmed around us, taking pictures and videotaping.

“Huynh! Omigod it’s Huynh!!! I love you!” A million girls were screeching. A few ran over to me and stuck out a notepad. “Can I please have your autograph?!” they begged me. I was tempted to ignore them again but Bailey would get even more pissed at me. I sighed before turning to look at them.

Flashing them a sweet smile reporters said “girls loved” I signed their notebooks. When I gave it back to them they squealed even louder. “THANK YOU!!” one screeched while another trapped me in a hug. This set them off and I soon found myself squished between who knows how many girls. I forced myself to smile at them while constantly looking at Nico for help. The dude totally ignored me as he went searching for toilet paper.

The stupid girls started chattering to me, as if we were good friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while. Talking about their stupid boyfriends, how they wished those guys were more like me… and this was all caught on tape.

Goawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoaway…

Nico finally came back. “Excuse me,” he said to the girls who clustered around. “Tye, I can’t find the cookies,” he said. One girl perked up.

“I’ll get it for you!” she squealed and ran off. They followed her, fighting over getting cookies.

“I actually already have it,” Nico said as the cashier rung up our things.

“Thanks man,” I replied. The cashier, a girl (how did I guess?), kept glancing at us. When I handed her my Safeway members card her eyes widened.

“I knew it!” she screamed. “You are from Hourglass!” No shit Sherlock. “I kept wondering why so many people were screaming around you…” she went on and on. Who was this woman exactly? She looked like she could be my mother’s age. Good lord… When she finished ringing up our things she stopped her endless babble.

Eyes sparkling she asked, “May I keep your sunglasses?” What the hell? “My daughter is such a big fan!” The woman looked so hopeful, she reminded me kind of my mom in some way. Pulling off the glasses I shrugged. As soon as I placed them on the counter the woman swiped them up and hugged it to her chest. “Thank you!”

I drove back to the apartment. We could’ve always taken the limo but it just wasn’t my style. It seemed way too cliché. My phone began to ring. I ignored the tone even as it continued to play over and over. Eventually, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and gave it to Nico.

“Hello? This is Nico,” Nico said into the phone. His face showed obvious confusion. At a red light I grabbed the phone from him.

“Who is it?” I asked Nico before placing the phone against my ear.

“Vivian or something,” he replied.

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath. What would the witch want? “It’s Tye I said into the phone. I heard a small giggle.