The Club

CHAPTER 15

"Erika, is that you?" I freeze and turn around slowly. It would be rude to run in the opposite direction but my publicist would kill me if I ignored a fan. I plaster on a fake smile as I slowly turn and it quickly turns into a real one.

The guy standing in front of me is a lot older than the last time I saw him but I would recognize that sandy blond hair and striking gray eyes anywhere. "Oh my gosh! Graham McKenzie?"

He takes a step toward me but doesn't hide the shock on his face. "I'm surprised you even remember me."

"Why wouldn't I? We were friends once."

"I wouldn't call us hooking up at a party and then you never talking to me again as friends."

"I did that, didn't I?" I pause for an answer, and when one doesn't come, I continue. "Do you still hate me?" A car speeding by honks, reminding me where we're standing and halting my thoughts about that night. I can't believe how immature I used to be. "What are you doing here in the city? How have you been?"

"I've been good. I'm not a huge star like you, but life has treated me well. And no, I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

I'll say. He went from overly geeky in high school to this sexy man standing in front of me. And I can't believe I just described Graham McKenzie as sexy. His brown hair is styled in that I-didn't-do-anything with-it look. He's filling his button up shirt which emphasizes all the muscles hiding underneath. Definitely not the same lanky boy I once knew. He's also got on a pair of dark form fitting jeans, and Converse. He looks more than good to me.

"I know this is totally out of left field, but I was going to grab a few drinks down the street. Do you want to join me? You know if you don't have anything going on?"

"Let's see, get drinks with wildly famous Erika Takai and catch up. Or go off and do whatever the hell I had originally planned on doing? I don't even have to think about this. Hell yeah, I want to get drinks with you."

"You aren't paparazzi or something like that, are you? Did I just make a mistake inviting you?" I suddenly remember the camera he always carried around with him in high school. I don't see one right now but that doesn't change the fact he could still have one on him. Hell these days everyone has a camera with them on their phones.

"I didn't really mean the famous part, but to put your mind at ease, no I'm not a paparazzi 'dude.' I'm a freelance photographer. Don't worry, landscapes are more my thing, not people. I think you're fine with me."

We turn town down the street and start walking toward my original destination. A drink sounds even better right about now. "Good, because the last thing I want is for drinks with an old friend to turn into an interview on the spot."

"An old friend, huh?"

"Yes. I was stupid and a bitch back then, but I would still say you're an old friend."

"I would have killed for you to call me a friend back in the day."

"Was I really that awful?"

"No, it was more like I was madly in love with you and made a fool out of myself trying to get your attention."

"I never understood why," I mumble under my breath as he grabs for the door, letting me go in first. I can't remember a time a guy ever opened a door for me. It makes me smile knowing Graham is one of the good guys. Not that he wasn't like this back in the day either.

The hostess freaks out when she sees me and asks for an autograph and a picture. I grudgingly oblige knowing my manager would kill me if I tarnished the bubbly personality he has built for me. After a few dozen pictures I finally get her to seat us in booth in a back corner and I purposely sit with my back to the restaurant. The last thing I want right now is to continue keeping up this facade.

"We should exchange numbers so we can get together the next time we're both in the city."

We switch phones with each other and as I'm handing his back, the first thing that comes to mind pops out of my mouth.

"What do you know about keys?" My hand flies to my mouth preventing myself from blurting anything else out that I shouldn't be talking about. He probably thinks I'm a crazy person now. Damn that word vomit.

The drink he was bringing to his mouth is placed back down on the table in between us. My gaze zeroes in on the motion before I force myself to meet his eyes.

"I have no idea where you're going with this, but so far it's been a pretty strange day already. So I'll bite. What about keys?"

I could drop the subject now and make up some lie, but it can't be a coincidence that I ran into Graham today. With our history, he just might be the one person that can help me figure this all out. And if not, at least I'll know I died trying rather than just giving up on life. I refuse to fall down and let this happen to me without a fight.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, but what the hell." I motion the bartender over for another round and he drops everything he's doing to come running. With another shot of tequila in front of me, I down it and let the burning liquid travel down my throat and settle into my belly. Just a little liquid courage to get my words flowing. "Have you ever heard of the twenty-seven club?"

He pauses momentarily like he's trying to rack his brain for whatever the hell I could be talking about. "Is that some popular new club here in New York? I'm not much of a partier and rarely go out."

"No." I shake my head slowly. "The conspiracy theory, coincidence, whatever you want to call it, that musicians die after their twenty-seventh birthday but before their twenty-eighth."

His eyes light up in recognition but then darken. "Is this because you just had your birthday? I don't know where all this is coming from but you're fine. You're not going to die."

"Please, let me finish." I hold my hand up to stop his protests further. "What I have to say and then you can pass your judgments on me. Okay?"

He nods his head slowly and I take that as my cue to continue this outlandish speech. I don't even know if I believe it all myself.

"On my twenty-first birthday, as cliché as it sounds, I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish. A wish to become a famous rock star. I was at the lowest point in my life and desperation was seeping from me. What happened next, I always thought was a dream or something I made up, but with recent events in my life I'm realizing it's more real than I want to admit." I reach for the vodka tonic that the waitress brought and take a heavy swallow. I start to put the drink back down but take an extra swig for a little liquid courage.

"I let everything around me fade away and I concentrated on the smoke flowing up from my candles. I was consumed in the smoke to the point where I couldn't breathe anymore and to be honest with you, at the time I thought I was dying. When the smoke cleared away I was standing in front of three doors. One of them had the number '27' on it and I picked that door. I don't remember anything after that, but the next morning I woke up and I had gone viral on YouTube for a video I didn't even know about. And now here we are."

I avoid his gaze and pay attention to the clanking of the dishes around us. I don't want to look up into his eyes and see the judgment or disbelief that is no doubt written all over his face. I can't take him thinking I'm crazy for thinking this way. It's precisely why I never told Kyle or anyone about it. Nobody would believe me. Hell I still can't even believe it myself. I finally get the courage to look up and his expression is blank. I have no idea what he's thinking and I don't think I really want to.

"I'm sorry. This was a mistake." And I flee from Graham McKenzie for the second time in my life.