Follow Me Back (complete first draft of the published book)

Chapter 14: Think Fast

Chapter 14: Think Fast

Eric lay in bed, staring at his phone. It was well past midnight now and he had a 6 AM call. He should have closed his eyes the moment his head hit the pillow after the day he'd had. But he couldn't bring himself to look away from the glowing screen - as if by looking at it long and hard enough, he could somehow change the reality of what it showed.

He still couldn't quite believe it, despite the cold hard evidence before his eyes.

It had happened so quickly. Maybe that was why he was having so much trouble accepting it. He hadn't seen it coming. He hadn't even fully registered what was going on until it was already done. Too late for damage control. Too late for any reaction at all.

Now all he could do was lie awake and stare at his phone, and replay the events of the past 12 hours over and over in his head.

How had it all gone to hell so quickly?

***

12 hours earlier

"Think fast!"

Eric swiveled on his stool and looked up in surprise at the source of the voice just over his left shoulder. Maury held up Eric's phone with both hands and squinted at the screen. Eric tried to make a grab for it, but not before he'd been blinded by the sudden glare of the phone's camera flash.

"What the hell, Maury?" Eric blinked and shielded his eyes, but Maury ignored his reaction as he lowered the phone again.

"Not half bad," his manager muttered, studying the picture he had snapped. "A little washed out, but you kinda got the Greek god marble statue thing going on. It'll work."

"What'll work?" Eric asked suspiciously. He snatched back the phone and looked at the screen, letting out a silent sigh of relief at what he saw. Not Twitter. Maury must have closed it and opened the camera app instead as soon as he'd grabbed the phone out of Eric's hands. No way his manager could've noticed the username on the account that Eric had open.

Still, Eric chastised himself for his carelessness. He needed to keep his wits about him. That was a near miss, just now. Way too close for comfort.

"Did you hear me, Eric?"

Eric looked up blankly at his manager's face and then back down at the phone. "Sorry," he said as he eyed the photo. He'd been caught in profile with one eyebrow raised in surprise, and the muscles of his bare chest and shoulders rippled as he turned. The tacky layer of grease on his skin reflected the light from the flashbulb like a sheen of sweat after a hard work-out. Not an unflattering look, he had to admit. The make-up people knew what they were doing.

He shot Maury a smirk now. "Too busy admiring my own godliness here."

"Excellent," Maury replied. "Then you won't mind tweeting it."

"What?" Eric pointed at the phone in surprise. "This? You want me to tweet this?"

"Social media wanted you to do a selfie. Get some buzz going for the music video."

"Oh great." Eric rolled his eyes. "Hey, I have an idea! Run this by the label, why don't you? Maybe we could get some buzz going for the video by - I don't know - releasing the song? There is going to a song involved, right? Or is this video just silent footage of me without my clothes on?"

"Very funny, Eric. Glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor."

"I take it I don't have a choice about this?"

"What's the problem?" Maury pressed his lips together in a line, barely containing his irritation. "You know the drill by now. It'll get picked up in the entertainment news. People want to know they'll get to see you with your shirt off."

"There's a shocker," Eric replied with a dark laugh. "Breaking news!"

"You know what? Don't worry about it. I'll send it out for you." Maury reached for the phone again, but Eric saw him coming this time. He jerked the phone away, out of Maury's reach, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary.

"Don't touch my phone, OK? This is my personal cell phone."

"Whoa!" Maury put up his hands defensively. "Just trying to help, big guy. You got something on there that I should know about?"

Eric ignored the question. He forced his voice to remain calm and even as he replied. "I'll send the tweet. Just give a little space. Like three inches of personal space. That's all I'm asking for."

"Sure." Maury waved an arm expansively around the six foot wide trailer. "You got the whole place to yourself, kid.Just get yourself ready to start shooting. The director's going to call for you in five."

"OK. I'm coming."

"Send the tweet first, Eric."

"Doing it now," Eric muttered, careful to hold his phone at an angle that Maury couldn't see. He quickly tapped to switch Twitter accounts back to his real name and started to compose a message.

Eric Thorn (@EricThorn)

Just another day at the office #MusicVideo #NoShirtsAllowed

He added the photo, and his finger hovered over the Tweet button, but he hesitated for a moment. His mind went back to what he'd been doing just before Maury grabbed his phone.

Stalking Tessa.

She hadn't messaged him back. What was she doing?

It gave him an idea. Maybe he could find out the answer to that question and more. He went back and hastily edited the unsent tweet.

Eric Thorn (@EricThorn)

Selfie day! Tweet me a selfie wherever you are this exact moment, and maybe we'll use it in the new #MusicVideo

Brilliant, he thought, mentally congratulating himself for his quick thinking. He'd been wondering for weeks now what Tessa might look like, but he hadn't dared to ask to see a pic. He didn't want to scare her off - and if she did send him one, it wasn't like he was in any position to reciprocate.

But this was perfect. Would she send in a picture now? He bet good money that she would. After all, it wasn't just some random stranger off the internet asking to see her. It was her idol. Her obsession. Her true love, Eric Thorn.

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