[18+] Sophia has to ignore her steamy chemistry with British popstar Teddy Stone in order to get revenge on him for upsetting her best friend.
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Pop sensation Teddy St...
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Although it didn't help Becca's insecurities when Teddy slid into my Twitter DMs the next day, it did help put our plan into motion.
"'Social media can be intense, so I haven't followed you but would love to meet up today to discuss more of your travelling. Are you up for it? Very low key, I promise...'"
Gabby and Becca listened to me read out the message as we ate breakfast. Becca had no tears left to cry but her optimism over our bound-to-fail plan overpowered any residual distress.
"He's probably not lying, to be fair," Gabby said. "Imagine if he followed you. Your timeline would blow up, and I bet some of the messages would be nasty."
"Low key is good, though," Becca said. "If you start things off slowly, it won't seem so suspicious, right? Ask him what he means by low key."
"I didn't exactly hide that I thought his bodyguards were excessive, so he knows I'm not about the fame life. He probably means it'll be simple. Normal."
I sent back my response to ask what he had in mind, and just seconds later my phone pinged.
How does a walk sound?
Becca's eyebrows shot upwards at the fast reply. "Wow, the guy is keen."
Bitterness dripped from her words, but who could blame her?
*
Seeing Teddy Stone again felt like stepping into a parallel universe. From watching him perform in front of thousands, to a casual chat in a bar and private encounter in a stairwell, I found it hard to distinguish between the stage act and the person behind it.
Perhaps I was being overly cautious after how reality had crushed Becca's fantasy, but I struggled to line up safe topics that wouldn't give our game away.
Luckily, whether a pretence or not, Teddy asked again about my travelling so at least a familiar subject kept my fears at bay.
"If you could go to any place in the world, where would it be? Where's on your bucket list?"
Easy question, but I concentrated on navigating over a precarious set of steppingstones before answering. Falling flat on my face—into a river no less—was certainly not on my bucket list.
"My dad moved to Costa Rica after finishing school, and he met my mum when she did a conservation project over there. They both returned to the UK before I was born. I've always wanted to visit but have never had the chance."
"I've never been anywhere in Central America," Teddy said. "It's on my bucket list for sure."
I couldn't imagine there were many places that a global popstar hadn't visited, but my interest was piqued.
"Where else is on your bucket list?"
"You know those islands in the South Pacific that look like paradise?"
