"So how was your date with Scott?" I asked Ashley when I came out of the bathroom. I’d just gotten a shower and changed clothes.
"I wouldn’t call it a date. Look at me. How do you think it went?"
"Good and now you’re hung over."
"That would about sum it up. Here’s a question for you. What possessed you to sleep in Abs’ bed last night?"
"Good question. I guess I kinda felt bad for him. He made me hug him and laid all this sensitive crap on me. How bad things have been going for him."
"Wait until you see this picture me and Scott got of you last night with Abs. You’re in for a real surprise when you get those developed."
"C’mon. What is it?"
"Develop ‘em and you’ll find out."
"I can’t wait that long."
"Looks like you’ll have to."
I heard something beeping and looked to the dresser for my pager. It was sitting there and I picked it up to see who it was. The number wasn’t familiar. It might be Kian calling from their hotel room or something. I dialed the number and it was one of the hotels in the area. They connected me to Kian. I thought it was weird that they weren’t hesitant to connect me with him.
"Hello," a familiar voice said on the other end.
"Hey," I replied.
"Are we still on for tonight?"
"Sure. What are we doing?"
"I was thinking a night out in London. Piccadilly Circus. It’s the biggest party in the UK. Everyone’s gonna be so chuffed about the New Year that they won’t even notice that we’re there. I’ll come get you. Oh and Nicky and Georgina are coming with us. Bryan wants to talk to Ashley too."
"OK, just let me tell you where we’re staying and what time?"
"Eight or so. Give or take a bit." I told him where we were and then handed the phone to Ashley.
"Bryan wants to talk to you," I said putting my hand over the receiver
"Mmm. Thrilling."
"I hope he didn’t hear that."
"Hey, Bry. Wuz up? I think I’m coming down with the flu. That’s why I don’t sound so good. Yeah, I know it sucks. I think I’ll be spending the first few minutes of the new millennium sleeping."
She started coughing. It was so fake. I wondered why she didn’t want to go with him. What was her problem?
"I’m sorry. I don’t think you want me puking on you. Maybe some other time ok? Sorry. Kian wants to talk to Laura again? OK, hold on." She handed me the phone and I made a face.
"I’m here."
"We’ll see both of yous at eight then?"
"I know I’ll be there, but let me ask Ashley," I put my hand over the receiver again. "Are you going or not?" She made a motion like she was cutting her throat. I guess that meant no.
"Looks like it’s just gonna be me, Kian. She’s running to throw up now. She said to tell Bryan she’s really sorry again. See ya tonight. Bye."
"Bye."
"What’s the matter with Bryan?" I asked.
"I want to go out with Scott."
"You even said you liked Bryan when you met him."
"I can’t change my mind?"
"Sorry. It’s none of my business. Forget it."

That was all we needed. I didn’t want to have a big fight with her while we were on vacation. We decided to go shopping. The clothes seemed kind of overpriced. It seemed like we went in and looked around more than anything else. One store was kind of like Hot Topic. Gap was about the same as it is over here. I found a newsstand and bought a copy of Smash Hits and Live & Kicking. I couldn’t help myself and bought a copy of The Daily Sun. It was one of Britain’s biggest tabloids and was sure to have some pop gossip in it. We were walking down the street and I opened it. Something caught my eye. It was this headline: Scott Five Spotted At Pub with Mystery Girl I started to read the article. Obviously the girl was Ashley. It went on to tell that she was American and about their wild night out last night. It said how they were drunk and all kinds of other stuff. There was even something about Scott barfing off of the balcony of their hotel room. This must’ve went on while I was sleeping. Fortunately there weren’t any pictures.
I nudged Ashley. "Read this," I said. She read over the article.
"Joshhartnett! That’s me," she said. Joshhartnett was basically our equivalent for wow. "Keep that paper. A souvenir to show that we were schmoozing with the stars."
"Never in all my life would I think that we would make the British tabloids. This is unbelievable."
"Damn straight it is," Ashley replied.
We stopped at another store. The clothes were even more expensive there. I had so much money and hadn’t spent hardly any of it. I was about to blow a lot of my cash an a new outfit for tonight. The only reason I wanted to go in the store was because I had seen this outfit in Teen People designed by Cynthia Rowley. Maybe you know which one I’m talking about. Yeah, the one Meredith Monroe from Dawson’s Creek was wearing. Anyway on with the story. We went in and looked around. I felt like I tried on so many outfits. I didn’t want to be too dressy, but kinda dressed up casual. And then I saw the outfit I was talking about before. I tried it on.
"That one," Ashley said. "I like that one."
"How much is this?"
I looked at the price tags and about flipped. Maybe we could do without the shoes. I didn’t think that I could make it in a pair of high heels anyway. I had another pair of Candies back at the hotel that would go perfect with the outfit.
"Damn, girl. That’s pretty expensive, don’t you think?"
"Yep, but I want it."
"Are you pulling the money out of your ass to pay for this?"
"Nope. I’ll be using mom and dad’s good old friend, Mr. Mastercard."
"Isn’t that for emergency purposes only?"
"Doesn’t a date with a popstar count as an emergency? How much more of an emergency can you get? It’s a fashion emergency."
"That’s true."
We went through the check out counter and I paid for everything.
"So, what do you wanna do now?" Ashley asked.
I saw a crowd gathering across the street and looked up to see what store it was. It was HMV, Britain’s biggest chain of music stores.
"Let’s go over there and see what’s going on," I said and we crossed the street. Girls were pressed against the window and appeared to be waiting in line. I tried my best to see, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t see a thing.
"What’s going on?" I asked the girl next to me.
"Oi! You don’t know? Adam Rickitt’s doing an autograph signing today."
Adam Rickitt, just the thought of him made me drift away into la la land for a second. He was so hot. He had blond hair and it was like the world stopped when he took his shirt off. He had a six pack. Let’s just stop with that. He’s gorgeous.
"He’s the fittest lad in all of England," the girl went on.
"You don’t have to tell me twice. He’s gorgeous," I replied.
"Ashley, I want his autograph. I’m standing in line. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to."
"No way punk. I wanna see this guy."
"OK. Here. Do you want a preview?" I asked opening up my issue of Live and Kicking.
"Ooh, I like that. It’s cold out here, but I’m willing to stand in this to see that."
It seemed like forever waiting in line, but finally we made it into the store. There was the lovely
himself. And he was even hotter in person.
"Hi," I said. I knew I was all starry eyed when I said it.
"Hello," he said back. He seemed pretty friendly. I felt like such a dork standing there and staring. I was helpless and had no idea what to say. He signed one of the promo pictures on the table.
"Thank you," I said.
"You’re welcome," he replied. Then I walked away thinking OMG I just met Adam Rickitt. That was hella cool.