After regaining my composure from the adrenaline rush of tricking a crowd of overzealous fans and paparazzi, I made it back to the hotel. All the while, I couldn't stop thinking about the fun Violetta and I had that afternoon. The way we goofed off and posed for one another, the way we knew just what the other liked in fashion. The way she said my name.

Rea. That's what she called me. Not Reagan. Not Reags like Hayden called me. Rea. A nickname that after such a short time knowing one another rolled effortlessly off of her tongue.

A nickname that made me shiver with excitement.

When I got back upstairs, I glanced down the hall to Violetta's original room. I wanted to give her back her hat and sunglasses.

Maybe I could just text her...

My gaze landed on a box that lay outside my hotel room door with the swooping logo of an F and S.

Wow, that was fast. I crouched down to inspect it as a note fluttered off the top.

Reagan,

There are some perks to being friends with a celebrity.

- Violetta

I smiled, digging around for my hotel key to unlock the door. Balancing the hat on the box, I entered my room. The adjoining door to Violetta's room was closed, but I could hear her voice coming from behind the door.

"...no, you don't understand." A pause, then, "Jess, come on. This isn't...no. I'm not doing this dance with you anymore. You made a mistake."

I set the box down on my bed and knocked lightly on the door.

"Violetta?" I called out.

There were a few muttered responses, along with a string of curse words, before the door opened.

It was Violetta who answered, but the woman who stood before me had rings of red around her eyes, and her mascara was dotted in wet streaks.

"Oh. Sorry, was I being too loud?" she asked. She crossed one ankle behind the other, rubbing at the skin with her foot.

I shook my head. "You weren't. I, um, wanted to give you your hat and glasses back." I held them out for her, and she took them from my hands, our fingers grazing momentarily.

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks. You think pretty quick on your feet, Reagan. I was too quick to judge you this morning."

"I appreciate that." My gaze flickered to her exhausted face. "Are you ok? I, um, heard voices."

Violetta swiped at her eyes with her shirt sleeve. I just now noticed that she was in sweats and a long-sleeved tee, much different than what she was wearing before. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just my jerk of an ex."

"Sorry to hear that." I bit my lip. "Listen, if you want someone to talk to, I'm next door. Until Sunday, that is. Although, are you getting a new room?"

"Thanks. Actually, about that—there's something I wanted to discuss." Guilt and uncertainty dripped in her voice. With a sigh, she cocked her head toward the inside of her room where the man in the suit whom I had seen following her around stood. "Bax, this is the girl I was telling you about."

"Nice to meet you," I said, offering my hand.

He shook it with a firm grip. "You're Meagan, right?"

"Reagan," I corrected.

"Uh huh." Baxter took out a pencil from behind his ear and opened up a little black book. "And what's your affiliation?"

Violetta groaned. "Bax, I already told you. She's clean."

Baxter eyed me warily. "That very well may be the case, but you remember the Santa Barbara incident, don't you? We can never be too careful."

I fished my driver's license out of my purse. "Reagan Porter. I work for a small, up-and-coming magazine about the best and brightest of Asheville. My editor is Spencer Larkin." I glanced at Violetta. "But I in no way use my role as a journalist to falsely identify the lives of those I write about. I look into the simpler things; the likes, the dislikes."

The beauty behind the pain.

Violetta planted her hands on her hips and faced Baxter. "See, I told you."

"You also told me she has a stick up her—"

"Baxter!" Her cheeks went red.

I laughed. "That's ok, we've made up since then. Look, I don't want to cause any trouble. Truly."

"Good." Baxter smacked his hands together. "Now, you've clearly witnessed Violetta's...habits. And as a result we must seek alternatives. I've spoken on the DL—down low—with the hotel staff. Seems all the rooms are booked." He glanced at me.

"So?" I dragged out the word, watching Violetta as she chewed on her lip. She seemed to be just as confused as I was about where this conversation was leading.

Baxter gestured in the direction of my room. "So conveniently, we'll have to make use of yours."

"What? No!" Violetta protested before I could even open my mouth. "Baxter, this woman is on vacation. We're not making her give up her room just because you can't get off your lazy ass and actually make it work."

"It's not that easy," he argued. "If we try to get you a new hotel, the paps will be all over us for the sudden change. The hotel doesn't have the ability to get a new bed right now. We've promised them free promotion as it is, considering the Inn is the place to stay in North Carolina. So this is all we've got."

Violetta furiously shook her head. "No, it's not." She turned to me. "Reagan, I'm so sorry. We're not using your room, that's not fair to you. I've told Baxter"—she glared at him—"to just get a rollaway sent to my room and I'll be fine."

"Movie stars do not sleep on rollaways," Baxter snapped.

"Leave." Violetta thrust her arm out, motioning toward the door. "I cannot deal with you right now, Baxter."

"Violetta, we have a contract."

"I don't give a damn about your stupid contract." She was practically foaming at the mouth now. "Get out, Bax. I'll deal with you later."

Wow. Violetta really gave the saying "though she be but little, she is fierce" a whole new meaning.

Baxter picked up a briefcase, shaking his head as he made his way to the door. "We're not done with this conversation, young lady."

"Goodbye." Violetta slammed the door behind him. Tears brimmed her eyes as she turned back to me. She started to sink onto the broken bed, realizing at the last second. Her eyes went wide as she teetered backwards.

I grabbed her arm pulling her forward again. We were now mere inches away from one another.

"Close one," she murmured. "Thanks."

"No problem." In the close proximity, I could smell the sweetness of her perfume on her neck. Strawberry, my nose determined. I cleared my throat. "So, um, thanks for standing up for me back there with Baxter."

"He's an idiot sometimes," she said. "I don't know why I put up with it. He shouldn't have asked you to give up your room."

"You know, I'm happy to have you share with me," I replied. "I do have the futon afterall."

She waved it off. "If I'm staying with you, I'll take the futon, okay?"

"Okay." I smiled.

A silence filled the cluttered room, urging us both to say something.

"So, I—"

"Do you—oh, sorry go ahead." Violetta gestured to me.

"I was just going to say it sounds like you've been having it rough a lot more than I realized in the spotlight," I said. "What Baxter said, did he really think that you moving hotels would be that big of a deal?"

"He thinks everything is a big deal."

I walked back into my room and she followed, tucking her legs beneath her in the armchair. "I saw the article about the koalas," I said.

"Oh that one." Violetta picked at the fabric on the chair. "Pretty cute, huh?"

"It looked like you were having a lot of fun."

Violetta offered me a soft smile. "Too bad that's only what the cameras saw." She pulled up the 'Photos' app on her phone. "You see this? That's the same day."

The photo depicted Violetta in the same flowery sundress from the article photo with the koala. But this time, she was posing by herself. Flyaways framed her face, her skin pink from spending time in the sun. She was sans makeup and looked even more beautiful than she did with makeup.

"That's a really good picture," I commented. I knew she'd probably disagree but instead she just smiled.

"I wish this is what the world could see of me. I'm a real person, just like everyone else. This sundress I'm wearing is something that I got to pick out myself, but only after hours of arguing about the colors and my complexion."

"That sucks." I flopped backwards on my bed. "The world deserves to see you as you really are."

Spencer's assignment nagged at the back of my head, but I pushed all thoughts of it away. 

"If only." Violetta stood up. "But enough about my sob story. I need to get my mind off of things. Do you want to go out tonight?"

I sat back up. "Out where?"

Violetta shrugged. "Bar, club. I can pretty much get us in anywhere. Celebrity perks."

Celebrity perks, right. Because that's what she was and why she chose to hang with little old me, I'd never know.

"I'd be down to go out, but maybe somewhere a little more lowkey," I suggested. "How about the lakeside bonfire? It happens the Friday before Valentine's Day every year. Which, by my calculations, is tonight."

Of course, the last time I'd gone to the bonfire here it had been with Mari. Two weeks before she ended our engagement.

I shook off the thought. There was no way I was letting thoughts of Mari ruin my vacation. In the spirit of 'fuck it', I really wanted to go again because it was always a good time. Plus, dancing with friends was always better than drinking alone.

"Sounds like fun." She uncurled her legs and stood up. "I think my publicist would be happy for a break from my neurotic behaviors that more often than not get me on the front page of every magazine across the United States."

"You're very sociable," I commented. "That can't always be a bad thing?"

Violetta shrugged. "Depends on who you ask. Baxter likes it better when I go out with people, as if I need a babysitter." She glanced at me. "No offense."

"None taken. But what about friends? Don't you go out with friends?"

"It's hard to make true friends in my line of work," she said. "Schedules, timelines, everything you have to keep track of." She ticked the items off of her fingers. "Makes it hard to have much of a social life. But when I do go out with others, it's better for my image if I go out with a woman rather than a man. You know how it is."

I swallowed. "It's not easy being bi in the celebrity world, is it?"

"Pan, actually," she explained. "And you're right. It's really not." She let out a breath. "I haven't actually told anyone outside of my inner circle that before. And none of them seem to truly understand."

"Well, thank you for trusting me enough to share." I rested my hand on her leg.

"Oh! Did you see the outfit?" Violetta asked, changing the subject. I hope it was okay for me to buy it for you, I know we sort of lost our way from each other for a bit there, but I didn't want either of us to miss out on the purchases from our shopping trip."

"It was, I had no idea you were going to do that," I said. "But I'm glad you did, so thank you. I'm not sure I would've bought it otherwise."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "I'm not used to the purchase aspect of shopping. I just like trying things on mostly."

"That makes sense." Violetta yawned. "I'm gonna change and I'll meet you back here in a few?"

I nodded. "Deal."

Twenty minutes and a full face of glam later, I was ready to go out. I waited for Violetta to reappear. While I waited, I pulled out my tablet and scrolled through the notes I took for Hayden on Flare and Solstice.

-Inclusive, diverse

-Good for all seasons

-Reasonable prices

-Decent alarm system

I chuckled at the last one before copying the information into an email to send to my best friend. F&S was definitely worth featuring, and I really hoped Hayden would be able to do it justice.

Speaking of...I dialed his number, hoping to catch him before his date night. He picked up on the second ring.

"Reags!" he said cheerfully despite the panic in his voice. "Got your email, I haven't been able to look at it yet because—" There was the babble of giggles on the other end followed by Hayden scolding, "no, baby, don't put that in your mouth!" A sigh. "Where was I? Oh yeah. Flare and Solstice. I'll get to it Monday, I promise."

"Don't worry about it! I sent it just so I wouldn't forget. It sounds like you have your hands full. I actually just wanted to call and say hi, no work talk required."

Hayden chuckled. "That makes me feel better, otherwise I would've had to scold you. Can you believe Shelley and I can't get the baby to stop crying?"

"Aw, man. Sorry she's being a handful tonight." I bit my lip. It seemed comparatively less important now that I update Hayden on my evening plans with Violetta.

"Listen, can I call you tomorrow?" he asked. "I'm getting death glares from the wife and if we don't leave now, she's gonna make me stay with her mother and the baby instead of drowning me in wine and sex tonight."

"You ready?" Violetta asked, emerging from her room. Her auburn hair was curled into ringlets over her shoulders, and she'd added a pair of silver hoops to her ears. She wore layered eyeliner, a dash of copper on top of a band of black, which accentuated the green and gold of her eyes.

"Is that—"

"Bye, Hayden." I quickly hung up, although this time not to hide from Violetta but to embrace her presence.

"Rea?" Violetta looked at me expectantly.

"Yes." I smiled at her while smoothing my hair back into a high ponytail. To go along with my outfit, I'd added my favorite necklace of a copper spiral on a thick black cord. Hearing that nickname warmed my heart. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks, so do you." She stepped closer. "You mind if I..." she gestured to my hair.

"Not at all, go for it."

Violetta picked up my hair brush, running the hard bristles through my hair. She swiped her fingers down from my scalp, gathering up the strands effortlessly. After a few twists, she secured it with the hairband, pulling it tightly. "There. Now we're ready to hit the town." She punctuated the last words with a sway of her hips.

I laughed. "Valentine's weekend lakeside bonfire, here we come!"