‘Jackson,’ she said, trying not to grin like an idiot. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere.’
‘Which is probably why you haven’t found me, because I’ve been looking for you ever since I heard your chauffeur dropped you off.’ He gathered her up in a big hug. ‘You look amazing,’ he whispered into her ear.
Olivia felt like she could float down the red carpet.
‘Are you nervous?’ he asked.
She thought about it for a moment. ‘It’s just walking,’ Olivia replied. ‘How hard can it be?’
Jackson chuckled. ‘Just walking?’ He pretended to be shocked. ‘Just walking! Look, Miss Up-and-Coming-Movie-Star, there is walking and there is Red Carpet Walking.’
Olivia giggled.
Jackson put one hand on his hip. ‘I will demonstrate.’
He half-strutted up the aisle, past the rows of salad dressings, with his shoulders back and his pearly whites on show. He stopped occasionally to pose and half-turn, as if imaginary cameras were flashing all around him. He walked back to her, really hamming it up.
‘That looks easy enough,’ Olivia said.
‘I still think you should have a practice run,’ Jackson advised.
Olivia smiled, tossed her hair and set off striding past the relishes. But when she stopped to do a half-turn like Jackson did, her skirt caught under her shoe and she staggered straight towards a neat stack of soup cans.
‘Eek!’ Olivia squealed.
Jackson grabbed her just before she knocked the pyramid of tins flying. A store assistant who was tidying up the mayonnaise at the end of the aisle shot her a dirty look.
‘Oh no,’ Olivia whispered. ‘Why didn’t I think to practise walking?’
Jackson put his arm around her. ‘I think I might have a solution to your problem. What if . . .’ he said with a twinkle in his eye, ‘you had someone to guide you? Someone by your side to give you confidence and help you with when to stop and pose?’
Olivia realised what he was doing. He was building up to telling her that he wanted to go public and that they could walk down the red carpet together. Her heart started thumping – not quite like when they had their first kiss, but close to it. She readied herself to pretend to be surprised. Don’t grin. Don’t look surprised too early.
She could see the anticipation on his face. He was just as excited about this as she was. ‘Olivia,’ he said, beaming. ‘I want to go public and walk down the red carpet with you!’
‘What?’ screeched a demanding voice. ‘You can’t do that!’
Now Olivia didn’t have to pretend to be surprised. Amy Teller was poking her head around the corner, and she’d clearly been listening to everything they had been saying.
She strode over, her five-inch-high heels clicking along the linoleum floor. Her red hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail and she was wearing an off-the-shoulder calf-length dress made from silver satin. She looked beautiful but fierce, and ready to take charge on the red carpet for her client. She had a phone in one hand and a takeaway cup of coffee from the Meat and Greet.
‘Jackson, Olivia.’ She sighed. ‘We have discussed this. We agreed that you would walk by yourself or with your mother or sister. And since none of your relations are here . . .’
Jackson shook his head. ‘No, Amy,’ he said softly. ‘You talked about this, and you agreed with yourself. I want to walk down the red carpet with my beautiful girlfriend.’
Olivia wanted to do a cheer. Jackson was standing up for her – and he thought she was beautiful!
‘I don’t want to have to pretend to be single any more. We’ve kept things quiet for long enough, but we are certain about how we feel.’ Jackson grabbed Olivia’s hand and she thought she might turn into jelly. ‘Now we want to celebrate being together – and this is the perfect way to do it. I want to be a normal teenage boy, with a normal teenage girlfriend.’
Olivia could see the store assistant hovering around the pickles, trying to listen to their conversation, but she didn’t care.
‘You are not normal.’ Amy pointed at him, her sleek silver phone flashing under the fluorescent lights of the supermarket and her coffee threatening to spill over the flimsy plastic lid. ‘You are a mega-star with millions of fans who think that you are available. If you go out there as a couple, it could end your career!’
Jackson squeezed Olivia’s hand. ‘If that happens, so be it.’
Olivia couldn’t believe that he would be willing to give up everything for her. ‘You shouldn’t –’
‘I want to,’ he cut her off.
‘Well, then.’ Amy turned to Olivia with a cool stare. ‘What about you? Are you ready to be universally hated by girls everywhere for stealing Jackson away?’
‘Uh –’ Olivia hadn’t thought about that.
‘There will be threads online called We Hate Olivia Abbott and groups scrutinising every little thing you wear.’ Amy was leaning closer and closer. ‘They won’t leave you alone until there’s a break up – and being in the spotlight is one of the quickest ways to make that happen. Are you sure you can handle this?’
Olivia gulped. I can handle the existence of vampires, but what about the wrath of an army of haters? Olivia remembered how crazy Jackson’s fans were at his book signing in February.
Jackson looked at her, his eyebrows creased. ‘I don’t want to put you through anything horrible,’ he said.
She paused for a moment, but knew she didn’t want to pretend any more. ‘And I don’t want to date in secret any more,’ Olivia replied. ‘Amy, I think you’re overreacting and I won’t be scared into staying silent because of a few unhappy people.’