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“You have fifteen minutes!” Jeff yelled after me when I ran out of the trailer and started sprinting through the backstage at Lollapalooza.
I looked back to give him a smile and a mocking army salute. When I turned my head again I noticed someone standing in front of me. Before I could stop myself I had already crashed into the stranger and I fell flat on my butt. I could feel my cheeks flush in embarrassment.
“Oh god, I’m sorry! Are you okay?” The familiar voice coming from above me made my cheeks burn even more.
I slowly got up and dusted off my clothes. I prayed that it wasn’t really him standing there, but of course I had no such luck. When I finally looked up, William Beckett was still standing there, looking slightly worried.
“I’m fine,” I answered him. I was surprised I managed to get it out without any stuttering.
“Are you sure? You fell pretty hard.” He sounded genuinely worried, causing me to crack a small smile.
“Really, I’m fine,” I assured him. “Besides, it doesn’t happen every day that I bump into one of my heroes.”
Now he was the one slightly blushing. “Your hero?” he questioned. My smile grew wider as I noticed how humble he seemed to be.
“Well… I guess I just look up to you because you never cared about the stereotypes. I heard you were a total jock in high school and yet you end up as an indie rocker. And you seem like a pretty shy and humble guy and yet you are out on stage every night giving the best of yourself in front of thousands of people,” I explained. “And you have this way with words. You were my inspiration to take all those writing classes in high school. It’s thanks to you that I’m studying journalism now.”
William smiled that crooked smile of his and almost swiped me off my feet again. He asked me about my classes at college and we started talking. I explained how one of my professors got me an internship at Jeff’s TV station and that’s how I ended up at Lollapalooza. We talked about his Saturday Night Music Club, about music in general, about travelling the world. William turned out to be really easy to talk to and seemed actually interested in what I had to say. He made me totally forget about time. I was in the middle of explaining that I cut my lunch break from an hour to fifteen minutes just so I could see his band, when I realized that those fifteen minutes had passed already.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled as I took a look at my watch. I had been talking to William for twenty minutes.
“Something wrong?” William asked. The same concern as earlier was clear in his voice.
“I was supposed to be back from my lunch break ten minutes ago,” I mumbled.
I wasn’t looking at him, but slowly turned my head in the direction of the makeshift studio to look for Jeff. He was standing outside the trailer and when I met his gaze, he was smiling. I let out a relieved breath.
“You haven’t eaten yet? I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have kept you busy! I…” William started spitting apologies as he got interrupted by one of his bandmates.
“William, we are soundchecking in ten minutes!” Michael yelled from the door of their trailer.
“Don’t worry about me!” I said before William could say anything else. “I think you should go to prepare for the show.”
“Yeah, I guess I should.” William smiled. “I’ll see you later at the show, right?”
“Sure thing!” I answered before turning around and taking off with a small wave.
When I got back to Jeff, he was still smiling. I was about to apologize, but he shushed me. “Don’t let it happen again. You have fifteen minutes for lunch,” he said, small smile still playing around his lips.
“Really?” I asked. “Thank you so much Jeff! You are the best!” I told him. I gave him a quick hug and a small peck on the cheek. Then I took off running again, making sure not to bump into anyone this time.
-x-
I was just telling one of the reporters that The Killers had cancelled their interview when Jeff tapped me on the shoulder.
“If you want to show me what is so great about that band you keep talking about, we need to leave now,” he said as I turned around.
A smile appeared on my face at his words. Jeff was like my replacement father when I was working. He was there to make me remember my duties and make sure I did what I was asked, but he was also the first one to point out that there’s more to life than working. He knew I wanted to see The Academy Is… perform, so he promised I could go see them.
“You are coming? Awesome!” I said.
I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the trailer before he could change his mind. He just laughed at my enthusiasm.
We made into the front stage just in time to hear them finish the first song.
“Hello! How is everybody doing today?” William asked the crowd. The screams he got in response were almost deafening. “We are The Academy Is… and this next song is of our last album and it’s called Automatic Eyes.”
The concert was one of the best I had seen them ever play. After a song or two I looked to Jeff and I noticed he was bopping his head to the beat. I smiled as I took a step closer to him.
“Told you they were good!” I yelled in his ear, trying to make myself heard over William. Jeff just smiled and playfully rolled his eyes.
The band was at the end of their set when William talked to the crowd one last time. “It’s been a pleasure to play for you guys today! But all good things must come to an end and thus also this concert.” The crowd whined right on cue. “But we still have one song left. And I would like to dedicate this song to a really cool girl I met this afternoon… Isabelle, this song is for you! It’s called Sleeping With Giants.”
I blushed a deep red as William smiled and sent a wink in my direction. Jeff chuckled next to me. I weakly pushed him in the ribs without averting my eyes from the stage.
-x-
Jeff smiled when I asked him which band would be interviewed next. His eyes burned with mischief.
“Why do you smile like you have something evil planned?” I asked, my tone as suspicious and demanding as I could manage without cracking a smile.
“Oh, am I?” Jeff still smiled, his tone not innocent at all. He looked away from me as I heard the door of the studio open behind me.
I turned around to see The Academy Is… walk in. I could feel my cheeks burn. Just like at the concert, Jeff chuckled next to me.
William had been talking to Adam when they walked in, but the sound of Jeff’s chuckle made him cast a glance in our direction. His face lit up as he noticed us standing there and I couldn’t help but crack a small smile of my own.
“Isabelle!” he exclaimed before he took a few long strides to reach us, leaving the other guys behind slightly confused.
“And you must be Jeff!” William said while extending his hand for Jeff to shake. “Nice to meet you.”
Jeff smiled and nodded, shaking William’s hand. “Likewise, Mr. Beckett.”
“Oh, just call me William!” William said before turning to me. “Nice to see you as well, Isabelle. Will you be interviewing us?”
“Oh no, I’m not doing any interviews. I’m just helping out. Actually...” I said as I looked past William at the couches where his fellow band members had taken a seat, “That guy will be interviewing you,” I said pointing to Scott, who had just taken a seat across the rest of the band.
“Oh... Yeah, of course,” William said while turning to go join the other guys. I decided to hang around as well and took a seat in the corner where I could follow the interview.
“One last question, what’s the best thing about playing festivals?” Scott asked a good ten minutes later.
“We get a chance to see a lot of great bands play,” Mike answered.
“And we get to hang out with fellow musicians and friends,” Butcher chimed in.
“Yeah, like today. We hadn’t seen Cobra Starship in a while, but we are both playing here. So we got a chance to hang out again,” Adam explained.
“And we get to meet a lot of new and interesting people, which is great as well,” William said.
His band exchanged a knowing look that both William and I failed to see as he quickly cast a glance in my direction.
A few minutes later the band was saying their goodbyes to Scott, when I felt two hands rest on my hips.
“So, how did we do?” William whispered in my ear. I hoped he didn’t notice the shiver that went down my spine.
“You did great, as always.” I smiled as I turned around to face him. “And the show was amazing as well. Again, as always. Thanks for the song by the way. You didn’t need to do that.”
“Yeah, I know. But I wanted to.” William smiled that crooked smile.
My lips curled upward further at his response and my cheeks turned slightly pink. I was staring at my chucks when I felt William hand underneath my chin. He lifted my head so I was looking at him again.
“I really think you are an interesting girl, Isabelle. I would like to see you again. So how about we go drink some coffee sometime?” he asked.
I couldn’t help but smile at the nervous undertone in his otherwise velvet voice. “Sure, coffee sounds great,” I answered.
“How about Friday?” he asked, smile lighting his face when I gave him a positive answer.
“Uhm...” I started out. I watched his smile falter at my hesitation. “I don’t know if I have to work on Friday. I’ll have to ask Jeff.”
Of course, Jeff was nowhere to be seen. I was about to ask Scott where Jeff had gone when Adam appeared next to William. “Hey Bill, we really have to be going now,” he said.
“Just one more minute,” William pleaded. He didn’t wait for Adam’s answer, but turned back to me again.
“If you give me your phone number, I’ll call you later so we can arrange things,” he said.
I watched him type on his iPhone as I dictated my number. He put his phone away and gave me a quick hug. “See you soon!” he whispered before releasing me.
“See you soon!” I repeated his words to him as he walked to the door.
The other guys were already outside when William turned around in the doorframe. “Just for the record, when you were mentioned the hero part earlier, were you thinking Batman?”
I smiled at his question. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t,” I said. “Writing lyrics and wearing glasses by day, flying across stage by night. You are clearly the new Superman!”
“Superman... Yeah, that sounds good.” William laughed before walking out the door.
-x-
It took William exactly 4 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds to call. Not that I was counting.
Jeff was kind enough to give me the Friday off, so I met up with William at the coffee house close to my home.
That one coffee turned into more coffees with long talks. After coffee, he decided lunch would be a logical next step. That lunch then turned into going out together. He loved to show me all these nice places he liked to come in his spare time or when hanging out with friends. And somewhere along the road, we ended up sharing an apartment together.
A lot of people assumed we were dating. We weren’t. We were just best friends, William wasn’t the type of guy I would date. Plus with me being in college and William being on tour all the time, things wouldn’t work out anyway.
Or at least that’s what I tried to tell myself. Because somewhere in between our laughs, long talks and stupid little jokes, I fell in love. I was completely and utterly in love with my best friend. I was psyched when he got home from tour and I missed him when he was gone.
And I was scared. Scared that one day my secret would get out in the open and William wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore, would move out of our apartment. Because if there was one thing I know for sure, then it’s that William doesn’t return my feelings. At all.
So I tried to push the butterflies to the bottom of my stomach and I tried not to think about the hundred different scenarios that could happen if my secret gets out.
But this morning it felt like I had an extra bowl of butterflies for breakfast. They seemed to have a party in my stomach. Or maybe running a marathon, I wasn’t really sure.
The guys were coming back from tour today and I had promised to pick up William at the airport. I hadn’t seen them in three months, which was the longest I had to do without William since we met. I wanted to see him, hug him, hold him and never let him go again.
The past months had made me realize more than ever how much in love I was. Lately I had even been thinking about telling him how I felt. I was pretty sure things would not be going how I dreamed them, but I was also sure that I couldn’t keep this a secret much longer.
I was lifted from my thoughts when my cell phone rang. The caller id made the butterflies do a few loopings.
“Hey Bill!” I said cheerfully.
“Hey Bells!” His voice sounded just as cheerful. “How is my favorite girl in the world doing on this beautiful morning?” Cue butterflies again.
“I’m doing fine, thank you very much!” I answered, still smiling. “I’m actually on my way to the airport as we speak.”
“What, are you a mind reader?” He laughed. I could perfectly imagine that smile lighting his face. “I was calling to see if you were already here, since we landed early.”
“No mind reading, I promise.” I giggled. “You’ll have to wait a bit longer, I don’t plan on getting any speeding tickets today.”
“I’ll try, but I won’t be able to miss you much longer. But then again...” William said as his voice drifted off.
“What, you’re going need more time to choose what to get at Starbucks?” I guessed, knowing very well that William needed his daily shot of caffeine in the morning.
“Are you sure you can’t read my thoughts?” William laughed.
“Well, I might have learned a thing or two from Edward Cullen while you were gone!” I joked. William laughed.
His laughter was still ringing in my ear when the traffic light switched to green. I drove onto the crossroad when I heard a honk from my right sight. I instinctively turned my head. I could hear the sound of tires screeching over the asphalt. But all I could see were two blinding lights coming my way fast.
The last thing I remembered was William screaming my name, right before the truck hit my car.
-x-
When I woke up there was a nagging pain in my right arm and my left ankle. There were beeps coming from somewhere around me and I slowly opened my eyes to locate the source of the sound.
After I got used to the light, I looked around. I was lying in a hospital bed. The beeps that woke me up came from a heart monitor standing on my left. While my eyes followed my heartbeat on the monitor, I realized that someone else was in the room.
Even before I looked at him, I felt William next to me. He was sitting on my right and his hands were clenched around my right one tightly. His eyes were closed and even in his sleep, his expression was worried.
“William?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
My throat and my lips were so dry it hurt to speak. William stirred a little, but didn’t wake up.
“Bill, wake up.” I tried to get his attention again.
His eyes slowly opened and I saw it took a moment to realize where he was. When he noticed me staring at him, he shot up.
“You’re awake. Thank god, you’re awake!” was the first thing he blurted out.
His words were drenched in relief and I couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his voice.
I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t get any sound out. I swallowed, which felt like razors scarring my throat, and tried again. “Water…” was all I managed to get out.
My voice was still barely audible, but William got what I tried to say. “Of course!” he said while pouring some water in a cup.
He almost handed me the cup, but then decided to help me. He carefully brought the cup to my mouth and I gratefully started drinking, trying not to spill too much.
“Easy, easy!” William laughed as the water ran down my cheeks. He put the cup down and wiped my cheeks clean with his sleeve.
“Thank you!” I muttered, a little more understandable this time.
William smiled that lovely smile of his. “Anything for you, Belle,” he said while ruffling my hair.
He stared at me for a moment before his hand left my hair.
“I better go tell the doctors you’re awake,” he said before walking out of the room.
After the doctor made sure I was okay, he left William and me alone again. William watched him leave before taking his seat next to my bed again. He put my hand in his and started tracing random patterns on my palm.
I watched him for a while and tried not to blush. Just the feeling of his fingers against my skin made me shiver. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice.
“What happened?” I asked him after a while.
“You got hit by a truck. The driver wasn’t paying attention and he ignored the red light. The entire right sight of the car was gone.” I shivered again, but this time not from his touch.
“How long was I out?”
“Four days,” he said while looking up at me. “The worst four days of my life. I thought I was going to lose you. I didn’t know what to do with myself. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re okay!”
I took a good look at him and noticed the purple circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a while. His hair wasn’t combed in days and his clothes were wrinkled. I realized he must have been in the hospital the entire time.
“Every Superman needs his kryptonite, right?” I said with a small smile.
“Actually, I was thinking…” he started out.
He stopped mid sentence, as if he wasn’t sure what he was going to say. I waited for a moment to see if he was going to continue. He was concentrating on his fingers, which were still tracing patterns on my hand.
“You were thinking … ?” I tried to encourage him.
His fingers stopped and he looked up to me again. He took a deep breath before speaking again.
“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Lois Lane.” He showed me his infamous crooked smile before crashing his lips down on mine.
My eyes clamped open in shock, but it didn’t take long before I closed them, wrapped my healthy arm around William’s neck and started kissing him back. When we broke apart, we were both flushed and breathing hard.
“Lois Lane sounds perfect to me!” I managed to get out after a few deep breaths.
William looked at me and just smiled. Then he climbed into the hospital bed with me and pulled me close, making sure not to hurt me while doing so.
“I love you, Belle!” he whispered while putting an arm around me.
“I love you too, Bill!” I whispered back as I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes, soon drifting off into a peaceful sleep.