17 Chapter 17 - Sleepovers and Girl Talks

(Caroline's POV)

The rehearsal was great and everyone seemed to be happy about my performance. Schedules for the tour were already set and people have been clamouring about it on social media, or so Annie would like me to believe. To my delight Ana and the rest of Night Prowlers are going on tour with me. The company thought that it'd be a great opportunity for me and the group since fans know about my friendship with them. And so I started rehearsing with them.

When it was announced that they were going to be with me on my nationwide tour, tickets sold out as soon as they were made available. It was unreal. It also put a certain amount of pressure for us to perform really well.

We were done for the day when Ana asked me if I was free. "I am, but only for a few hours, why?" I replied.

"Well, we'd like to invite you over at our house for some tea and cookies. You can sleep there if you want you know. "

I thought about it. At home alone or with them, it was no contest. "Fine, I'll go with you guys. I'll just go and tell Nica."

"Really? Yay! We'll wait for you at the parking lot." Ana scrunched up her nose and smiled. I could see the outline of her cute dimples. It made her look like an adorable puppy. She was one of the few people I know who could pull off both sexy and cute with ease.

When I told Nica about it, she merely told me not to stay up too late. "Remember the tour starts in three days. You girls be responsible though I doubt that with Flora present, but nonetheless they look up to you so try to get them in line, okay?"

"Yes boss." I hugged her and left.

**

I gave her a comforting hug. "Well, we're here now aren't we? And besides I'm stuck with you guys until the end of the tour."

She brightened up. "I guess you are and you're in for a lot of fun."

**

We arrived at the spacious villa that they all shared. Being one of the company's biggest asset, they were given the privilege to live in such luxury. Immediately, we went to the lounge upstairs as Ana and Flora prepared the tea and biscuits.

"Brings back a lot of memories doesn't it?" Lina asked me while I was scanning the room where portraits of artists trained by the company hung at the wall.

"It does. A lot of it in fact." Memories of my trainee days went flashing back.

I was sixteen and doing club gigs, heavily promoting myself with the use of social media and with the help of a few people, Nica and Anita, to name a few. I remembered a man who was a scout for the agency giving me the company's card and encouraged me to audition. Anita, telling me how great an opportunity it was. I also remembered the looks of the people who came to evaluate me if I was worthy of being a part of the company and the executive director came himself and had me sing my piece again. People kept telling me that day that it was the first time they've seen the director smile for quite a long time.

**

The tea was good and the cookies complimented it's taste. Ana who baked the cookies was looking at me apprehensively.

"It's good, you can relax now." I told her.

"I'm glad you like it." She looked relieved.

"So how are you guys? And I don't mean business stuff." I asked them. Most people often forget that we are human too.

"Lina's dating." Flora spilled.

"FLORA!!!!" Lina looked remorseful.

"Really? Who?" I asked Lina, curious.

It was Emilia who answered. "It's Allen from The Bedtime Kids."

"Well, we've only went out three times. It's not like we're an item or anything. We're just getting to know each other." She replied.

"Stop being shy and just tell Carol, you like him." Flora interjectd.

Lina looked murderous, then she relented. "Yeah I like him."

"Well, congratulations, I wish you both the best." I didn't know what to feel about it, but I kept it to myself.

"Enough about Lina, we're sick of hearing her gush about her lovelife." Ana, who had changed into more comfortable clothes, was now wearing pajamas and was hugging a life-sized panda. "How about you Carol? We wanna hear about your quest for love."

Even here, I just couldn't seem to avoid talking about the most overrated topic of my career. "As usual, still nothing." I could see that they were hoping for a different answer.

Emilia was in total disbelief. "Um, I hate to ask you this Carol, but are you by any chance gay?"

I decided it'd be fun to mess with them. "And if I am?" They all looked shocked. "Just kidding, it's just that I have no idea what I'm looking for." And that's the truth.

"I just don't understand what it is with you Carol. " Lina said while nibbling cookies. "You've literally thousands of men falling for you, don't tell me that none of them fits into your criteria."

"I don't even have a criteria. Okay, I've met a lot of men who as many people have told me countless times, would've made good boyfriends, but it just isn't there you know?" I tried explaining it to them.

"Hmm, how about that guy, Dante?" Ana asked. The question caught me off guard. I haven't really thought about him. Ever since the surprise performance at the fan cafe, we haven't seen each other again.

"Dante? Who's that?" Flora asked.

Ana poured herself another cup of tea."A fan."

And so once more, I retold the story of how I met Dante.

"Well, you know, there's a lot of cases that people would fall for someone if they resemble the qualities of someone we love, like boys falling for girls who have the same traits as their mother, vice versa." Emilia said.

"Did you feel any spark with him?" Lina asked me.

I thought about it and tried to remember the conversation we had at the cafe, and to my surprise the memory came easy. The angular face, the gray eyes that gave off an aura of detachment, and his voice that portrayed the story of Machiavelli. I thought about how he caught my attention, and how I couldn't stop myself from listening to his story. It's been quite some time ever since I've felt that giddy. Exploring these thoughts scared me especially since I haven't felt this way before. So I gave them the most honest answer I could muster.

"He feels different to me."

"That's good, at least he made you feel something right?" Ana asked me.

"I guess."

"It's like a tragedy though." Lina said.

"Why?" Flora asked her.

"I mean, she's Caroline King and he's what? A fan? Sure, it'll make for a great fairytale story but this is real life." Lina explained.

That made me curious. "So you think I shouldn't date a fan?" It was the first time I've actually thought about it, the idea of dating someone who's a fan of my work.

Lina refilled her teacup. "Think of it this way. You've been a celebrity for years, if theoretically you guys do date, how hard do you think it would be for you to keep such a relationship from the spotlight?"

It was true. I've seen a lot of my friends date someone who aren't in the same industry as we were and most of them ended in breakups. They told me that they blame the paparazzi and the media for being too nosy, other mentioned tight schedules that they rarely have time for one another and the relationship just fades away.

"Or you could get lucky and the whole relationship works out." Flora, ever the optimist interjected.

"You guys just gave me a lot of things to talk about, not to mention you're ganging up on me." I pouted at them and they giggled.

"We're sorry." Ana laid her head on my lap and looked at me with adoring puppy eyes, it made me laugh. Emilia gave me a backhug and before I could protest, Lina and Flora joined in. We went to bed after. It took us a long time to sleep thanks to Flora who couldn't seem to shut up.

Finally, Ana who got sick of her incessant mumbling, shimmied next to her and said, "If you're not gonna shut up, I'll kiss you until you fall asleep."

Flora seemed to contemplate whether the threat was real or not, and when she saw the smile on Ana's face, she decided to shut up.

And so we slept.