Caroline glanced up to watch him leave and immediately felt a pang of regret travel through her, as if she had just missed out on something she would later regret passing up. To be honest, she had heard of Logan Clay before today and had instantly recognized him once he showed her the magazine cover.
However, Caroline was too stubborn of a woman to give him that satisfaction.
She put down her newspaper and sighed, seeing Logan had already left the store. She took the remaining sips of her latte and stood up. As she did so, George the barista, rushed over to her with his face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Caroline! You’ll not believe what just happened!” George blurted out. “Do you know who you were sitting next to?”
He resembled a star-crazed fan with his wide smile and dancing eyes, his whole body twitching in excitement.
“Yes, Logan Clay. What about him?” she responded, halfheartedly.
“He was interested in you! You were sitting next to him for like half an hour, and I saw you guys chatting. Are you going to go out with him?”
“What? Of course not, plus you’re dead wrong.” Caroline stuck out her chin, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “He wasn't interested in me at all. He was a little full of himself, if you ask me.”
“Oh, really? I’m wrong? Well then, why did he tell me to give these to you?” George retorted with a snide grin as he pulled three tickets out of his apron pocket and spread them open in front of her face.
“Concert tickets? For this weekend’s show, front row at Madison Square Garden? I heard that was all sold out!” Caroline was astonished as she read the tickets. She did love music and any type of concert, particularly free ones, so it was a no brainer that she was going to go.
“Not just concert tickets, Caroline. THREE concert tickets. You know what that means?” George raised his eyebrows at her. “He definitely wants you.”
Caroline laughed at his presumption. There was no way that Logan Clay, the most popular rock star in the modern world, wanted anything to do with her, especially after their hostile encounter today. Although, she couldn’t reconcile the dramatically negative introduction with him leaving her tickets. It made no sense.
“How do you get that from the number of tickets he left, George?” Caroline put her hand on her tip and tilted her head, wondering what the barista was talking about.
“Jeez, Caroline, how clueless are you?” George folded his arms and declared confidently, causing her to smile at how seriously he analyzed such a simple situation. “He didn’t leave you one ticket, because then you wouldn’t want to go by yourself. He didn’t leave you two, because he doesn’t want you bringing a date and he didn’t leave you more than three tickets, because he doesn’t want you to get lost in some group where he won’t get the chance to see you again. I can pretty much guarantee you that you will get to go backstage."
“You are reading way too much into this, George.” Caroline giggled and took the tickets from him, but she’d be lying if she didn’t admit she was excited about the possibility.
CHAPTER TWO
Was George right? Does Logan Clay want to see me again? Am I even interested in a guy that seems so full of himself? Caroline’s mind was stuck ruminating on Logan the entire work day.
She always thought of herself as a girl of high standards, yet she had butterflies in her stomach over someone she had just met who had annoyed the hell out of her. Plus he was a celebrity, a musician who lived in an entirely different world than hers.
She had always pictured herself settling down with another lawyer, or a doctor, or someone with a job that didn’t involve sweating on a stage, strutting back and forth in tight leather pants.
Her parents had a great marriage, one that she had always idealized for herself one day. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse, happily married for over 30 years. They enjoy their house on the beach in the Hamptons, where their biggest worry is weeds in the rose garden. Caroline had always assumed she would end up with the same type of practical man as her father.
Caroline sighed and rifled through the papers on her desk, trying to push away the tingling in her core that was attempting to ruin her future plans. She decided to push away all thoughts of Logan for the rest of the day and just concentrate on her projects at work.
No point in adding unemployed to the list of ways she didn’t measure up to her father’s expectations.
About eight hours later, Caroline trudged through her front door, dropped her purse on the floor, and tossed her keys on a nearby table. She collapsed on the couch and just lay there, staring at the ceiling. Work had been exhausting, way too much running around for the senior partners, busy deadlines that just seemed impossible to meet, and no time to take a breath.
She glanced over at her cell phone that was dangling precariously out of her purse by the front door, where she had originally dropped it. She scooted to the end of the couch and reached out to try to grab it, nearly falling off the couch. It would have taken a lot less energy to just stand up and walk over to get it, but Caroline was stubborn and didn’t want to get up.
Her father had always joked she was so stubborn, that once her mind was made up, nothing in the world could budge her. Caroline laughed at the thought as she finally grasped her phone and slid back onto the couch. She turned her phone on and flicked through her list of contacts, finding her best friend Aralia’s phone number. She clicked the number and the phone began to ring.
“Caio, cupcake!” Aralia’s voice came through the speakers.
“Hey girl, it’s me,” Caroline greeted her, already smiling at the bubbly personality that was Aralia. She always infected everyone around her with the same outgoing spirit.
Aralia had been one of her best friends since they were children, and they’d moved to the city together years ago. She was a bartender at a bar in Chelsea that was always standing room only, most likely due to Aralia’s charming Italian wit and banter. It seemed sometimes like Aralia was always followed by a crowd of friends she barely knew.
“Hey, Caroline, how was your weekend?”
“It was great, just went to the park and relaxed. Nothing super fun, just got some rest and tried to catch up on sleep.” Caroline shrugged as she grabbed the tickets out of her purse and looked them over. “Hey, listen. I got three free concert tickets for Saturday night, want to go?”
“Hell yeah, what concert? Is Jackie our third?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Caroline agreed.
Jackie was Aralia’s cousin and roommate. The three of them had become close friends since moving to the city, even though they all grew up together. Aralia and Caroline had never included Jackie much when they were kids, but as the girls all spent more time together, it was a fast and easy friendship. They often spent Friday nights at the bar together or Sunday brunches filled with gossip and chatter.
“Perfect! I'll check with her to see if she's free on Saturday night, but I'm pretty sure she is. Which concert?” Aralia asked again.
Caroline sighed, knowing her friend would overreact.
“Front row tickets at Madison Square Garden for Logan Clay’s concert,” Caroline admitted quickly, closing her eyes and praying that her friend wouldn’t inquire as to how she got the tickets. She was confused enough about the situation, she certainly didn’t think she could explain it to someone else.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?!” Aralia screamed into the phone, clearly excited.
Caroline heard a banging sound and some muffled noise, realizing Aralia had dropped her phone. After a moment of fumbling, her voice came back through the speaker.
“Why didn’t you start with that, Caroline?! Holy shit, that's amazing! I've always loved him! Fuck love, I’m obsessed with him! How the fuck did you get tickets to that? I thought that show was all sold out! Oh my shit, Jackie is definitely not going to say no to this,” Aralia was rambling, not giving Caroline a chance to respond. “Okay, okay, let’s plan. What time are we
meeting? I cannot believe I have to wait all week now. It’s only Monday!”
“How about 6pm Saturday?” Caroline finally found a second to squeeze into the conversation.
“Yes, I'll meet you at your place. Holy crap, what am I going to wear? Gotta go, Caroline. I need to go shopping right this instant. Come shopping with me!”
“Tomorrow, maybe. I'm tired tonight. Think I’m just going to stay in.”
“Suit yourself. I'll grab you from your work tomorrow, or later in the week. We need to find something amazing to wear to this concert. This is not the time to undersell it- go big or fucking go home, Caroline! Oh my cheeses, front row. Logan Clay might see us! I wonder if I have any sexy underwear to throw on stage.”
With that last sentiment, Aralia hung up. Caroline laughed and rolled her eyes, turning off her phone. She knew that her girls would be excited and so was she, but there was also a nervous knot in her stomach that she couldn’t seem to push away.
CHAPTER THREE
Tuesday through Thursday at work flashed past in a blur. The law firm wasn’t giving her a single moment’s break, but she was glad to have the distraction. She had way too many things that she didn’t want to think about. She had even been so busy that she had forgotten to call Aralia back about shopping.
Friday morning rolled around to find Caroline finishing her last touches of makeup, leaning over her sink and staring in the mirror, getting ready to leave for work. Admiring her handiwork, she smiled at herself and grabbed her purse and keys, taking off for the elevator.
“Hi, Jeremy!” Caroline greeted her doorman as she stepped off the elevator.
“Miss Caroline, you’re looking gorgeous this morning,” he said to her as he opened the front door for her.
“Thank you!” She smiled as she waltzed past him, hopping into the waiting cab.
She only spent a few minutes at the Java Jolt this morning, taking her coffee to go. George asked her if she was excited about the concert and made her promise to tell him every detail on Monday. She agreed and tried to downplay her excitement, even though secretly she was a bundle of nerves. Dipping out of the store, she hurried down the block to work to make sure she got there on time.
Work was sluggish and she caught herself dragging her feet to match her mood. Fridays were always like this at her law office. All the senior partners took off early for their weekend houses, so there was only a small crowd of paralegals and other administrators around, clearly bitter about having to pick up the slack.
Luckily for Caroline, the ever bubbly Aralia came prancing through her office doors around three o’clock in the afternoon to take her out shopping. Caroline looked around to check that none of the senior bosses were around to see her leave early, but deemed it safe. She quickly cleaned up her desk and followed Aralia down to the New York City streets.
“Where are we going?” Caroline asked her, once they were walking down the city block, wallets ready to be used and abused.
“Let’s hit 5th Avenue, pick out a few things at different places. We can compare them back at your place. Jackie said she already had something perfect to wear, so she is just going to meet us tomorrow for the concert. You don’t even know how excited she was when I told her we were going to a Logan Clay concert!” Aralia giggled. “And front row? She nearly peed herself.”
“Hey, you were just as bad when I told you over the phone,” Caroline quipped back at her, but laughing too.
“You have no proof of that.” Aralia wrinkled her nose at her friend and then both girls burst out laughing, heading toward 5th Avenue.
ღ ~ ღ ~ ღ
“What about this one?” Caroline was standing half naked in the large dressing room with a partially clad Aralia, holding a giant stack of dresses and outfits. Caroline was holding a gold sequined short dress up in front of her and pinching it around her waist to give an example of what it would look like on her.
“Are you kidding? With your pale skin, you might as well just turn into a sparkling ice sculpture,” Aralia teased her. Caroline pretended to pout, tossing the dress into the reject pile. She pulled on a blue strapless dress that stopped just below her bottom, along with some thigh high black boots. She stood in front of the mirror and tossed her hair over her shoulder, admiring herself.
“This is the one. What do you think, Caroline?” Aralia asked, spinning in a slow circle.
“You look awesome, Aralia. My blue dangling earrings would go so great with that outfit. Do you want to borrow them? I can bring them with me tomorrow,” Caroline offered.
“The ones you wore to 80’s night at the bar a few weeks ago? Hell yeah, I could rock those in this outfit. Damn, I look good.” She grinned confidently at herself in the mirror.
Caroline was jealous of her. She wished she felt that confident in everything she did and wore. She knew she was beautiful, but she still felt insecure at times, especially when she was standing next to this Italian bombshell with her voluptuous curves.
“Try these, Caroline.” Aralia tossed a few garments at her.
Caroline caught them and held them up to get a better look. It was a pair of skinny leg, leather pants with an oversized, off the shoulder green top that made her hazel eyes shade green in the mirror. She put on the outfit, examining herself in the mirror while standing on her tippy toes. She was attempting to see what it would look like once she was in heels. She had to admit, she looked pretty sexy in this outfit. The pants highlighted her long legs and the shirt was casual and comfortable, but also showed hints of skin. Showing just enough to make you want to see more.
Maybe enough to make Logan want to see more. Caroline thought, blushing.
Aralia gave her a thumbs up, then went back to rustling around in the pile of clothes. Unable to find what she was looking for, she poked her head out of the dressing room and called the sales lady over.
"Could you please bring an assortment of strappy, black high heels?" she asked the woman politely. It only took a few minutes before they had five or six different kinds in front of them. Aralia glanced through them and picked out her favorite two.
“Here, try these two on with that outfit,” Aralia commanded.
Caroline knew not to argue with her when it came to clothes, Aralia had the best fashion sense of anyone she had ever known. Caroline tried on the first pair, but the back dug into her heel, so she quickly rejected them. Caroline wanted to look good, but she didn’t want to suffer all night for it. She pulled on the second pair and strapped them up. They were shiny black strappy sandals that brought her up about four inches and really accentuated the angle of her bottom in the leather pants.
“Hell yeah, Caroline. You have to get those. That outfit is perfect!” Aralia gasped, looking Caroline up and down.
Aralia put her original clothes back on, handing the sales lady her dress and boots to ring up. She couldn’t help but wonder what Logan would think when he saw her, if he saw her that is. Caroline couldn’t believe herself but she actually wanted him to find her attractive.
“Come on, Caroline, give the sales woman that outfit so she can ring it up,” Aralia said, snapping Caroline out of her thoughts.
She obliged and got back into her original outfit and handed the clothes to the sales woman. A few minutes later, the two friends were walking out the glass doors of the store, both with several shopping bags hanging from each arm. The sun had already set at this point and the girls decided to part ways and get some rest before the concert tomorrow.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning, Caroline slept much later than normal, soaking in the luxury of her plush blankets and the sun shining through her blinds. She lay there for a while after she had awoken , letting her mind drift to the concert. She was becoming more excited by the minute. There was no denying it anymore, she wanted to see Logan again. She knew that it was definitely one-sided and that these tickets were probably just him being civil, rather than an attempt to see her again. It didn’t matter to her anymore, she was determ
ined to enjoy the evening anyway.
Worst case scenario, she would listen to some great music and watch a sexy rocker dance on stage. Didn’t sound so bad even if it was just that. She smiled as she remembered how Aralia had picked out three pairs of lace underwear from the store yesterday. She planned on throwing them at Logan when he was on stage. Caroline was not that adventurous, but loved living vicariously through Aralia’s bravery.
Aralia was a bartender now, but she came from a wealthy family with the same upper class lifestyle as Caroline had grown up with. She was just born a wild spirit, who enjoyed tending bar to socialize and dazzle people with her famous and unusual drink concoctions. Making martinis was an art form to Aralia, and she loved being the center of attention every night.
She had dropped out of college after only one semester, which her parents never let her hear the end of. Despite that, Caroline was still jealous of Aralia’s strong will and ability to enjoy every moment until she had squeezed the very last drop out of it. Caroline watched the clock tick by as she lay there until she decided it was about time that she got up to start her day. After an hour of household chores and grabbing some breakfast, Caroline grabbed her sketchbook and headed out to the park to spend the afternoon drawing and relaxing before tonight.
ღ ~ ღ ~ ღ
Aralia knocked on Caroline’s door at precisely six o’clock, which was really saying something since Aralia was usually late. She had her own concept of time and just showed up whenever she felt like it most days.
“Ta da! How do I look?” Aralia asked, spinning in a circle in her blue dress and thigh high boots.
“Just as good as you did yesterday when I saw it on you.” Caroline chuckled at her friend’s dramatic entrance.