Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,5

with a sly grin on his face. “You should meet him actually. That’s kind of the whole reason you’re here.”

My entire body went clammy, and my feet felt heavy as I walked the slowest possible pace without looking like Cam was attempting to kidnap me.

I’d never really been into pop culture. In high school I’d always been too busy with ballet, and then, after The Girl in the Yellow Dress was released, it became impossible to escape its constant presence in the media, so I’d just avoided it altogether. I told myself that I wasn’t star struck by Declan Davies. I couldn’t possibly be one of those teeny boppers, screeching at the top of their lungs for some guy they’d never met. I just wasn’t expecting to be so…physically attracted to him.

He saw us coming, and stood to his full stance, even taller than Cam’s 6 feet, watching our approach with a calculating eye. The hairstylist disappeared, and it was just the three of us.

“Hey, mate.” His accent was sweet and pleasing to the ear. The boys shook hands and clasped each other on the back in the manly way that boys do, while I shifted my weight from foot to foot nervously. “Wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

“Rewrites,” Cam said with a shrug before yanking me forward to stand toe-to-toe with the Australian god. “I thought you might like to meet Adley Adair… She was just telling me what a big fan she is.”

I stumbled over my feet before I managed to right myself, and let’s just say that if looks could kill, Cam would be dead and resurrected for the sole purpose of me killing him again.

Famous gray eyes poured critically from my messy hair all the way down to settle on my wrinkled rubber ducky shorts.

“You’re not nearly what I was expecting,” he observed unsmiling.

I imagined I was quite different than the Adley Adair painted in The Girl in the Yellow Dress. That Adley had been pristinely kept with sharp, blonde hair, highlighted to perfection and cut into a fashionable style that sat – never a hair out of place – above her shoulders. She’d had the body of a ballerina, like a willow tree; lithe, elegant, thin.

I was the Adley Adair of after. My hair had grown into its natural shade of dark blonde, and it reached far down my back in unkempt waves. The only time it got a cut was when I had enough time to drop by UNC’s beautician school for a free one, and it hadn’t seen color since I’d left my family and money back in California.

“Funny. You’re even more charming than I was expecting.” I tried to bite back the snarky comment, but it was too late, leaving me with no choice but to own it proudly with my chin held high.

I glared at Cam as he stomped on my foot, all the while trying to cover up his own snort of laughter. Cam had no one to blame but himself for my rudeness. I was jetlagged and unprepared for interactions with celebrities.

“A sarcastic American…how original,” he replied with a fair amount of his own Australian sarcasm. A smirk flirted with his full lips. There was no mistaking it as friendly. As charismatic as Declan Davies came across on the big screen, it was clear that he was a hell of better actor than I’d ever given him credit for.

“Wow, and that’s coming from an arrogant actor.” Heat rushed into my cheeks, but I kept my jab as light and flippant as he did.

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” Cam cut in, tugging me away from the pretty boy before I could break his face. “Now, look, here comes Madeline.”

“Who?” Unlike Declan Davies, I didn’t recognize the girl he pointed out entering the warehouse-like building they called a soundstage. She was tiny – pocket size, really – with dark, auburn hair and pretty, if not exaggerated, features.

“Madeline Little,” Cam explained in a hushed voice as she finally spotted the three of us staring at her. When I continued to look lost, he elbowed me and whispered, “She just graduated from the Mouse’s starlet factory. This is her first serious role. She’s playing you.”

Apparently, Declan Davies was simply playing a role in a movie, but Madeline Little was me. I wanted to return the foot stomp, but unfortunately, the young actress locked onto me. Her sharp eyes had jumped from Cam to me with precision, and I had no doubt that she’d