Chapter 9

Martha’s POV

                “Hey,” Oscar smiled down at me. “Good to see you again.” He stepped aside letting me pass through the door.

                “You too,” I smiled back up at him. “How’ve you been the last…. 24 hours?”

                He chuckled, “Oh you know… sleeping, sleeping, watching TV and eating.”

                “Fun stuff man!” Oscar took my purse and hung it on a hook next to the door. He escorted me to the couch where I saw Omar.

                “Martha,” he waved. “Good to see you again.”

                “You too Omar,” I smiled sweetly. He patted the spot on the sofa next to him, so I gracefully slid my way to the sofa.

                “So how is London treating you?”

                “Fairly well actually. When you come from small town USA this is nothing but exciting!”
                Oscar came and sat down next to me, “How was your trip to the university?”

                “It was good!” I shifted my body so that I was facing him “It’s so big and so beautiful!”

                The boys chuckled, “Is there anything here you don’t think in big and beautiful?”
                “Yes, my dorm room. It’s the size of my closet back at home.”

                “Poor little Martie,” Martha joked with a light punch to my arm.

                I laughed along with him.

 

                We watched TV for a little keeping up minimum small talk. It should have been awkward, but it wasn’t.

                After about twenty minutes Oscar got up from the sofa and put his jacket on. “I have to go and get the pizza, Martha. The place is right down the street. Did you want to come with me?” I turned to look at him and saw the eagerness in his eyes, but it was impossible to miss the face Omar was making.

                Oscar shrugged and sighed, “I mean we can go out the back way to avoid the fans but I can’t guarantee that the paps won’t find us….”

                I hopped off the couch and headed to grab my purse. He looked at me as through I was crazy. This time I was the one who shrugged. If I was ever going to get to know Oscar I would just have to get over the downsides of him being famous. I was strong enough to put up with that. I just had to remember to mention it to my mom the next time I talked to her.

                We said goodbye to Omar who looked a little upset to be left alone. I wondered why Liam didn’t invite him to come along. I was kind of hoping it was because he wanted to be with me alone. The idea made me smile.

                 He escorted me to the elevator. Once we were inside he pushed level three. I looked at him confused. He just winked. When the elevator stopped he led me down a dark hallway. He pushed open a door and we were out in the street. I laughed at his secret way. They’d clearly stayed there before.

                We walked in silence for a short amount of time before Oscar felt the need to break the silence.            

                “Have you ever played the question game?” he asked.

                “Are you asking me to play?”

                He nodded his head.

                “You wanna go first?”

                He put a finger to his lips, inquiring what question to ask first. “Tell me about your family.”

                “That’s not a question,” I nudged his side and he nudged me back. “Well, there is my mom and my dad. My mom is a journalist and works from home and my dad is a radiologist. I have two little sisters and a little brother. My brother is seven. His name is Grant. Ania is nine and Alice is eleven.”

                “That’s a pretty big age difference,” Oscar observed. “Seven years?”

                “My parents like to go against statistics. My mom was nineteen when she had me. They got engaged when they were eighteen and had me three months after their wedding.” I laughed. “My mom hates her wedding pictures. She is six months pregnant. Anyway, they got married and moved to Omaha where my dad was in medical school. My mom supported the family by her job at the Omaha World Herald. We lived in a tiny apartment until dad was done with school. By that time I was seven. When we moved into our new house a year after Dad graduated, Alice was only a few months old.”

                “That is impressive.” Liam looked truly impressed. He knew as well as I that many times those kinds of situations don’t turn out that way.

                “I like to think I was the experimental child,” I laughed. “Apparently I did a good job.”

                “I guess so. Okay, your turn to ask.”
                “How did you guys meet and become famous?”

                Oscar ran his hand through his blond hair making it messy. I desperately wanted to fix it for him… or maybe I just wanted to have an excuse to run my hands through my hair –because that’s not creepy at all.

                “I should have figured you would ask that. Well it’s kind of a long story. We were enrolled to prestigious dance institutions throughout the country since we were young, where our talent was nurtured and developed in virtually all the biggest dance styles there is. But it was street dance that became our favorite style. We started performing on the streets and town squares in Stockholm.”

                “That’s really cool,” I smiled at him. “I think you should sing for me and Mary tonight!”

                He snickered, “We’ll see.”

                We continued the question game all the way to the pizza place. Once inside was when the pandemonium hit. There was a group of about a dozen girls eating at the first table in the restaurant. The second Oscar walked through the door, their cries of joy filled the crowded room alerting every other fan that he was there.

                Oscar shot me an apologetic look before pulling me close to his side and walking over to the table of girls.

                “This is why I plan extra time into everything I do,” his warm breath tickled my ear.

                I was proud that he pulled me close to his side. He wasn’t rejecting that we were out together. Not like it was a date anyway, but it still made my stomach squirm.

                Oscar greeted the girls who were clearly star struck to see him. Very few of them were able to hold up a real conversation with him, but he didn’t mind. He took individual pictures with each of the girls and even sang happy birthday to the girl whose birthday they were celebrating.

                Then, he greeted the small group of fans who had politely waited for him to finish with the other group. He took pictures and talked to them. Many times who would look back at me as if to make sure I hadn’t ditched him. Each time he gave me a smile and a wink followed by an apologetic look.

                The girls seemed to have doubled, but after they met, talked to, and got a picture with Oscar, they left him alone. Maybe it was because they had dinner to eat, but it still surprised me. In America, people mobbed celebrities. People here were respectful. At least these fans were.

                “Date with Oscar Enestad?” a girl who was standing next to me questioned.

                Shocked as I was I denied that it was a date. “We are just friends. Just came to get pizza for a movie night we are having with some friends and then this…” I waved my hand over the crowd of girls.

                She laughed, “Everywhere they go…”

                I smiled. This was what it was like to be famous. This was insane.

                After about thirty minutes, all the girls had been satisfied with a picture. A few hung around chatting with Oscar. He, once again, pulled me to his side and excused ourselves. We wandered over to pick up our take out order.

                Oscar led me through the back door of the pizza place and down a dimly lit alley.

                “This isn’t sketch at all,” I chuckled.

                He laughed, “Sorry. It was either this or more fans.”

                I nodded understandingly. “That was really sweet. How you stopped and talked to all of them. This seven year old was crying after she talked to you.”

                “What did you tell me on the plane?” his big brown eyes beat down on me. “You like the famous people who are in the industry for the love of music and their fans? I love the fans –they got us here. The least we can do to repay them is meeting and getting to know them.”

                “Such a humble boy,” I teased.

                “Thanks for waiting though. I didn’t think it would be that crazy.”
                “It’s not a problem.”

                We walked back to the hotel mostly in silence. I loved that about Liam. We didn’t need to be talking the entire time. We could have silence and have it not be awkward. He opened the back entrance door for me and I slipped past him.

                Making our way down to the elevator my heart started pounding. The night really hadn’t started yet, but I was excited none the less.

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

This is part 1 of Movie night. I don't know how long it will be but I couldn't fit it all into one. If you have any ideas or suggestions for what should take place during movie night let me know in a review! Thanks for reading!