Every Pearl Has Its Oyster (17 page)

Gemma could see that she was likely in the downtown area. Tall buildings and parked cars lined the street that she was driving down. There didn’t seem to be many places she could just pull over and orient herself. She could feel the fatigue in her body, an insistent tiredness that beat between her eyes. When she saw the open, grand entryway of a high-rise hotel, Gemma pulled in without a thought.

A valet approached her with a welcoming smile on his face as he opened her door for her. She swung her legs out the door, stretching them forward before placing her feet on the ground.

“Can I take your bags for you, miss?” A porter had approached her, gesturing towards the trunk of the car.

“I don’t have any bags,” Gemma said, blushing.

“You forgot your phone, miss,” the valet said, taking Gemma’s phone from the passenger’s seat and handing it to her through the driver’s side window.

“Oh, thank you,” she replied, taking it and slipping it into her clutch. She skipped towards the front entrance. Gemma wondered if her behavior appeared strange. She let her hair down to cover her blushing cheeks. As she walked into the lobby, she spotted two young, teenaged girls waiting for their parents to finish checking in. They waited idly, looking bored as they flipped through their phones and sat on their suitcases. One of the girls glanced up lazily, eying her. A few feet from them were two guys in their twenties. They too seemed to have taken a slight interest in her entering the room. The moment Gemma caught them looking, they quickly looked down at their phones, tapping away at the screen. She turned her face from them, hoping to remain inconspicuous.

She approached the front desk, resigning to the idea of just getting a room for the night. She was exhausted and was in no shape to make the drive back. Besides, the thought of awkwardly sharing a bed with Tyler while she was still seething with anger was more than she was willing to handle tonight.

“Good Evening, miss. Do you have a reservation?” the man at the front desk asked. His gold nametag had the name “Scott” engraved on it.

“No,” Gemma shook her head. “But I was wondering if you had any rooms available.”

“Our regular rooms are actually all reserved or filled tonight,” he said, apologetically. “All we have left is the Penthouse Orchid Luxe Suite.”

“That’s fine,” Gemma replied. Scott flashed his eyebrows, seemingly surprised with her quick answer. It was clear he had no idea who she was.

“Okay, well then,” he said. “I’ll just need a credit card and ID and I’ll get that going for you.” Gemma rummaged through her clutch, realizing she hadn’t brought any of her own credit cards. She hadn’t intended to be gone for long and had only stuffed a few twenties in with her license.

“Ugh, hold on,” she said, running her fingers through the folds of her clutch. Her fingernail ran along the edge of something plastic. She pulled it out. It was a joint credit card that she had opened with Tyler after they first moved in together. “Okay, here.” Gemma handed the credit card and license to Scott. As he put in the information, she struggled to stuff all the contents of her clutch back in. Gemma could hear whispering behind her. She turned to see the two teenaged girls continuing to eye her.

“Okay!” Scott said. “How many room keys will you be needing?”

“Just one,” Gemma said, turning back to him. She could still hear the two girls talking under their breaths.

“Well here you go,” he said, sliding the card to her. He leaned forward, gesturing to show her the way. “You’ll just need to go straight down this hall past the bar, the elevators will be to your left. Have a good evening, Ms. Hunter and please let us know if we can do anything we can do for you. Enjoy your stay!”

“I knew it!” one of the girls yelled. “Oh my God, oh my God!” She jumped to her feet, shrieking as she ran towards Gemma. “I knew it was you, I knew it was you!” Gemma smiled, reaching a hand out to shake hers. The tiny girl pulled her in for a hug, crying as she held onto her. Gemma laughed, feeling warmed by the girl’s love and emotion. She hugged her back, smiling despite feeling a little sad. Before she could wonder what it was that was upsetting her, the girl continued to talk. “I had tickets to your show in Cleveland. That’s where I’m from.”

“Oh,” Gemma frowned. “I’m so sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” the girl shrugged, wiping happy tears from her eyes. “I’m meeting you now which is so amazing. But my friends will never believe me.”

“What’s your name?” Gemma asked.

“Samantha,” she replied.

“Samantha, do you want to take a picture together?” Gemma gestured to the other teenaged girl, sitting on her suitcase and looking unimpressed. “Is that your sister? Maybe she can take one on your phone for you.”

“Jenny?” Samantha said, looking over to her. Jenny got up, taking Samantha’s phone and snapping a couple photos. They exchanged places, giddily checking out the photos as Gemma looked over their shoulders to make sure they got what they wanted. It was then that Gemma heard the commotion outside. The porters and the valets were gesturing towards security guards. Dozens of girls were pushing their way past them to get in through the lobby doors. Lights flashed. There was a string of paparazzi leaned up against the glass entrance.

In a quick, sudden burst, the security was pushed aside and the throngs of people on the other side of the glass were suddenly surrounding Gemma. A window was shattered and those who couldn’t make it through the front entrance or revolving doors jumped through it. Fans pulled at her, grabbing her hair and dress as she tried to back away. She could see Samantha get knocked to the ground, her phone being kicked away from her.

“Hey!” Gemma yelled, pushing the bodies near her aside as she bent to retrieve the phone and help Samantha to her feet. Samantha looked confused and frightened. “Go to your parents!” Gemma ordered, pushing through the crowd to make an escape route for Samantha. She tried to follow only to get pulled back by the strap of her dress. Gemma tried to pull herself free. Paparazzi and fans alike recorded the incident. She tried again to get past the crowd, a security guard pushing inward to grab her hand.

“Where is your security?” he asked, gruffly. She could see he was clearly irritated. “We weren’t given enough warning that you’d be here and don’t have the manpower to properly handle this situation.”

“I don’t have security,” Gemma replied. It felt good to say despite the chaos that she found herself dealing with. The security guard rolled his eyes, calling every employee he could to help contain the mess of people that had spilled into the lobby.

“Either help me or call the police, but don’t just stand there!” he yelled to the people behind the front desk. Gemma followed the guard to the elevator bank, checking to see if she still had her hotel key card. She had somehow tucked it into her clutch. The elevator door opened and the guard gestured for her to go in. Gemma took one last glance into the lobby. She could still see people being pushed out the door.

“I’m sorry,” Gemma said. “I didn’t know I was going to end up here tonight. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

~

Gemma’s phone rang. She couldn’t remember when she had turned it back on, let alone where in the large hotel suite she had placed it. After the mess she had run into downstairs, she wasn’t sure how she would react to everything the moment she was alone. The beautiful suite was unfortunately of no comfort. Despite being as high up as she was, she could still hear the crowd outside.

She was tempted to step out onto the balcony and look below but she knew that it could mean asking for more trouble. Instead, she waited away from the windows until the shouting died down. The moment it did, she threw herself into the plush bed and fell asleep.

She wasn’t sure how many times the phone rang before she woke up. It was dark out now, the sky as black as it could be in a city. Gemma saw the light of the phone on a console near the entryway and reached for it just as the ringing stopped. She looked at the screen. She had just missed a call from Tyler. No surprise there. But then she saw she had missed a dozen calls from Tyler. It was just 8pm and she knew he was still on set. He was probably calling between scenes but Gemma still didn’t feel ready to talk to him.

Right as she was about to turn her phone to silent, it rang again. She looked down at the name. Damian Evans. Gemma swallowed, surprised to see that he was calling. She wasn’t sure if the gossip blogs had gotten word of what had happened but Damian was probably close enough to where she was that he could have heard by word of mouth. Before she could think much more, she had realized her thumb had hit the button to answer.

“Hello?” she held the phone to her ear, sitting on the edge of the bed. For a moment, there was no answer.

“Gemma?” Damian said, cautiously. “I didn’t think you’d answer.”

“Then why did you call?” she asked, smiling at his surprise.

“I heard from a teammate that you were in town. And that it caused a riot downtown.” He paused, waiting for Gemma to confirm it was the truth.

“I’m in San Francisco, yes,” Gemma replied. Again, there was silence. Gemma had never heard Damian so hesitant and unsure.

“Why?” he finally asked.

“I just ended up here,” Gemma said. “There’s no reason.”

“I don’t know why, I thought maybe…” his voice trailed off. There was another long pause before she heard him sigh. “Never mind, I’m sorry to bother you.”

“Are you in town?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m home.”

“Then come find me.”

~

“But why exactly don’t you want to take the role in Carbine?” Damian asked, breaking his long silence. He had been wordless as he listened to her rehash the events of the past weeks, nodding only occasionally as he stared at her with rapt attention. They hadn’t even gone that long without speaking but it was as if he missed her voice so much, he didn’t want to do anything to interrupt it.

“Why would I want the part in Carbine? I’m not an actress,” Gemma shrugged, confused as to why there was any question to it.

“But Tyler had a point. I mean, you’d be playing a singer and it’d a great opportunity and who doesn’t want to be in a Sidney Willis movie? I’m not a performer of any kind like you, Gem, but even I’d have trouble turning down a part in a project of his. So really,” Damian looked her in the eye. “Why didn’t you want to take the role?”

Gemma stopped, searching her brain for what she thought were obvious reasons why she didn’t want the part. “I mean,” she started, furrowing her brows for a clear answer. “It’s not like I got this job on my own. It’s not like I auditioned like everyone else and truly deserved the role. I was handed it because my boyfriend coaxed someone into giving it to me.”

“But no one would just give you the part if they didn’t want you in it.”

“I know, but still, I didn’t get the part by myself,” Gemma explained. “It’s not like a producer saw me and thought I was talented and brought me in. Or knew of my work and thought I’d be appropriate for the part. This all went through Tyler. I mean, I feel like everything I do just somehow goes through Tyler first. It’s like he’s this ring around me and in order to get to me, you have to somehow cross through something that has to do with him. I wouldn’t have had a career at all in the states without his attention, without him specifically calling me out. I’m already rarely in a place where he’s not. We moved in together after the whole Elizabeth thing, which again, was technically about me but started through him. And now without the world tour, I really have nothing to call my own. I guess I don’t tell him about my past because, well for one, it’s not something I like to revisit but I share everything in my life with him right now and I feel like I need something, anything to keep to myself.”

“That’s how it was with Nicki,” Damian nodded. “She was losing sight of herself because my life was taking over. My schedule was dictating her every move and I could see her almost turn into a different person. She wasn’t the same incredible, independent person I fell for. She stopped talking about her own goals and stopped seeing her own friends and I don’t know, everything became about my life on the road.”

“So how did you fix it?” Gemma asked. Damian bit his lip, looking to the ground.

“We broke up.”

“What? When?” Gemma’s eyes widened, stunned.

“It happened right before the Thierry Marc shoot,” Damian replied. “There just wasn’t a good time to tell you. I still care about her and love her but I want her to have everything she had always dreamed of and I know that it’s more than just being an NBA girlfriend, so it’s over. She’s going to re-enroll at UCLA for the spring semester.”

“I’m sorry,” Gemma said. She got up from the edge of the bed and walked to Damian’s chair. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed to talk. And I’m sorry I went on and on like this without even asking about you. I’m sorry for being so selfish.”

“You’re not being selfish,” Damian laughed. “Besides, I think being a little selfish sometimes is underrated.”

“What?” Gemma smirked. “Never thought I’d hear that coming out of your mouth.”

“You’re nineteen. Right now, there’s nothing wrong with putting yourself first.”

~

Gemma’s heart raced as she sat up in bed. Something had woken her up but she wasn’t sure what. She was barely even sure where she was. In a second, she took in her surroundings and realized that she had fallen asleep talking to Damian in the hotel suite. Where’s Damian? The sun was streaming through the windows, illuminating the empty spot beside her. He had been sitting there when she had fallen asleep. Her eyes flitted around the room.

The desk chair was unoccupied though his blue hoodie hung on the back. The chaise lounge across the room was also empty and the bathroom door was open and clearly vacant.

Suddenly, Gemma heard voices at her door. That must’ve been what woke me up. She threw off the covers and swung her legs off the bed. Her foot grazed a muscular shoulder. Gemma leaned over to see Damian rolling on his side on the floor beside her. He pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes.