Love Unscripted (33 page)

“
I know what I should do. But what I
should
do is not what I want to do. If I leave in the morning,
they
are going to start following you.” He motioned his head towards the window.

“
What difference does it make? You’ve been here twice, and now there’s a private party here. I’m sure the connection has been made.”

“
If I leave in the morning, that’s it. It definitely begins. Are you ready for that?”

A few select words he said crossed through my mind: “I’m falling in love with you” and “girlfriend.” Then I thought about the freedom that I take for granted every day. I would no longer walk around the Earth in complete anonymity.

“
If you really meant all the words you said to me on the roof, then yes, I’m ready.”

“
Taryn, I just want to protect you. You know that, right?”

I nodded. I knew he didn’t want me to be hounded. But how long could he, or would he, keep me a secret? I guess a little disappointment showed on my face.

“
Well, we don’t have to decide now. We still have a game to watch,” Ryan said, giving me hope.

I turned the channel to Sunday night football. The familiar background music started to play and a few of the guys mimicked the tones. It was funny.

“
We’re going to watch American football?” Suzanne whined.

Ryan turned and spoke over his shoulder. “We could call a car for you if you don’t want to stay.”

I smiled inside. He was being nice, but he really wanted to get rid of her.

“
I can call for my own car, thank you,” she snapped back. I was glad to see her use her cell phone.

I carried a fresh pitcher of beer over to the guys. They were all lined up at the table closest to the television.

“
Gary, get your money ready!” Ryan teased.

I filled Ryan’s empty glass with beer. It looked tasty so I took a sip then handed it to him. He took a big gulp and handed the glass back to me.

“
You get
your
money ready,” Gary bantered back. “I already have one of your twenties in my wallet; just waiting for another one. Maybe you should give that twenty to Taryn to keep warm for me.”

Ryan patted my leg. “Don’t you worry about this twenty. It’s nice and warm, and looking forward to having another twenty to be its friend.”

Ryan rested his arm on the back of my chair and whispered in my ear, “let’s do a shot.”

“
Preference?”

“
How about that tequila we had that one time?” Ryan answered. “Do you still have some?”

“
Yeah.” I nodded. “I think there’s enough left in the bottle.”

“
Well, let’s kill it. I’ll give you money for a new bottle. That stuff was good!”

Suzanne and Francesca put their coats on and then Suzanne announced their departure. Hardly anyone said goodbye to them. Kat yelled “see ya” very loud, but her tone was definitely more dismissive rather than a sincere goodbye.

I heard some screams coming from the waiting fans when they departed through my front door, but the screaming didn’t last too long. Since the screams were coming from females, the crowd outside was obviously waiting for actors, not actresses. My thoughts were that they were really waiting for one actor in particular to emerge.

I had suspected, and Ryan had confirmed, that the paparazzi were staked outside my building - waiting. But it was only then, when Suzanne and Francesca left, that the amount of paparazzi waiting became more apparent. The entire sidewalk and the full length of my exterior were illuminated by flashes from the cameras, completely lighting up the darkness outside my windows.

Once Suzanne and Francesca left, it was like everyone inside could breathe again. The men were getting loud, shouting at the football game, and the ladies had to yell just so we could have a conversation.

My attention focused back on Ryan when I saw him talking on his cell phone. He didn’t talk long, but whatever he heard pissed him off. He pounded his fist into the table. I watched as he leaned over and said something in Cal’s ear. Cal just shook his head in disgust.

After everyone did a shot of tequila, I sat at the big round table with the ladies to play some cards. Kat was getting tipsy; she was so cute to watch as she giggled to herself.

“
I’m glad the psycho twins finally left,” Kelly announced. Her comment made me chuckle.

“
Yeah, what’s up with Suzanne?” Marie asked. “She’s kind of like a bitch.”

“
That’s an understatement!” Kat laughed loudly.

“
It’s surprising; on screen she and Ryan have such amazing chemistry. I thought she’d be nicer,” Tammy said.

“
That’s because Ryan has the patience of a saint!” Kat yelled in Ryan’s direction. “We should call him Saint Ryan from now on.”

Ryan looked over his shoulder and smirked at her.

“
We all told him that if he’d just kill her already, we could go home. We even offered to bail him out of jail if he’d do it!” Kat joked. “Right Ryan? I’d bail you out of jail in a heartbeat, brother!”

“
That’s why I check the clip in my gun before every scene.” Ryan laughed. “I’m so paranoid that one of you are going to slip real bullets in there one day.”

“
And what about Francesca?” Tammy asked Kat. “She barely said a word to anyone.”

“
That’s because Suzanne does the talking for both of them now. Sometimes we wonder if Fran is made out of wood and Suzanne has her hand up her ass making her mouth move,” Kat hiccuped.

Ryan turned around, laughing hysterically at Kat’s comment. He made a gesture like he had a puppet on his hand.

“
Francesca has issues,” Kelly added. “At first she was really nice, but she developed this idolization of Suzanne, and then she became an evil clone.”

Kelly lowered her voice. “Fran is infatuated with Ryan, or at least she was. I don’t know anymore. We think since Suzanne was in a position to be close to Ryan, Fran started to mimic her - thinking it would attract Ryan’s attention. It developed into this sickness.”

“
I’m still betting on the alien abduction theory myself,” Kat added. “One more movie, one more and then we are finished with them. I am so not looking forward to having to hit the promo circuit with them again. It’s going to be a freaking nightmare.”

“
Well Suzanne said some harsh things to Taryn tonight,” Marie added. “It’s pretty obvious that she’s got a thing for Ryan too.”

I looked down at the cards in my hand, displeased that she mentioned it.

“
Taryn, she was a bitch to you! I wanted to punch her. Now when I see the next movie, I’m going to wish Charles would let her bleed to death in that cave.”

I thought about Ryan having to go to work tomorrow. Would he say anything to Suzanne or would he just ignore it for the sake of keeping his job? I presumed he would just keep his cool and do his scenes the best he could. It wasn’t in his personality to invite confrontations.

I was glad he told me what he did when we were in the shower earlier this morning. He was honest with me. I wondered if anyone else sitting at this table knew about his slip in judgment when he slept with Francesca. If they knew, they certainly weren’t going to bring it up in front of me. Kelly and Kat were above that.

I looked up at the television and saw that the Steelers had possession of the ball.

“
Excuse me, ladies. I have to see this.” I sat back down next to Ryan.

The quarterback had just thrown the ball for twenty yards and the Steelers’ receiver was on his way to the goal. I stood up to cheer; Ryan stood up right behind me.

“
Touchdown!” we both yelled. Ryan held his hands up in the air; I clapped my hands into his for a mutual high-five. The place kicker got the ball between the uprights for the extra point. Ryan gave me another high-five and a quick kiss. He was so happy, and seeing him happy made me even happier.

I noticed I was the only female even remotely interested in the game, but it didn’t matter. I had everything my heart desired; great friends, new soon-to-be great friends, and the best man I could have ever wished for.

I stayed with Ryan until half time. The Steelers were winning, 21 to 7, Ryan was having a blast with the guys, and I was secretly entertaining thoughts of straddling him where he sat. The several drinks I had consumed further enhanced my naughty thoughts. I was feeling buzzed and completely aroused.

“
Play me a song,” Ryan whispered in my ear.

I looked at him like he was crazy.

“
What do mean, play you a song?” I grinned and looked him in the eyes.

“
On your piano. Play something.”

“
Why don’t you play
me
a song?” I challenged. “My guitar is just up those steps.” I pointed to the door.

“
Oh no! I asked you first! Come on, just one.” He stood up and pulled me off of my chair, practically carrying me like I was a football over to my piano.

I lifted the cover off of the keys and stared at them. I had no idea what to play. I played a few notes, hoping that a song would come to me while remembering all the songbooks I used to have.

I started to play a few chords and Ryan’s face lit up.

“
Journey?” he asked.

I nodded and began to sing.

Soon I had a gathering around my piano, all of us trying to remember the words. It was amusing to hear them all sing off-key. Our rendition of that wonderful song ended horribly, since I couldn’t remember all of the lyrics.

“
How about this one?” I played a few notes.

It was karaoke night in Mitchell’s Pub.

“
Play that song you played that night,” Ryan requested coyly. “Please?”

At his urging, I played “
You’ve got a Friend
” again. This time I wasn’t nervous.

Cal took Kelly in his arms and started to dance with her. It was such a beautiful sight. Pete twirled Tammy under his arm, and Ryan leaned across the top of my piano, smiling at me.

I sang to him and him alone.

We were all having a good time singing and laughing, that was until the police sirens sounded and the red and blue lights flashed in front of my pub. I immediately hopped up off my piano bench.

“
Pete!” I yelled.

“
I’m on it,” Pete answered as he trotted out the front door.

I stood near the door waiting for Pete to return. It seemed to take him forever. I wanted to look out the window to see what was going on, but Ryan stopped me. Eventually Pete came back in but he wasn’t alone; two police officers were with him.

“
Pete, what’s going on?” I asked, nervous that I had police in my pub. It had been a long time since I had cops show up. Usually they came after someone started a fight outside, but I had no idea why they were here now.

“
Good Evening, Miss,” One of the policemen addressed me as he looked around at my guests.

“
Good Evening, Officer,” I replied. “I’m Taryn Mitchell. I’m the owner here. What is going on?” Ryan stood dutifully behind me.

“
We received a complaint about a crowd blocking the street traffic,” the policeman replied.

“
As you can see, we are holding a private affair for our visiting guests.” I looked at Ryan and Cal. Seaport was not a large community; I presumed that the dozen or so police officers we had on staff all knew that celebrities were in town.

The policeman looked at Ryan and nodded his greeting. “Mr. Christensen.”

“
Good Evening, Officer,” Ryan replied. He was standing with his arms folded across his chest. “My apologies for the crowd. Unfortunately there isn’t much we can do about it.”

“
We will make sure that the street is clear. There are too many pedestrians on the sidewalk. We'll request that they disband, but they will surely regroup once we leave,” the officer informed.

“
We appreciate your help,” Ryan replied.

“
Yes, thank you,” Cal added.

“
Would you like me to call in a request for a police escort when you leave?” the officer asked.

“
I’m not sure. We have private security with us this evening,” Ryan answered.

“
Yes, we spoke to them outside,” the officer said. “They are trying their best to keep it orderly, but we understand there is only so much they can do.”

“
We should be fine. Thanks for the offer.” Ryan reached out to shake the officer's hand.

My heart rate was accelerated from the nervousness that always accompanied police presence, but Ryan seemed to maintain his cool. Pete escorted the police out the door; hundreds of camera flashes lit up the darkness the moment the door opened.

I noticed Ryan turned to walk away; I presumed he didn’t want to be seen when the front door opened. He sat down in his seat in front of the television and started rubbing his forehead. His body language confirmed my suspicions.

I stood behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. I knew he was bothered by the mayhem outside and I wanted to take his mind off of it. How much pressure could one man take before he would crack?