Part 11 (1/2)
She hunched her shoulders together and tried to make herself invisible as they waited for the elevator.
Bea looked at her, puzzled. ”Are you cold?” she asked.
”No...just embarra.s.sed,” Maeve admitted. ”I guess I shouldn't have worn all this pink. All the people I see on the streets are wearing navy and black. People keep looking at me like I'm nuts!”
”Oh, no!” Bea said. ”I think that outfit looks terrific on you! And I love your boots!”
”You do?” Maeve was astonished. ”Really?”
”You look adorable. And that handbag is totally wicked!”
”Then why is everyone staring?” Maeve asked.
The elevator jangled to a stop and the doors opened. ”Oh, I wouldn't worry about it,” Bea said vaguely as they stepped on. ”I'm sure it has nothing to do with what you're wearing.”
Maeve glanced sideways at the gorgeous guy who hadn't spoken at all since he picked up the badges. He was smiling slightly, eyes fixed straight ahead, as though he knew a little secret. Maeve wished she could remember why he looked so familiar. Where had she seen that dreamy confidence before?
The elevator was much swifter than the clunky old one in Mich.e.l.le's building. In under a minute, they were whisked up to the twenty-ninth floor. The doors slid smoothly open.
The first person Maeve saw was Katani.
Maeve noticed immediately that Katani was teary-eyed and frantically trying to zip up her coat. Next to her, Mich.e.l.le was pulling on her own jacket, looking tense and frightened. Behind them were two policemen.
”Katani!” Maeve called, rus.h.i.+ng out of the elevator. She hugged her friend in a fever of relief.
”Maeve! We were on our way out to look for you!” Katani cried. Suddenly Katani stopped hugging Maeve and looked at her accusingly. ”Where have you been? What were you thinking, going off by yourself like that?”
Maeve gulped. ”What do you mean? You left me behind in the subway.” Now she was almost tearful, too. ”You were in such a rush you never even noticed I was gone.”
For a minute both girls just stood there, eyes welling with tears. Katani felt awful. Maeve was right. She had been so furious all morning that she had forgotten the most obvious thing: friends are the number-one priority. Being worried about Maeve was ten times worse than being worried about arriving at the fas.h.i.+on show late. And now that Maeve was here, she realized that she was happy-even happier than when she found out about this trip in the first place. ”I'm sorry, Maeve.”
Maeve hugged her. ”No, it's okay. I'm just glad I found this place!”
When Mich.e.l.le spotted the British couple standing quietly behind the girls, her eyes widened. ”Oh, thank goodness...Simon! You made it!”
Katani turned and gasped. She began to stare too. In fact, everyone in the hallway was staring. Some people were even pointing and whispering, but smiling the whole time.
Maeve turned to look at the man Mich.e.l.le had called Simon, and her eyes widened. Oh...my...gos.h.!.+
Simon Blackstone! How could she not have known him? British heartthrob, star of the great new action movie The Swashbuckler, actor, rocker, and out-of-this-world hip hop dancer-and she, who knew his face from movies and magazines, hadn't even realized it!
I was rescued by Simon Blackstone, Maeve thought. Is that too amazingly cool or what? This is the BEST day of my life!
Mich.e.l.le had already taken charge of the situation. She thanked the policemen for coming and apologized for having wasted their time.
”We're just glad everything turned out all right,” they said very graciously. Maeve blushed as she thanked her rescuers and then began apologizing in over-the-top Maeve style for not recognizing them sooner. ”I mean,” she gushed to Simon, ”you are one of my all-time favorite actors, if not my favorite. I like you even better than...You know, I am going to be an actress too someday...maybe you could...” Maeve noticed that Katani was frantically motioning for Maeve to ”chill.”
”Oh.” She looked up at Simon, the biggest heartthrob on the planet. ”I...I'm sorry...you must want to...” Simon flashed Maeve his famous, sparkling, devilish smile, the smile that made millions of girls all over the world scream ”SIMON ROCKS!” Speechless, Maeve just bobbed her head at his gleaming white teeth. And then the unimaginable happened. Simon Blackstone, favorite movie star of Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, reached over and lifted Maeve's hand to his lips, brushed it lightly with a kiss and in his impossibly cool British accent said ”Anytime, Luv.”
Maeve grabbed Katani's hand and watched as Mich.e.l.le led Simon and Bea to the magazine's conference room, where there was a brunch specially prepared just for them. Mich.e.l.le turned to Katani and Maeve, noticing their overwhelmed expressions. ”Why don't you two freshen up?” she suggested. ”I'll meet you right back in this conference room when you're done.”
”You know that I can never wash this hand...I mean, NEVER wash this hand ever again in my whole entire life. Someone should take a picture of this hand and put it in the Fan Hall of Fame,” Maeve said as she walked to the ladies' room with Katani.
”Okay. Maeve, explain this to me,” Katani said the minute the girls were alone in the ladies' room. She was bursting with curiosity. ”So you get totally lost in Times Square, in the middle of New York City. Then you come strolling in here with-who? Oh, right. Simon Blackstone! Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, how did you manage this? Speak now or I will be forced to make you speak,” Katani said, laughing. ”It just isn't possible that someone from Abigail Adams Junior High gets her hand kissed by Simon Blackstone. How on earth did you do it?”
”Oh, we didn't just come up in the same elevator,” Maeve said, giggling a little in sheer relief. ”He found me in Times Square-and brought me over here because he was worried about me.”
”No!” Katani looked stunned. ”That's incredible! He found you and rescued you?”
”Well-I guess he and Bea both did,” Maeve said. She felt both giddy and calm, now that she was finally with Katani again. ”He, of course, just sort of swept me up and carried me away.” When she saw the doubtful look on Katani's face, she amended, ”Well, not exactly. But I couldn't find the building and he and Bea said they were coming here anyway, so they asked me if I wanted to come along. And want to hear the craziest part? I was so panicked all morning it didn't occur to me who he was. Me! Can you imagine?! I didn't even really care who he was, as long as I found you.” She looked over at Katani and gave her a warm smile.
”I was so scared when I couldn't find you!” Katani said. ”I didn't go straight to Mich.e.l.le's office. As soon as I got out of the subway and realized that you were missing, I waited and waited, and then I walked around in circles, thinking I'd find you behind me. Then after a while I thought maybe you had found your way here, so I rushed over. I told Mich.e.l.le as soon as I saw her, and she called the police. When you got here we were just on our way out to look for you.” She shook her head. ”It was horrible!” And then the normally reserved Katani threw her arms around Maeve and gave her an unexpected Kgirl super hug.
”It's over now,” Maeve said, hugging her friend and thinking back on how people had stared at her in the lobby and on the street. She turned to Katani and giggled. ”You know, when people stared at us on the way here, I kept thinking it was because my outfit was all wrong. But Bea said she loved what I was wearing and she thought my bag was great! Gos.h.!.+ I had absolutely no idea that everyone was staring at him.” She shook her head and her cheeks turned as pink as her outfit. She'd been so sure there was something wrong with her that it never occurred to her that there was another, simpler explanation for why New Yorkers would stop and stare!
Katani stared at her now, too. ”What?” Maeve said.
Katani shrugged and smiled. ”Nothing,” she said finally. ”You do look cute. There's just one thing...” She handed Maeve a comb. ”Here. Just a few strokes and you'll be all set!”
Maeve thanked her and began to rearrange her long, red tresses while Katani watched her in silence and a little wonder. She was just beginning to see what Bea, whom Mich.e.l.le said was Simon's manager (sigh!), was talking about. That morning Katani had looked at Maeve like she didn't have a clue about what to wear in New York City. When she decided to bring that retro bag, Katani began to get Mary Poppins flashbacks. But now she saw that Maeve's unique sense of style was pretty cool. She was drenched in pink, and what person-according to Ms. Razzberry Pink, proprietor of Maeve's favorite store, Think Pink-didn't feel good when they were covered in pink? Maybe Bea really did admire Maeve's daring ensemble.
Katani had always thought that her sense of style was the best because she followed what was going on in the world of fas.h.i.+on. But now she saw that her fas.h.i.+on sense was simply not the only way. Maybe she needed to expand her appreciation of fas.h.i.+on. Even if something wasn't really her taste, it didn't mean it wasn't perfect for someone else. How would she ever make it to the top of the fas.h.i.+on world if there were so many more things to learn? Was it always going to be like this? she wondered. Wouldn't she ever get to a point in life when she was finished learning?
”Girls!” Mich.e.l.le rushed into the ladies' room just as Maeve combed her last strands of hair into place. ”You won't believe who's here!”
Maeve put her hands on her hips, ”Mich.e.l.le, I get it! Simon Blackstone.”
Mich.e.l.le shook her head. ”No! I mean, besides him!”
”Who?” Katani asked.
”A reporter from the local New York cable station, New York 1! They broadcast all over the five boroughs!”
Surprised, Katani looked at her cousin. Mich.e.l.le was a member of the press herself. She dealt with the media every day. Why was this such a big deal?
Mich.e.l.le didn't give her time to guess. ”Wait! You haven't heard the best part! They found out there are two girls here from Boston who are interested in fas.h.i.+on careers, and they'd like to interview you both right now!”
”Wow!” Maeve shrieked, her blue eyes s.h.i.+ning. ”I'm going to be on camera?!”
”Exactly!” said Mich.e.l.le.
”That's awesome! Hold on, I'm going to call Charlotte and tell her to turn on the TV!”