The Beginning - A How to Catch a (Rock) Star Short Story

The Beginning

  An exclusive short story about what happens before the new adult novel How to Catch a (Rock) Star by Gabrielle Aquilina

  Lillie was excited. Tonight Matt was taking her out for dinner to her favourite restaurant in Brighton and she just knew he was going to ask her the big question. He never took her there except on her birthday, and it wasn’t her birthday for another few months.

  Plus, wasn’t the two-year point in a relationship the time when everyone either got engaged or split up? And there was no way he was going to do that. When she thought back to a couple of nights before, her stomach flipped over. Couples who still had sex like that did not break up.

  Her thoughts drifted back to wondering about the engagement ring. She’d been daydreaming all day about what sort of ring Matt might have chosen. They’d never actually spoken about getting engaged as such, but he knew she didn’t like anything overly flashy or ornate. Something simple and fairly plain; she wasn’t a fussy, show-offy type of girl.  

  She glanced at the clock above her desk: four o' clock. Sixty minutes to go and then she could rush home and start getting ready. Matt was picking her up at seven thirty, which would give her just under two hours to get everything done by the time she had caught the bus home.

  She smiled to herself and clicked back onto the restaurant’s menu page. The less time she spent deciding what to have, the sooner he would ask her, so she’d already decided her starter: a warm baked goat’s cheese salad with local wild honey.

  Now she had to decide on her main course and, unusually for her, she was going to skip dessert so they could get back to hers and celebrate their engagement properly. She had champagne chilling in the office fridge and had bought strawberries and a rather rich and decadent looking bitter chocolate tart, just in case they got round to eating anything. She didn’t plan on it but you never knew.

  Lillie read through the choices, finally settling on the garlic prawns and then changing her mind when she thought about all the kissing they were going to be doing. She ran through the main courses again and went for something a bit more bland, but still delicious: steamed Sea Bass fillet with herby Freekah and roasted baby vegetables. That should leave her kissable.

  She flicked back to the spreadsheet she was working on and tried to concentrate on her work, boring as it was. Since graduating university, she’d been in a series of temping jobs, each more deathly dull than the last. At least in this role, she was pretty much left to her own devices. Most of the time, they seemed to forget she was even there and she spent the vast majority of her time messaging Kate or reading various blogs on the Internet.

  If only Matt had asked her to dinner sooner instead of just calling this morning, she could have ordered the beautiful dress she’d seen on the Topshop website. Still, at least she had Kate’s wardrobe as well as her own to choose from. One of the many perks of living with your best friend. Lillie sighed; it was too bad that Kate was working at the art gallery tonight otherwise they could have shared a bottle of fizz whilst Lillie got ready.

  She took her time finishing the spreadsheet and then offered to make tea for the team. That should take up another ten or so minutes, she thought. Why was it that when you wanted time to go quickly it moved slower than a - her phone buzzed through a message, interrupting her thoughts and she grinned. Matt.

  Hi babe. Still okay for tonight? Picking you up at 7.30, be ready! M x

  Oh, she was more than still okay for tonight. She sent him a quick text back and got on with making the tea. People were so fussy these days; one tea with lemon, one super strong with a tiny splash of milk, a green tea with the bag left in and another with the bag taken out after about two seconds in the cup, two black coffees (one with a sugar and a half) and a hot water with lemon.

  Carrying the tray back to her team, she spotted Smarmy Simon, her boss. She quickly looked away but it was too late; he’d seen her. She walked as speedily as possible to get back behind the safety of her desk, feeling his eyes on her arse. She set the tray down on the spare desk and said, ‘Come and get your drinks, guys,’ lifting her own from the tray and sitting down so he couldn’t stare at her bum any more.

  ‘Lillie,’ Simon breathed over her, his chest heaving from his little power walk across the office. Lillie held back her grimace as he put a hand on her desk and leaned in towards her. He cleared his throat and sniffed.

  ‘I know it’s nearly time to go home but I need some urgent letters typing up, so can you come into my office in fifteen minutes time and I can dictate them to you?’ he leered at her, his gaze dropping down to her chest and she had to stop herself from leaning backwards.

  ‘Sure, Simon. I’ll see you at quarter to,’ she said. He grinned at her and strode off, whilst Lillie cursed him under her breath. She pulled her phone out and messaged Kate.

  I can’t believe it. Smarmy Simon’s going to keep me late. It’s like he knows or something! :( xx

  She stared at her laptop screen and drummed her newly manicured nails on her desk. Thank God she’d gone and had an express manicure during her lunch hour. She’d have to type extra fast now and substitute her planned bubble bath for a shower. Damn Simon. Her phone flashed through a message.

  Oh hun. Just type super fast and get out of there asap! Stupid Simon. Bet he doesn’t pay you for it either… :( Kx

  Lillie bet he wouldn’t either. He never did. She checked the time and got up from her desk, unplugging her laptop and making her way to Simon’s office. He waved her in, whilst talking to someone on the phone, and she clenched her jaw. He better not be on a long call, she thought, setting up her laptop and opening a blank word document.

  Thankfully, he hung up quickly and turned to face her, staring at her just a fraction too long.

  ‘So,’ she said, eager to get on with it. ‘How many letters do you need?’

  ‘Only five, but one is going to be quite long. Did you need to leave on time?’ Lillie blushed.

  ‘Well, I’ve got plans tonight…’ she muttered, putting her hands over the keyboard ready for the first letter. Simon cleared his throat again and she resisted the urge to chuck her laptop at him.

  ‘Right, okay. Let’s start then - ’ and he started reciting out the first letter, thankfully a short one. The next two were equally short and Lillie couldn’t see what was so urgent about them,. She glanced at the time – nearlyfive pm.

  The next letter was long, two pages, and it was quarter past five by the time Simon had finished reciting and then amending it. Lillie sighed, she was going to miss her bus for sure now.

  The final letter only took a few minutes and Lillie sent it to the printer, shutting down her laptop and getting up to leave.

  ‘Wait,’ Simon said. Lillie closed her eyes and sat back down. ‘I think I need to change a couple of things in that longer letter, one or two sentences don’t sound quite right.’ She opened her laptop back up and found the letter, not trusting herself to say a word.

  Simon changed one or two words, asking her to read the relevant paragraphs back to him. Lillie’s knuckles were white from clutching the chair’s arms so hard. He changed a word back and Lillie could feel her blood pressure rising to dangerous levels. She had missed the five thirty bus now and would probably miss the quarter to six one too, meaning she wouldn’t get home until nearly half past six.

  Finally, he was finished and she slammed the lid of her laptop closed without shutting it down, and ran to her desk to grab her coat and bag, stopping by the office kitchen to grab her shopping out of the fridge. She raced down the stairs before Simon could call her back. If she was
quick, she could make the quarter to six bus. With her dark hair streaming behind her, she ran down the road checking over her shoulder every ten seconds to see if the bus was coming.

  Oh God, there it was! She ran harder, her lungs burning and a stitch developing in her side. The bus pulled up at the stop with only one person to get on it. With a sprint worthy of Usain Bolt, she reached the bus and jumped on, pushing her card against the ticket machine and gasping for breath. The bus driver raised an eyebrow at her and she grimaced at him, pulling her coat off and collapsing into the nearest seat.

  She tried to catch her breath as noiselessly as she could, aware of the other passengers staring at her in amusement, and messaged Kate to let her know she was on the bus.

  It took half the bus ride for her to get back to normal, and she vowed she was going to try and get fit for any future sprints to the bus stop. At her stop, she stood up and felt an ache in her legs from her impromptu burst of exercise.

  At last, inside the flat, she dumped her stuff in her room and got undressed, getting into the shower and washing her hair quickly, swearing at Smarmy Simon for denying her the time to put a hair mask on. She shaved as fast as she dared and washed her make up off, rinsing her hair and turning the shower to