I couldn't believe that Nathan was going to have lunch at Scarlet's restaurant with his ex-bandmates. How hadn't I noticed that when I looked at the itinerary earlier? I would have told her that I was going to see her today with her celebrity crush, Nathan Lucero. Unless she knew about it already. She did look at my itinerary once, and I would assume that Margaret Hanna or someone else on her team would contact the places we're going to make sure no crazy fans showed up.

I got out of the limo and opened the door for Nathan. He looked up at the restaurant with a nod. "This place looks good," he said. 

"It is," I agreed. He glanced over at me with a curious look on his face, so I said, "I've been here before."

"Good to know." Nathan ran a hand through his recently shortened hair. The hairdresser cut it pretty short, almost a buzz cut. There was more hair on top than on the sides, but it didn't look too bad on him. "Are you going to come inside with me?"

"No, I was going to wait in the limo."

"I think we both know that I need to be supervised at all times," he said to me. "Margaret Hanna made that especially clear, right?"

"Yes."

"So, you should come inside with me."

"Fine."

When we walked inside, I realized that me, Nathan, his two ex-bandmates, and Scarlet and some of her workers were the only people in here. There was absolutely no business at all today, which was strange because this place had a lot of regulars who would come here every single week just for some of Scarlet's food. 

"Finally," one of the men said. Him and the other guy were already seated at a table, sitting next to each other. There were two vacant seats in front of them, probably for Nathan. "What took you so long, Nate?"

"Chicago traffic sucks," Nathan answered him. He sat down in front of the one who had spoken. "Have I mentioned before that I hate Chicago?"

"Every single time we played a show here," the other guy said. His voice was smooth and deep, so I assumed that was the lead singer. "It got old real fast."

I tried to walk over to where Scarlet was standing so I could ask her if she knew that Nathan was coming here today, but the original guy who had spoken suddenly said, "Who is this fine woman?"

"This is my escort, Savannah Wilde."

"Already, Nathan?" the second guy asked, a grin on his face. "You haven't even been in Chicago for four hours, and you have her with you. Is she supposed to pretend to be a lawyer or something? That was always your go-to choice."

"Not that type of escort," I told them quickly. They all had similar smiles on their faces when they looked over at me. "I am his driver for the week."

All three of them laughed like I said something funny. I couldn't really tell what was funny, though, because I was too busy trying to get Scarlet's attention to get me out of here.

"Savannah, right?" Scarlet asked, taking a step toward me. Somehow, she had gotten a menu from one of her workers and was trying to hand it to me. "Why don't you sit down with these men and enjoy a meal?"

I glared at her. Why in the world was she acting like she didn't know me at all? I didn't like the look in her eyes as she pushed me toward the empty chair at the table. I had no choice but to sit down when she pulled the chair out for me.

"Mr. Owens and Mr. West have already ordered for themselves and for you, Mr. Lucero," Scarlet continued, looking at Nathan. I was surprised that she wasn't begging to get a picture with him or something like that. Apparently, she did have a business side to her, one that I hadn't met yet. "I'll personally make a plate of spaghetti for you, Ms. Wilde. I'm sure you'll love it."

I could really kill Scarlet right now. She wouldn't even look at me, so I couldn't try to signal to her that I didn't want to be part of this lunch right now. It seemed like she didn't care and wanted to see me suffer. 

"So, Savannah, what are you doing driving people around Chicago?" the man in front of me asked. "You're too pretty to be doing that."

"You'd be much prettier if you let your hair down," the other one replied before I could open my mouth to answer the question. 

"I didn't know it was up to two men that I don't even know to decide what works better for me and my appearance," I muttered, opening up the menu. I really didn't know why Scarlet even gave it to me if she was going to make spaghetti for me, but I needed something to distract me from my urge to punch these guys. "I think I can take care of myself just fine, thank you."

"Ooh, she's got a mouth on her," one of them said with a laugh.

"Cut it out," Nathan snapped at them. "Can't you tell that she's a professional? She's here to do her job. That's it. She doesn't need you two to hit on her."

I looked over at him with a frown on my face. Earlier, he treated me just the same. Why was he getting mad at his ex-bandmates now for something he had done, too? Nathan just kept getting weirder and weirder, and I didn't really know why.

"I think I can handle them, Nathan," I said to him even though I was thankful for what he said. 

"Didn't I tell you to call me Nate?"

"Yes, Nate."

"Thank you, Savannah."

Thankfully, Scarlet had come out with food for all of us. I had no idea how it took such a short amount of time to make our meals, but I was glad that she decided to come out right now. Maybe with her presence, the tension in the air would slowly disappear before something bad happened.

"Thank you, Scarlet," I said to her when she placed my plate of spaghetti in front of me. 

"Of course, Savannah. I know it's your favorite." Scarlet either didn't see the looks on Nathan and his ex-bandmate's faces or she ignored them. "I hope you four enjoy your meals."

As soon as Scarlet left the main area of the restaurant, Nathan asked me, "Do you know her?"

"Yes, I do." I didn't bother adding that she was my roommate. I didn't want them to get the idea that I was offering her up to them or something like that. "Are you two still making music together with Nathan?" Nathan looked at me, so I said, "Nate, I mean."

A sour look passed between the men in front of me. "Yeah, we are," the one sitting diagonal from me said. "I think it's much better than when he was in the band, too."

"Definitely," the other one agreed. "We actually get to have some input into what we write and produce."

"You guys are acting like I made all the awful decisions," Nathan said angrily. "I wasn't the one who thought it would be a good idea to put out a whole album by ourselves. It flopped, remember?"

"Stop acting like you're the golden child," one of them spat out. "You made a lot of mistakes, and you know it. You put our band in a lot of trouble for your little addictions."

That was when everything went downhill. Nathan grabbed the food on his plate and threw it directly at the one who had just spoken. Both guys glared at him and started throwing their food, too.

I dodged the flying mashed potatoes but got blasted with some spaghetti with marinara sauce. Who decided to use my food for this fight when I was going to eat it?  I sort of had an idea how this food fight even started, but now I was mad. These boys had just ruined my favorite suit just because they were angry at each other. 

Ducking underneath one of the random tables around us, I dragged a chair in front of me just in case they were going to start throwing the drinks at each other, too. This lunch had turned out worse than I thought it would. I never imagined that these grown men would start throwing their food at each other like they were in middle school again. It was absolutely ridiculous and so immature. I couldn't believe I had to spend the rest of the week with one of them.

Their angry yells filled the otherwise empty restaurant as all three of them shouted at each other. It was hard for me to understand what they were saying to each other because I was too angry to even pay attention. There was no way I was going to ever get the spaghetti stain out of my suit jacket. It was as good as gone to me now.

Slowly, their angry voices dissolved into separate fits of laughter, coming from of each of the boys. I peeked over the edge of the table and saw them all hiding out under different tables, laughing and laughing and laughing. I wasn't laughing, though. 

I stood up from my table. Scarlet was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a grin on her face. I hurried over to her and whispered, "Don't you dare say a word yet."

She laughed, too. It was loud and obnoxious, echoing all around us as we walked from the kitchen to her tiny office at the back of the restaurant. It didn't make me any less angry to hear her laugh at me, but I didn't want to say anything to her just in case Nathan heard me snapping at her.

"You look ridiculous," Scarlet said while snorting when we stepped into her office. She tugged on my sleeve and a piece of spaghetti fell out of it. "How in the world did that food fight even start?"

"I don't know." I shrugged my suit jacket off and laid it across her desk. She didn't even yell at me that I was ruining some paperwork with my marinara sauce-stained jacket, so I knew she was waiting for me to tell her all the details. "All I know is that I'm really mad at Nathan for doing that."

"Ooh, first name basis already?" Scarlet asked, a squeal apparent in her voice. "He is so dreamy in person. How could you be mad at him?"

"Because he ruined my favorite suit!"

"Oh, boo hoo."

I rolled my eyes at her. "He's definitely not a nice guy, Scar," I told her with a shrug. "He doesn't treat me well already. He cares more about himself than anyone else on this planet."

She rolled her eyes right back at me. I sighed, not bothering to try to change her mind about him. "So, how was it picking him up at the airport?" she asked me instead.

"It was fine." I lifted my jacket off of her desk and slung it over my arm carefully. I didn't want to get spaghetti sauce on my shirt. "No one recognized him, which was even better."

"Well, at least you're halfway through the first day," Scarlet said to me. "Soon enough you'll get rid of him and get paid generously for your services."

"Ugh, I still have the rest of today and even more days on top of that to drive this guy around," I said, resting my head in my hands. "I really don't want to spend it with the world's most entitled and selfish man ever, but I do want to get paid for it."

"Switch me jobs," Scarlet said quickly as I tried to walk over to the door of her office. She latched onto my arm, making me stop walking. "I would gladly drive him around Chicago for free."

"Yeah, no." I threw a smile back at her even though I was slightly annoyed with her for basically protecting Nathan from my comments. "I have to get going. We still have a lot of stops to make on this itinerary."

She dropped my arm from her insane grip. "Have fun, Van. Have a lot of fun."

I looked at her over my shoulder and found a devilish grin on her face. Shaking my head, I opened the door to her office without bothering to answer her. She was absolutely ridiculous for even suggesting that to me. She was even more ridiculous for viewing Nathan and the other celebrities she loved as gods in her life. Sometimes, I felt like she cared more about their lives than her own restaurant. It wasn't healthy, I was sure of it.

When I stepped out into the little hallway between the kitchen and her office, I ran right into Nathan. He was leaning against the wall, an unlit cigarette between his lips. For a second, I was worried that he had heard everything I had said about him, but his face showed nothing of that sort to me. 

"You can't smoke here," I told him. The two of us began walking toward the kitchen to leave through the back exit just in case there were any fans in the actual restaurant. "And isn't that unhealthy, especially for someone who used to be in a band?"

"I wasn't the lead singer, so it didn't matter if I smoked or not. Besides, we all smoked."

I held the door open for him, and we stepped outside together. It was already extremely humid outside; I could feel the moisture on my exposed skin. Thankfully, I had my hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get a chance to frizz up into a bush. 

"You have to get changed before we go anywhere else," I told him once we approached the limo. He also had a nasty stain of marinara sauce on his shoulder, and some other colorful stains coated the outside of his shirt and pants. "You have extra clothes for today in your suitcase, right?"

"Yes."

"And do you have a bag for these clothes?" I asked him. "We don't want you to contaminate your other clothes."

"No."

I sighed and nodded. I didn't have a bag, either, so he would just have to use something else to protect the rest of his clothes. While Nathan got dressed in the back of the limo, I checked the itinerary for the rest of the things we had to do today. The rest of the day was packed with more tedious things to do, like get dental floss at the store. I really didn't know why Margaret Hanna would include that on the list, but I wasn't going to ignore it. I wanted to get paid, and the only reason I was going to get paid was to complete every single thing on the itinerary.