By the time the sun was setting, I was completely drained.

And it wasn’t just because I had been walking a lot.

The revelation of my crush and kiss to Carson sucked and I wasn’t entirely too thrilled that he knew too. I had enough people that knew this and, if I wasn’t more careful, the whole world would know.

Unfortunately, that’s not an exaggeration.

I walked around the Arc de Triomphe for a while before telling James I wanted to explore the Champs-Elysées and the surrounding areas. After making sure my phone was charged, he let me go and told me he would call me when they finished filming so they could come get me. Without another word, I hopped in the elevator and took off for the main road in Paris.

It was liberating to wander a grand city with no one other than other tourists and passerby's moving around me. I was free to go into any shop or stop to take pictures of any piece that fascinated me, or practice my French on a waiter at the café who definitely knew English. At least he told me that I spoke well. Too bad he had to finish that comment with, “for an American.” Thanks man, way to earn points with the customers.

Once afternoon hit, I was in the Tuilerie Gardens, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the fountain, going through all my pictures. My Monster was filling up more and more and I knew I had to just delete them off my camera once they were on my computer. But I never knew. I liked looking back at all my pictures and I didn’t always have my computer handy. However, I realized that I had one too many pictures of a certain British lad who I just happened to have a ridiculous and pathetic crush on.

The sun was beating against my shoulders and I was reveling in the warmth of the sun and the tan I was sure to get, when three girls – probably no more than thirteen – approached me.

“Excuse me,” one of them with insanely curly hair began in a very thick French accent, “Are you Camille Everett?” My chest tightened as I tried to come up with a pseudonym so I could pretend to not be me. This used to happen every now and then in LA, but not enough for me to really get angry with it. However, lately with my association with more than one celebrity, I wasn’t too excited to deal with people asking about James and Liam. The other two girls were nodding vigorously as they watched me, giggling, and seeming way too happy to see me.

“You love Liam Hawthorne,” one of the other girls with blonde hair and glasses said and my eyes widened.

“No, I don’t,” I stuttered out, realizing my mistake.

“So you are Camille Everett?” The first girl asked again.

“Yes.” The girls squealed and shuffled closer to me.

“Can we have a picture?” The girl with glasses said and pulled out her phone. I immediately recoiled at the sight of it.

“Why?”

“Because you are dating Liam Hawthorne and you are the sister of James Everett.” I closed my eyes for a moment, inhaling and exhaling.

“I’m not dating Liam,” I assured them.

“That’s okay,” they brushed it off and inched closer.

“But I’ve done nothing. You know nothing about me other than that.”

“So?” I sighed again. I shouldn’t be as frustrated about this situation as I was.

“Alright, fine,” I said, giving in and they squealed, rushing around me, speaking giggly French to one another.

“One… two…” I quickly grinned, pretending to be happy that I was in this situation. Which I most definitely wasn’t. “Three!” The camera clicked and the girls rushed around it.

“It’s perfect, thank you!” The girl with glasses said as they bounded away. Groaning at their retreating backs, I pulled out my phone to see if James had texted me yet. He hadn’t. Maybe it was silly of me to be so frustrated with the girls coming over to take my picture. I knew that when I was only fangirling over Liam, I wanted to go meet his family because they seemed interesting. True, Tori, Alice, and Zoe were interesting and ridiculous little girls, but that was just the thing. They were ridiculous little girls just as all little girls typically are. They weren’t any different because they were related to a celebrity and neither was I. Why did people get the notion that because of their almost-celebrity status, we’re all so different? We’re not. We’re normal people with a blood connection, that’s it. 

I sighed again, beginning to think the sun was making me overly irritable. Maybe I should go get coffee. I glanced in my wallet, noticing the few euros I had, making a mental note to withdraw some more money or just get James to pay for everything, and headed over to the closest café, which was back near la Place de la Concorde. The waiter came over promptly, taking my basic order of a cappuccino as I whipped my Monster out to continue on through my photos. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to bring my laptop or at least my sketchbook. There was only so much I could do.

Just as my cappuccino arrived, my phone buzzed with a text from James telling me they had finished for the day and asked where they should come get me. I typed back a quick response and sipped my cappuccino peacefully. As I waited, I people watched, trying to differentiate between locals and tourists. It wasn’t hard.

My phone started ringing and James’ picture flashed across the screen as I answered.

“Yo.”

“Where are you? There’s a billion cafés over here.” I could picture James flailing as he tried to find the one I was sitting at.

“Do you want me to come find you? Because I doubt it’d be a good idea for you to come get me,” I replied, knowing that if he took one step out of the van, fans would start flocking. 

“We’re in the black van by… Chanel.”

“Can I buy a purse?”

“No, just come on. I’m hungry.” I groaned, fishing out a couple euros and placing them on the table before heading over to where I saw Chanel. How I wanted a bag from that store.

I spotted the black van and I pointed at the vehicle, hoping James would pop his head out to confirm my thoughts. He did so and waved me over, with an urgent look on his face, but I was ninety-nine percent sure it was just because he wanted to get food.

Once I slid into the van and shut the door, I noticed that it was just James, myself, the driver, and Rick, talking over some interviews or something or other with James. The van took off down the streets of Paris as I scrunched down in my seat, looking over pictures for the umpteenth time.

“So Cam,” James said once Rick had finished, “I was thinking of just ordering room service and sleeping tonight. You don’t have plans do you?” I gave James a certain look, asking if he was serious. He didn’t seem to realize.

“James. I’m in Paris. My only friends here are you and a select few of the cast members. I don’t have any plans.”

“Right,” was all he could say.

“Which means I think I’m going to just sleep for the next couple of days,” I said, not wanting to run into Carson or Liam or fans or anyone. For just a while, I wanted to forget how miserable I was becoming.

“Are you kidding? No way! We’re going to the Eiffel Tower tomorrow and then Notre Dame and… that Luxembourg place on Friday. I know you’ve been wanting to see all these places.” He was right of course. All three of those places were at the top of my list for sights I wanted to visit. However, I wasn’t too sure of how good of company I would be if I was constantly sulking about my personal life instead of just embracing the art and culture around me. 

“I don’t know James,” I said quietly, not wanting to say the actual reason because Rick was still in the car.

“You’re coming. You’ll regret it if you don’t.” He was right again. I’d be so angry if I never found myself standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower or singing God Help the Outcasts in Notre Dame.

“Alright. I’ll come.” James liked that answer as he smiled triumphantly and went back to talking to Rick.

Two days later, I was standing on Pont Zéro, probably for much longer than was acceptable. It was said that if you make a wish while you stand on Point Zero, the “center” of Paris in front of Notre Dame, it will come true. And it this time in life, all I wanted was for my wish to come true, and I was going to use any method to have my wish be truth.

The sun was beginning to set and they were wrapping up shots surrounding Notre Dame while I stood here, eyes shut, feeling the evening breeze push my hair across my cheeks and the weight of my Monster around my neck. How many people had stood here wishing for things to change? Every day they came to this specific spot in Paris just to make a wish. Seemed trivial, but sometimes wishing was all you could do. 

The past two days were a test of my resilience and I had been needing a wish to just forget about it. Everyday Liam had been talking to me. Constantly I had to remind myself that that’s what people do. Talk. However, the more I sat around the sets, the more he would run in to me and strike up a conversation. And I wasn’t just going to brush him off and ignore him. The fact of the matter was, was that I actually enjoyed talking to him. I mean, put all awkwardness aside, he was still being my friend and I needed to take it or leave it.

The Eiffel Tower, I found myself sitting in their café and during Liam’s off scene, he sat with me for awhile. We didn’t talk about much, merely discussed Paris and he surprised me with his knowledge of French when some fans approached him and he conversed easily.

As if I needed another reason to love him.

Once we got to the Luxembourg Gardens, he was acting like a kid, running through the trees and threatening me to throw me in the fountain. Now, I’m not some sort of all-knowing rule person, but I’m pretty sure we would get in major trouble for that. Mainly me because I wasn’t famous. It was just the moment that he grabbed my arm as he started to pull me closer and I instead ended up much closer to him than the water, did I start panicking. If only hormones had an on and off switch.

Then we reached Notre Dame today. I had always loved this cathedral. Every picture, every book, and every movie made it sound absolutely divine and I had to agree. Once I saw it in person, everything in me just wanted to live and die in this cathedral. Not to mention the view. I sang God Help the Outcasts in my head and was waiting for Quasimodo to come down from the bell tower to see the people, but alas it was not to be. Liam hadn’t talked to me much and I was beginning to accept the fact that he probably wasn’t going to. I could enjoy this peace and quiet though as I stood on Point Zero and wished that he would address the kiss or that I would have to courage to talk to him about it myself.

“You’ve been standing there for a really long time,” I heard Liam said and I almost laughed at how he appeared just as I was thinking of him.

“Got a lot of wishes,” I told him, peeking at him through one eye.

“Really? Do tell,” he said, taking a step closer.

“Ah, ah. If I tell you my wishes they won’t come true. Come on, Liam, first rule of wish making. You can’t tell people.”

“But what if I’m the wish granter?” He asked and I couldn’t help but agree. He is the wish granter and that was kind of the problem.

“Nonsense,” I replied in lack of a better response.

“Here, move. I have my own wishes to make,” he commanded, pushing me a little so I’d stumble off the spot.

“Hey now, I wasn’t finished.” 

“You’ve been standing there for ages, it’s my turn.” He centered himself on the spot before closing his eyes and smirking to himself as he thought up his wish. I watched him with interest as I tried to determine what he was wishing. His smirk died down as he just stood there, eyes screwed shut, his lips pressed in a firm line. He stood there a moment or two longer than I expected until his eyes flew open and he smiled as if he won a prize.

“Alright, I’m good,” he said, stepping off the plate. 

“What’d you wish for?”

“First rule of wish making, Camille. You can’t tell people,” he relayed my words and I shook my head while I laughed at him.

“Okay, fine, I’ll let you keep your secrets.”

“I don’t have any secrets,” was his reply and I snorted, slapping my hands over my mouth and nose when the noise escaped. “You don’t believe me?” Of course I didn’t believe him! The whole reason I was awkward around him was because he held a giant secret and refused to discuss it.

“Of course not,” I replied, trying to be careful with my words. “I mean, everyone has secrets. Who says you are any different?” He gave me a funny look and looked like he was about to say something just as I heard James yelling in our direction.

“Cammie! Let’s go! I’m tired and I want good food before all the cafés close,” I heard him project across the crowds and I shook my head at his touristy American-ness. He couldn’t just walk over and tell me that? Was it really that hard?

“Do the cafés even close here?” I asked Liam as he was still standing in front of me, looking like he was about to say something. I don’t know how people managed to interrupt him whenever he had this certain look on his face. I know for a fact he’s worn it before and he always covers it quickly as if nothing was amiss.

“Uh, I’m not sure. It seems like they don’t, though,” he answered, still seeming like his mind was on what he wanted to say.

“James wants to head out though, so I better be off.” I started to back away when Liam reached out for my arm, stopping me when he grabbed my bicep.

“You know, Cam,” Liam began. “Everyone does have secrets, but sometimes they’re for the right reasons, yeah?”

My gut twisted at his words. He was referring to the kiss. He had to be.

“Sure, Liam. They can be for the right reasons. But those reasons need to be known at some point,” I told him and he looked slightly shocked that I said that. “I better go. I’ll see you later.” With those words, I turned and ran over to where James was waiting, an expectant look on his face.

“Let’s go,” I told him, more of a command instead of just letting him know I was ready.

“What happened over there?” He asked, slightly above a whisper.

“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly. 

I’m not sure if anything was going to come out of that.

But man, did it feel good to say something.

---------------------------------------------------

I AM SO SORRY. This isn't quite as late as that one summer update where I didn't update for very nearly two months, but I have no reason to why this is late other than a terrible case of writer's block.

We're good now though.

SOOOOOOooooOOOOOO. Some Camiliam action for y'alls because it has been way too long I feel like since they've talked and it's necessary. How do you feel about the two? And Cam just wants to hurt someone from all the unwanted attention. Dilemma dilemma!

Please let me know your thoughts and feels in the comments as I love to read them! Don't forget to vote as well :) 

UPCOMING NEWS: I will be posting a new story after Starbird is complete (all the tears) which is called "The Intern" and it's in the works currently and I hope to have it decently started before published. It's going to be the bomb diggity guys.

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter at the same name as my Wattpad :) 

Stay classy,

- Kate