It was a blazing morning. The sun had only been up for twenty minutes and the temperature was rising to the nineties. The beach they were filming on was warded off with security and light reflectors, the actors filtering from the nearest air conditioned hotel they could find. 

“I’m so excited right now,” Riley squealed, clutching my bicep.

“Seriously though, where is Liam?” Becca asked for probably the tenth time since we arrived.

“Getting ready. Be patient.”

Becca didn’t like that idea.

“Morning Camille!” I found Finch waving me over and I quickened my pace.

“Hi Lisa, isn’t it a little hot to be filming outside?” I asked, but Finch just shrugged.

“There’s a lot of on and off today. With enough sunblock and shade, they should be okay. Oh, who are your friends?” She asked, noticing Becca and Riley looking around aimlessly.

“Right! This is Riley,” Riley turned sharply, copper hair flicking Becca in the face. “And this is Becca.” Becca outstretched her hand as Finch introduced herself.

“Now, the green room is that area over there,” Finch pointed to a small white tent with a few canvas chairs situated in the sand. We were all going to melt. “If you get to hot, the hotel is allowing us to use Conference Room C. Just show them your pass and they’ll let you up. As for right now, I need to go make some phone calls. Nice meeting you girls.” She adjusted her tablet resting in her arms, lowered her sunglasses, and made her way gracefully across the sand. I didn’t understand how she wasn’t stumbling. 

“How on earth are you friends with a stage manager?” Becca immediately asked.

“Finch isn’t a stage manager. She’s like… the manager. She organizes everything, makes sure everyone’s in order. Honestly, she’s my hero when it comes to these things.”

“Why do you call her Finch?”

“When I first saw her I thought she looked like a bird. When I figured out her last name was Finch it just fit all so perfectly. Now, do you want to go to the green room? They probably have coffee.”

“Cam, it’s almost a hundred degrees and you want coffee?” Riley asked, thinking I was insane.

“Anytime is coffee time.” They rolled their eyes at my coffee craziness and followed me towards the white tent.

Crew members were grabbing buckets of water bottles to distribute and keep handy. The ice in the cooler looked like it was already melting and the people even more so.

“So what do we do while we’re here?” Becca asked, plopping down in one of the canvas chairs.

“Watch? Eat? It’s really not as exciting as you guys might have imagined.”

“You made it sound like the best time of your life,” Riley noted.

“That’s because Liam would come talk to her.”

“Or Carson would flirt with her.”

“That too.”

“Hey! That’s not true! I was perfectly satisfied with sitting in silence drawing or taking pictures.”

“Pictures of a certain Liam Hawthorne,” Becca emphasized. 

“No. Stop.” The two of them smirked and wiggled their eyebrows at me. “Stop.” 

“Hey, he’s a cutie patootie who kiss –”

I slapped my hand over Becca’s mouth. “We don’t talk about that.”

She glowered at me, slowly peeling my fingers away from her mouth.

“Okay, fine. Besides, at this rate, he isn’t going to meet us. Where is he?” Becca whined.

“I don’t know, he might be —”

My words got swallowed as I saw him enter the tent, shirtless and shimmering like the sun.

He couldn’t be real.

Dang, that boy was attractive.

Becca and Riley noticed immediately my attention was elsewhere. Slowly, the two of them turned to where I was looking and I could see from the corner of my eye their mouths drop.

“Oh my gosh, Cam,” I heard the audible awe.

“Trust me, I know.”

Liam still hadn’t noticed us gaping, which I was thankful for, as he slid a shirt over his head and covered his tan body.

Thank goodness too, because I was beginning to think I was going to die of a heart attack.

Becca turned back to me, jaw still slack as she said, “He’s hot.”

All I could do was nod and hit Riley to stop looking at him.

Then I saw him notice me and begin to walk over.

“Oh no. No, no, no. Bad time,” I whispered, trying to make myself look busy with something.

“What?”

“He’s coming over.”

“He is! Yes!” Riley high-fived Becca and I wanted to hit them.

“I can’t deal with him with you guys here. Not good, this so isn’t good.” 

“We’ll behave we promise,” Becca attempted reassurance, but all I could do was think of everything embarrassing thing I had ever done around them. Unfortunately, the list seemed endless. Those two with Liam would be unpredictable and I had never felt more terrified.

“Yeah, you’ll behave, my a—”

“Morning, Camille,” I looked up and saw Liam standing directly behind Riley and Becca, smiling innocently as if he wasn’t causing trouble.

“Hey Liam, how’re you?”

“Doing well, filming today is supposed to be wrapped up fairly early because of how hot it’s going to be. I think the crew all wants to hang out, go explore or something. You should come.” 

“Yeah that sounds great! Oh, by the way, these are my friends, Rebecca and Riley. They’re from Oregon,” I told him and the two turned and put their hands out to shake.

“You can call me Becca. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Strike one.

“Yeah, we’re all really big fans of yours, aren’t we, Cam?” And strike two.

“It’s nice meeting you as well. Camille talks about you a lot,” Liam said, taking each of their hands and shaking it. He thankfully ignored Riley’s comment.

“Well, we would hope so,” Becca said, her smile never leaving her face. She could come off flirty, but I could see what she was up to from a mile away. She looked devious. And that scared me.

“Would you two like to come tonight? It’ll fun,” he asked and I hoped he was just being polite because the last thing I wanted was Liam hanging out with my two best friends.

“No, that’s okay —”

“We’d love to!” Riley said, stopping my excuses. “Besides, we still need to celebrate Cammie’s birthday, so this is perfect!” Liam’s smile dropped as his attention focused on me.

“It’s your birthday?” His voice was so concerned and precious, I probably could have melted.

“On Tuesday, they just got a little excited.”

He smiled again. “Oh, well thanks for letting me know. I don’t think Cam would have told me.” 

“Well, that’s what we’re here for. She turns eighteen on Tuesday. Just remember that.” I’m ninety percent sure Becca couldn’t be more obvious. “Eighteen is a big deal, isn’t it? Like, giant party big deal, am I right?” Make that one-hundred percent certain.

“I’m sure you’ll find something to do. Cannes is a pretty exciting place,” Liam said and I was glad he didn’t try to come up with some ridiculous party plans. “As for now, I need to go. I have to go save Nora from Mr. Z’s clutches!” He exclaimed over-dramatically, dashing off to where the cameras were set up.

Once he was far enough away, Becca slumped in her chair and declared, “Well, it’s official. He’s adorable.” I glared at her. “I mean, he’s so stupid, what am I saying? He’s such a jerk,” she added in a ridiculous high-pitched voice that she acquired when she was lying.

“So now what?” Riley asked, obviously pining for Liam to come back.

“Now we chill.” Both of them pouted. “What else did you expect to happen? That we hang out with all the celebrities all day?”

“Yes!” They said in unison.

“Yeah. No. That doesn’t happen.” Their brows creased.

“Well that’s dumb.”

“Food is over there, film making is over there. Have fun.” 

I smiled and pulled out my sketchbook, which probably made them hate me momentarily, but it didn’t take long for them to settle in. After the first hour, we went exploring on the beaches and came back often enough for a few run-ins. Carson took a liking to Riley and I’m quite certain she was going to pass out whenever he was flirting with her and Becs was quite content hanging out with the costume director, although I can’t say the same for the costume director. He probably would have preferred silence and not a thousand questions from an excited American girl. Ava passed by a few times and they all became fast friends once they all came to the realization that my crush and kiss was common knowledge between them. Traitors. I swear, they were going to announce it to the entire crew at any given moment. Becca and Riley attempted to talk to Carson about it, but I forbade it when he left to do his scene. Gemma only came near us once, but she barely gave my friends a second glance. Apparently we were nothing interesting to her.

Once the end of the day wrapped, I couldn’t have been more relieved. Liam had only come over one more time and it was too short for the girls to say something worse than what they had already brought up. 

“Alright, we’re going to go be tourists. You’re all coming right?” Ava asked, flinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Becca chirped, grabbing her stuff.

“Good, let’s go. The boys are waiting.” We followed after Ava, realizing for the first time in forever, Gemma was joining one of our outings.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” James said, flicking Ava’s top knot as he wrapped his arm over her shoulders.

“I just got done with a fight scene. I had blood up my nose. Don’t think you want me waltzing all over town like that, do you, babe?” James pretended to think it over before he scrunched his nose and shook his head.

“Can we go? I need a mojito,” Gemma said, making her way to the boardwalk.

“Yes, master,” Carson replied sarcastically following after. Riley giggled like a schoolgirl as Carson continued to crack jokes at Gemma’s expense.

“Liam, make him stop. He’s being such a… a… clot pole,” Gemma whined

“A what?” All the Americans said at once. Even Carson was confused.

“It’s an old English term,” Liam explained. “Like… old English. It means idiot.”

“I would use other words, but there are minors present,” Gemma said, in her haughty tone.

“Well, Cam turns 18 on Tuesday, so she’s almost not a minor!” James announced.

“But her two friends are, as far as I know. I’ll keep it PG for them.” Oi, this woman could be patronizing. 

“We all know Gem can’t keep anything PG though, am I right?” Carson nudged Riley who just stared blankly at him.

“Carson, she doesn’t know Gemma personally,” I reminded him.

“Oh right, well Cammie, we all know Gem can’t–”

“Yes, we do, are we going now?” 

“Let’s go!” James rallied everyone and started heading to the outdoor shops lined against the port.

As the afternoon and evening carried on, I felt like I couldn’t have been more exhausted. Gemma had been flirty with Liam and demeaning to me and my friends, while Carson was flirting with Riley, James and Ava were just completely lovesick, and Becca was enjoying watching it all. Meanwhile, I followed silently, hoping that pretending I didn’t exist would make the situation better. 

“No, Carson, you don’t get it. Cam was obsessed with Liam. Like, she had posters of him dangling from every corner of her wall.” My head snapped to see Riley and Carson giggling — yes, actually giggling — at my expense.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, grabbing both their shoulders and yanking them farther away from the group.

“Your obsession with Liam when we were kids,” Riley admitted silently.

“My obsession? Don’t you mean our obsession? You and Becs were right there with me with the posters and scenarios and watching every movie. Don’t even think of putting this all on me.”

Carson looked at Riley expectantly as she reluctantly added, “yeah, okay, we were all head over heels. Happy?” She asked me.

“Not particularly, because you totally didn’t have to mention that, but sure.”

“But it’s funny!”

“No, it’s really not.”

“What are you all talking about?” Becca asked, bumping her hip against mine.

“Our obsession with Liam,” Riley complied with the information.

“But this conversation is closed now, so let’s move on to the next topic.” I just wanted to avoid talking about Liam. It was getting me too frustrated at this point.

Everyone begrudgingly stopped talking about it, which I was happy about considering we made our way to a restaurant for a late dinner. I watched as Gemma was sure to link her arm in Liam’s as she sat next to him and I was honestly beginning to feel disgusted. He barely looked uncomfortable. Maybe it was just that he was used to Gemma, but even still. If he had any feelings for me, he wouldn’t be letting this slide so easily… right?

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HEY I'M BACK! Sorry for the long wait! School got out nearly two weeks ago and I've been *attempting* job hunting (and it's failing so hard core oh my gosh), but let's hope that WHEN I get a job, the writing will also come along nicely.

Starbird has about five-seven more chapters, but it will for sure be completed by fall where I will then introduce my new book, The Intern! I hope you're as excited as I am.

Remember to leave thoughts in the comments below and to share and vote!

Stay classy my dears and happy summer!

- Kate