After our date, I figured I wouldn't hear from Andrew for at least a day. I wasn't incredibly experienced in dating, but usually people waited a day or two to make sure they weren't coming on too strong, right? Apparently I was wrong, because I heard from him less than fifteen minutes after Val and I's conversation about his somewhat deranged follower, @LincolnShepherdFan.

I had been brushing my teeth, already out of my dress and into a ratty old t-shirt paired with comfy boxer shorts, when I heard my phone ding. Val beat me to it, grabbing the phone and squealing like a twelve year old girl as she read the texts out loud.

"Thanks for tonight," Val said in her best deep voice. "I had a wonderful time. And, for the record, I want to see you again too."

I groaned as she squealed, "Seriously, Val? Stop!"

"Sweet dreams gorgeous," Val squeaked out the last text, dropping my phone as she danced excitedly around the apartment. "Cait! That is so freaking adorable! He even put the little 'x' at the end of the message! Did you guys kiss?!"

She babbled about them for at least ten minutes after I snatched the phone away from her, typing back to Andrew, I had a great time too. Good night. :) Apparently that 'wasn't enough' to her, but I refused to send anything else so I didn't hear back from him until the next morning when I got up for work.

Val already left since she was opening, and when I finally crawled out of bed I had three missed calls, two voicemails, and a whole slew of unread text messages from her. I listened to her voicemails first, and her text messages just repeated the same thing to me. Work had been slammed from the minute they opened, and she'd already had at least ten teenage girls ask if 'Cait' was working today. Apparently, Peter wasn't pleased because there were also several paparazzi camped outside of the store in the off chance that I was working today, so word of 'Lincoln Shepherd's girlfriend' was being whispered through the store pretty much nonstop.

Basically, I was being given the day off whether I liked it or not.

Andrew texted me as well, and I smiled as I read it. I felt bad about the whole situation - this was clearly something he was experienced in dealing with - but that didn't mean that he should have to deal with it.

I knew he was probably worried that I was freaking out, so I called him instantly.

"Are you okay?" He asked immediately upon answering.

I smiled into the phone, "I'm okay. Good morning to you too."

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I didn't think this would happen, especially not so quickly. Jazmin, my publicist, is working on it now."

"It's okay, Andrew," I reassured him. "Really, I'm fine. My boss kindly suggested that I take the day off, and possibly the week, but that's it. I'm pretty sure a week of unexpected vacation isn't something you need to apologize for....at all."

He chuckled, the sound causing a mental image of his brilliant smile to flash through my head, "Thank you."

"For what?" I asked.

"For being you," he replied without hesitation. "Most girls would either freak out or soak up the attention, and it's refreshing to know that you're doing neither."

I snorted, "Yeah, well, that's just because you don't know about my secret ambition to be a reality TV star yet."

"Oh, yeah?" He asked, clearly amused.

"Yep," I replied while popping the 'p'. "It's all part of my five step plot to takeover the Kardashian empire."

Andrew laughed, the sound catching in his throat as he coughed, "And what step is this?"

"Ummm..." I giggled, failing to keep up the joke. "One. Obviously. Seduce the sexy celebrity."

He paused, and my pulse escalated instantly. I didn't mean for the joke to carry on this long, but suddenly I was worried that he might think I was being serious. I had no desire for media attention whatsoever, and I didn't really know if Andrew was aware of that or not. I felt like kicking myself as I opened my mouth to backpedal.

"Andrew, I..."

"So you think I'm sexy?" Andrew asked at the same time.

I flushed red, stammering incoherent babble into the phone as he laughed.

"I'm teasing," he told me, clearly still pleased by my discomfort.

"You're an asshole," I coughed into the phone, trying to keep myself from catching on to his infectious laughter.

He offered to come over and spend the day with me, but I knew he had a promotional event this morning at the Buzzfeed offices before heading to lunch with a film producer so I told him no. As much as I would've loved his company, I didn't want to be the cause of him skipping out on prior commitments.

Instead, we chatted for a few more minutes before he told me that there was a good chance he would have to fly to California the next morning. There was a last-minute cancellation on The Ellen Show, and his publicist managed to elbow her way into the slot. She was hoping it would take some of the limelight off their budding relationship, especially since Ellen was one of the more laid back talk show hosts who wouldn't mind if he steered the conversation in a different direction.

Val made plans for them that evening already, claiming the right to a "post-date girls' night" with Roxanne and Anastasia, so I regretfully told him that I didn't think I could meet up with him before he left. I wanted to see him though, and I nearly offered to head into Manhattan to stop by his photoshoot with coffee this afternoon, but I knew that would only fuel the rumors already spiraling out of control about us online.

No, I wanted this - whatever this was - to go slow, which meant we needed to be careful.

It was weird, having a third party so interested in our business, but it meant that I needed to get used to the media (not to mention the internet) watching our every move. I hated the idea of it, that so many people felt like they deserved to know the details of our personal lives simply because he lived in the spotlight, but I knew that it was a sacrifice Andrew made for the sake of his career. By changing his name he hoped to keep some semblance of privacy, and he'd already made it clear to me that he wanted to keep me out of the public eye as much as possible, but it wasn't always going to be a promise he could keep.

It wasn't the media who had spotted us last night on our date, it was fellow patrons at the bakery. They posted photos on social media, which in turn spread like wildfire until everyone thought we were already dating. We could hide indoors, spending all of our time together in my tiny apartment or his, but - as much as I valued my privacy - I didn't want that for us.

I didn't want to hide from the world because I was terrified of what they might discover in my history, but I knew that I absolutely needed to be more careful.

His publicist, Jazmin, thought that a few days of separation might be good for us in the long run. Andrew would be playing defense with his interviews, and it was my job to stay home from work. Funny, because I felt like I got the much easier role in this whole fiasco. After one date, I didn't know what we were yet - nor was I even remotely close to being ready to have the 'what are we' talk - but I felt like the rest of the world was pressuring me to be with him.

Andrew, on the other hand, was wonderful. He made it clear that he was interested in me without any fear or hesitation, but he seemed to understand that this wasn't easy for me. Adapting to the spotlight takes time, much like adapting to a new relationship, and for both to happen at once? It was a bit of a nightmare. I appreciated how kind he was being, especially because I felt like he was trying to make sure I didn't feel obligated to be with him, but I told him that he didn't need to worry.

I smiled, blushing lightly as my heart did another somersault in my chest. I was getting used to the sensation since Andrew seemed to have that effect on me pretty much 24/7, and I couldn't say I minded. It'd been a long time since I was a happy like this, and an even longer time since I'd remotely considered dating someone, so I was starting to feel like I'd made the right choice.

My life was about to become crazy, sure, and it was undoubtedly going to get complicated, but sometimes complicated was worth it.

Right?

When Val came home from work, she practically danced through the front door with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a grin on her face. She kicked the door shut behind her, spinning around our less than 500 square foot apartment, and waltzed into the tiny kitchen to grab two wine glasses.

"What's the occasion?" I asked her, pulling out my headphones and crawling out of my comfortable nest in bed. "Did Dylan whats-his-name ask you out?"

"O'Brien," she corrected me. "And no, not yet."

Uncorking the champagne, she yelped as the bubbles exploded out of the bottle and quickly poured two small glasses for us. Handing me one, she clinked her glass with mine before downing the contents in a single drink.

I lifted an eyebrow, "That bad?"

"That good," Val grinned, pouring herself another glass. "It's girls' night and we're celebrating!"

Sipping my champagne, I grimaced at the taste. With my inexperienced palate, I was not a fan of brut unless there was some serious orange juice mixed in with it.

"What exactly are we celebrating?" I grimaced, placing the mostly-full glass of champagne back on the counter.

She rolled her eyes at me, "You went on a date. Not only that, you went on a date with Lincoln Shepherd."

"Ugh," I groaned, rubbing my temples at her enthusiasm. "I wish you wouldn't say his name like that. One, you know that his name is Andrew, and two, he's just a guy. I don't want to make this bigger than it needs to be."

Val took another sip of champagne, "Cait, honey, you're new here. The champagne isn't because of Lincoln - or Andrew," she corrected herself. "It's because you went on a date with a gorgeous guy."

"So you do this after every first date?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Normally we wait until date number five, but we voted to make an exception."

"Why?" I asked, wrinkling my forehead. Obviously, Roxanne and Anastasia were in on this too, since we meeting them later.

Val sighed dreamily, "Have you seen his abs?"

*sighs* I think we all need an Andrew in our lives.

Join me in wishing a wonderfully happy birthday to Randomfangiirl! 

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