She pressed against the back wall, hands tugging at the skirt of her dress, hoping no one would notice her.
Hoping no one would toss her out before she had a chance to find him.
"Billie?" Speak of the devil… She tried and failed to cover the grin that spread across her face as she turned towards him.
"'lo, David! Not interrupting anything important, am I?"
He looked around the space crowded with people rushing everywhere before turning back to her with a grin of his own. "Nope." The way he popped his 'p' made her smile. "But what are you doing here?"
"'s my turn to sneak away today." She glanced sheepishly towards the door, hoping her manager hadn't followed her somehow. When she looked back to him, he was watching her with an unreadable look on his face. "Is that alright?"
"Alright?" His smile was back in place. "It's brilliant! But aren't you going to get in trouble for sneaking off, lass?"
She shrugged. "They've had me in that studio the past several weeks. They can live without me for a few hours."
A light technician rushed behind them, knocking into David as he moved. David stumbled forward a few steps, catching himself on the wall behind Billie. His hands pressed to either side of her head, body a hair's breath away. She blinked up into his eyes, the breath knocked out of her even though she hadn't moved.
He pulled back, a flush creeping over his face while he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah… sorry about that. Say, d'you wanna step outside for a bit? Get away from this rush?"
She nodded. He held out his arm to her, and she bit her lip to cover what she was sure would have been a squealing noise as she took it. He ducked and maneuvered his way through the busy lot, leading her seamlessly through the crowds until they were at a small grassy park.
Reluctantly she let go of his arm, moving away just a bit to settle down on the grass, arranging her skirt to hide anything that she shouldn't be flashing him. This soon, some corner of her brain whispered, making her blush and push the thought away. "You got a hair cut," she mentioned, waving a hand at his hair combed neatly to one side.
"Yeah…" He pushed at it, before flopping down on the grass next to her. "Now really, don't take this as I'm not excited to see you. Because I really, really am. But… what are you doing here? I run into you on a beach months ago, and suddenly you turn up on set? We're not even in the same town!"
She chewed on her lip, her eyes darting between him and the grass between her fingers. "Welllll…. I may have…. asked around about you. I heard your latest project was in town. My studio is just a few blocks up. Thought I'd drop by and see if you were on set today."
His shoulders relaxed as he settled back on his hands. "Well I'm glad you did! I was right, my sis never believed I met you. Oh well, what does she know?"
"I could sign somethin' for her, if you want." She felt weird even offering. It just seemed like something people like her should say.
He shrugged. "I don't have anything on me worth signing." They sat in awkward silence for a while, neither of them looking at the other. "How goes the recording? Anything new with you?"
"Uh, yeah!" A shy smile spread over her face. "I followed your advice… got an agent. A non-music agent. We're gonna start looking for productions for me to be in."
"That's great!" He threw his arms around her without warning, pulling her into a tight hug. She tensed for a moment before wrapping her own arms around him, hugging him back just as tightly. "I knew you could do it," he murmured into her hair.
She pulled back, smiling at him. He followed her back, lips coming down to meet hers. This time she didn't freeze. Her hands went into his hair, tangling her fingers in the soft strands to keep him pinned in place. His lips moved against hers and the world spun beneath them. She felt giddy and light and she couldn't breath but she didn't care. She kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm.
Until a buzzing at her side made them jump apart.
Her face flared red, and she wiped at the corner of her mouth even as she pulled the pager from her pocket. Her manager's number flashed angrily from the screen at her. "Sorry," she murmured, getting to her feet and shaking her skirt out, looking anywhere but at him. "Guess that's my cue to get back to the real world. I… Really, thank you for the advice. Wouldn't've ever done the agent thing if you hadn't…" The pager buzzed in her hand again. "Right. Sorry. See ya."
She turned away, hurrying towards the far end of the park as fast as she could. "Billie!" he called after her. She turned automatically. He was on his feet, that same easy and eager smile back in place. "Let's stop running into each other, okay?"
She stumbled, coming to a stop. "What?"
He jogged up to her, grinning down at her. "Why don't you come have dinner with me, next night we both have off?"
She blinked. Surely she must have passed out somewhere along the line. This couldn't really be happening to her. "Sure! I-I mean… We've got the rest of this week booked and then it's my eighteenth birthday bash but… Maybe you could come to that! Oh god, no, no, my mum will be there, and the press… But maybe some time after that we could…"
He laughed, cutting her off. "Here." He dug in his pockets until he found a rumpled up napkin. A pen followed suit—where did he keep these things?—and he scribbled something onto it. "Here's the number at my flat. Give me a ring some time. I'll take you out to celebrate your birthday a little late."
She stared down at the napkin, still sure this was a dream and that she would wake up soon. "If you want," he added softly when she'd been quiet for too long.
Before she could overthink it, she stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, turning and darting away again before her embarrassment could catch up to her.