"I'm just having a terrible night. I'm going to go home and it's going to get better. It had to get better. A bubble bath, yeah. With candles and an audio book. Not gonna stress too hard ove- "

I'm stopped mid-sentence by a heavy metal door knocking me backwards on to the ground.

"Ow. Ow. Ouch." I hold my forehead and keep my eyes shut until the stinging sensation goes away. "You really should watch where you're going instead of acting like an idiot and knocking people down."

As if getting my wallet stole wasn't enough, let me get my head knocked in.

The stinging fades into a thumping pain in my skull.

"I am so sorry, Miss. I'll make it up to you. What would you like? An autograph? A photo? What can I do?" A heavy Australian accent questions.

"An autograph? Who do you think you are?" I open my eyes for the first time. It takes a second for them to adjust but when the man comes into focus I see pleading, worrying blue eyes.

Who is this guy? I know I have seen him before.

"I really do hate to be rude but I'm running out of time. Paparazzi trailing on me. Crazed fans stalking around every corner. I was actually just trying to leave out the back in peace. So if we could keep this between us. And I'll give you whatever compensation that you need to not tell the press about this. It really was an accident. I swear."

"The press? Who are you?"

He looks at me strange for a second then smiles a dazzling smile.

"I'm Dacre Montgomery."

"Am I supposed to know who you are?" I pat under my nose to make sure that it's not bleeding.

"I mean, you're not supposed to. It's not required. I guess I'm just used to having most girls your age scream or cry in my face. Let me help you up." His hand extends out to me. "How's your head?"

"It's fine." I ignore his hand and straighten myself up. "I'm fine."

"Uhm. Not to be insensitive but we're really running out of time to clear up what compensation that you would like. I can get you money."

"I don't want anything from you. Except maybe for you to leave me alone."

"Listen I am terribly sorry to have hit you with with the door. But, I must be going."

"Then go." I hold my head as a dull pain throbs at it.

Just then a commotion of voices sounds around the corner.

"Uhm. Big problem." He takes me by the wrist and pulls me up. "We've got to go."

"Why would I go anywhere with yo-" I feel light-headed and loose my balance. The stranger grabs my arms as I fall into him.

"Do you think you might have a concussion?"

"I'm not sure."

"How did you get here?"

"My car. I was walking to it when you hit me. Now can you, please, leave me alone?"

"I will give you $1000 if you let me use your car to get us out of here. Right now. Either we use your car or we get pummeled by paparazzi."

"This way." I wobbly walk down a side alley but he takes my hand and drags me along faster. "And I don't want your stupid money. Just leave me alone after I drop you off wherever you need to be."

"Which way now?"

I point to the left and fluidly he glides along.

Amid the running, I feel my stomach clench so I jerk my from his grip and dip behind a dumpster to throw up.

"Do you have a concussion? Don't people throw up when they have concussions? Please, tell me that you don't have one."

"Let me just examine myself and give you an answer so that you don't have to worry about it." I roll my eyes and wipe at the corner of my mouth. "We're not far now. I'm on the second level of the parking garage."

"Come on then. I don't think you should drive. Just in case. Better safe than sorry."

"If you say 'concussion' one more time, I might give you one. But if I don't drive, then how am I supposed to get home?"

"I'll take you home then get an Uber from there."

"Whatever." I toss my whole purse at him. "The keys are somewhere in there. My head hurts too much to look for them."

"I'm not going through your purse. You could accuse me of stealing."

"You hit me in the head with a door. I don't think that stealing is really the worst that I could accuse you of."

We climb the stairs of the parking garage as quickly and quietly as possible.

"Good point." He nods and unzips my bag.

The confused look on his face made him look helpless.

"Try the inside pocket. My phone GPS already has home set in the destination list. Just click on it."

Once to the car, he opens my door and tries put my seat belt on me as well.

"I know how to do this on my own, thanks."

"Just trying to help."

"I think you've helped enough."

When he shuts the door, I wince. In a few moments, he gets in the driver seat and starts the engine.

"Here's my phone. My pass code is 1985."

"You're just gonna trust me with your password? This relationship is moving quickly." He jokes and taps out the code on the screen. He fumbles around until he gets my GPS up and clicks the home button. "So, what's the significance of '1985'. Is it a special year?"

"Not really. It's just the year that my favorite movie came out."

"What movie is that?"

"One you've probably never heard of. It's called St. Elmo's Fire."

"I actually have heard of it. So you like 80's movies?"

"Yes. I do, but are we gonna sit here all night? Or are you going to actually drive?"

"It says here that it's a 45 minute drive. We might as well have something to talk about."

"Do you want to get away from the hoards of people or not, Darcy?"

"My name is Dacre. Not Darcy."

"Whatever, Day-kuh."

"If you insist on your American pronunciation, it would be Day-ker. Is that easier to remember?"

"We're not gonna be around each other long enough to need to remember each other's name."

He grumbles to himself then reverses the car.

"Here put this on. It might be able to make you not so noticeable." I don't even really give him an option as I put the hat on his head. He doesn't pay much mind to me though.

"Do I need to take you to a hospital?"

"No. My brother is a medic. Just take me home."

"I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you hate me. If I knew what it was, I'd definitely take it back. What is it that I did to you that was so horrible?"

"Nothing."

"So do you care to explain why you're treating me like an ex who cheated on you with your best friend?"

Feeling embarrassed, I cross my arms over my chest and look out the window.

I just get quiet and keep to myself.

"Don't go to sleep." He demands.

"I'm not stupid."

"Just checking."

I flip him off and see a little smirk form on the corner of his lips.

"You're something else, you know that?"

"So, I'm gonna state the obvious, you're not from around here, are you? Your accent is not Australian."

"No. I'm just here to help my brother for a few weeks. This is actually my last week."

"Are you enjoying it here?"

"Yeah, Mate. Just having a blast out here in the Down Under. Throwing some shrimp on the barbie and all the jive."

"You don't have to be so rude. I was just trying to be nice and make this trip actually tolerable... You never did tell me why St. Elmo's Fire is your favorite movie. Any particular reason?"

"Because of Rob Lowe." I answer curtly.

"I suddenly understand. And you look nice, have you been out?"

"I regularly dress up to get my wallet stolen."

The man exhales lowly trying to refrain from becoming frustrated.

{Page Break}

Once back at the house:

"Uhm. Sis, why is there a celebrity in my living room?" My brother, Jacob, asks me once we're in the kitchen.

"Who is he? He seems to think that he's a big deal."

"I don't really know his name. He is in that new Power Ranger movie that Benson loves so much. And he's on Stranger Things." He turns on his pen light. "Follow the lights with just your eyes."

"Who was he on Stranger Things?"

I follow the light from left to right then up and down.

"Did you make it to season 2?"

"Not far. Just a few episodes in."

"Then you should know. He plays Billy. Remember the new guy? Kind of jerk?"

"You know, I don't wanna know how you know so much about this guy. You probably have a guy crush on him or something like every one else."

"Shut up. And stand up. Make a loop around the kitchen."

"Why?"

"So I can see your balance. How did you get him to drive you home?" He helps me down from the stool that I'm seated on.

"He offered since he nearly knocked me out with a door."

"You're holding a conversation just fine. I say that you don't have a concussion. Just a really hard knock to the head. Put some ice on it. I'm gonna go talk to Dacre."

"Oh yeah. Why don't you get his number while you're at it."

My brother gives me an ugly side eye as he departs from the room.

I hold the bag of frozen peas to my head and moan.

"...I'm terribly sorry for your inconvenience, Sir."

I over-hear the tail end of my brother's sentence.

"Oh no. It was no trouble. The drive was nice."

"Oh, I wasn't really talking about the drive. I meant meeting my sister. If you had hit her on purpose with that door, I would have understood." Jacob laughs. "But to thank you for your time and for bringing my sister home, I'd like to offer you a free stay tonight, if you would like. It's late and I'm sure you're tired after dealing with her for an hour."

"I don't expect it for free, but to stay would be nice. It's rather late and I'd probably fall asleep on the ride back towards the city."

"I insist. You can take Room 5. It's got the best view."

"That's awfully kind of you. I really appreciate it."

I could gag on their pleasantries.

"Does anyone want tea?" I ask from my spot and toss the peas back into the freezer.

"Are you going to make some?" Jacob asks.

"Yeah. That's why I asked."

"Then count me in. How about you, Mr. Montgomery?"

"Tea sounds great. Thank you."

"I'll have it brought to your room. I'm sure you'd like to relax. Let me get you the key to your room. You can look around and get familiar with your settings and get comfortable."

"Thank you."

Within a few moments, Dacre walks into the kitchen and smiles softly.

"Would you like any honey or sugar in your tea?" I ask.

"A bit of honey, thanks. And I know that it might be a bit much to ask but do you have a iPhone charger? I don't have any of my things and my phone is almost dead."

"Yes. You can use the phone in the hallway if you really need to call someone right now."

"Oh no. I already let my peeps know that I was gonna be out of touch for the night. I just needed to charge it for entertainment purposes."

"There's books in the library for entertainment. Or if reading is too hard, I suppose that I could let you borrow my laptop and let you watch a movie."

"Thank you. That's very kind." Dacre nods and takes a look about the spacious kitchen. "This is a lovely inn that your brother runs... but I thought you said he is a medic. How does he manage both?"

"He just does." I set the teapot on the stove.

I watch him stride around the the room and wonder what he must be thinking.

"Where did you get this from?" He lightly touches the framed painting.

"I made it."

"You made this?"

"I know it's not good. I don't know why he keeps it up there. I guess just to embarrass me." I get three cups from the cabinet and set them on the counter.

"No. No. I find them quite lovely. Very lovely, in fact. Are you an artist?"

"Not for a living, obviously."

"I say with the right seller, you could do very well."

Jacob returns with the key and leads Dacre off.

After preparing the tea, I go to my room and gather a few movies and my laptop.

"Knock knock." I push the door open and set all the things in my hands on the dresser. "I brought the tea and my laptop. I've brought a few DVDs too. Also, my brother sent a set of PJs because you said that you didn't have any of your things."

"Thank you." He rounds out of the bathroom without his shirt. "I appreciate it very much. How is your head feeling?"

"Like someone hit me with a door."

"I truly apologize for that. Please, let me know what I can do to make up for this."

"It was an accident. I don't care. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

His gaze shifts from me to the movies then chuckles over the selection.

"My selections are either Arnold Schwarzenegger or Nicolas Cage?"

"Well, I figured if you're an actor you need to have people to look up too. If you want to make it in that business, you need positive and good role models."

"Those are some figures to look up to. Let's see National Treasure, Eraser, Expendables, Last Action Hero, Ghost Rider, Con Air, and True Lies. Pretty diverse taste there."

"I'm sorry. Did you want some chick flicks? Jacob might have a copy of The Notebook."

"You know what? These are great. Thank you so much for all that you've done."

He obviously is over my snappy tongue.

"If you need anything, I'm in Room 4. Right next to you. Snacks are in the kitchen if you get hungry."

"Good night." He smiles and stands by the open door, waiting for me to leave. "Thank you for the tea, movies, and clothes."

"You got it. Have a good night." I sarcastically smile.

As I walk back through, I glance over my shoulder to see him shaking his head and closing the door.

Whatever, he'll be gone in the morning.