The fans were reaching for him – holding cameras over their heads for just the random chance that they might get his photo. Others were holding pictures of him hoping to get his autograph. A few women were crying and hyperventilating just from getting a glimpse of him.

The security team practically hurled him into the awaiting car; his fans were screaming and blocking his car in the road. Mobs of paparazzi were everywhere. I gripped the edge of the bar as my knees started to buckle. He was the prey being stalked by the wolves.

At that moment, I realized the magnitude of what he was sparing me from. It wasn’t that he was the superstar adored by millions that made me weak. It was the feeling that I wanted to throw myself in their path to protect him that was most powerful.

An hour later my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. Ryan was texting me:

“Hi I’m back”

I quickly sent him a reply: “Hi r u ok?”

“Yeah why u ask?”

“Nothing glad to hear ur back safe” I couldn’t tell him why I was worried.

“We r shootn night scenes gonna b a late one”

I smiled when I saw the sad smiley face. “dont work too hard have fun”

“I’ll try to call u soon ok?”

“Ok”

I was relieved to know he was back in Rhode Island, away from that California craziness, although it appeared that some of that craziness followed him wherever he went.

We were very busy for a weeknight. It seemed that his huge female fan base that swarmed my pub had attracted a new selection of male customers – everyone was on the hunt – and the odds were better if you were a man.

“It’s like freaking mating season!” I yelled over to Marie.

She snorted at me. “I know! It’s sick, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know if I should be appalled or thankful,” I laughed back to her.

“I’m extremely thankful!” She bobbed her head back and forth and stuffed a few more dollars into our tip jar. “Go! Find a mate!” she teased me.

I wasn’t opposed to finding someone and having love be a part of my life again, but every guy I came across was oddly the same. Lame approaches, cheap comments, scary aggressive behavior, or just not what I was longing for. At this point in my life I didn’t feel the need to settle nor have to make due with half of nothing.

It was after three a.m. again when I crawled into bed. My hands hurt from washing so many dirty glasses and empty beer pitchers tonight and it bothered me that I couldn’t curl them underneath my chin like I normally did to sleep.

I never tried to buy into the fairytales that most girls fell for, but for a moment I felt like I could really relate to Cinderella, being forced to clean up after all of the wicked and ungrateful.

I was still thinking about Cinderella periodically throughout the next day. I wondered why she never just snapped and told her evil stepmother and stepsisters to go to hell. Would things have been different for her if she had a baseball bat tucked up under her apron and didn’t need Prince Charming to come and rescue her? Why won’t this sticky stuff come up off the bar? How hard do I need to scrub?

“Hey, kiddo! How you doing tonight?” Pete asked, drumming his hands on the bar.

I was so lost in my own thoughts while scouring the top of the bar that his drumming startled me. My eyes focused in on his beaming face as I tried to shake my brain back into reality.

“I’m doing all right,” I answered, forcing myself to smile.

“We should have a good Friday night crowd tonight,” he said enthusiastically. I smiled wider when he raised his eyebrows up and down at me.

“Frank and the guys just pulled up. I’m going to see if they need a hand unloading,” Pete informed.

Customers were filtering in while tonight’s band set up their equipment. My head was slowly getting back into the game as my earlier distractions became replaced with juggling a multitude of drink orders.

As the evening progressed, the crowd grew thicker and the music became louder, and I found myself flowing and dancing behind the bar again.

Tammy had agreed to work a few weekends, so I had her covering tables.

There were two men sitting at the bar that Marie felt I should be interested in. She kept nudging me in their direction but I couldn’t stop envisioning them having giant springs attached to their necks from the way their heads kept nodding at me.

“What’s wrong with you?” Marie said as she put her arm around my shoulders. “That one in the baseball hat is cute! Go flirt with him!”

I half-heartily smiled and made a choking sound.

“Don’t give me that shit!” she snapped. “You need to be brave and get back on the damn horse!” Her hand cracked me on my backside.

Mr. Baseball Hat had just waved his empty glass at me when my phone vibrated in my pocket. My heart flipped in my chest.

“Hello?” I answered, very much knowing whose voice was going to respond. I had to cover my ear to hear him.

“Hi – how are you?” Ryan asked.

“I’m great! How are you?” I was genuinely happy to hear from him. Ryan was momentarily distracted by a side conversation. I heard him and another man exchanging words.

“Hey man, how’s it going?”

Why does that voice sound so familiar to me?

“It’s going great,” Ryan replied with a light chuckle.

“Good to see ya. Nah, just go on in,” the male voice stated.

“Thanks! Hey I’ll see you later,” Ryan said.

“I’m thirsty,” Ryan informed, answering my original question. “I’d really like a beer please.”

I looked up to see that he was twenty feet in front of me, walking towards the bar. He had a big, sexy grin on his face as he slipped his phone into his jacket pocket.

Ryan was the center man in a pack of four other guys. I recognized Cal right away. One of the other men looked familiar – like I’d seen him in a movie or something before but I didn’t know who he was. The other two had to be private security – they looked like they could hurt someone.

“Hey you!” Ryan greeted me with that smile that made my knees weak.

“Hi!” My tone was unintentionally a mixture of surprise and annoyance. I was very glad to see him but now I’d have to deal with crowd control and his psychotic fans invading my pub. I looked behind him and sure enough half a dozen giggling girls traipsed through the door.

Cal moved into the space next to Ryan. Obviously it was boys’ night out.