Aria couldn't stop replaying last night in her head. Adrian Knight the Adrian Knight had sat across from her in a tiny café, hoodie pulled low, sipping cheap hot chocolate like he wasn't the face on every billboard in the city.
It felt like a dream, except the napkin in her bag, the one he'd used to scribble a tiny sketch of a guitar, said otherwise.
School the next morning was unbearable. Everyone was buzzing about Adrian's canceled concert downtown rumors about illness, "secret girlfriends," and even a fight with his manager were flying around. Aria kept her head low, terrified that if she opened her mouth, the truth would slip out.
But the truth was knocking literally.
That evening, as she walked home, a sleek black car slowed beside her. The tinted window slid down just enough for her heart to jump into her throat. Adrian's eyes met hers hidden behind shades, but unmistakable.
"Get in," he said softly, voice urgent.
Aria froze. She wasn't reckless. She wasn't the kind of girl who jumped into cars with strangers except this wasn't just any stranger. It was him. The boy whose posters lined her bedroom wall.
"Why?" she whispered, clutching her schoolbag.
"Because," Adrian leaned closer, his voice dropping so only she could hear, "someone followed me last night. And if they saw you with me, you might be in trouble too."
Her pulse hammered in her ears. She could walk away, pretend this never happened. But the way he looked at her not as a fan, but as a girl caught in his world pulled her in deeper.
Before she knew it, Aria slid into the car. The door clicked shut, and just like that, her ordinary life was left behind on the sidewalk.
Inside, it smelled like leather and cologne. Adrian tugged his hood lower.
"I shouldn't have dragged you into this," he murmured, guilt flickering in his eyes.
Aria swallowed hard. "Then why did you?"
His lips curved into a faint, tired smile.
"Because you looked at me like I was normal."
And with those words, Aria realized her heart was already in dangerous territory..