Page 64 of Pretty Little Thing

Sixteen

Nora

No amountof success lasts forever.

You can be on top of the world at one second and be knocked to the ground the next. Things happen. Trends shift. If you don’t adapt and change with the world, the world will leave you behind. It’s a principal in all business but it’s sad to see it happen with your own eyes, knowing that you can’t do anything about it.

Melanie Rose is bright-eyed and smiling right now. Her fans are here. Her adoring readers have rushed out here on a cold, Friday night just for the chance to see her. Melanie lives for nights like this but the lines on her face are a bit stiffer than previous signings at bookstores.

I’ve seen crowds shut down streets in her name before.

Tonight, however…

We might not be here for very long.

Trix and I sit on either side of her in indigo t-shirts and gray pencil skirts — our coordinated cheerleading outfits to match the book cover’s color scheme. Melanie threw on her little, black dress, as usual. And strappy shoes. That’s another way I know she’s feeling this night on the inside somewhere.

She only wears the strappy shoes when she feels like dirt.

“Oh, my god!” A woman rushes our table. “I’m so excited! I’m your biggest fan!”

Melanie grins at her. “Aww, thank you so much.”

“Can you make it out to Jeanie?”

The woman sets her book down — but it’s not the new release stacked up on tables all over the bookstore. It’s one of her first bestsellers. The one Melanie can’t ever seem to outrun no matter how hard she tries.

“Oh, sure,” Melanie says, keeping her face.

“I don’t think I’ll ever find a better book boyfriend than Nathaniel Scott,” the woman swoons. “Will there be a sequel?”

Melanie scribbles her name with a short dedication for Jeanie on the title page. “I have no plans for one, no. But I have a new release—”

“It’s the most anticipated book in my book club!” she shouts. “They told me to tell you that. They said, you tell that Mel Rose to stop dicking around and write the damn book.” She cackles loudly.

“Maybe someday.” Melanie holds up the book. “Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.”

Jeanie snatches it out of Melanie’s hand and admires the fresh, new dedication inside. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you!”

She skips off with her book clenched to her chest, passing by stacks upon stacks of Melanie’s new book.

Melanie exhales hard as soon as she’s out of earshot but she keeps her smile going for the next person in line.

That’s another truth in the business world. Sometimes, you can have an idea so great, create something that resonates so much with so many people, that it will be all they’ll remember you for. It doesn’t matter what you do. You’ll never replicate that success again.

I look at Trix and she nods, thinking the same thing. Tender loving care for Melanie, coming right up.

Soon, and quickly, the line dies down. People pass by the table, passively glance over, and keep walking to the coffee shop across the store. Someone will trickle by here and there but they just so happened to be here at the right time while they were shopping. Their lucky night. I didn’t even know this was scheduled…

Melanie flicks her strappy heel, gently kicking the support bar beneath her folding chair.

A man stops in front of the table holding a large bouquet of red roses wrapped tightly with a pink ribbon.

“Delivery for Ms. Rose,” he says.

Melanie’s face lights up. “Oh, another one!” She reaches for them and the man hands them off to her. “Thank you, kind sir.”

He nods and walks off.

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