Page 59 of The Spotlight Effect

“Uh… Thanks, you too,” she says, putting her lip gloss up. I can smell the strong cherry scent of the gloss from here and it almost makes me wonder what it tastes like. A moment of silence lingers through the car before I pull off and make my way to Golden Star.

Luckily, she doesn’t speak because I’m too fogged in the head to think about anything other than tasting her because of that damn cherry-scented gloss. There’s no way a lip gloss is that strong, she must be wearing perfume too.

Arriving at Golden Star, the valet takes my keys once I get out and gives me a ticket to keep. I hold my arm out for Alexia to take once I open her door. “So, you’re being a gentleman,” Alexia says, looking up at me.

“I’m playing nice tonight,” I tell her and apply my red cowboy hat to my head. I’m dressed as Woody fromToy Storybecause Charlie wanted to wear matching costumes with me, so I didn’t feel left out, so we are Woody and Buzz Lightyear. I wear the signature outfit, nice blue jeans with a big belt, Woody’s signature shirt but it’s a little tighter and his cow print vest along with the golden sheriff badge. I’m not wearing the red bandana around my neck, but I have the brown cowboy boots on.

“Let’s go, Ranger Rick,” Alexia says, taking my arm.

“I’m Woody the cowboy,” I tell her.

“I know, Popstar,” Alexia says as we walk up the steps. The event is being held in theGolden roomwhere everything is either golden or has some golden hue to it. This party isn’t for anything special, except Mr. Hayden thought it would be fun and a way to kick off the upcoming release of Emerson’s TV show, my band's summer tour, and new artists joining the company. Mr. Hayden will give any reason to throw a party, honestly.

Entering theGolden Room,we hand the doorman our tickets and he stamps it and gives us the end half back. Alexia puts hers in her basket and I just stuff mine in my front pocket.

I notice the room is decorated in an enchanted-haunted forest theme and even the DJ is dressed up as the Grim Reaper high on this platform in the air in the far corner. I guess everyone is in costume tonight.

“I’ll be right back,” Alexia whispers while lightly touching my arm. I nod, letting her know I heard her, and then Alexia walks off through the crowd of people. I look over to see where she is going, and I notice her mom, Aaliyah, and Marina across the room.

“Looking for someone?” I turn and see Scarlett is now in front of me. When did she get here? And in front of me. Scarlett is dressed as Poison Ivy in a very sparkly green dress with vines going up her legs and arms.

“No, not looking for anyone,” I state, not turning to her.

“Oh, watching.” Scarlett nods.

“No. Admiring,” I say and turn to her.

“So have you seen your father yet?” she asks.

“Thankfully, no,” I state and sip some of my drink.

“Well, in case you want to avoid him, do not go near the pumpkin patch food and drink service,” she tells me.

“Pumpkin food service?” That does not sound like it would taste great.

“Not everything is pumpkin flavored. It’s just the food and drinks in the pumpkin patch are,” Scarlett explains. I raise a brow at her, then I turn to look around the room, this time not for anyone in particular.

“Have you seen the others?” I ask Scarlett.

“Yeah, Charlie is eating, Emmy and Noah are making rounds. Shawn and Zara are out on the carriage ride in the gardens. And I actually do not know where Raven is and Kenan went to the restroom before I came over here,” Scarlett tells me.

“Wanna go find Charlie with me?” I ask her, because standing in one spot is boring now.

“But your dad is over there,” she reminds me.

“I don’t care,” I tell her and turn around looking for the pumpkin patch sign and once I spot it, I make my way over.

I’m not letting my father scare me into not having a good time tonight. I walk right over to the pumpkin patch that has a big fence surrounding it. Walking in, pumpkins are lined up till you get to a stone area that has a couple of tables in the circle center, and around the outer edge of the circle are tables of food. Above us are string lights with vines hanging from them and on the sides are pumpkins and scarecrows.

I spot Charlie at a table, waving us over while holding up some pumpkin-shaped cookies. We walk over to him, and I take out the chair beside him before sitting. “So, when did you gethere?” Charlie asks, with a mouth full of cookies. Scarlett kisses his hand before sitting down.

“Like ten minutes ago,” I reply and take a small pumpkin candy corn from his plate. As I chew it, I realize maybe the pumpkin flavored candy corn isn't my favorite.

“Grayson,” I hear my father state behind me. Scarlett gives me a sympathetic look as I turn around to my dad.

“Father,” I reply, turning back, looking at him, then looking away.

“I heard you brought aguest,” he says. I assume he already knows who it is due to his tone.

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