"This is nice."
Topaz glanced around the softly lit restaurant, a contented smile on her face. "We've been so rushed off our feet, Cameron...it's so nice just to kick back and relax a little without a camera or a mic being pushed in your face."
"Price of stardom, I guess." Cameron smiled. "Listen, Rora, I'm glad I did see you tonight...it was a bit 'it an' miss if I'd get there in time to catch you...but I wanted to take the gamble anyway. You see...sometimes it's 'ard to talk about things online when the person you're talkin' to is so far away an' you're livin' in an' 'ouse full of students 'alf the time, who don't know what privacy means yet. I wanted to talk to you in person and see...well...how things are."
"You mean between us?" Topaz looked thoughtful, as Cameron nodded. "Well, I can tell you that for my part nothing's changed. I didn't know if I'd still like you as much when we saw each other again, but, well," she laughed sheepishly, "I think my reaction tonight answered that question."
"I'm glad." Cameron grinned. "Because it's the same for me. The blokes I live with are always teasin' me about 'avin' me 'ead up in the clouds with some bird on the internet, as they put it, an' I was worried it was turnin' too much into a net fantasy an' not anything real at all. Taylor's the one for internet romance, not me. I need to know there's something real behind it too."
"There is." Topaz said softly. "There's me."
Cameron smiled, sipping his drink.
"I'm glad to 'ear it." He murmured. "Because you're pretty special to me."
"I wish we had longer tonight, that's all." Topaz looked wistful. "But Jetta wasn't kidding when she said we had to travel tomorrow morning. I think the car's coming for us at about half nine and we're driving to some venue in Manchester, wherever that is."
"North of England, north west, actually." Cameron told her. Topaz grinned.
"Geography was never my strongest point in school." She admitted. Cameron laughed.
"Mine either." He responded. "See, there's somethin' else we 'ave in common."
"Tonight's kinda odd, you know." Topaz looked pensive. "On the one hand, see, it's like we've never been apart from each other, like we've picked up exactly where we left off when I was in floods of tears at Heathrow airport and Jetta wasn't a bit amused. But on the other hand, it feels like so much has happened and I'm afraid that when I go back to LA I'm going to miss you so badly again for another long block of time."
"Not...necessarily." Cameron took her hand. "I wasn't gonna finalise it till I knew 'ow things were between us, but a couple of me mates an' I are thinkin' of goin' to America for some of the winter break. I was the one who suggested California...they're all mad keen to see some Hollywood babes, I think was it, so they agreed. I ain't booked it yet...but I will if you say you want me to come."
"I do. I definitely do." Topaz's blue eyes lit up with delight. "Jewel have a lot on, but with any luck we'll have some time free around Christmas and New Year again this year. Oh, and then I can show you around LA, like you showed me around London!"
"Yep." Cameron nodded. He smiled. "I'm glad you're so keen...I 'oped you'd like the idea." He blushed. "You know, since you sent me that email tellin' me when you were flyin' into England I've been payin' so little attention to me studies it's terrible." He admitted. "I'm 'avin' to photocopy notes off people because I ain't been takin' me own properly. An' I've been trying to work out since then if when we met up you'd jus' want to be friends or what. I'm glad it's not that way."
"Mm. Me too." Topaz agreed.
"I suppose once Jewel are a big hit here, it won't be so easy to sit and have a nice cosy little meal like this." Cameron observed, almost wistfully. Topaz shook her head.
"No." She agreed. "Although we do get away with a lot in LA. I guess it's being so close to Hollywood - p'raps the locals are sick of seeing stars."
"Sounds like another world." Cameron admitted. Topaz smiled.
"It is. That's what I love so much about this job, though, apart from the music of course." She replied. "Travelling. Getting to see so many new places. I really can't wait to hit continental Europe. For a start I want to see how my French is these days."
"I didn't know you spoke French." Cameron looked surprised.
"My mother was born French-Canadian." Topaz nodded. "But my father wasn't, and she raised me to speak English as a first language kinda in his memory or something - we didn't live in Quebec, anyhow. She'd moved after their marriage. She taught me French too, though. I'm not fluent like Copper is in Spanish, I can't yatter on like that at top speed, but I can muddle through."
"Neat." Cameron grinned. "I'm jus' plain ol' mongrel English I'm afraid. Mostly London I think, though...I've been 'ere me whole life an' so 'as me Ma an' Pa, so..."
"Nothing wrong with mongrel English." Topaz grinned.
"'Ere, are you still gonna make it up 'ere on Wednesday?" Cameron looked anxious. "I mean, now we've gotten together tonight an' all."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Topaz assured him. "I'll be there. Jetta has firmly assured me that if I want a car, I'm paying for it, and not Misfit Music - fair enough I suppose - so I'm trying to discover whether it'd be cheaper to take the train and whether I can get there direct from my hotel in Birmingham. But sure, I'll be there."
"I'll meet you at Euston station and we can get the tube to somewhere nice." Cameron suggested. Topaz looked blank.
"Euston?"
"Yeah. If you're comin' from Birminham it's easiest." Cameron nodded. Topaz shrugged.
"Okay." She said, grinning. "I'll take your word for it. Either way, I'll be there. No matter what."
 
 

Prologue: Sadie
Chapter One: Jewel In England
Chapter Two: Lovesick
Chapter Three: A New Sensation
Chapter Four: Cameron
Chapter Five: Sadie Gets A Warning
Chapter Six: A Little Love Advice
Chapter Seven: Topaz Makes A Friend
Chapter Eight: At The Halfway House
Chapter Nine: A Shock For Sadie
Chapter Ten: A Family Encounter
Chapter Eleven: Copper Gets A Fan
Chapter Twelve: A Burns Family Secret
Chapter Thirteen: Thicker Than Water
Chapter Fourteen: A Phonecall