“No, are you kidding, I just about knocked you over.” The woman was maybe five five, with a round face and round-framed glasses. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Carter promised. “No harm done. You’re sure you’re all right? I didn’t run over your toes or anything?”
“Nah, I’m good, see?” She stuck out her foot to show off a pair of Doc Martens.
“Hey, maybe you should’ve tried a pair of those,” Jeff said, teasing.
It turned out to be a mistake, though, because when she focused her attention on him instead, she rotated in his direction enough for him to identify her Howl T-shirt.
“Oh my God,” she said. “You’re Jeff Pine!”
Jeff glanced around. The mall wasn’t too crowded, but he didn’t want to clog up the walkway, so he nudged Carter’s shoulder until he scooted closer to the wall.
“He is.” Carter grinned like this was the most entertainment he’d had all week, which was rude. Jeff had done an excellent job entertaining him in the past twelve hours particularly.
“Oh my God. Would you, I mean—shoot.” Her face fell. “I wish I had a Sharpie or something, you could totally sign my T-shirt.”
Jeff normally carried one, but he had a lot on his mind this morning. “Selfie?” he offered instead.
“Yes! A selfie! God, you must think I’m so old-school. Oh man. I’m sorry I’m being such a nerd. I just… I’ve loved your music since I was a kid.”
Jeff loved his fans, but that comment made him feel about a hundred years old, and he could tell Carter noticed, because he laughed. He tried to cover it by offering, “I could take it if you want.”
“Thank you, that would be so amazing! My friends are gonna flip their shit!” Beaming, she turned her gaze back to Carter to hand him her phone, and—
Crap.
“Hey,” she said as Carter turned the phone around, “you wouldn’t happen to be that guy from the picture on416 Morning…?”
Busted.
Carter glanced at Jeff, who shrugged. This was Carter’s call to make. “That’s me,” he said, holding the phone easily in one enormous hand. Jeff needed to not focus on that while they were in public.
Jeff maneuvered to stand beside his fan, then belatedly realized he didn’t know her name. “The man with the scooter who tried to run you down is Carter,” he said. “And I’m Jeff, obviously, and you are…?”
“Oh! Chrissy. My pronouns are they/them.”
“Nice to meet you, Chrissy. You want any particular pose for this photo?”
They bit their lip. “Um, is it okay if you put your arm around my waist, and I’ll do the same?”
Jeff had had many more invasive requests, and some who hadn’t asked. “Sure. We’ll make Carter jealous.”
Carter rolled his eyes, but Chrissy seemed not to be paying attention. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Carter took the picture and handed them back their phone. They looked at the picture and flushed prettily. “This is so great. Thank you, really.”
“It’s no problem,” Jeff assured them. “Anything for a fan.” Notreallyanything, but they didn’t need to know that.
Chrissy took a step back and pushed their hair behind their ears. “So, like, I’m sorry because this totally isn’t my business, but you joked about making him jealous, and I was at the concert last night, and it seems like maaaaybe you’re seeing someone new?”
Now Jeff saw some panic creep into Carter’s features. But the cat was pretty much out of the bag now.
Easy for Jeff to say. His cat had never even been in the same room as the bag.
“It does seem like that,” Jeff agreed, which was polite, not an outright lie, and vague enough for plausible deniability.
“Wow,” Chrissy said. “Well, that song last night was awesome, so if, you know. I’m really happy for you.” They paused. “And now I totally have to go because I’m being obnoxious and also I’m going to be late for work. But thank you again. Just…. Howl means a lot to me.”
