1. Crazy Stalker

"I wish I'm a ghost." I slumped on the sofa while sipping my cold beer.

"Okay... I can be your genie, you got two more. Hit me with your best."

I throw a pillow at her which she catches expertly.

"Anyway, why would you want to wish that?" Gemma, my loyal cousin asked as she patiently stays by my side and listens to my crazy talk.

"Why? so I can latch onto my honey bun bun, obviously!"

"You are one deranged woman." She laughed and continue mixing her vodka orange with a tint of lemon before she drinks it slowly.

"Tell me you don't think he's hot!"

"I don't think he's hot." She said repeating the words within seconds, making me rolled my eyes at her.

"Fuck you, Gemma. You're just jealous!"

"You're not even drunk Ella, and you're delusional already! your mom and dad will drag you back home if you kept on harassing the guy."

"Oh! I missed mom and dad."

"You missed her cooking." She teased knowing my belly is too weak for mom's homemade fried chicken.

"Erm, yeah mom's cooking for sure, and I know you do too! just imagine the crispiness and the juices that flow when we sink our teeth into those drumsticks." I smirked and take a big gulp of my beer, making her laughed again.

"And I'm not harassing him! I haven't even called him this week. Some people have to work you know." I squinted my eyes at my cousin who's also my best friend, we even have matching tattoos.

"It's still Tuesday, you have plenty of time before this week ended." She shook her head while giving me the look.

"You know me best!" I winked and clinked our drinks before she continues the work on her laptop and I was back to reading Brice Durant's newest book.

I was resting back on the sofa and sipping my drink slowly while my mind was deep into his book. I was biting my lip, reading in anticipation of what's to come as the suspense build. Then I was curling my toes when the sexy scenes were described explicitly for my virgin corrupt mind.

"You're reading the nasties aren't you?"

"What? no, how could you tell? even if I am, so what? I'm twenty-three, I'm old enough for these kinds of books."

Gemma laughed at me and continue typing on her laptop. She's a personal assistant who has a boss that's making her slave for her work. It was way past office hours and she was still typing on her laptop.

"You should really consider your life choices Gemma, that boss of yours is taking advantage of your willingness to slave for him."

She smiled and drink her vodka as if it was coffee that's going to run through her veins.

"I'm working my way up the company's ladder, I'm not like you who has parents that approved their only daughter career path."

"What? I'm a very well-known artist in my field. I just need the right time and an agent with the same vision as mine."

"Ella, you're only doing portraits of him! how the hell do you call that a vision? you have a borderline stalker tendency."

I know she's right, but I can't seem to help myself as my mind wants him as my muse. All the time.

"See, this is where you're wrong. I only draw perfect figures and he is it." It was a lame excuse and she knows it.

Gemma shook her head, telling me that I was helpless while I get another beer from the fridge, and decides to go to my room to start spying on my honey bun bun.

It was easy enough for me to stalk him since his agent is very active on her social media.

Brice was looking handsome in his navy shirt and dark designer jeans. His facial expression looked bored when the picture was taken, though a couple of women looked enthusiastic beside him.

I looked at the picture and caresses his well-defined jawline, wishing that I can touch the real him.

Someday...

Okay, maybe I'm a bit obsessed but who can blame me? he's freaking handsome!

My infatuation with him started a year ago when I was bored and started buying books from different authors. I was binge reading the books, but none barely made it to the first ten chapters. And I was about to give up until I started reading his books.

From then on I was addicted to his writings, I search all of his books, even the ones he writes under different pen names. I was hooked, and that was when I started dropping him emails.

I even subscribe to his most expensive membership platform just to have access to him personally for a weekly call. And he has never once considered me as a weird stalker, he has always been nice and treated me as if I'm one of his loyal fans.

Which I am. Just a fan.

That's what I've been telling myself.

Not a psycho who has a shrine of Brice's drawings plastered on a certain side of my bedroom wall.

My busy stalking activity was interrupted by a call from my painter friend Brenton Adams, he has been trying to get me to paint other objects aside from my honey bun bun, Brice Durant.

"...Ella, you're a very talented painter and Gwen would've wanted you to succeed."

I started biting my nails when he mentioned his sister's name. We were both broken when she committed suicide years back and both of us were blaming ourselves for the longest time until he found his special someone. While I still think about her every now and then.

And he knows that my creativity was still stuck because of Gwen.

The difference between us was that he paints his feelings away, while I buried myself in books and try to forget about Gwen.

In a way, my obsession with the hot author helps me forget about what happened to Gwen. I was her best friend who went away the summer she ended her life.

"Ella?"

"What? oh yeah the gallery, yeah sure I'll swing by tomorrow. I have stuff to do tonight." I lied easily then ended the call. I was back to scrolling through Brice's agent's I*******m feed.

His I*******m has very few pictures of him, it's also one of the things I like about him. His mysterious side. His lack of updates was probably intentional for marketing purposes, he surely has a very good agent.

Or maybe I was just making excuses for him, maybe he's too busy with his female companions to update his social media for his fans. I pouted at the possibility and decided to go to sleep instead.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to paint something else.