Free Accidental It Girl by Libby Street Page B

home—the pitter-patter of little feet that rounded out and perfected the image of domestic bliss she wanted to be envied for. If I hadn’t been a wimpy doormat of a self-conscious youth, I probably would have rebelled. If I hadn’t felt so completely curious and slightly helpless, I either would have refused to go along with these performances or spoiled them in grand fashion—explosives, poison, dirty body-pierced boyfriends. But as it was, I went along with them for years. Monday through Friday I was myself, Saturday and Sunday I was Paige Price-Farmer’s “darling daughter.”
    That box over there could be anything. A plasma TV, a giant velvet Elvis, a killer python. There’s really no telling how good or bad it might be, or what Paige expects in return.

    It’s time for the evening news. I don’t mean the local variety that’s so abundant here in New York, or the kind of broadcast by the roughly seven million twenty-four-hour news networks. No, I’m talking about the evening entertainment news. It’s part of the job for Luke and me, and one of Brooke’s most beloved guilty pleasures.
    This is a somewhat tedious, but occasionally amusing, job-related diversion. Tonight, however, it’s turning my stomach to knots. I know they’re going to cover the airport pileup, and I know they’re going to make it out to be my fault. Since Lindsay Lohan got her driver’s license these stories have become a main-stay of the nightly entertainment news—and it’s always the photographer’s fault. Always.
    â€œOh, damn!” whines Brooke as I make my way back from the kitchen with a load of stress-reducing snacks in my arms. Brooke sits, as she always does, perched on the edge of her seat as though ready to pounce.
    â€œWhat? What is it? What did they say?” I ask breathlessly, dropping the snacks on the coffee table.
    â€œNo, no. It’s nothing about you. I just missed E! ‘Behind the Scenes of Finding Her .’ Damn, I forgot it was on! There’s only five minutes left.”
    Finding Her is the upcoming release starring Brooke’s true love fantasy man, Duncan Stoke. Duncan Stoke is an all-American hunk, Brooke’s current celebrity obsession, and the one man in Hollywood with a name more improbable than Vin Diesel.
    â€œHe has two movies coming out this summer. He’s going to be all over the TV,” Luke tells her.
    â€œHallelujah!” She points to the screen. “I mean, look at him. He’s gorgeous. I saw him on Leno the other night, Sadie. He’s so perfect for me in every way. If I were just a little bit crazier, I could totally become a stalker.”
    Brooke is somewhat of a nascent celebrity freak. The further along she’s gotten in her chosen career of real estate, the less she’s been inclined to do it the rest of her life. She’s got it into her head that she’s going to marry into fame, fortune, and a life of leisure. For most people this would be a harmless fantasy. For Brooke, given her complete focus, dogged determination, and proximity to people who track celebrities for a living, this becomes very dangerous. She’s a heat-seeking missile.
    â€œI wonder if he’s coming to New York to do publicity,” she says ominously, while watching Duncan Stoke’s chiseled, action-hero features flicker across the screen. Something about his oh-so classically manly form, or his pitch-perfect combination of cockiness and boy-next-door charm, has enraptured her.
    Unlike me, Brooke is a dreamer who wholeheartedly believes in true love and happy endings. (Her parents have been married for thirty-five years and have always been blissfully happy.) I believe this is the root of her celebrity obsession and her all-consuming fantasy life that centers on hooking up with one.
    It is so much easier to believe that the right guy exists, and that you just haven’t met him yet, if