That would be an awful long line to stand in for one man.

Oh hell, what’s the point? In a few weeks he’ll be gone anyway. Off to another location to do his next movie with some totally sexy co-star who he’ll bond with, and in no time they will surely try to get into each other’s pants.

Every day millions of people go off to work, but how many of them have to fake romances or stick their tongues in someone else’s mouth for a living?

Honey, have a great day at work and I hope you get some good tongue action on set today! Oh, you’re doing a love scene today with a hot, single actress? Good for you! Should I call the lawyer now or wait until you officially leave me for her?

How many actors’ personal lives are ruined because of it?

I wondered if it would be possible for someone like Ryan to ever have a normal relationship. Maybe he would follow in the footsteps of so many others before him and just stick to brief relationships with a variety of actresses?

I thought about the majority of relationships amongst actors - only a handful of them were between actors and normal humans. The odds were stacked against me regardless.

I shook my fingers through my hair to toss the thoughts away. I am just deluding myself to think that this – whatever it was – could have ever amounted to anything.

Time to get back into the real world, Taryn. Men like that don’t fall for ordinary people like you. I suddenly felt very insignificant all over again.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?” Marie grumbled at me while she was making a drink. She knew me well enough to know that something was wrong.

I had spent the entire day beating myself up internally; by nine o’clock my internal struggle reached the outside of my body.

I shook my head and tried to shrug her off. Best friend or not, there was no way I’d ever spill my secret to her; my private faux pas would become the public knowledge of everyone who stepped foot in the bar because surely she would chastise me out loud for the rest of the night.

She leered at me, demanding an answer.

“Something didn’t work out the way I had hoped.” I figured that was good enough of an answer to give her. I met a wonderful, quirky guy who could make me really happy but he’s also extremely famous and could never be mine… “You want to talk about it?” Marie asked.

I knew she cared about me but this was something I couldn’t share.

“No,” I replied softly. “Nothing to talk about. I’ll be fine.”

I was thankful that I had a large crowd of strangers mingling around my pub; there was enough of a commotion going on that I could stay distracted. One of my favorite local bands just finished setting up their equipment on the stage and soon we would all be enjoying some rocking music. Pete held his usual position, perched on a stool inside the door, making sure to check everyone’s ID and to collect a small cover charge for the band.

As I looked around, everything that was always stable and constant in my life was just as it should be. I accepted that my decision was a wise and healthy choice and stood firm in my resolve.

The evening progressed and Marie and I were dancing behind the bar as usual, mixing drinks and sliding glasses and bottles to our customers.

The music was jamming, the crowd was thick, and my bad mood for the most part was lifted. Everyone was having a good time.

I was waiting on a customer when all of a sudden I felt a hand clamp tightly around my forearm and sharp fingernails dug into my skin.

“Marie! What are you doing?” I asked, looking down at her clenched hand. My eyes shot up to look at her face and I noticed she was turning white; her mouth was gaping open. I glanced down the bar in the direction of her petrified stare; I didn’t know what the problem was.

“Marie?”

I scanned the crowd rapidly and then I saw him – Ryan Christensen - and a small group of people filtering through the crowd.

One of my regular customers, Dan, started smacking his hand repeatedly on the bar to get my attention. “Taryn, Pete wants to see you NOW!”

“Marie, let go!” I shouted, peeling her fingers off my arm. I ducked out the other end of the bar and made my way through the crowd to the front door. Pete was holding back a large crowd when I finally reached him.

“Taryn! What the hell was I supposed to do? I had to let him in – he paid!”

“Pete, we can’t let any more people in. We’re at max now. All I need is the Fire Marshall to show up – they’ll shut me down,” I yelled over the music.

“Well then you have to tell all of them that I can’t let them in!” Pete pointed at the crowd that stretched all the way down the sidewalk.