Fly With Me | ✓

34

Everleigh didn't know how Maverick had done it, but he did.

            Convinced a whole interview crew to fly to Europe so he didn't have to leave London. The logic behind it?

            "Not everyone lives in LA," Maverick had said, while on the phone. "You could make this interview overseas and help so many other dogs. We have shelters here, too."

            Everleigh couldn't tell if it made Maverick a bigger spoon or the crew regular spoons when they agreed that going to Europe would somehow solve the amount of dogs that were up for adoption at shelters. Then again, it didn't matter to her when Maverick was practically vibrating as Everleigh drove to the interview location.

            Normally, Everleigh would've simply given him her car keys so he could drive himself while she studied and slept. Her jetlag from San Fransisco was terrible, to say the least. Then she saw that he put on a red, black, and white striped short-sleeve button up. Then it was important for her to spend as much time as possible with him. For science. The hypothesis was to see if specific colours made him more attractive—was pink better than red, black, and white?—or if he simply existed in a realm of Everleigh's attraction no matter what he wore. There was an important variable at play, Everleigh had never seen Maverick petting dogs for a couple hours while answering interview questions. Would the dogs impact her ability to draw a conclusion? Potentially. But she still needed to go with him for data collection—that much was certain. It could've been her master's thesis: did Kingston Maverick ever cool down?

            Maverick laughed from the passenger seat. Point toward Maverick simply being attractive. He'd started wrinkling his nose when he laughed—Everleigh finally understood what he'd meant when he said it was cute on her.

            "Care to share with the class?" Everleigh asked.

            "Stevie says I'm an ass for petting puppies without her."

            "You two in a room with puppies would piss off every interviewer ever to exist," Everleigh said. "You'd never get called back."

            "You're saying that like it's a bad thing," Maverick said. "Makes me more of an ass for not inviting Stevie. No interviews ever again? Sign me up."

            It didn't take long to get to where the studio was set up. Everleigh slung her backpack over her shoulder while Maverick waited patiently outside the building. It felt nice to walk into buildings holding his hand; if nothing else, those British media articles meant that Maverick seemed more comfortable putting his arm around her or holding her in public. Everleigh still hated the idea that they knew her name, but if she was going to stay with him, it was something she was going to have to accept.

            Maverick dealt with the security. Everleigh needed to settle down the butterflies in her stomach every time Maverick said "this is my girlfriend, Everleigh" to someone who only needed to check to make sure she wasn't going to cause harm—though she'd never forget the look security gave her after checking her bag and finding an anatomy textbook. She even got a lanyard with a pass on it to allow her to sit behind the camera during the interview.

            Finding a spot to set her textbook and notes up was simple: the floor was the only option. Which was fine when Maverick would be on the floor as well, only he'd be in front of the camera. He'd given her a quick kiss on the back of her hand before heading to get some quick makeup done. Everleigh wished they'd let him show the freckles rather than cover them up, but also decided she liked that they were only for her and friends.

            After Everleigh read a couple pages and took a few notes, Maverick was led back out. Even more excited than he was in the car. He'd been talking about the interview for days leading up to it. He sat down eagerly, a pastel pink backdrop behind him. A person who Everleigh assumed was a producer walked him through a couple things before heading behind the camera, looking at a clipboard. Probably Maverick's interview questions.