“Right, well good luck with your… whatever it is. I need to leave now.”
She leaps off her chair and practically wraps herself around me, which really isn’t ideal. I try to peel her off me but she’s stuck like glue. From past experience I’ve learned that going outside and reminding these girls that they are in public helps them to remember themselves. It doesn’t often end in drama.
“No, don’t go yet,” she says, panicked. “Just wait a couple more moments.”
“No, I don’t want to wait for your friends. I’m not being rude; I need to leave…”
She narrows her eyes curiously at me. For a second, I wonder if she was messaging her friends after all.
“I just need you to stay for a little bit longer. It won’t be long, I promise.”
She peers over my shoulder and smiles. That to me suggests that her mates have arrived.
“I’m leaving. I need to go right now. I don’t want to be here any longer.”
I keep my eyes down so I don’t see her friends and I break my way out into the fresh air, glad of the escape. I assume that she’s stayed behind with her friends, until I feel her hands snake around my waist. I turn to give her a shocked look, which is when she grabs my cheeks and she pulls her mouth down to hers and she kisses me.
I’m stunned, frozen, even more so when flashes burst out everywhere.
This isn’t a coincidence; I tell myself determinedly. This is who she was messaging. The press.
I should have known, she is a wannabee, she’s willing to do anything to get to the top, and using me in her plight won’t bother her at all.
“Well, you’ll be famous now,” I declare, disgusted, as I pull back. “Everyone will be talking about you. I bet your YouTube channel will get lots of hits now.”
She actually looks happy, as if this is a compliment. “You think so?”
She turns to face the camera and puts on a beaming smile. I have to hand it to her, she’s going to go far if she carries on the way she is. She will just trample on a lot of people to get there and end up with no friends.
Mind you, who am I to talk about no friends? Look at me right now.
I shake my head, sadness coursing through my veins, and I walk off leaving her in her moment in the sun. Let her enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame, even if it is at my expense. She can grow while I fade away, if that’s what I decide in the end. A normal life without the fame and the cameras, but one that’s filled with uncertainty. Am I ready for that?
27
ADDISON
I stare at the picture of Jace in the newspaper, trying to process what I’m seeing. It’s almost soul destroying to see this, but I can’t feel anything at all. I’m numb, there’s not even one emotion inside of me, which is weird. I should be collapsing on the ground, sobbing and messy, I should be falling apart, but I’m still standing. I don’t know if this is strength though or if it’s something else.
“Okay, so Jace has another girlfriend, clearly,” I tell myself, needing to make it as real as possible. “He’s kissing another woman, they seem to have a strong chemistry between them, so… we really are done.”
I nod, making myself be okay with that. I knew as soon as he left that we wouldn’t make our way back to one another, that we’d had our second chance and blown it, but this is confirmation. It’s done.
“Addison?” Sandra peeks her head around the door and gives me a half smile. Everyone seems unsure about me these days, ever since I came back to work. I have to assume that Luke has caused this, but I can’t blame him. Either he’s worried or he’s after my job, I haven’t worked it out just yet. “Can I talk to you?”
“Of course you can.” My voice sounds all gravelly and weird. “Come in.”
She takes the seat opposite me and eyes the paper in my hands. A national one, not ours. I’m always reading these, we need to keep on top of all the news whether it affects us directly or not. But I guess it hasn’t gone unnoticed that I’m more than a little obsessed with Jace. I can’t help myself.
“I’m just finishing up the research that Luke asked me to do on Jace Fairs.”
“Mmm.” I can’t form words. My brain is buzzing with terror and pain. This feels all kinds of wrong.
“He wanted me to do a relationship time line on the side, as an extra piece.”
“Errr.” I have lost the ability to even think. I know what’s coming, it’s like a tsunami, the wave is heading my way and I can’t stop it however hard I try. Not that I’m really trying…
“And I found out that you… knew him back in college.”