Fame & Consequences

by Reese A. Stephens

  He gives me a side-eye. “I’m great at hair.”

  I roll my eyes. He’s right though. I loved when we were kids and he’d brush my hair. He used to want to be a stylist, among the many other things he dreamed up, but his dad shut that down super-fast. He wouldn’t have his son doing anything that would make him seem feminine. It didn’t matter what anyone else had to say, the man was steadfast in his thoughts and opinions. He doesn’t hurt me at all, but I watch his face as he maneuvers my hair around the bald spot.

  “It’s awful.”

  He looks at me sadly. “No. It means you’re alive, and that’s the most important thing. Your hair will grow back, and once it’s dry, you can style it to cover the spot. It’s not that big anyway, it’s hardly noticeable.” He wraps his arms around my shoulders so our faces are side by side in the mirror. He kisses my cheek. “I was sick thinking I’d never see you again, Sophie. It was torture waiting for the doctors to come and tell us your prognosis. I never want to do that again.”

  I turn and wrap my arms around him. He kneels on the floor so we are closer in height, and cries with me. After a bit, he pulls back, taking my hands in his as he kisses my knuckles.

  “Don’t do that to me again.”

  “I’ll do my best.” I give him a watery smile.

  He pulls out a hair dryer from my bag and starts it up. The sound and warm air relaxes me, and my eyes start to close.

  “All done.” I open my eyes to see that you can’t even tell I have a bald spot.

  “Thank you, Car.”

  He hugs me from behind again. “Always, Sophie. I love you.” He kisses my cheek. “Let’s get you some clothes. Come on.”

  I make sure the towel is tightly secured before standing, taking his hand as I do. He leads me out of the bathroom and helps me sit on the bed before going over to the little closet in the room.

  “I didn’t realize I had stuff here.”

  “Elijah and I got your stuff out of the hotel and brought it over. We figured after you woke up you’d want your own clothes.”

  “Thanks.” He brings over leggings and a tee shirt that I don’t remember. It could be Elijah’s. The thought makes my stomach flutter. As Carter is walking towards me, he’s twirling my panties on his finger. “Carter!” I admonish.

  He laughs as he kneels in front of me and holds my panties out for me to step into. “I can do this myself,” I tell him.

  “You might get dizzy if you bend down. Cooperate, Peaches.”

  “What’re you doing?” I gasp, clutching the towel to me tighter as we both look up to the angry face of Elijah.

  “Helping her get dressed, don’t get your panties in a wad.”

  “It’s not my panties that I’m worried about. I’ll help her.”

  He steps forward as if he might come between us. My heart rate sky rockets. I’m so not okay with this. Carter, still kneeling, swivels around to face Elijah.

  “Dude, she doesn’t know you from Adam, and you expect her to let you help her get dressed? Wait in the hall, you’re making her uncomfortable.”

  Elijah’s jaw clinches, but he mumbles an apology and walks back out of the door. “He’s mad,” I say stupidly.

  Carter shakes his head. “He’s fine. It’s hard on him, I get it, but he needs to remember that you don’t remember.”

  Carter pulls my underwear to my knees, and helps me stand, so I can finish pulling them up. He hands me the tee shirt and I carefully, pull it over my head, before sitting back down on the bed. As I finish pulling my leggings up, Carter tells Elijah to come back in.

  “I’m sorry, Sophie,” Elijah says immediately.

  “It’s okay. I’m sorry too.” I mean that. I doubt I’d like it very much if his ex was helping him get dressed, even if he couldn’t remember me.

  He huffs. “You have no reason to be sorry. As much as it pains me to say, Carter is right, you don’t know me. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

  I take his hand in mind and pull him closer to me. I’m not really sure why I do it, but he looks so lost, and I realize that this is hardest on him. I’m his fiancé, he needs me, but I can’t be what he needs right now. I wrap my arms around his waist as I sit on the side of the bed. He smells so good. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, hoping it will trigger some lost memory.

  “I will remember.”

  “Oh, Sophie.” He leans his cheek carefully on the un-injured side of my head. His chest shakes as his sobs reverberate through him. I try to pull back but he hugs me closer. I hear the door close, Carter must have left. “I love you so much,” he whispers, his voice cracking with emotions. My heart breaks for both of us, and sobs start to wrack my own body. He moves to sit on my bed and pulls me into his lap. “Shh, baby. I’m sorry.”

  “Everything okay?” A deep voice asks. I wipe my eyes as Jared comes awkwardly into the room.

  “No, but eventually it will be.”

  Jared looks pained. “Sophie ...”

  I hold up my hand to stop him. “We needed to get this out. This whole situation is unfair, and so hard.”

  “I hate seeing you guys going through this. I hate that I couldn’t stop it from happening.”

  I take the handkerchief from Elijah and chortle. “I love that you carry these.”

  Elijah smiles. “You do.” It’s not a question. He knows, like everything else. He knows me.

  “I’ve said it before?” I ask. He nods. I lean back against his chest. He wraps his arms around me tightly again.

  “We’ll get through this.” He presses a kiss to my temple.

  I’m embarrassed as Jared watches us. As much as I want to remember Elijah, I don’t, and it was beginning to be a little awkward sitting on his lap. “Did you take Poppy and Gran to the airport?”

  “Yeah. They were really torn about leaving, but they see you have plenty of people to support you.”

  “Yeah, it gets a little crowded in here.” I grin. I love my family, but I wonder if the nurses get frustrated with all the people in and out of this room.

  Jared chuckles. “Yeah, I’ll bet they’ll be glad to see us all go tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be glad to get out of here. Hopefully, it’ll be tomorrow. I’m feeling a lot better.”

  Jared persuades Elijah to go to a late dinner with him so I can rest. I’m grateful, because Elijah looks exhausted, and I’m sure he could use some time to relax and be as normal as he can be. Carter still hasn’t come back to the room. I text him but so far he’s not sent a response. I’m not sure what’s going on with him, and even though it worries me, it doesn’t stop me from drifting off to sleep.

  ~*~

  “Have you seen the guys who lurk around my room?” I ask the nurse as she takes the blood pressure cuff off.

  She smiles. “I sure haven’t. I just clocked in about twenty minutes ago.” I look over at my phone to see it’s six am. I guess they all stayed in the hotel last night. That’s good, they needed to rest.

  She finishes up her tasks and I visit the bathroom, then lie back down since no one is here. I’m moving around just fine on my own, and I’m not feeling dizzy walking around. I take a seat in the room’s recliner, and cover up with the blanket from my bed, and click on the TV. I’m mindlessly flipping through the channels when I see Elijah and Carter’s battered faces on the screen.

  The gossip show host says, “Looks like Elijah Stone may have some competition. A source tells us that Sophia Parker, Elijah’s current love interest, who is still in the hospital after a projectile was launched at her during a signing, might be choosing her ex over the Hollywood heartthrob.”

  I click the TV off. I grab my phone and call Carter. He doesn’t answer so I hang up and call right back. “Peaches, the sun is barely even up. What’s going on?”

  “I just saw you and Elijah on the TV, looking like you’d both been in a fight. What in the Sam Hill is going on?”

  Carter groans. “Nothing, we’re fine. It was stupid. Listen, let me wake up, and I
’ll come up there and explain it all. Elijah will probably be up there soon too.”

  I hang up, not bothering to respond to him. I find Elijah’s number on my phone and call him as well. “Sophie, are you okay?” He sounds as groggy as Carter, but worry is the most prominent inflection in his voice.

  “I’m fine. I saw you and Carter on the morning gossip show.”

  He moans, and I hear him rustling around. “I’ll explain, but I’d rather do it in person. I’ll be there soon. Okay?”

  “Yeah, Carter is coming too.”

  “Of course he is,” Elijah mumbles.

  A spark of anger flies through me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, baby. I’ll be there soon.” I hang up on him too. I’m so angry with them for fighting and having that crap blasted all over the gossip shows, that I can’t sit here anymore. I slip on my house shoes and grab my robe. I walk out of the room and to the nurse’s station.

  “Miss Parker, can I help you?” The nurse at the desk asks.

  “No, I’m going for my walk. If Doctor Greene comes by can you let him know I’ll be back soon?”

  “Sure, do you want a nurse to accompany you?”

  I shake my head. “I’d rather be alone for a while.”

  “Sophie?” I turn to see Josh jogging up the hall.

  I turn back to the nurse. “Apparently, that’s too much to ask.” She gives me a tight smile, pitying me I’m sure. I turn and walk the opposite direction of Josh, but he catches up to me easily.

  “Where are you going?” he asks, stepping in line with me.

  “I have to walk around before they’ll release me,” I tell him.

  “Okay. I’ll go with you.”

  I stop and turn to him. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “I know you hate having a ‘babysitter’, but you kind of do need me. The media is all over this place. They’ve been sneaking in as visitors, trying to catch what’s going on. We’ve stopped most of them, but if you go to an area that isn’t secure, you may get overwhelmed.”

  I roll my eyes and turn to walk forward. “Have you heard about Elijah and Carter’s fight?”

  “Yes. I was there. Jared watched you last night.”

  I stop and turn my body fully toward him. “Why didn’t you stop them? What about those other two guards of his?”

  “It was Brody and me with them last night and believe me, we tried. Elijah messaged me that he was coming to explain, so I’ll let him.”

  “Fine.” I continue to walk in silence for several minutes before I turn to him. “I’m not trying to be mean to you, but I really want some alone time, can you pretend to not follow me?”

  He chuckles. “Sure, Sophie. I can make myself invisible.” He winks as he turns to walk over and sit on a chair in the corridor. I continue my walk in my faux aloneness.

  At the end of the hall, there’s a door to an outside terrace. Through the window, I can see a little roof top area with benches. It’s a little garden area. It looks like there’s no one out there, so I head out. I inhale deeply. The air is crisp and dewy, with a slight mugginess of the morning, but it’s nice to be outside. It’s calm here. I take a seat on a bench and close my eyes, concentrating on the sounds of the birds and the busy streets of New York. It’s refreshing and relaxing. I don’t turn when I hear the door open and shut. I figure Josh has followed me out, but when the figure comes and sits beside me, I know it’s not him, it’s Elijah. He takes my hand in his. I don’t look at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he mutters.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  He lets me go and leans forward, with his elbows on his knees and hands in his hair. “It’s no excuse, but this whole thing has been really hard on me. I went from being excited to pick out a house and marry you, to you waking up and not knowing me … well, personally anyway. Carter has known you your whole life. He probably knows you better than me.”

  “But …” I try to interrupt, but he stops me.

  “Please.” I nod my head and he continues. “He does stuff to get under my skin. He has since I met him, and though it’s bothered me, I’ve accepted it because it’s how he is. He’s a fool, but at the end of the day, he’s a good guy. He loves you, Sophie.” He pauses and breathes out harshly. “This isn’t your fault. I’m not upset or angry with you when it comes to Carter. He’s right, I’m a stranger to you right now. He should be there to comfort you. This whole situation sucks, but I’m in this until the end. I’ll be whoever you need me to be and do whatever you need me to do.”

  “Eli, I need you to be you.”

  He takes my hand again and turns to me. “And, I need you to be you. You’re still the woman I fell in love with. Things are different, I see and feel it, but I know when you remember everything will be fine.”

  “Why did you fight with Carter?” I ask, directing him back to the real issue.

  “Seeing him helping you get dressed, and knowing that if you remembered me, you’d never let him help you, it made me so angry. To me, he was purposefully putting you in that situation to get at me.”

  “So when you guys went out later, you punched him?”

  He chuckles dryly and runs both of his hands through his hair as he leans back, sinking down on the bench, stretching his long body out. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s frustrated. “I didn’t throw the first punch.”

  “For the love of Fred, please tell me what happened!” At this he guffaws. I roll my eyes at him and give him a shove. “Tell me.”

  “I don’t want to tell you. You may hate me.”

  “I don’t know you well enough to hate you.” I wasn’t being mean, it was the true.

  “You don’t remember, you know me plenty well enough, trust me.”

  I growl. “Whatever, please tell me.”

  He sits back up and turns to me again. “Jared and I went to dinner at this little pub not far from here. Carter joined us, but he pointedly ignored me. After taking as much of his sour mood as I could, I headed to the bar to get a drink. I needed away from him for a bit. When I headed back to the table, our food arrived and I heard him telling Jared about the shower, and helping you dress. He said some off handed remark about winning you back after all. I sat down right after he’d said that. He knew I’d heard him.”

  “Did you say something crass?” I ask. I can’t really see why Carter would have hit him first.”

  “No, not crass, but I told him that he’d never win you back, because even though you can’t remember me, you want to, and you’d never go back to his cheating ass if he was the last person on Earth.”

  “That’s not verbatim is it?” I guess.

  “Nope.”

  I shake my head and sigh dramatically. “You guys were on the gossip show, looking like you’d beat the snickers out of each other.”

  Elijah laughs as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I love you, baby.” He kisses my temple. “We did beat the snickers out of each other, but it wasn’t there that we got into the fight.”

  “You’re making fun of me.”

  “Never, sweetheart. I told you, your silly cussing is adorable, and I wouldn’t have it any another way.”

  I roll my eyes. “So, if you didn’t fight then, what happened?”

  “Crap, I was hoping you wouldn’t put that together.” He straightens up on the bench and turns more toward me. “Jared came back to the hospital to sit with you, and Josh joined us. Tension was pretty high between Carter and me, but he insisted that he wanted to stay at the pub a little longer. Brody and Josh didn’t think it wise to separate, so we all stayed together. The more Carter had to drink, the mouthier he got. He kept talking about seeing you naked.” He stops. I can see the anger building in him again. He turns and looks down at his hands.

  “You said you didn’t throw the first punch, so what happened?” I nudge his thigh a little when his silence carries on longer than I’m comfortable with.

  He groans and swallows. “I don’t want to te
ll you.”

  “They are saying I want to go back to Carter and that’s why you fought.”

  He shakes his head. “No, we fought … he punched me first because of what I said to him about you.”

  “Please, tell me. The suspense is absolutely killing me.”

  He fidgets a bit, running his hands roughly through his hair before standing. “He kept going on and on about seeing you naked. I’d never heard that story before. You’d only told me about him touching you over your bra.”

  I’m so totally embarrassed that he knows this. It makes sense I’d tell him, but still, it doesn't stop me from defending myself. “It was an accident. Nothing happened. He walked in on me changing.”

  Elijah nods. “He told me the truth after.”

  “It was a long time ago.” Elijah bobs his head. “What did you say?”

  He shakes his head and tsks at himself, ripping through his hair again. I get a sick feeling in my stomach. “I told him that I’d kissed and put my mouth on your …” I stare at him in confusion and he gestures to my chest.

  My face flames red. “Is that true?” He kicks a pebble with his shoe. “Is it?” I press. Who have I become? That doesn't seem like me at all.

  He pauses another full minute before he kneels in front of me. He takes my hands into his. “Stop whatever it is that you’re thinking. We are engaged and everything we’ve done together has been with your full consent. You haven’t compromised on anything you believe.” Tears drip down my face and hit his hands. I don’t even know myself. He’s right, that’s exactly where my mind had gone. “Baby, please talk to me.”

  “I don’t know who I am.” I wipe the tears from my face with more force than necessary.

  “You’re Sophia Elizabeth Parker. Famous author, fiancée to Elijah Stone. He’s an idiot, but you love him anyway.” I chuckle. “Sophie, you’ve not changed in a bad way. You’ve grown as have I. A year ago I was aimlessly roaming around with no direction. I was working, I had a film to shoot, but in my personal life I had nothing. You literally fell into my life and everything became clearer. I fell so deeply in love with you that I can’t see straight. I need you in my life. I’m sorry I hurt you and betrayed you. It was stupid. I should have never said that to him.”