by KT Fisher
“Liam said it’s not what it seems.” Cassie adds, following me as I pace around the apartment.
I rub my forehead, I’m starting to get a headache and I need some tablets. Cassie quickly follows as I go to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, and her face fills with panic as she sees the box of tablets in my hand. All of a sudden, the box is knocked out of my hand and lands on the floor.
“Cass!” I scream.
“What are you thinking?” She shrieks.
“Getting a tablet to calm my headache.” I mumble back, rubbing the spot where it hurts while I pick the box back up and take two out of the box. I put the box back and ignore Cassie as I go the kitchen to grab a glass of water, my phone rings again and I tell Cassie to turn it off for me. As I swallow down my tablets, my phone stops ringing and I relax in the silence.
“She’s told me to turn her phone off.” I hear Cassie whisper, and I realise that my phone didn’t stop ringing because she had done what I has asked and turned it off. No, she had answered it.
“Cassie!” I yell, walking around the kitchen counter and I just catch her throw my phone onto the sofa.
“Did you take your tablets?” She asks.
“Yes.” I sigh, sitting on the sofa again and checking that Cassie has eventually turned off my phone. However, her phone begins to ring and she runs off to her bedroom to talk.
I’m not stupid, I know Finley hasn’t cheated on me. It actually shocks me how much I trust him right now but I know for certain that girl in the photos happened before I was in the picture. I’m just hurt because I can never just be happy with someone, there’s always somebody who tries to spoil it and I guess that’s what I get for wanting to be in the public eye.
Actually, fuck that!
Just because I chose this as my career, doesn’t mean that people have a right to hurt me. I know Finley hasn’t done me wrong, but I just need some space for a little while and decide to go to bed. I hear Cassie talking, but I try and block her out. My stress induced headache dulls a little and allows me to get some sleep.
“Fuck!” I yell, causing Liam and Caden to jump.
Riley won’t answer and now she’s turned off her phone. I need to take my anger out on somebody, so I decide to give the star in the photos a call.
“Hello?” She answers.
“How could you?” I shout. “Why would you fucking do that to me? What has Riley ever done to you?”
Sky giggles and I nearly lose my shit. “So you saw my photos then?”
“How did you take them?” I ask, usually I make sure the girls don’t have their phones.
Again, she fucking giggles. “You stopped checking your friends.”
And then it suddenly dawns on me, she’s right. I saw Sky as a friend, with the added benefits and I never thought to take her phone off her because I stupidly thought she was a fucking friend.
“Why?” I ask. “Is this because I wouldn’t let you suck my dick?”
Liam and Caden burst into laughter behind me.
“Is your pretty new girlfriend upset?” Sky mocks me. “I bet she thinks you cheated on her.” She laughs.
I hang up on her and face the guys. “She did this because of Riley.”
“She’s jealous.” Nods Caden.
“I just spoke to Cass,” Liam adds. “Riley’s gone to bed, she’s not too angry but she’s been crying.”
“Shit.” I sigh, I really want to talk with her. I hate not knowing what she is thinking or how she is. After an amazing stay at her parents, it’s ended like this.
My phone rings again, and when I see Dad displayed on the screen, I think about ignoring the call.
“Dad.” I answer.
“What the fuck Finley!” He yells.
I knew he would lay into me. “Dad, it’s not what it seems.”
“So you’re not fucking a girl who isn’t Riley?” He roars, and when I don’t reply, he gets his answer. “That poor girl! I thought you were different with her Fin.”
“I haven’t cheated on her!” I insist. “I fucking love her dad.”
He stops his shouting. “What’s happened?”
“An old friend.” I answer. “Her name is Sky, I met her when I had my penthouse in New York and we slept together sometimes, but when I went to see Riley in her charity event before we were together, I bumped into her and she wanted to give me a blowjob but I realised I wanted Riley, so I said no and she didn’t like it. Now that Riley and me are public, I think she’s jealous.”
“So she sold the pictures?” My dad sounds pissed. “Explains why I didn’t hear about this until it was too late, she went to her own contacts.”
“Riley won’t answer my calls.” I panic.
My dad sighs. “Look son, she’s gonna be hurting. If she doesn’t want to talk, give her some space and let her come to you. You’re going to America soon, so she can’t hide away forever. Let her know you’re waiting, because if she thinks you have cheated and she doesn’t think you’re bothered, you’re fucked.”
“So give her space but at the same time let her know I’m here?” I scratch my head. “I’m confused.”
“You should be.” He sadly laughs. “Look, I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I love you son. Make sure you make it up to her, she loves you too, I know that for sure.”
“Thanks dad.” I hang up and collapse onto the sofa.
“What are you going to do?” Asks Caden.
“First I’m going to text her and then I’m gonna leave her alone.” The guys decide to go to their own homes, smart because I’m in a fucked mood and I’ll only take it out on them.
Me: Hey darlin’, I wanted to leave you alone because I know those photos would have killed you, but I want you to know I’m here and I’m not going away. You can’t get rid of me that easy. You’re probably not going to believe me, but those photos were taken long before I met you but we do need to talk. Don’t worry, everyone’s pissed at me, including my parents. My mum won’t even talk to me, I told you she likes you more than me. I’m here when you’re ready to see me. I love you x
I send the text and stare at it. It hasn’t delivered yet because as Cassie told me, she’s turned her phone off and gone to bed. I doubt if I’ll ever get any sleep tonight, so I do the next best thing and Google, 24 hour skips.
Chapter Twenty Six
When I open my eyes the next morning, I hear Cassie whisper. That’s one of the things I secretly love about my best friend. She can’t actually whisper. She tries but sometimes she would just be talking quieter, rather than trying to whisper. I go to check what time it is, but when I look at my phone I see it’s turned off and everything that happened last night comes rushing back. I slept in my pyjama trousers and my Adidas shirt last night, so I grab my dressing gown and wrap it around myself so I can go and see what Cassie is up to.
What I didn’t expect to see is Liam in the doorway. As soon as he sees me, he barges past Cassie and runs up to me. He grabs me in a cuddle, wrapping his arms around me. “How you holding up?”
“Just great.” I smirk. “I guess you’re here to beg on his behalf?”
“A little.” He admits. “It’s fucked up, I know it is, but he didn’t cheat.”
“Oh I know that.” I snicker, going to sit down on the sofa and both Liam and Cassie join me.
“You do?” Liam asks, sounding surprised.
“I trust Finley, as crazy as it sounds and I know he wouldn’t cheat.” I sigh. “But I just need a little space after seeing those photos.”
“They are very detailed.” Cassie comments, earning herself a scowl from Liam.
“He’s worried about you.” Liam adds. “He hasn’t slept.”
“He’ll hear from me soon.” I stand and escape to the kitchen area, craving a good cup of tea. I hear the whispering of Liam and the not so quiet whispers from Cassie.
“You need to go.” She urges Liam. “She’ll be fine.”
As I pour the boiling water into my cup, Liam wave
s me goodbye and leaves the apartment. Cassie joins me, leaning on the counter as she watches.
“I’m fine Cass.”
“Really?” She judges and I gift her with a frown.
“Look, I know that this girl is probably a jealous girl who wanted Finley as a boyfriend and he gave her the speech he probably gave a lot of other girls. It must have hurt her when she heard we were a couple and wanted to hurt Finley and possibly me in return.” I take a sip of my tea. “I’m not ending things with Finley I just need to have a little time for myself.”
“Ok then.” Cassie nods. “But you need to turn your phone on, you have more support than you think and Grace is blasting my phone because she can’t get in touch with you.”
I laugh, glad that I did turn off my phone. I fetch my phone, waiting with my hot cup of tea while it turns on. It makes a lot of noise when it does from all of my notifications, missed calls and text messages. I see the missed calls and text messages from Grace and quickly reply to her.
Me: Hey Grace, sorry I missed you calls. I wanted to turn my phone off and have some alone time. I’m ok, honestly I just need some space for a little while. I’ll call you soon x
And I don’t have to wait long for a reply.
Grace: Oh thank god I was so worried. Love you hunny x
I even have a text from an unknown number and it’s not until I get to the end of the text that I see it’s from Kendal! She doesn’t hide the fact that she’s angry with Finley and lets me know that she’s here for me if I need to talk. I send her a quick reply too before I move on to all my other messages. That’s when I see the text from Finley and I run to my bedroom, wanting privacy when I read this one and it does make me cry. I appreciate he’s letting me be alone and that he’s waiting for me.
I decide to not reply to Finley just yet and open up my Facebook. My photos and posts are full of comments and all of them are in support of me.
‘I can’t believe she did that to you Riley! She could never break you two up!’
‘Don’t believe the photos Riley, Finley would never cheat on you.’
‘Team Riley all the way!’
‘No, I do not believe Finley would betray you Riley. You two are perfect for each other. I hope you’re ok. All your fans are on your side.’
Obviously there are some comments that tell me I should run from Finley and that he’s always going to be a player but I don’t agree at all. I know in my heart he wouldn’t do that to me. Ever.
As I scroll through my news feed, I see news and magazines have been posting about it. They report that I haven’t made a statement or responded to Finley’s Instagram post. That grabs my attention and I click on my Instagram and find Finley’s profile. His feed of course features his face and my heart squeezes, craving closeness to him but I can’t, not just yet. I click Finley’s latest picture, which is a photo of me. It must have been taken when we were at his parents’ house the other week, while we were in the garden because I recognise the garden in the background and the top I was wearing on that day. The greenery pops up from behind me and the sun shines down on my face, I’m smiling and I think it’s aimed at Haiden. I admit, it’s a good photo and when I reach the caption, a tear runs down my cheek. It reads, ‘No caption needed.’ And those three words tell me so much.
The photo has received so many likes and comments. A lot of them are just like the ones on my Facebook. I go back to his text message and decide he deserves a reply.
Me: Thank you. I’ll call soon xx
Finley: xxxx
“Are you sure you just don’t want to come with me?” Asks Cassie. She’s going home to visit her parents because it’s her mum’s birthday. She doesn’t want to leave me alone, but she doesn’t understand that being around a happy family gathering isn’t where I want to be right now.
“Cass, I’m fine.” I try to assure her and she frowns, watching me.
“You better answer my calls and texts.” She demands.
I hold my hand over my heart. “I promise.”
“Don’t take the piss Ry, I’ll be worried while I’m gone.” She pouts and I take pity on her.
I go to her and offer her a cuddle and she jumps into my arms. “I promise I will try to keep up with your crazy phone calls.”
Cassie laughs, slapping my back and I wave her out the door. I run myself a bath and eagerly get in, the bubbles surround me and for the first time since I saw the photos of Finley with the girl I now know is called Sky, I relax. In the past twenty four hours, it’s come out that the girl, Sky is an old friend of Finley’s, which confirms my suspicions of jealousy.
Once I’ve had my bath, I slip on a clean pair of pyjamas and look for something to watch. I’m only ten minutes into an episode of ‘Once Upon A Time,’ when I hear a knock at the door. I don’t bother to pause the TV and quietly make my way over to the door, I look through the spy hole and see April.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I open the door.
“Well hello to you too.” She pushes past me and helps herself into my home. “This is lovely.”
“Thanks.” I slowly answer, shutting the door behind me and join her on the sofa. “So, Cassie told you to come and check on me didn’t she?”
April doesn’t answer my question, but her smirk says it all. She reaches into her bag and gets out a large note pad and a pen. “I thought we could write some songs for your album?”
“I’m not really in the mood.” I grumble, going to sit beside her.
“Writing is the best cure for a broken heart.” April flips her hair over her shoulder and pins me with a look. “Now go and get your book and pen, because I know you have one.”
Realising that I’m not going to get out of this, I go into my bedroom and open up my drawer. It’s almost full of beaten up notepads, but I grab the one that’s not full and return to April. Her eyes brighten when she sees the notepad. “Happy now?”
“Not until you start writing.” She points to the book in my hands. “Now, pour your heart out on the pages.”
I take a deep breath and open up the pad, it’s almost full but I reach an empty page and enter the date at the top with a scribbling, ‘heartache’ next to it. My pen hovers over the paper, and I close my eyes, letting my feelings and emotions creep forward. My pen begins to move and before I know it I’ve written a whole page full of sentences and quotes. I don’t write songs in paragraphs. First I jot down what I’m feeling at that moment, snippets and little sentences that later can be put together as a song. I read over some of them that I’ve written,
‘I never knew hurt until your tore out my heart,’
‘Why does she get the power to hurt me?’
‘She’s so jealous of where I am, that she has to try and hurt us’
‘By aiming her jealousy at you, she tried to damage us’
‘I won’t let a little girl end us because we’re stronger together’
‘I might have to tell her thank you, because before she tried to finish us I thought I was falling but I realised I’ve already fallen. I love you’
I wipe the tears away that seem to have appeared. I look over at April. Her brows are furrowed as her pen quickly scribbles away.
“You ok over there?” I ask her.
April blinks, snapping herself out of whatever memories she was living. “Yeah, just revisiting an arsehole.”
“Thanks, this did help me.” I admit. “It made me see some things I didn’t even realise until I wrote it down.”
April nods. “I know the feeling.” She looks down at my notepad and sadly smiles. “How did it go?”
I offer her the book. “Take a look for yourself.”
She cautiously takes the book and reads, looking at the pages and then to me every now and then. “Wow.” She breathes.
“Yeah.” I lean back into the sofa.
“So, you believe he hasn’t cheated?” She asks, looking a little surprised and I get why.
“I believe this girl was with Finley befor
e I was and is jealous.” I take the book back and reread my words.
“Have you spoken to him?” April asks and I shake my head.
“No, I wanted my own space for a bit.” And April nods in agreement.
“Look, I’m not just saying this because Finley is practically family, but he’s a good guy.” She smiles. “I know he has a reputation with girls, but I’m sure I’m not the first one to see that he’s different with you and I know he would never hurt you.”
I nod. “I know.”
“You going to be ok at the awards?” She asks.
“I think so.” I laugh. “I guess we’re going to get even more attention there now.”
April joins me in laughter. “Ouch.”
When April left, I sent Cassie a text applauding her and she sent me a winking face emoji as a reply. Cheeky bitch.
She spent most of the day here and now that I’m all alone, I get into my pyjamas, make a hot chocolate and resume my binge watch of ‘Once Upon A Time,’ I wasn’t able to watch it when April was here, not because we were writing but because she can’t stand the show. I was a little pissed at her for that, I mean why would you hate on that show? Actors bringing Disney characters to life who are sometimes completely different to the roles they portrayed in the movies? It’s great TV!
I’m looking forward to having a quiet night to myself. It doesn’t really happen a lot, so I’m going to take advantage. I pull down a blanket from the back of the sofa because my legs are a little chilly in my little shorts.
After three episodes my eyes begin to feel very heavy, the blanket has me feeling snug and I’m really comfy right now. My eyes begin to close and I’m just drifting off as a knock on the door has me jumping up. Who the fuck is that?
Wrapping the blanket around me, I make my way over to the door and see Finley standing on the other side of the door through the peep hole. I look down at my little pyjamas and back to the door.
“Ry?” Finley shouts. “Please Riley.”
I take a deep breath and open the door because the desperation I hear in Finley’s voice hurts me too much. When I see him, my heart jumps at the sight of him. I’ve missed him so fucking much.