Yawning, Ally opened her eyes. Craig was no longer next to her, but there was a note on his pillow. She picked it up and smiled.
Alexandra-
I didn’t want to wake you, but I had to leave to catch my flight. I’m still sorry about our fight. I love you, and I’ll call later.
-Craig
She jumped out of bed to go tell Nick her awesome news. After pulling on some clean clothes, she stepped into the hallway and saw him. “Nick!” she called.
“Yeah?” he replied emotionlessly.
“Craig flew in to apologize,” she said, not noticing his lack of enthusiasm.
“Really? Seemed to me like you two were doing more than apologizing,” Nick snapped.
“What?” Ally said, surprised.
“That’s right, I know,” Nick muttered. “I walked in on you two having some fun last night. Shannon lent me her key so I could drop something off for you.”
“You walked in on us? And you didn’t knock?” Ally cried.
“I didn’t know you were there!”
“Well-“
“Ally, that’s not the point. Why were you doing it in the first place?”
She groaned. “Because he’s my boyfriend, and it’s my PERSONAL life. Whose choice is it, anyway, Nick?”
“I thought you two broke up!”
“No, we fought. There are fights in every good relationship.”
“Then what the hell was that kiss in my room all about?”
Ally was speechless. “Well, um, uh…” she stuttered. “It was a kiss, and it was your fault.”
“How so? You kissed me, remember?”
“I wouldn’t have kissed you if you hadn’t said you were falling in love with me!”
Nick didn’t waste any time answering her. “I was obviously wrong.” With that, he stomped away.
Chapter 14
Nick grabbed his orange juice and sat down at the table. Sighing unhappily, he grabbed the New York Times from in front of him. Before he opened it, he thought for several moments about Ally. It had been two weeks since they had said anything to each other on a personal level.
Shaking his head, he paged through the sections until he found Entertainment. When he read the headline on the front page, he spit his orange juice out, spraying it all over the table. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “Poor Ally! She has to see this.”
Just then, Ally stepped out of the elevator and sat down at a table nearby. When she saw Nick approaching her, she frowned. “What do you want?” she snapped.
Nick threw his hands up in disgust and dropped the paper in front of her. “Fine. I was just trying to help, but if you’re going to be like that, I won’t even bother.”
Ally shrugged as he walked away. What was that all about? Then the headline caught her eye. “YOUR FANTASY LEAD SINGER UNFAITHFUL!” As her eyes filled with tears, they quickly skimmed over the text.
“Craig Miller, lead singer of popular boy band, Your Fantasy, was captured on camera kissing supermodel Mindi McAllen…Miller was not drunk, but McAllen was…Miller lives with Alexandra Giovetti, his nineteen-year-old girlfriend. The two have been together for over eight months.”
She turned the page to where the article was continued and was disgusted by a picture of Craig in boxers and the ditzy brunette, topless, making out. After seeing that, she dashed upstairs to her room.
Chapter 15
Brian was about to go down to breakfast when Nick stomped into the room, mumbling something Brian assumed was about Ally. “I try to help the bitch by showing her the article and she won’t even listen to me…”
“What happened?” Brian asked.
Nick either ignored or didn’t hear him and continued to mutter under his breath. “I can’t believe her.”
What could she have done to hurt him now? Brian stepped outside and collided with a hysterical Ally. “Whoa! Slow down! What’s wrong?” he asked, putting his arm around her. He didn’t like her, but he couldn’t just leave her like this.
She thrust the newspaper into his hands. “I can’t believe he would do that to me!” she sobbed into his shoulder.
Brian looked over the article and it fell into place. Nick had tried to show her the article, but she snapped at him. “Go to your room and call him. This is obviously something you two need to talk about.” After guiding her to her room, he headed downstairs.
Meanwhile, Ally was dialing Craig’s number. After three rings, he picked up. “Hello?” He was out of breath.
A girl in the background giggled. “Hurry up, sexy!” she said in an annoying, high-pitched voice.
“What the hell is this thing with Mindi McAllen and who the hell is that giggling?” Ally snapped.
“Ally?”
“Who the hell do you think I am?” she demanded. “You’re cheating on me!”
“So? You fucked that wussy Backdoor Boy. Can’t I have a little bit of fun?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never fucked anyone besides you, Craig.”
“That night we fought, I tried calling your room. That Shannon chick picked up and told me you were staying with Nick.”
“That doesn’t mean I slept with him! I was only in there because I was in no emotional state to be alone. Shannon was out until about two, and I fell asleep in Nick’s room. We kissed, but we stopped ourselves from going any further because of you!”
“Oh, oops. My bad,” Craig said emotionlessly. “Sorry.”
“It’s over, Craig. Sorry isn’t going to do you any good.” Ally slammed the phone down.
“Ally?” Craig said, but she’d hung up already. “Oh, well.” He turned back to his new fuck-of-the-week, a bubbly blonde named Lori, and shoved his tongue down her throat.