Dedication Takes a Lifetime

It scared me, the lack of things the tabloids had printed on us recently. Usually, every new issue had some tidbit on our personal lives. They had thrust us into the spotlight, and from that, we had become a huge couple. Even television shows like Inside Edition were now doing spots on us.

A coffee run at the nearest Starbucks suddenly became need-to-know news. Cameras went off whenever we were around, and pictures with fans had become wary, chore-like things.

And I hated it.

I constantly bothered my friends about it until Shaun talked some sense into me as we were playing Scrabble.

“Listen, Casey. Maybe it worked.” He placed a few letters on the board, spelling out “CHEER” and writing down the points he got.

“I don’t think they’d stop that abrubtly, you know?” I countered with “LOVE” and tallied my points.

“Yeah, but I’m thinking that that’s what’s going on. There’s no other explanation for it.” He mused for a bit about what to do. “That, or they’re preparing for something big.”

“Like what?”

“A huge, faked scandal between us. Get some ‘anonymous’ sources and blow it up. Like the cheating thing, only bigger.” He picked up some tiles and spelled “VISION,” collecting a triple word score and putting himself into great position to win.

“That would be shitty.” I tacked on an “ARY” to spell “VISIONARY” and take the lead. “Owned, I might add.”

“It would, but it would make them money, right? And that’s all they care about.” He added a few more tiles – the last of the game – and wrote “SCARY.” “They care about money and themselves. Celebrities are just people there to make them money.”

“You may be right, but Shaun?” I asked, conceding the victory to him.

“Yeah?”

“I hope like hell you’re wrong.”