Safer to Hate Her

All thoughts of their argument had left Jersey’s mind as she packed for her small adventure to London. After she left him stood them she’d texted Leo, the guy she’d met at the pier, and told him that she’d love to take him up on his offer.

Since she confirmed it the smile hadn’t left her face and the argument had been pushed to the back of her mind. Something good was finally happening to her and she wasn’t going to ruin it by being upset with Rupert.

She’d packed for holidays before with some ease, but for some reason her clothes didn’t seem to be enough for this trip. She sighed as she sorted through her clothes once more, her mind wandering to what opening these shows would feel like. She hoped that people would like her and hopefully she could make a name for herself up there.

Her phone vibrated on her bed side table, she knew instantly who it was as she moved her way over. Sure enough his name popped up on the screen; yet another text message, just as she had managed to remove him completely from her mind.

Please call me; I need to speak to you. R x. Jersey deleted the message straight away, like she had done with the previous ones. She just couldn’t deal with this right now; she wanted to do something for herself for once. She threw her phone back on her bed, sighing and moving back over to her open suitcase.

“Not today, Rupert.” She whispered and took a deep breath to stop herself from crying.
x-x-x

“Now, when you’re in there, try and enjoy yourself but you need to work the crowd. Get your name out there.” Miles lectured him yet again.

Rupert nodded as he fixed the tie he was wearing. He’d been invited to a pre-movie cast party, not that he’d wanted to go as Jersey was still ignoring him and it was getting him down. He just couldn’t understand how he’d let everything happen and now he felt powerless to fix it.

He walked into a crowded room and lost Miles on the way. Great, he thought. He walked over to the bar as it seemed to be the least crowded area of the room, deciding that he could scan the room from up there.

All the faces he saw were unfamiliar apart from the obvious cast members and Ms Weir, who he’d recognised stood next to Miles chatting animatedly as they both scanned the room.
Sighing he slumped into the nearest chair and ordered the strongest drink that came to mind.

He hadn’t planned on drinking but he needed to lift his mood. He couldn’t be giving a bad first impression to his future colleagues.
As soon as the drink was in his hand he downed it in one, the alcohol burning the back of his throat waiting for it to take affect and numb his brain for the night so he didn’t have to think about her .

“Whoa, steady there.” Rupert turned around to where the voice had come from to be met by a smiling Emma Watson.

He was completely star struck as he almost dropped his glass on the floor, “Sorry, I’ve had a bit of a rough week, Hermione.” She laughed as he realised what he had just said.
Just as he was about to apologise she held up her hand, “Don’t worry, Rupert. It happens all the time.” She laughed again and took a seat next to him.

“So you’re my new love interest?”

“I guess so.” He rubbed his hands on his thighs because they were so clammy. What was wrong with him? He’d met famous people before and he was fine.

“Well, I can tell you’re going to be great for the movie. There was always tension on set and it made making the movies harder. We were so happy when we were told there was going to be a switch.” She moved her hair from her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

“Rupert! Emma! This way!” They both turned to a photographer ready to take their picture.

Rupert looked over to Miles who had realised the commotion already and had responded with a thumbs up. Taking that as a go ahead he moved closer to Emma putting his arm around her waist as their picture was taken.

They both laughed as he moved on, “Guess I’ve got to get used to that, eh?”
She nodded, her smile falling from her face, “that time wasn’t too bad but they can be worse.
Just make sure you don’t respond to it badly, take it on the chin.” He smiled at her.

“Come on; let me introduce you to everyone.” She hopped of the chair, grabbed her drink and walked him over to the nearest group. He recognised Daniel Radcliffe talking to the people around him. For the second time that night he felt star struck.

“Guys, this is Rupert our new Ron!”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all.” This was going to be a long night, but finally the alcohol was kicking in and he could feel himself relaxing minute by minute.

x-x-x

Rupert woke up the next morning with the worst hangover he’d had in a long time. Literally rolling out of his bed he landed in a heap on the floor.

Pushing himself to his feet he made his way to the kitchen trying to ignore the throbbing in his head. He opened the medicine draw and groaned loudly, his hand instantly moving to his head, as there were no painkillers in sight.

Grabbing his trainers and a coat he left the house and walked to the nearest shop quickly because the cold was making his headache worse.

Before he had chance to walk inside the shop he noticed his picture on numerous magazines. The front cover was the one he remembered taking with Emma earlier in the night but as he turned the pages the images got worse. He had his hands all over a blonde girl at one point, and one of the pictures looked as though he was leaning in to kiss a brunette. The title of the article read: New Ron Weasley also a party animal?

He almost screamed out loud as he completely forgot about the painkillers as he rushed home to phone Miles. Today was not his day.

x-x-x

“Jersey, is that all your bags?” Leo asked her loading her two bags into the car.

“Yeah!” She replied happily as she locked her front door and made her way over to the band.

To say they had hit it off would be an understatement. These four guys were moving up quite quickly on her list of her favourite people. They were so down to earth it made her forget about everything in life and she could just focus on having a good time in London, and she knew that they would make sure that she did.

“You’re in the front keeping me company,” Leo ruffled her hair, “and those three are in the back.”

She nodded and got in the front passenger seat, dropping her bag on the floor and pulling on her seat belt. Looking up as the other doors closed she smiled at Leo as he pulled away from her house. This is going to be brilliant. She smiled to herself and looked out the window waving goodbye to her street.

“We’re going to stop at the garage first, I need some petrol.” She nodded and pulled her phone from her bag, she had promised to text her Gran before she left.

Five minutes later they pulled in to the petrol station and they all piled out of the car as James, the bassist, had declared a race to the shop. She hadn’t laughed this much in a long time, it felt good, no, it felt brilliant.

Her laughter was short lived as she saw his face, yet again, on the cover of a magazine. She smiled at the picture of him and Emma Watson; she’d always admired her from the films. But, as she turned the pages she couldn’t believe what she had seen, she threw the magazine down in disgust and walked back to the car.

She had been ready for the tears to fall, but she was all cried out. To be honest, she didn’t feel sad. She felt disappointed in him.

Leo jumped back into the car once he’d paid for the petrol, “you alright?”

Her smile was sad as she looked over at him, “yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit shaken that’s all.”

Leo turned back to the wheel and started the engine, as he drove out of the station and parked on the side street with a smirk on his face. Sure enough the guys had run out of the shop when they noticed the car had gone.

James ran to the car and pulled open the door, “You bastard! I was just about to pay as well!”

Jersey could only muster a smile as she pulled her phone out of her bag.

“What’s wrong with her?” James mimed at Leo.

Leo shrugged and drove off again, worried about his new friend as she texted frantically on her phone.

x-x-x

Rupert had just got off the phone with Miles, who was pleased with the magazines. He said that it added something to his character or something like that. He hadn’t really been listening because he had prepared himself for a lecture, which hadn’t come.

His phone vibrated in his hand and his heart almost skipped a beat as he saw Jersey’s name light up the screen. As soon as he opened the text his smile faltered as he slumped against the wall.

I’m so disappointed in you Rupert.