Loverboy

"Good morning, love." A deep voice said softly, caressing Gemma's shoulder trying to rouse her from her slumber. Gemma rolled over and yawned. A sleepy smile embraced her face. William smiled down at her as his hand continued to roam her body.

She stretched and took in her surroundings. Her brand new Givenchy dress littered the ground alongside her La Perla lingerie. Thoughts of last night to swirl around in her head. William and Gemma had had a wonderful candlelit dinner; in Gemma's mind she was celebrating their month long relationship and could only hope for more. He had taken her back to his house where they drank a bottle of red wine and eventually consummate their relationship. Gemma felt like she was in a fairytale.

"So I was thinking," William's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She smiled up at and waited for him to continue what he was saying. "We could take a personal day. And start off with some breakfast."

Gemma liked the sound of that. But work stood in her way. Jayne had been become too swamped with press and promotions for her other girl group, The Saturdays. So in turn Gemma got loaded with all the work for The Wanted. It was beginning to stress her, but remembering where she was a year ago today she gladly put a smile on and did what needed to be done.

She looked at the clock. Ten o'clock. She sighed and looked back at him. She could afford to be a few hours late, but certainly not miss the whole day.

William nodded. "Aye, love. I understand." He rubbed her back. "I'll take you to work. We can get coffee on the way."

Gemma scrunched up her nose. She hated coffee. It left a bad after taste. She quickly shook it from her mind. Coffee shops usually had other drinks. And it was sweet that he wanted to take her to work just to spend time with her.

They stopped off at her place for her to change her clothes, then he set off for the cafe just across from her work. He grabbed her hand and led her inside.

The smell of mocha hit Gemma's nostrils. The smell almost made her nauseous. She looked around at the nearly empty building. Nobody seemed to notice the couple; most being too attached to their laptop or book, magazine, etc.

She vaguely heard William order then two black coffees, but didn't protest. Instead the cover of trashy tabloid had caught her eye. She picked it up, peering at it closer. It was Nathan in the picture. She held it closer to her face as if it would start moving and give her answers to questions she didn't even know she had yet. Nathan was laughing about something as he held on to the girl's hand.

The title mentioned something about a possible new love interest. Gemma didn't even know he was seeing someone. Was it really her place to know though? She just worked for him. But up until now she had considered them friends. Gemma couldn't help but to feel a little hurt and jealous. But that feeling quickly vanished when she realized it was her in the picture with him!

Her mouth dropped open in shock. It was when he had taken her out the other day. Neither had even thought about the paparazzi. Both openly wondering out enjoying each other's company.

"Here." William said, pulling her out of her reverie. He held out the coffee for her to take. "What's this?" He looked at the tabloid. "Isn't that the one kid you work with?" She nodded her head slowly. William looked at her confused then back at the picture. He smiled when he saw it was Gemma in the picture, but his smile faltered when he saw their hands clasped together.

"Will," she began, her tone pleading. "It's not what it looks like." He threw the magazine on the rack and walked briskly out of the shop. She quickly followed after him. "Will!" She called out.

"Care to explain then?" He stopped and turned to look back at her. "Because you know a picture explains a thousand words."

"Well those are all the wrong words!" She exclaimed throwing her hands up. This morning had gone from great to bad in about 1.5 seconds flat. She was panicked. How could this have happened. It was just a picture, but he was taking it in all the wrong ways. She was coming up blank on what she could possibly say to make this situation better. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "It was nothing. We were just hanging out. He showed me the sights. That's all."

"Newsflash, Gemma." William said in a low tone. His look was deadly and Gemma felt herself faltering under his gaze. "The lad has a thing for you."

"But--" she began to protest.

"You're gonna be late for work." He said, his voice dropping. "Wouldn't want to miss Nathan." With that he walked away, leaving Gemma standing there alone left to piece together what had just happened.

And the more she thought about it the more angry she became. She did nothing wrong. It was just some dumb magazine that was trying to sell copies by spinning something out of nothing. So why couldn't William just believe her? He should have. Did that mean he didn't trust her? That he might not possibly want to be with her anymore? So many questions were running through her head.

She threw her drink in the trash bin at the corner, screaming, "I hate coffee!" People passing by looked at her in alarm, but she just ignored them and stormed across the street into her work building.

"Hey Gem." Tom said, as she stormed by him. She threw her purse down on her desk. "You okay, love?" Tom eyed her curiously.

Just being called love made her skin crawl. She snapped her eyes up and looked at him with such ferocity. He shrunk down suddenly afraid. "Why aren't you in the studio?" She shrieked.

"I-I-I-" He stuttered, being so scared he didn't know how to answer.

She walked over, grabbed his arm and dragged him across the hall. "We don't have time for you to fuck around, reading magazines, looking at your reflection or whatever it is you popstars do!" She dragged him inside the studio and saw that the rest of the guys were just sitting around doing nothing. She let go of Tom's arm and he rubbed it trying to relieve some of the pain she's caused.

"What are you all doing?" She asked, placing her hands o her hips. "Do you guys not realize we have a deadline for your new album?" They all looked at her with the same alarmed look Tom had given her just minutes before. "Get your asses in the booth!" She screamed at them. None of them wasted time, scrambling to their feet and pushing each other out of the way to get inside. They didn't want to feel her wrath if they were stuck being last in.

She rolled her eyes and stomped out of the room. She slammed the door to her office behind her and plunked down in her chair. She leaned her head into her hands and rubbed her eyes. She just wanted today to be over with.

She pulled away and looked up to see Jay sitting across from her. He gave her a tentative smile, gauging his boundaries. When she didn't yell at him, he knew it was okay to speak. "So I'm assuming you saw the picture?" He asked, referring to the tabloid. The boys saw it earlier that morning, but shrugged it off. Rumors were flying around about them all the time. They had learned to just shrug it off when they realized there wasn't much they could do.

"As did William." She answered sadly.

Jay nodded knowingly. "And I'm guessing he didn't take it well." She gave him a knowing look which answered his question. "It's just one picture. There's really no reason to be upset and it wasn't even suggestive." Jay said, leaning forward.

"Yeah, well he didn't see it like that." Gemma scoffed.

"Well he saw his girlfriend holding hands with another guy. It's a bit of a low blow." Jay stated. She looked at him with wide eyes, not believing he was siding with William. "But it was wrong for him to jump to conclusions." Gemma relaxed a little. "He'll come 'round, ya? Just let him cool off."

"Yeah. You're probably right." She sighed, folding her arms in front of her on and the desk. "Sorry about that outburst." She smiled apologetically.

"'Sokay." He shrugged. "We need a good scare every once in awhile." He said, making her laugh. "Look, Hennessey's finally got some time off tonight. What's say we all have a movie marathon?"

Her eyes lit up. That could be just what she needed. A night in with movies, junk food, and a couple bottles of wine, and her friends. "That sounds great, actually." She smiled, feeling her day getting better already.

"Great. I'm sure you'll talk to Hennessey and settle out the details." Jay said, standing up. "I've got to go join the rest of the guys in the studio or else my manager will have my ass."

"You bet that pretty head of yours she will." She joked back, waving to him as he walked out.

Tonight would be just what she needed to unwind from the day's events.