Fame ***

“How are you holding up?”

I looked up at Jem and sighed sadly. A couple months had passed since the incident, and life had moved on. I’d signed with Jem’s agent, a sweet, wholesome kind of guy from the mid-west named Peter, and he’d done a great job at getting the story of Niall buried by a bunch of other different, more me-focused stories and planting questions in interviews where I could deny that Niall had ever cheated on me and that, although we’d broken up, I still thought highly of him. Not that anyone believed me over the tabloids, but still.

Taping on the movie had ended, too, but Jem and I still remained as close as possible, taking at least one day a week to meet at a café and have a cup of coffee before we had to dart in our separate ways.

And although Jem usually tried to stay away from the topic, since he could tell that it made me upset, he had to bring it up from time to time to see if I was still hurting. Which I was.

“Not great,” I admitted honestly. I’d seen a picture of Niall holding hands with another girl a few days previously, and rumors were circulating all over the internet with fans and media alike that they were an item. “But I have to get over him eventually, right?”

“I know it’s not easy,” Jem soothed, reaching across the table and patting my hand once to comfort me, but pulling away before it got too intimate. “But things will get easier.”

I took a sip of my latte before sighing and tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I think things would get easier a lot faster if he knew the truth, acknowledged that he understood, and still didn’t want me. But this just feels so open-ended, you know? Like we don’t have our little ending wrapped up in a bow. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it would just be right.”

“Life isn’t always like a movie,” Jem shrugged. “It would be nice if everything could get their definitive endings where everyone felt satisfied, but…”

“It’s not going to happen,” I finished, my stomach sinking uncomfortably. “I know. But I just wish, you know?”

“It’s better not to dwell on the past.” It sounded like he was going to say something else, but he was cut off by the sound of his ringing phone, one of the obnoxious, shrill ones that came with his phone, since he refused to buy an actual song snippet to use. “It’s Beth.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on my face as I said, “Get it. Go ahead.”

“Hey, babe,” he greeted cheerfully after pressing the green answer button. He didn’t feel the need to go off somewhere private to have the conversation, but I still felt like I was intruding. He and Beth had been going out for nearly a month, after they met at some kind of charity event. She was an absolutely beautiful brunette girl, with eyes that Jem had said made him fall under her spell the second he saw them. Since then, they’d fallen fast and hard for each other, and even I, the heartbroken cynic, had to admit that they were incredibly adorable together.

“Sorry about that,” Jem mumbled. “She just wanted to make sure that we were still going to dinner tonight.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s fine, really.” I felt kind of empty, but I tried not to show it, since I didn’t want Jem to feel guilty for having a girlfriend while I was still hung up on some guy that had dumped me two months before.

“If you want to join us, you’re welcome to.”

I laughed lightly and shook my head. Although I knew that Beth, who was sweet as candy while having the fastest wit I’d ever known, would be great company and wouldn’t mind at all if I joined, I couldn’t accept the invitation. I liked to think that I hadn’t gotten so pathetic that I had to intrude on other people’s love lives. “No, that’s okay. I appreciate the thought, though.”

Jem sighed. I knew he hated that he couldn’t get rid of the pain Niall left behind, although he did try every method he knew. Usually, I was perfectly fine and joked and laughed with the rest of them. It was just when I was reminded of the wound that it started to fester again.

“Is this a bad time to tell you that Niall’s going to be at that party tomorrow?”

Party. The album drop party for Selena Gomez. Where Niall was going to be. Of course.

“No. It’s just as good a time as any.” I shrugged and finished off my latte, not pointing out that Jem hadn’t so much as taken a sip of his. “I’ll be okay, really.”

Jem gave me a small smile before getting to his feet. “Alright, I have to get back to the set, but I’ll text you later, okay?”

“If you’re on your date, don’t worry about it,” I assured him. I hated to think that he’d ignore Beth, who was the best thing that would ever happen to him, just to check up on me.

He grinned. “I meant after the date.”

“If it ends,” I teased. “You never know what could be for dessert.”

“Lilah!” he whined, but he couldn’t keep the huge smile off his face. “I’ll talk to you later.”

I nodded and waved as he disappeared before letting out a long breath. Outside the café was quiet, with no paparazzi lingering. Although my fame had taken a spike after the Niall story broke, it more destroyed his life than helped mine. I quickly settled back to a level below where I’d been, as I wasn’t really working, instead just waiting for the press tour for Jem’s and my movie to begin. Being low-key was working for me at the time, and I didn’t regret the decision, although Peter had warned me that it might have made me look pathetic. And maybe it did, but whatever.

On the other hand, Niall had seemed busier than ever. About three or four stories were printed after the initial “leak” that pointed fingers at various girls for being the “home wrecker” in our relationship and bashing Niall’s character, and another one speculated whether Niall had acted out of revenge because I was seeing Jem on the side. The storm hadn’t lasted too long, though, since neither Niall nor I wanted to talk about it, and the public died down without any more fuel to add to the fire.

I shook my head to clear it from the wistful thoughts before exiting the eatery. What I needed was a great dress to wear the next night and a good nap that would help me get my sanity in order.