Of Gods and Fame

26th April, 2013.

Warning Hardingers — the following pictures just might break your heart! It appears that our darling hunk Nate has found himself a girl, and a feisty one at that! We here at hollywoodhunknews.com did a little research to find out who this girl was, but our results came up negative. The young girl who Nate was seen kissing passionately in the park appears to be your good old average Plain Jane, and definitely not a famous star like he’s used to! Oh Nate, you’re killing us here!

Rumours have been sparked that this young fame-seeker was the cause of his break up with Melody, though all of us, at least, are failing to draw parallels. So who is this mystery girl? A childhood friend? A girl desperate for fame and fortune? Or just simply another girl hooked by this man’s charm? Whatever it is, we’re sure you’d agree that kissing Nate Harding is a position that any girl would like to be in.

We’ll keep you updated, Hardingers! You can find pictures of the saucy park trip [here] — that is, if you’re feeling courageous enough! We’ve also set up a poll in the Vote section of the site, where you can go and decide whether our darling Nate’s new girl is a Fame Seeker or Genuine Keeper.

Until next time, Hardingers!

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I was sitting at the table shoveling spoonfuls of cornflakes into my mouth when I heard the sound of keys jingling in the front door, followed by the door swinging wide open. “I never should’ve shown you where I kept the spare key,” I grumbled, picking up my glass of orange juice and taking a large gulp.

“Naja, you keep it under the doormat,” Joey said, sitting down beside me and stealing my bowl of cereal, causing me to yet out a yell of protest. Batting my hand away when I tried to snatch the bowl back, he grinned at me, bringing a heaped spoonful to his lips. “I’m surprised you haven’t been robbed already.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, flicking my hair away from my face in exasperation. “Scout would defend the place for me,” I said airily, pulling the box of Cornflakes towards myself and digging my hand in to grab some. “He’s incredibly protective.”

Joey stared at me with an odd expression on his face. “Scout’s a guinea pig,” he said slowly, looking at me as though I’d gone mad.

I glared, pulling my hand from the box and shoveling the dry cornflakes into my mouth. “So?”

He looked as though he was fighting off a laugh, his eyebrows slightly raised as he gave me a pointed look. “You’re right, they’d take one look at that and run away screaming.”

I glared at him furiously, wiping at my mouth before taking another sip of orange juice. “I’m hiding the spare key next time,” I muttered grouchily.

Joey simply laughed. “So why the mood, superstar? You’re wearing your Batman onesie, which generally means that you’ve reverted back to your twelve year old self.”

I let my head drop and bang against the table, a groan escaping my lips. “Superstar? You saw that too?” I grumbled, feeling like I wanted to melt into the ground. “My life’s ruined,” I whined moodily, resting my hands against the table and pushing myself upwards slightly to look at him.

He grinned. “Oh Naja, there wasn’t just one. They’re all over the internet.”

I let my head fall against the table with a loud bang, groaning at the resulting ache in my forehead. “Nooooo,” I whined, placing my palms over my eyes. “The entire world thinks I’m a slut.”

Joey placed his hand on my shoulder sympathetically, though he looked like he was trying not to smile. “If it helps, I voted for Genuine Keeper.” I pulled my hands away from my eyes and smiled at him slightly.

“I voted for attention seeking slut,” Chloe announced as she walked through the door, slamming it shut behind her.

“I need to change my locks,” I moaned grumpily, pressing my palms into my eyes again.

Chloe glared as she walked over to sit in the chair beside me, crossing her legs over and tugging at the bottom of her skirt.

“Chloe, I don’t know what sort of site would be allowed to have that as an option,” Joey said simply, frowning slightly as he looked at her.

“My blog page,” she answered haughtily, and Joey snickered.

I pushed my hair out of eyes are stared at her in exhaustion, guilt bubbling up in my stomach. “I’m sorry,” I said. “If it helps, he’s an asshole.”

Joey looked at me with wide eyes. “Whoa, big word there Naja.” Even Chloe looked alarmed by my word choice.

I glared at him, my cheeks reddening slightly as I crossed my arms over my chest. “He stole my virginity.”

Joey started coughing, his face turning bright red as he placed his palm against his heaving chest. I whacked him on the back for good measure, causing him to jerk forward as his splutters began to die down. “What?” he croaked finally, the both of them looking at me with alarmed expressions on their faces.

A red hue crept onto my cheeks. “My first kiss,” I said quietly.

It was silent for a few seconds before Chloe spoke. “That’s pathetic, Naja,” she said simply. I glared at her, cheeks glowing as I held her gaze.

“Do we need to explain the birds and the bees to you, Naja?” Joey added in for good measure, his lips twisted into an amused grin.

“Really?” Chloe continued, narrowing her eyes at me with a look about her face that made me feel ashamed. “Nineteen and never been kissed? Much less calling it your virginity, for Christ’s sake.”

Joey began to laugh, but stopped when I glared at him furiously. “I’ve never had the opportunity,” I said defensively, tugging at the sleeves of my onesie with bright red cheeks.

Chloe took this as a chance to look me up and down, her nose crinkling in disgust. “And what on earth are you wearing?”

I flushed and looked down at my over-worn onesie. “She’s regressing,” Joey answered helpfully.

Chloe laughed. “God, I hope not. Remember how fat she was?”

I glared furiously, my cheeks bright red as I tried to control my breathing. “I was going through puberty,” I said defensively, steadily avoiding their eyes as I glared down at the table.

“I thought she was cute,” Joey said, coming to my defense.

Chloe snickered. “That’s because you had the hugest crush on her, you weirdo.”

Joey turned bright red.

I blanched, burying my head in my hands and letting out a loud groan. “Get out, get out, get out!” I shouted grouchily, squeezing my arms against my ears. “As if my life isn’t bad enough right now,” I complained, my voice heavily muffled by my arms.

It was silent for a few moments. “I’m not really mad, you know,” Chloe said eventually, and I lifted my eyes slightly to look at her in confusion. “I mean, I was shocked and I suppose I was annoyed for a little while, but I’m not mad at you.” I relaxed slightly, giving her a grateful smile. “God knows you wouldn’t have initiated it,” she added on for good measure.

I stared. “I’m not quite sure how to take that.”

She smiled slightly, ignoring my comment. “Do you think you’ll see him again?”

I grimaced, screwing up my nose slightly and lifting my head. “What are the chances, I guess? It’s not like he kissed me because he’s interested. This was all just one big mistake.” I didn’t feel like adding that it was mainly a mistake on his part. I had a feeling that if I worked my way towards self-pitying I’d start crying in front of them, and that was something that I wanted to avoid at all costs. Along with the pain in my chest and the ache in my head, which I’d been trying my hardest not to acknowledge all morning.

Joey looked at me sympathetically. “Well, you never know, I guess,” he said lightly, giving me a slight smile. I groaned and snapped my eyes shut, his falsely positive words making me feel worse.

The phone began to ring and we all stiffened, Chloe glancing at the phone in alarm. “Oh go away you two, I didn’t even give him my number.” I said grumpily, pushing myself upwards and stalking over to the phone. Sighing, I pulled it up against my ear and pressed the ‘accept’ button. “Hello?”

“Sweetie!”

I sighed, bringing my spare hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Hi dad,” I said tiredly.

“I just called the store and Jordan answered, so I figured you must have slept in again, pumpkin.”

Ugh, the store. I let out a quiet groan, silently berating myself for forgetting about it. “Can't I just have a day off?” I pleaded desperately, leaning my back against the wall tiredly. “Especially considering you and Mum went AWOL and decided to leave me in charge of everything.”

He chuckled, sounding way too chipper for the mood I was in. “No, honey. You need to open the store for at least a few hours. There’s no point wasting all the food that Jordan spent ages baking.”

I heard giggling in the background, and my face screwed up in revulsion. “God, dad, don’t you have enough children?”

He laughed. “Honey, you know how your mum is.”

I groaned, pulling the phone away from my ear in disgust and glaring it as though hoping it would burst into flames. “Bye, dad,” I said hastily.

“Bye, love. We’ll see you in a few days.”

Pressing the ‘end call’ button, I sighed tiredly. “I’ve got to go to the store,” I said eventually, turning around to face my friends. “You guys feel like helping me out?”

Joey’s face screwed up apologetically. “Sorry, Naja. I’ve got to go see Kate.”

My face dropped, and I turned to eye Chloe hopefully. She frowned. “After you ditched me last time? No thanks.” Obviously seeing the sad look on my face, she sighed. “Sorry, Naja. Chris invited me over. I really only came here to make you feel guilty for a bit before I headed there.”

I groaned. “You guys suck.”

They both frowned slightly before Chloe began to look at me hesitantly. “You reckon he’ll turn up there?” she asked quietly, a cautious look about her face as she frowned.

I snorted. “After the trouble this has caused? I doubt it,” I said confidently.

I guess I should have known that those would be my famous last words, because when I turned up outside the shop half an hour later he was asleep on the front doorstep.