Your New Year's present ;) As suggested by RawrIsDinoLove. Enjoy!

Also. Guys. William and Liam are the same person. Liam is a nickname of William. Wil-LIAM. See it? I've replied to like 4594358435849534598 x pi comments about this and figured it went without saying but I guess not.  So just keep that in mind!

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Note: Better Than Revenge was written before Kidnap My Heart. Kidnap My Heart wasn't supposed to be a real book but I decided to make it one after writing Better Than Revenge. The Kidnap My Heart scenes in this book are NOT the same as the ones in the real version of Kidnap My Heart. Nicknames are different, dialogue is different, even some of the plot is different. This is an extremely rough draft of what would later become Kidnap My Heart as you know it. So if you've read Kidnap My Heart, also keep this in mind! 

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Better Than Revenge 

Chapter 25

The next day on set, Christian wouldn’t even look me in the eye. I didn’t know if it was out of embarrassment or if he felt bad about everything that happened, but I didn’t care. I just ignored him and his behavior, assuring myself that I was happy that I didn’t have to deal with him. 

After all, why wouldn’t I be happy? This was what I had wanted all along. I always said I wanted him to just leave me alone. All he did was annoy me and bother me. This was exactly what I wanted, and I was beyond happy. 

Right? 

What did it matter that what brought about this sudden peace was something less than pleasant? I wasn’t proud of myself for spilling the story, obviously, but it was too late to take it back. And if it brought a few good consequences, then who was I to complain?

Something weird did happen that day, however. Actually, no, a few weird things happened. The first thing was a surprise that was left for me in my trailer. 

At first, when I found the bouquet of flowers waiting for me in my trailer, I thought they were from Christian. I thought that he might have been trying to recompense for what he did. My first thought concerning that was that it was going to take a hell of a lot more than just some flowers to gain my forgiveness. 

But then I realized I was being stupid. Of course they weren’t from Christian. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye now. He couldn’t even say anything concerning what I told him the day before. They couldn’t have been from him. They were probably from some fan. Or maybe they were from Tori, as a joke. Or Jake. Or my mother. Who knew? I just knew they weren’t from Christian. 

They were beautiful, though. They were also my favorite kind of flower, lilies. That was another reason I figured they weren’t from Christian. He had no way of knowing my favorite flower. 

The flowers put me in a pretty good mood, though, despite the mystery behind them. They were beautiful and they smelled amazing. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know who they were from. Not really. 

So my day was going surprisingly well up to this point. Not even Savannah’s petty confrontation was enough to ruin it. 

The confrontation was pretty random, actually. I didn’t know what triggered it. I didn’t particularly care, either. I had never liked Savannah and could now see the reason for that. She was a petty, jealous cow who started drama over the slightest thing. 

I tuned her out for the beginning of her rant, honestly. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her and her nasally voice was giving me a headache. 

“You’re just a whore who wants Christian and Jake and every other guy you can get all for yourself, aren’t you?” Savannah snapped viciously. 

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Now, why would you make that a question? Of course I’m not going to agree with you, you dumb cow.” 

“So you’re denying it?” she asked, taking a step closer to me. 

I wanted to take a step back because I, personally, thought her perfume smelled terrible, but taking a step back would make me look weak, so I stood my ground. “Of course I’m denying it. But to be honest, I’m really not in the mood for this shit. I have better things to do than stand here and listen to you bitch at me for something completely irrelevant to you. Even if I did want Christian and Jake, what would it matter to you? They’re not your boyfriends. If anything, all this tells me and everyone else in this room is that you’re the petty whore who wants Christian and Jake all to herself and you see me as a threat. You think I’m getting in the way of your whorish behavior. Am I right or am I right?” I almost laughed at the look on her face. She was beyond pissed. But all I did was throw the truth in her face. That was all. 

Savannah gasped, glaring at me. “That’s not true!” 

I snickered quietly. “Sure it’s not. But seriously, save your breath. I’m sure you’ll need it for… something else.” I smirked, enjoying the look of anger and disgust that crossed her face. The laughter that came from the little crowd we had drawn in was also enjoyable. “You can go ahead and keep Chrissy. I don’t even want him, anyway. Same goes for Jake.” 

I walked away from her, rolling my eyes. I walked past Christian, but I didn’t even look up. I knew he wasn’t going to look at me, anyways. 

Unfortunately for me, Nora picked this day to do a mushy scene. I wanted to jump off a bridge when she told us. It wasn’t the biggest one, but it was still going to take a lot of self-control. It was the one where Emma pretends to be in love with William to escape. 

I had to do the acting of my life for this one, let me just tell you now. 

I also had to sit in a tiny, gross prison cell. That was our set for the scene. How pleasant, eh? 

As soon as the scene started, however, I completely and totally became Emma. Well, mostly. A little bit of Sophia was still stuck inside, but I couldn’t help that. My personality was just too strong to completely detain. 

“Emma, I’m so sorry,” Liam whispered to me as he knelt down in front of the little cell. “I swear this wasn’t my doing…” 

I looked up from the ground and shook my head. “I know it’s not. Don’t worry, Lame-Ass. I believe you.” 

I only called him by two names: Liam or Lame-Ass. 

He chuckled quietly. “Still the same old Em, I see.”

“Just a lot less pleasant smelling, I’m sure,” I muttered crossly, looking down at myself in disdain. 

He wrinkled his nose but laughed nonetheless. “I’m sure… I feel horrible, though. I feel like this was partly my fault…” 

I furrowed my eyebrows, appearing deep in thought before my eyes widened as an idea dawned on me. I opened my mouth to speak but quickly closed it. I pressed my lips together tightly before making up my mind. “I— I have something to tell you.”

“You do?”

I nodded quickly. “I— I—” 

Liam’s eyes widened. “What? Come on, Em, you know you can tell me.”

I looked down, making a circle around my foot. 

This floor is so uncomfortable; I couldn’t help but think in annoyance, letting a bit of Sophia slip by. 

“Come on,” he insisted stubbornly. 

I looked up at him and suppressed a sigh. Actually, a lot of the small things I was doing in this scene weren’t even in the script. They were just things I was accidentally adding as I tried to maintain my self control in this scene. Nora hadn’t said anything, though, so I figured she was okay with them. 

“It’s just… it’s embarrassing,” I admitted, making a face. 

Liam rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen you dance. I’ve heard you purp. Blech. Sorry.” 

As Nora called “cut” and we got ready to try it again, I ignored Christian’s gaze. 

We re-started the scene after only a minute. 

Liam rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen you dance. I’ve heard you burp. I’ve heard you sing in the shower. I’ve watched as you sat there talking to yourself. I’ve seen you do your embarrassing yoga moves. I think we’re past this stage, Em.” 

I smiled slightly. “I guess you’re right.” 

“Of course I am,” he said with a wink. 

I wanted to stab him in the eye.

Wait, no. That was what I, Sophia, wanted to do. I was Emma at the moment. Emma would not stab his eye, Emma would not stab his eye, I chanted to myself. 

“I love you,” I blurted out finally. Luckily, I was supposed to be debating with myself internally in this scene, so the moment of silence was fine. What I actually debated on internally wasn’t quite what Emma was supposed to be debating, but oh well. 

Liam’s eyes widened. “You— you what?” 

“I love YouTube?” I tried nervously. 

He laughed happily. “No, no, no, that wasn’t what you said.”

“Yes… it was?” 

He smirked knowingly. “No, it wasn’t. You love me. You, Emma Nicole van der Bilt, love me. The one girl who swore she wouldn’t fall for my charms… fell for them.” 

I glared at him. “Shut up. Or I’ll take back what I said!”

He just continued smirking at me. 

“Actually, I don’t know what you’re so smug about. Eric told me everything.” 

Liam stopped smirking immediately. He now had a worried look on his face. “What did Eric tell you?” 

It was my turn to smirk. “He told me what you told him, of course. You love me. You, William Matthew Knight, love me. The one guy who swore he would never fall for any girl he was charming… fell for me.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t rub it in.” 

“What, you mean, don’t rub it in as you were doing just a minute ago?” I asked with a smirk.

“Exactly,” he replied immediately. 

I just snickered in reply. 

“Now, I can’t have the girl, who fell madly in love with me, stuck in here, can I?” he asked after a moment, standing up.

“Nope, because you fell madly in love with me.” 

“Do you want out or not?” Liam asked with a smirk. 

“Yes, please,” I said, shutting my mouth. 

He smiled knowingly, grabbing a key from his back pocket. 

My mouth dropped open as he opened the door to the cell. “You had a key the entire time?” 

“A key that I wasn’t supposed to use, but I’m not leaving you in here,” he replied simply, grabbing my hand and pulling me up. Our fingers interlocked the second I stood up.   

I was pretty sure I felt my hand twitch the minute he grabbed my hand. I wanted to let go. 

You’re Emma; he’s Liam. You’re not Sophia right; he’s not Christian right now. You are Emma. He is Liam. So stop it! You like this. You like this! Oh, who am I kidding? I hate this. I hate this! 

He pulled me out of the cell and pulled me close to him until our bodies were touching. My breath caught in my throat and it took all I had to keep only Emma’s emotions on my face. He looked down at me, his piercing green eyes staring into mine. The way he was looking at me… it was hard to remind myself that he was just acting. It looked so real… but I knew it wasn’t. He was just acting. He was just doing his job… and he was good at it. 

His face got closer and closer to mine and I panicked internally. What was he doing? This wasn’t in the script! This wasn’t part of it! Why wasn’t Nora stopping this? This wasn’t supposed to happen! 

For some reason, though, I didn’t move. I didn’t know why. I didn’t know if it was because I couldn’t or what, but for reason, I just didn’t move. His lips pressed against mine and because I was still in character…. I kissed back. 

It wasn’t a big kiss. It wasn’t the passionate, amazing kiss that we were going to have to do in the ending scene… but it was still a kiss. 

I was the first to pull away. For some reason, I felt as if he would have stayed there forever if I had let him. This, of course, was never going to happen, since I had something to do with it.

“Ohmygod, that was perfect!” Nora called out, standing up and clapping. “And it wasn’t even part of the script! Ohmygosh that was just… great improv, kids, great improv! Oh! I’ve never been more proud! I just—oh!” 

There was a lot of noise around us as everyone freaked out over this little improv of Christian’s. I guess I could see how it would be a little bit of a surprise. 

I barely heard her or any of them, though. I was still looking at Christian, a turmoil of emotions running through me. Why had I kissed back? Ugh. This was wrong. This was so wrong. And why would he kiss me like that, knowing fully well how furious I was at him? What an asshole. 

“Okay, break time,” I muttered, breaking eye contact and basically running away from Christian. I ran to my trailer and was caught by surprise. I immediately forgot everything that had just happened because sitting on my bed with an adorable little bow on his head was the cutest kitten I had ever seen in my entire life. He was orange with stripes and he was just this tiny little thing. 

It was love at first sight.   

He was exactly what I had always wanted. I had dreamed of having a small, orange cat for years. My parents never gave into my constant pleading, though, so I was left with the desire for one still. 

“Aww,” I cooed, running to the bed. I knelt down in front of it. “You are so adorable! Who left you here?” 

The kitten gave a tiny meow in return and I almost died. It was too much cuteness to bear. 

Who could have known I wanted this, though? This, along with my favorite flowers, was weird. Only a few people knew about the cat thing. I remembered telling someone about this recently, but I couldn’t remember who. 

And then I remembered… 

Christian. I had told Christian. 

“Shit,” Christian muttered to himself. “Blake better remember to stop by my place and feed Bubba…” 

“Bubba?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. 

We were sitting on set between scenes, eating a quick lunch and talking and fighting about random things. 

“My dog,” Christian explained. 

I furrowed my eyebrows. “I didn’t see a dog when I barged into your house that one time. Wait, no, I did that twice, didn’t I? I didn’t see a dog either time.” 

He rolled his eyes. “I think he was in my room both times. You’re lucky he was, or your leg would’ve been humped.” 

I snickered. “Eww. No thanks. You keep him in your room?” 

He just nodded in reply. 

“Interesting…” I muttered. “Not what I’d expect.” 

“Why do you say that?” Christian asked. 

I shrugged. “Most celebrities are too high-strung to keep an animal in their room, I’ve noticed.” 

He shook his head. “Not me. I love that little guy. Even when he makes a mess in my room.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Eww. I’m sure your girly friends love when that happens.” 

Christian snickered and said, “Oh, yeah. It’s a turn on for them. You don’t have a pet?”

I shook my head sadly. I hated talking about pets for this reason. It always reminded me that I still had yet to have one. “Nope. My parents never let me have one, and I just moved out recently, so I haven’t had the chance to get one just yet.”

“Do you think you’d be a dog or a cat person?” he asked, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich and accidentally giving me a view of it. 

I made a face as I watched him eat. That was disgusting. Did he do this on dates? How did he get so many girls? This was sickening!  “A cat person, definitely. I’ve always wanted a cat. Not just any cat, though. An orange one.” 

Christian raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Why orange, specifically?” 

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I blame my obsession with Garfield. When I saw those pictures of him as a kitten in the movie they made about Garfield, I died a little inside. He was so cute.”

He snickered. “So you’re basing this off of a cartoon character?” 

I glared at him. “You make it sound retarded. This is a serious desire, okay? I want my own Garfield.” 

He laughed loudly. “Okay, whatever you say.” 

This was where I smacked his arm and stood up angrily, stomping away. 

Had he really taken what I said and done something about it? It just seemed like too nice of a thing to do. For him, at least. I didn’t know he was capable of something like this. 

I stared at the kitten and asked, “So are you a boy or a girl? I don’t like calling animals ‘it’. But I don’t want to call you the wrong one…” 

I always talked like this to babies and animals. I didn’t care if it looked weird. I couldn’t help myself. 

“He’s a boy,” Christian said from behind me. 

I stood up and whirled around only to see Christian leaning against the doorway. 

“Oh,” I said simply. 

Christian stood up straight. “Garfield is a boy, after all, and it wouldn’t make sense if your Garfield was a girl.” 

He remembered. I couldn’t believe he actually remembered. It wasn’t even anything important. Well, to me it was, but to someone else it wouldn’t be. It was just something we had talked about once. 

I didn’t want to talk to him because I was still absolutely furious at him and I still hated his guts, but I felt like I would be acting way too rude if I just walked away after this. He had bought me what I wanted the most! And the kitten—who I officially named Garfield as soon as the truth dawned on me—was absolutely adorable!

I just didn’t know what to do. 

I could tell Christian wanted me to say something, but I didn’t really know what to say. I finally settled for, “I take it you also sent the flowers?” 

He nodded once. “Yeah.” 

“How’d you know lilies were my favorite?” 

“I asked Tori,” he admitted, rubbing a spot on the back of his neck. I noticed he did this when he was nervous or whatever it was that he was feeling at the moment. The only time I ever saw him do it was in awkward situations such as this one. 

“You asked Tori?” I asked in surprise. 

“Yeah,” he replied, shrugging. “She was actually pretty helpful once she stopped freaking out.”

I fought a smile. I could just imagine Tori’s reaction when Christian Ryder himself approached her. 

“I’m sorry about Savannah, by the way,” Christian said when I didn’t reply. “She only confronted you because of me.”

I raised an eyebrow at this. 

“She saw me putting the flower in your trailer and got mad, I guess,” he clarified.

I nodded shortly. 

“Listen, Soph, I—” 

I cut him off immediately. I didn’t want to discuss this. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now, okay? I really don’t. I don’t want to talk to you at all, honestly.”

He seemed at a loss for word. “You managed to do the scene with me,” he tried finally. “That must mean something. And the kiss. You went along with it.” 

I shook my head. “No. It doesn’t. Thank you for the flowers and thank you so, so much for Garfield—that was, I’ll admit, a really sweet thing to do, surprisingly—but the fact that I’m not exploding at you right now, and the fact that I managed to do the scene and went along with the kiss… well, none of that means anything. It’s called acting, Christian.” 

And with that, I picked up my new kitten and left him standing there once again.

***

I feel bad for Christian. xD

I still want to punch him in the guts, of course.... but still.

Opinions? Is Christian worthy of forgiveness, or is it going to take a hell of a lot more than some flowers and an adorable kitten?

Questions, questions. xD

Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed! x) I was scared I wasn't going to finish it in time, but I did. I have just enough time to go get ready!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! x) REMEMBER KIDS, SAFE SEX AND DON'T GET TOO DRUNK.