Better Than Revenge

Chapter 21

The war between Christian and me was finally over. Well, kind of. We still fought like cats and dogs, but at least the press was no longer involved and our reputations weren’t at stake here. 

It had been three weeks since Christian surrendered and things were finally dying down. We were stuck in the spotlight for the entire first two weeks. The rumors were just too much. Thinking back, I realized that maybe we did go a little overboard… 

Nora was still kind of irked at us for the bad press, as were our managers, but now that people were beginning to focus on other scandals, things were getting better. 

The drama in my life had decreased greatly, something that I was definitely happy about. That is, it decreased greatly until Christian’s dumb ex-girlfriend had to go and ruin it. 

I was on set, as usual, when she showed up. She caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected some psycho ex-girlfriend to confront me as I walked out of my trailer to go talk to Jake.

“Hey, Sophia,” the girl sneered, stopping me in my tracks. Her voice had a distinct country twang to it.

I could tell just from her facial expression that she was not a loving fan and that this conversation was going to be less than pleasant. “Well, hello, random creeper,” I answered, nodding at her and stepping to the side so I could go on my way once again.

“Who said I was done talkin’ to you?” she asked in annoyance, reaching out and grabbing hold of me.

“Me,” I replied simply, shaking her off. 

“I’m not done talkin’ to you!” she snapped from behind me. 

I rolled my eyes. This ought to be good. “What do you want?” I snapped right back. “Can’t you see I’m busy? Unlike you, I have things to do.” 

“Unlike me? You are nobody compared to me. I’m Cassandra Lovett, Christian’s girlfriend. On-and-off girlfriend, yeah, but that don’t change anything. You’re nobody.” 

 “If I’m ‘nobody’, why are you begging me to stop and talk to you?” I asked with a smirk.

“I’m not beggin’.” She scowled at me. 

“Seems that way to me,” I pointed out smugly. 

“Whatever!” Cassandra exclaimed irritably. “This is so lame. It’s so not why I came here.”

“Then get on with it and tell me why you came here,” I said with a yawn. “You’re putting me to sleep here.” 

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I came here because I don’t need you fallin’ in love with Christian. I’m makin’ sure you don’t.” 

I looked at her for a few seconds, deduced that she was being completely serious, and burst out laughing. I didn’t stop for a good minute, either. 

This was where we attracted a bit of a crowd… it was probably because of my raucous laughter, although her screaming probably didn’t help much. 

Cassandra didn’t seem so amused. “Stop laughin’,” she demanded, curling her lip at me. “This is serious. I don’t want you fallin’ in love with Chris. Most of the stupid girls he works with do and I don’t want that happenin’ again.” 

Still giggling, a bit hysterically, I might add, I finally answered her. “That has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” 

“It’s not!” she snapped viciously. “It’s happened, and a lot! I don’t want it happenin’ again! And I don’t want him fallin’ for you, either!”

I gave her a look. “You know what I think?” 

“What?” Cassandra asked slowly. 

“I think you need some medication. Are you blind? Can you not see that Christian and I can’t stand each other?” 

“He might be fallin’ for you! I don’t know.” 

I laughed, shaking my head. “Oh, you make me laugh, Cassandra. And clearly, you don’t know Christian at all.” 

“What do you mean?” she asked indignantly.

“I mean that Christian is a total player who doesn’t really ‘fall’ for anyone,” I explained simply. “I know that’s probably not what you, his faithful, Top Hoe, would like to hear, but it’s the truth.”

“His ‘Top Hoe’?” Cassandra echoed in disbelief. 

“Have you not been tuning into the celebrity gossip from the past couple months?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She scowled at me. “I have. And I don’t see what’s so amazin’ about you, but whatever it is, guys like it. I guess they like the fact that you’re a total freak.” 

“Chill,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m not interested in your precious little boyfriend and he isn’t interested in me.” 

At this moment, I saw Christian and Jake appear out of the corner of my eye. They stood off to the side, just watching.

“How do I know that for sure?” Cassandra demanded. 

“You don’t,” I said with a shrug. 

She shot me an enraged, shocked look, glancing over at Christian frantically. I looked over at him for a minute, seeing the surprised look on his face that mirrored Cassandra’s. 

“What?” she shrieked angrily. “You little bitch. You think you’re so clever; you think you’re gonna get the guy. But you’re wrong. Christian is mine and he always has been! He always will be! You’re nothin’ to him, and he will never like you! You’re just an ugly, dumb, jealous cow!”

“Don’t turn this into a petty cat fight,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I’m just telling you the truth. You can’t know for sure because you’re not a mind reader. Quit being such an emotional little brat. You’re on my last nerve. I don’t like your boyfriend and he doesn’t like me. Now go put a tampon in it and get out of my sight.” 

She was extremely offended by this, as was expected. I was being rude, admittedly, but she started being rude first. I was just returning what she dealt out. 

She just stood there, shocked, giving me a chance to finally walk away. As I walked past Christian, I snickered and said, “Boy, you really know how to pick them.” 

At the very last minute, I noticed he had this weird look in his eye. I didn’t really know what it was, but it was weird. I had never seen it before, at least not on him. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was… 

Shrugging it off and quickly deciding I actually didn’t care, I forgot all about it.

Jake caught up to me and started walking with me. “That was quite the show you put on back there,” he said with a chuckle.

“Glad you enjoyed yourself,” I replied sarcastically. “What is this, the hundredth one? I should really start charging for these.” 

He chuckled deeply. “You’d probably make a fortune off of them if you did.” 

I nodded once. “Remind me to walk around with a hat after the next one.” 

“You’re already planning another one?” he asked with a laugh. 

“I don’t plan them,” I said with a shrug. “They just happen. But I know there’s going to be another one. Trouble is attracted to me like I’m a magnet.” 

“Can’t argue with that,” he said, smirking. “Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner tonight. I’ve kind of had a crush on you for a while now, but I figured you were probably interested in Christian.” 

I looked at him like he had two heads. “Why on earth would you think that?” 

He shrugged. “You guys are always fighting. It looks kind of flirty sometimes. And it always happens, as Cassandra said. His costars always fall for him.”

“It’s not flirty,” I exclaimed in disgust. “It’s just fighting.” 

“Well, since you don’t like him, what do you say about my invitation?” he asked, placing an arm around me. 

I was just about to say yes when it dawned on me what Jake was doing. Things clearly didn’t work out with his ex and he was on the rebound, although he didn’t say it. He took the fact that I wasn’t interested in Christian as a sign that he now had a chance. He seemed to have thought that I would end up falling for Christian, but now that he saw that I wasn’t planning on that at all, he was making his move. He was always nice to me, but lately he had been a bit flirtier and more playful. 

I didn’t think he even realized what he was doing, honestly. From what I’d gathered, he was really in love with his ex-girlfriend and was probably really hurt by the breakup. He was just trying to get over it and move on, but I just did not want to be that girl. I wasn’t going to be his rebound girl. 

“Jake, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no,” I said slowly, removing his arm from my shoulders. 

“Why?” he asked, looking a bit dejected. 

“I know what you’re doing, and I’m not mad about it, honestly. Since things didn’t work out with your ex, you’re looking to rebound. I totally understand and I do like you—as a friend, though. Besides, I don’t want to be anybody’s rebound girl.” 

I saw his facial expression change as my words dawned on him. I realized I had been right; he really hadn’t been aware of what he was doing. 

He shot me an apologetic look. “Shit. I’m sorry, Soph. you’re right. I’m sorry for trying to set you up that way. You deserve an actual relationship, and I’m not even ready for that, honestly.” 

“It’s fine,” I assured him. “Don’t worry about it.” I gave him a comforting pat on the back before walking off.

The rest of the day went pretty fast after that. Before I knew it, I was heading home. 

I almost got away… almost. I was so close! Just as I was about to head home, Nora’s assistant, Anne, quickly caught up to me. “Sophia! Oh, I’m glad I caught you before you left!”

“What’s up?” I asked, turning to face her. 

“I just needed to inform you that Nora is calling some late night rehearsals,” she said breathlessly. She had probably had to run to catch up to me. 

“Some late night rehearsals?” I repeated. “What for?”

Anne smiled nervously. “They’re for a few scenes that Nora thinks are a little… troublesome.”

This was where I became wary of what she was telling me. “Which scenes?” 

“Oh, you know… just a few tricky scenes…” 

I gave her a look and repeated myself. “Which scenes?”

“Just a few, you know… betweenyouandChristian,” she quickly said in one breath. 

My body immediately grew rigid and my eyes narrowed. “What?” 

Anne sighed loudly. “Nora is calling these rehearsals for you and Christian. She thinks you need to practice the love scenes at the end of the movie.”

“Wha—” I began, shaking my head. “I don’t think we need—” 

She cut me off. “Don’t discuss this with me. Discuss it with Nora. I’m just the messenger right now.” 

“Fine, then I’ll go discuss it with Nora,” I said, walking back to the set. 

“That’s good,” Anne said with a nod, “because they start tonight.”

I stopped in my tracks. “Are you kidding me?” 

She just smiled a tiny smile at me. 

I was about to turn around and go back to my car when Anne reached out to stop me. “Sophia…” 

I took in a deep breath. “I’m going to go have a talk with Nora.” 

“Christian is already over there having a talk with her,” Anne said, walking with me as we headed to Nora’s trailer. “I think you guys might be on the same side here, for once.” 

“Don’t plan on it happening again any time soon,” I muttered, shaking my head.

This was absolutely ridiculous. Late-night rehearsals with Christian were the last thing I needed. 

Wait… 

I stopped walking all of a sudden as one key element that hadn’t sunk in at first finally dawned on me. 

Anne had said the scenes we were going to practice were the love scenes… 

That meant… 

My eyes widened and I nearly ran to the bathroom to throw up. 

Ohdeargod…

***

These late-night rehearsals are going to go heavenly, don't you think? ;) 

Also... any thoughts on Christian's lovely ex, his unusual, slight change in demeanor or the awkward conversation with Jake?

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