Chapter 45: Or So They Say

Seth was painfully oblivious to Chase’s male pride when he showed up after lunch to their pre-arranged plans for the day. “Dude, you look horrible,” he muttered the moment Chase opened the door to let him in. “So I guess the rumours are at least half true huh?”

Arching an eyebrow, Chase closed the door before giving Seth a confused glare. “What rumours?” He asked. “And take a seat man. I don’t have anything together. My life has been in ruins ever since this morning. I can’t even tell my right leg from my left. “

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m used to it by now. Every time we’ve got plans to hangout, you’re either fashionably late or you’re not ready yet.” Seth made a face at him as they moved into the living room and he took a seat on the couch. “If we were in a relationship Chase, you’d be the bitch.”

Chase flipped him off before trying to remember what he was doing before Seth showed up. “Ha. Ha.” He muttered. “Very funny. Why don’t you quit acting and try stand-up comedy next? Might get a few more fans that way.”

“Ouch man. Right through the heart. How did you get that hideous black eye anyways?”

“I saw LaCienega at some bar Friday,” he mumbled, “and let’s just say a lot of things happened after that.”

“Like how you stood Krislynn up?”

“Yeah. That too. Wait!” Chase turned bug-eyed at Seth, spinning around to stare at his best friend whose only response was to give him a playful smirk. “How did you know?!”

“Krislynn and Michelle talked apparently. And then Michelle–”

“Can’t keep her mouth shut.”

Seth laughed. “Something like that though I didn’t really believe her at first, but I guess it’s all true if not exaggerated on several parts.”

Chase heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his dishevelled hair as Krislynn walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal. He ignored her since he was still mad at her for picking up the phone that morning and then plotting to get him to go home and see his parents. Whoa. Back up! Back up! He was not going to think about that. He was going to get dressed, go sailing with Seth and Pete, meet up with Jace for dinner and drinks tonight and have a great time. Whatever is going to happen is tomorrow’s business, but not now.

Compelling his thoughts to go back to the moment, he turned his attention back to Seth after he finished exchanging greetings with Krislynn. “So is that the rumour you were talking about earlier?”

“What rumour?” Krislynn interrupted, crunching her cereal extra loud as she stood next to him. Just the way she smelled – the way her hair was still slightly damp from her morning shower – drove him insane and he had to clench his teeth and fight the urge to kill her or kiss her or do something equally as dramatic and crazy.

“It’s none of your business,” he snapped, but then groaned inwardly when his eyes saw the corner of her mouth covered in breadcrumbs – most likely from one of the six pieces of toast she was eating earlier. Her eyes widened a bit when she caught him staring so intently, and then, cautiously stuck out the tip of her tongue to lick it off. Everything she did just made him angrier today for some reasons.

Ignorant to Chase’s inner torment, Seth threw back his head and let out a laugh. “You mean you really don’t know?” He asked, and then, when Chase replied with a blank expression, let out another chuckle. “I can’t believe you actually don’t know. Chase! It’s all over the internet!”

“What is?!”

“The rumours!” Seth quickly took out his phone and fooled around with it before handing the device to Chase. “Here. Read it yourself. I’m pretty sure that’s a picture of Krislynn they have in there too.”

“What?! Why would she…” Blood surged into his brain when he remembered their date last night and the two cameramen at McDonald’s. “They couldn’t have!”

Before he could even take a look, Krislynn stole the phone from right out of his palm with a sinister giggle and hopped behind Seth with the intent of using him as a shield. “I want to read it,” she insisted. “Can I?”

“Go ahead.”

“No,” Chase yelled, terrified of what the article might say. He was used to having people slam him with nasty tabloids – been there done that – but Krislynn had no idea how relentless the public was, how easy it was for them to photoshop a picture or two and twist a few words around. “Don’t read it! Give Seth his phone back!”

Seth raised his eyebrows at Chase before giving him a knowing look. “Calm down Chase. It’s alright. Just let her read it.”

“Please!” Krislynn begged. “I’ve never had some reporter gossip about me before! This is way too cool!” Chase swallowed the lump in his throat, and sighed when Seth gave him another encouraging look, but before he could even submit to it, Krislynn – impatient and nosy – just laughed and said, “okay! I’m going to read it anyways!”

Chase heaved another sigh as she giggled and placed her bowl of cereal aside. Then she cleared her throat and began. “Notorious heartbreaker Chase Evans, 26, is almost as famous for his fickle taste in woman as his award winning movies, but this Friday evening, the ingenious director may have crossed the line when he was seen cuddling with his best friend and Hollywood heartthrob, Seth Meyers’ fiancée, Victoria Secret supermodel, Michelle Osaka in a low-profile pub downtown L.A.”

“What?!!” Chase screamed. “That did not happen at all! I didn’t even know where Michelle was Friday night!”

Seth burst out laughing. “Just keep reading,” he ushered. “It gets better.”

Krislynn continued. “Onlookers reported Evans and Osaka, 23, looked ‘really into each other’ and when Meyers, 26, made a surprising entrance, the three immediately got into a massive argument. Meyers and Evans were seen fighting quickly after, resulting the bar in a total of twenty thousand dollars in damage. ‘[Seth] must feel so betrayed,’ a close friend of the three reported. ‘He really loves Michelle and trusted Chase. To think [Chase] would do something like that is really shocking!’ Another reliable source says, ‘Chase is very torn. He likes [Michelle] and gets very jealous [of Seth] all the time.’ The fight with Meyers however did not seem to have much effect on Evans’ productivity as the following evening he was already seen with a new flame, a pretty brunette, clinging to his side. The two spent the evening watching a movie and having a bite at a fast food restaurant as seen in the pictures below where Evans’ fresh wounds were evident. At the time of press, both Meyers and Evans’ rep could not be reached. Osaka’s rep refuses to comment.”

The three of them had a moment of silence after until Krislynn interrupted with a shriek of excitement. “They called me pretty!!!” She cheered. “They think I’m pretty!”

“Is that all you got out of that whole thing?!” Chase shouted. “God, that was the most bullshit article I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe how ridiculous that whole thing was.”

“Not really,” Seth and Krislynn said in unison.

“I mean, for the most part, that whole thing did happen.”

“Yeah,” Seth agreed. “The only thing was that they got the wrong best friend.”

Krislynn and Seth joined each other in a small ripple of laughter as Chase threw them a glare. “I guess it’s better this way,” he decided after a second thought. “I’ll try to tell Jace one of these days, but I don’t want him to find out I slept with LaCienega from some shitty gossip column. I can’t imagine anything worst.”

“I think he’d be devastated either way,” Krislynn mumbled, but then shrugged and passed Seth his phone back when she earned herself a look. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t you guys be leaving by now? Isn’t Pete just waiting for you somewhere?”

“Oh right! We were supposed to meet him at the Starbucks near his house.” Seth ruffled his hair in distress. “Come on man! Are you ready?”

“Alright! Just let me grab something to cover my face.”

“Which is going to take another hour…”

“Shut up!”

Krislynn laughed at their bickering, but then left to finish up her cereal back inside the kitchen. Truthfully, she wished she could tag along with them since she’d never gone sailing before, but the thought of intruding on their male bonding time didn’t sit well with her either so she was forced to stay home for the day and make herself busy.

It wouldn’t be so bad since Chase’s house was filled with toys. She could take a swim in the pool, splash around in the hot tub, sweat a few pounds off in the sauna in the basement – it was actually not that bad at all!

Letting out a small burp, she shoved another spoon of cereal into her mouth before Chase came in wearing a pair of thick sunglasses and a hat that he could easily conceal his face with. “Seth and I are going to leave now,” he mumbled.

Krislynn lifted her eyes up from the magazine she had been reading on the dining table and nodded. “Okay,” she said cheerfully. “Bye! Have fun!”

Chase stared at her awkwardly and shifted on his feet like he was about to leave before turning back to her with a scowl. “That’s it?” He asked.

“What is?”

“Nevermind.” He turned to leave before – again – he turned back to face her. “I’ll… call you or something later… okay?”

Krislynn quickly wrinkled her nose at him, completely baffled by his behaviour. “Why??” She asked. “You’re going out with all of the guys tonight and you’re probably going to be out until late. What’s the point of calling me?”

“Fine,” he suddenly shouted. “I won’t fucking call you!”

“Weirdo,” Krislynn mumbled when he stomped off after his sudden outburst. “Why does he keep flipping out at me today? Is he really that mad that I made him answer the phone this morning?” She shrugged since Chase was always a little hot and cold and decided she wasn’t going to bother herself with it. She heard him slamming the door after, but only rolled her eyes and shoved another spoon of cereal into her as she flipped the page of her magazine.

Her eyes quickly scanned down the left page – some Cover Girl ad – but when she saw the second page, her heart nearly stopped before the beats accelerated to a point that was completely out of control. She instantly stood up, knocking over the bowl of cereal as she did so that the milk poured over the edge of the dining table and spilled onto the floor. Krislynn didn’t even care. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the magazine and held it tightly in her hands before examining it some more.

But it was true. She even rubbed her eyes just to make sure, but it was true! There he was – just standing there in the glossy paper with three other males – looking better than she had ever seen him even though it’s only been roughly three weeks. Impatiently, she quickly read the descriptions on the page. “New hit sensation. Indie band. Tour dates…” She scanned through the list, looking for L.A, hoping for L.A. “L.A!!!”

Mind blurry, Krislynn put a hand on the edge of the table and held herself steady as she took deep breaths in and out. She couldn’t believe it! She couldn’t believe it at all! It was Pedro. It was actually Pedro! Pedro on a magazine. Pedro in a band. Pedro coming to L.A… which only came down to one thing: so was her best friend, Ella.