Page 113 of Love on Tour
“I don’t know about Austin. But I know I’m in love with her. And you’re done. Fired. Pack your bags and get the hell out of here,” Matt said.
“You can’t fire me. You didn’t hire me. Only Austin can fire me,” Alicia said.
Austin opened the door to the production room and stormed in. “You’re fired. Get the hell off this property now.You’ve broken multiple laws, and I will press charges if any of us ever hear from you again.”
“Austin, you can’t mean that,” Alicia said, looking up at him, her eyes pleading.
“I sure as hell do mean it,” he said. “She never did anything to you, and you have been determined to destroy her. Just get out, Alicia. Leave. Now.”
Alicia looked at all of them, started to say something, and then stopped. She walked out, coming face-to-face with Christine.
“You know you want him. It’s all you’ve wanted since you met him. And you came between us. You should be ashamed that I’m the one getting fired,” Alicia said.
Christine looked at Alicia and then at Matt. “You’re right. I do want him. And I have wanted him since I met him.” She looked back at Alicia. “You just got the guy wrong.”
Alicia looked from Christine to Matt and back to Christine. Then she looked at Phoebe.
“You’re not a plant? You’re really dating him?” Alicia said.
“Yep. And just try coming after me. I will destroy you,” Phoebe said, taking a step toward Alicia, her eyes boring daggers into Alicia’s.
Alicia took two steps back. “Well, fuck me,” she said.
“Don’t need to,” Christine said. “You did that all to yourself. But tell me this. How did you do it? How did you get someone to relive the worst experience of my life?”
“I asked. I figured if I escorted them out, I could get some kind of dirt on you. Maybe enough to finally get you to back off. I asked about you in high school. He told. It was that simple. ‘Chrissy is a sissy’ seemed to be a favorite high school chant. Then I uploaded it to a post trending on Austin’s account and it took off. Exactly what happened with those boys the night ‘Chrissy is a sissy’ became a thing?” Alicia said, a taunting lilt in her tone.
Matt and Austin came forward, eyes wide. Christine stopped them.
She still felt the sting of that chant, but she wasn’t going to let Alicia know. “Unlike when I was a teenager, I really don’t care what you think of me. Bye, Alicia,” Christine said, walking past her and toward Matt.
“On top of that, Alicia, did you read the comments?” Matt said. “They’re all in support of Christine. Nobody thinks that high school pain is fair game. Now they’re on Christine’s side, and you’ve got the haters. Have fun with that. Now leave before I have you thrown out.”
Alicia turned and walked down the hall. Matt called out to their security guy, told him to follow Alicia, and instructed him to escort her off the premises.
When she was gone, Christine exhaled a shaky breath. “How did you catch her?” she asked.
“I walked in here through the side door and she didn’t hear me. She was pretty intent on what she was typing on her phone. I walked up behind her to ask a merch question and happened to glance at what she was writing. She was adding a comment to her post. As soon as I saw it, I freaked,” Matt said.
“I’m so glad you caught her,” Julianna said.
“Me, too. We owe you one,” Austin said, putting his hand on Matt’s shoulder and grabbing his hand to shake it.
“Uh, hello?” Phoebe said, her voice rising in pitch and volume. “Are we all just going to ignore the fact that you blamed me for this shit about five seconds before Alicia got caught?”
Austin turned and reached for her. She stepped back.
“Phoebe, I’m so sorry. When you said the word ‘sissy,’ I just reacted. It was a hair-trigger response,” Austin said.
“Well, this isn’t. Consider us done. If you thought I could do something like that and would hurt somebody so viciously over you, then you need to get the fuck over yourself,” Phoebe said.
“I’m a total dick,” Austin said.
“No argument here,” Phoebe said. “Have a good concert. I’m out.”
“Phoebe, don’t leave,” Julianna said, walking up to her.
Phoebe put her hand up. “Not now. Christine, I’m glad they caught her. Nobody should have to go through what you did. I’m sure there were times you thought it was me, too. But at least you weren’t sleeping with me. I’ve got better things to do than stick around here. See you back at home, Julianna.”
