Page 75 of The Pursuit of Happiness

Sly doesn’t say anything. He just clenches his jaw and looks like he’s moments away from tearing this room apart with his bare hands. How the fuck did this happen?

“I think that the photographer you attacked would say the same.” The audience, like me, is completely appalled.

John is not usually so blunt. I think Sly rattled him when he spoke up. John is a bully and nobody has the gall to speak up to him, but Sly just did. And now he’s starting a war on live TV.

Sly leans in close to speak and I panic, placing a hand around the back of his neck to surprise him and hopefully capture his attention. I make a play of it like I’m rubbing tension out of his body and he relaxes into my touch only slightly. I can still see the anger boiling within. “Oh no, he didn’t attack anyone,” I laugh, making it obvious I’m joking. “It was a love tap.”

The audience laughs and John gives me a pointed look, “Ohhh, I see. The broken nose and ribs he suffered were out of love. Does he do that to you too, Aria?”

There’s a moment, just one short moment, where it is so silent in the room, I could hear a pin dropping. Nobody moves and nobody dares to breathe. In a matter of seconds, Sly loses his shit and snaps, leaping out of his chair and racing for John who’s only a couple of feet away. Security grabs ahold of him before he can so much as scratch John and I’m frozen in my seat, completely in shock. They start to drag him off the stage, four on one, and Sly nearly manages to get out of their grasp before another guard grabs him. I take in the rage on his face. The way that John’s suggestion that Sly would ever hurt me in such a disgusting way, causing him to abandon any sense of humanity. This man being dragged away is not Sly. This is an animalistic man. A man that can only see red, so blinded by his love for me.

I make a move to get out of my chair and run to him, to hold his face in my hands and calm him down, but John places a hand on mine, grabbing my attention. Sly growls from backstage, “Take your fucking hand off of her!” Before his protests are muffled by security forcing him away.

The audience is silent, completely in awe of the drama unfolding before their eyes, “Is he always so aggressive?” John asks, leaning in as if he’s gossiping with an old friend and not someone who wants to scratch his cold, dead eyes out.

I let my lip curl in distaste, no longer interested in playing nice as I remove my hand from his grasp. “No. He’s actually the most loving and caring person on the planet. He loves so passionately and intensely and before him, I had never experienced love in that capacity. My life before Slater Nicks was a sham. An endless charade of false happiness and after meeting him, after falling in love with him, I would die today, happy to have experienced even a minute with him.”

John is caught off guard by my confession, by the conviction in my words. I hear people releasing pent up breaths, but the audience is still silent. I turn my head towards them, towards the cameras and I raise my chin, a woman confident after being shamed and ridiculed for being in her own skin, “That tape caused us both an immense amount of pain. We both suffered because of it. I was slut shamed and torn apart in the media for doing the exact same thing that Slater did, but I was the only one being called out. The reason behind that is because I’m a woman. I suffered at the hands of the media and allowed the insults and the comments to get to me, but I won’t allow it anymore. That tape should serve as a lesson to every woman. Be proud to be in your own skin. Don’t allow anyone to tear you down for doing exactly what it is that men do.”

I turn to John, giving him the most defiant look I’ve ever managed in my life, “You disrespect me because I’m a woman and you disrespect Sly because he loves me, but you just showed the entire world what a sexist, arrogant, patriarchal fuck you are.” I rise from my seat, dusting imaginary lint from my dress. I look at the audience and take in numerous looks of encouragement, of respect.

I let the encouragement in their eyes, especially the women, empower me to do one last petty thing. I turn on my heel and wave to the audience with a big smile and face John, blowing a kiss at him with a warm grin, “Thank you so much for having us. It was a pleasure,” I add the last part and wink at him before I give him my back and take long strides off stage.

As I disappear from sight, the audience cheers and claps and I smile to myself as I push past stage crew and workers racing for me to ask me questions. I ignore them all, only intent on finding one person. I race to find Sly, walking as fast as my heels will allow as the adrenaline starts to subside and my breathing becomes more fluid.

Selene appears at my side, keeping up with my long strides and practically jogging to do so, “Aria, I promise you, I thought the situation was under control.” I can hear the erraticism in her voice and I know Selene believes her own words. She never would’ve sent us up on that stage if she thought this would happen.

I’m alarmed to see Selene so out of her own control. I’m used to the dutiful woman that’s always put together and always knows exactly what to say. I don’t like this version of her. The version that worries over my faith in her and feels undermined. I give her a look of understanding, “I’m not angry at you. I know you thought it was under control and I know you tried your best to prevent it from happening.”

She gives me a wide-eyed look of shock, “Why are you so calm?”

I shrug, “I don’t know. I just feel…” I trail off as I search for the right word. “Understood.” I feel like making myself vulnerable to the audience about how that tape impacted me and how much Sly and I love each other, gave them the chance to see me in a way they hadn’t seen me before. The fans idolize us and put us on this pedestal but in doing so, they forget we’repeople too. They forget we’re just like them and by laying a piece of myself bare to them, I just let them see me as a real human being and not just a slut rockstar who fucks on camera.

Selene’s expression is exasperated. “Wow.”

I give her a confident smile, “Wow, what?”

“Wow, I’m proud of you.” I can see the sincerity behind her words in her eyes. She truly is proud. “You’ve come such a long way.”

I give her an affectionate smile as we turn a corner, passing through a sea of bodies and staff, “I know. I finally feel like I’ve found the finish line.”

She nudges my shoulder with hers and it would be funny under normal circumstances considering how much taller I am than she is, but this moment between us is too rare for me to focus on anything but the sincerity of it. “I wanted you to do this show in hopes a public appearance would make you look good.”

I sigh, “And Sly and I kinda ruined that.”

She shakes her head, “No. You actually may have just fixed the entire problem.”

I give her a confused look, “How so?”

She grins, “You just showed them you’re a real person with real feelings. They love you and they hate John.”

I smile at her and she continues, an edge in her voice as her bright expression contorts into a homicidal look, “And speaking of John, I’m going to absolutely decimate his career. I’m going to have him in court suffering under piles and piles of paperwork for the rest of his life.”

I laugh, “Selene, I love you and I love how protective you’re being, but you can’t just sue someone for embarrassing us on live TV.”

Selene has a wicked gleam in her eyes that has the smile vanishing from my face and worry churning in my stomach. “Oh, Aria, how you underestimate me. You think I didn’t makeJohn sign a contract that he wouldn’t discuss the tape or Sly’s incident?”

I gasp, “You what?”

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