Page 170 of Shy Girls Can't Date Celebrities
With the emotions bubbling inside me, I frantically nod.
Wyatt mumbles a laugh. “Can you breathe, Joze?”
I squeak. “Just.”
“Come on, beautiful. Let’s get out of here while we still can.”
As we move into the car, a garbled jingle starts to play. I look at Wyatt as he fishes inside his pocket and then hands me his phone. “Can you make this thing stop ringing?”
I show him the screen. “It’s Portia.”
Wyatt frowns. “Don’t answer it.”
I lean forward as our car joins the rest of the traffic. “Maybe you should. They might chase after you otherwise.”
Wyatt’s lip upturns. “I don’t want them stopping me from leaving.”
“Then talk to her.”
He motions at me to press the buttons. “Put it on speaker. I’m not talking to her alone.”
I hit answer and the speaker button, even though I have no intention of using my voice in this conversation.
“I’m sorry,” Portia rushes through the phone line. “They made me do it. I didn’t want to lay it on so thick, but my career is on the line too.”
“You lied to me,” Wyatt says.
“I embellished,” she replies. “I’m sorry. They wanted me to pretend we were more than friends. They said it’d be easy because there was always speculation we were a couple. I was just supposed to make it seem real.”
Wyatt’s brow furrows. “Why?”
“To motivate you. Ugh, it’s so icky, I know. It was out of desperation.”
“I don’t need head games, Portia. My head hurts enough.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She huffs through the receiver. “Sorry. Honestly, we do call each other baby, but it was never serious. We did it as a joke. The managers always wanted us to pose for photos like a couple. We’d call each other baby, making the whole thing one big game. A charade.”
“But this time I wasn’t part of the game,” Wyatt says, the hurt shaking his words. “I was the one being played.”
“Wyatt, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was trying to get the old you back.”
“The old me is back. The old me is the ver-version that never left Josie.”
“You still have a contract with Circle 8. You still have a career to come back to.”
“Maybe I don’t care about it anymore.”
I reach out and grasp his hand as Portia says the words I’m feeling. “You don’t mean that.” Wyatt opens his mouth to rebut, but Portia continues with, “I saw first-hand how you work a crowd. You’re into this. And you lit up when you went into the booth today.”
“Only when I wanted to sing Josie’s words.”
“Our song is locked,” Portia says with a heaviness to her words. “But, I wanted to let you know, I really did like the lyrics.”
Wyatt squeezes my hand back. “Really?”
“They were beautiful and packed with emotion.” A sorrowful sigh comes through the speaker. “Oh, I hate that I’ve ruined things. Wyatt, I promise, we were really good friends. I wish you could remember us.”
“I can’t. I remember you as you are now.”
