Page 34 of Just the Tipsy
And I have for years. Dating a singer with a legion of intense fans has meant being bombarded with hate and some truly unhinged threats. I can’t imagine how awful they are now that their theories that I’m just as bitchy as I look online have been confirmed.
How did I not see this coming?
“Good, keep them off. Just a moment.” She pauses, and I hear her say something to someone else. “Anyway, back to the other problem — are you dating the guy who you’ve been posting bits and pieces of on Instagram? Because some pictures of him in that town you’re in have leaked too.”
“Yes…” My heart starts pounding harder than ever. “Have they figured out who he is yet?”
“No. The photos aren’t very clear, so they mostly show the back of his head,” she says. My heart rate slows a little and I press Sadie to my chest. “But he should know that he might have a target on his back.”
I swallow. This was the plan all along and we’d even discussed how many eyes are always on me, but somehow I’d painted it as something abstract in my head — like it wouldn’taffect our day-to-day lives and it would just make Kyler back off if he saw hints of Waylon existing on my Instagram. But now it feels very real. I feel dumb as hell for being so naive and assuming Kyler would take the high road.
“He’s just a regular person,” I say, my voice weak. Sadie licks underneath my chin, like she knows I’m upset.
“That might work in our favor,” she says. “Does he have a lot of social media?”
“No. I can tell him to private his Instagram account,” I say. His Instagram is mostly dog and nature photos, but it’s a big target without moderated comments.
“Give me his name as well so we can get ahead of any issues.”
“His name is Waylon Stryker.” I heave a sigh. “How big of a story is this?”
“About the same as other stories about you both in the past — not the biggest news, but very big in the circles of your fans and his fans. I just wanted to inform you so we could put out a statement of our own,” she says.
“Okay. I have to get back to work, so can we work out the statement over email later?” I ask.
“You’re modeling way out there?” I can practically hear her eyebrows shoot up.
“No, I’m doing social media for Waylon’s family’s company,” I say.
Flo pauses. “Wow. Okay. Good for you. Well, I’ll go ahead and send you a draft in an hour or two, okay?”
“Okay, thanks.”
I hang up and take a few seconds to gather myself before heading back inside.
“Sorry,” I murmur to Rose.
“It’s fine. Sounded like an emergency,” Rose says, frowning. “Are you okay? Because you can totally take a longer break.”
“I’m okay, I swear.” I adjust Sadie on my lap. “It’s just some bullshit I’ll deal with after work.”
I try to stay focused the rest of the day, but it’s hard. My hand itches to check my phone and see what’s being said online even though Iknowit’s not good for me to do that. By the end of the day, I’m wiped just from being tense all damn day.
Walking Sadie when I get home helps relieve tension, though I wish she wanted to walk longer. But it’s enough to calm me down to go over the statement Flo sent over and send it back. I force myself to start texting Waylon about the slight turn the situation has taken, overthinking every detail until I just tell him to call me when he can.
God, what if he hates me for this? I warned him, but I don’t know if I warned him enough.
He calls me a few minutes later, and it’s a FaceTime call. Did he mean to do this? I answer it either way.
“Hey,” he says. He’s clearly just gotten out of the shower, and his damp hair and the flush to his cheeks are extra handsome. Plus, he’s wearing glasses, which I find inexplicably hot. “What’s up?”
“Hey, so, um…” I go to my bedroom and sit down on my bed since it’s cooler in there. “There’s a bit of a problem that you need to know about. Can you private your Instagram account?”
“Sure, I can after this call?” His brows furrow.
“Okay, good.” I sigh. I just need to come out with it. “So, my ex announced our breakup in a way that paints me in a bad light, so the hate mobs are extra bad. And everyone knows you exist, but they kind of knew that before. Someone’s snapped a few photos of us around Jepsen.”
“Hm.” He lays back on his couch, completely nonplussed. “That sucks. Are you okay? Since your ex kind of screwed you over?”
