Page 105 of My Rock Star Neighbor
“You better take that,” I say.
“I think she will believe that my feelings were real,” he says.After one quick kiss, he answers his phone and waves goodbye.
I sneak into the building through the back entrance.
“Way to go, Hughes!”One of the senior news editors high-fives me.“That was some sharp investigative work.Very impressed.”
More congratulations greet me as I make my way to my desk in the newsroom, but I also feel like conversations stop as I pass by certain people.Am I being paranoid?
Nemesis turns to me as I sit down.“I knew you weren’t dating for real.”
“Except that wearedating for real,” I say.
“Delivery for Maddie Hughes.”Jing drops off a vase with a dozen red roses and a card that saysLOVE NICKin large letters.“I brought them up from the front desk.So sweet of Nick.”
I meet Jing’s concerned glance.I have the best friends.And this is so Nick—looking out for me, even when I told him I was okay.
Felicity comes by.“Maddie, let’s talk in my office.”
I’m not sure if this is good or not.
“I’m worried that this fake-dating contract revelation is overshadowing your huge story,” she says.
“It will die down because wearedating,” I say more confidently than I feel.
Her phone beeps, and she reads the text.“The district attorney is holding a press conference to announce that they’re investigating these allegations.They’d like a copy of the letter with Ward’s handwriting.”
“This is good, right?”
“Very good,” Felicity says.
I return to my desk and focus on writing my next article.But security messages me that I should take the back exit because more fans have gathered outside the building with signs that label me a liar and askThe Intelligencerhow they could have hired a reporter who lied when our motto is “Truth Above All.”
This is so much worse than I imagined.
But then I am summoned to Shane’s, the managing editor’s, office.Based on the tone of the email, it’s not going to be about my article.
I want to be called in for my reporting—for a promotion—and instead I’m being called in for my relationship.My shoulders slump as I re-read the command.
I should never have agreed to fake date.I was such an idiot.No matter how much I liked him, I knew that I didn’t want to be the story.I knew that being a rock star’s girlfriend is incompatible with being an investigative reporter.And if I didn’t truly realize that when I signed the contract—if I hoped we could date—this is a cold reminder of reality.
I walk into his office.The walls are covered with framed articles.His expression is stern, his hands steepled.
“Did you sign a dating contract and then appear in the press as a happily dating couple?”Shane asks.No preliminaries.
“Yes, but we weren’t faking our relationship.The photos captured us hanging out together, and we like each other, so that came through.We are dating now,” I say.“Nick’s label issued a statement already, and he said that I was his new love when the articles about ‘Nick’s New Love’ were published.”All those articles were published after we were ambushed outside the midtown restaurant.
I’m being defensive, and he doesn’t look convinced.
“As you can no doubt surmise, Nick Devlin’s fans calling you a liar and questioning our hiring is not helpful.”
“I’m sorry.I exercised poor judgment.Not in dating Nick,” I say.“But I should have asked him out at that moment when we discussed it.”That moment in the hallway when I thought he was asking me to date for real, I should have asked him.I should have known my worth and said,Let’s date for real.
Shane looks like he doesn’t know what to do with that response.I don’t think that’s the takeaway he expected.
“I shouldn’t have fake dated him, because being a reporter is about telling the truth, and that’s normally my motto.”
He appears mollified with that response.
