Page 18 of My Rock Star Neighbor
He thinks I would do a tell-all article.Some friendship we have.Emotional care, my foot.
“No,” I say.No way.“I’m sure you can find a million other women who’d be willing to be your fake girlfriend.”
“No.”He shakes his head.“I can’t.Not ones that I trust.”
“You just clearly said you don’t trust me.”
“I trust you as much as I trust any reporter,” he says.
At least he sees me as a reporter.Some comfort there.
“I cover the story.I amnotthe story,” I say.
“Please.”
“Hard pass.”I slip inside my apartment and close the door.I’m not falling for Nick’s puppy dog look through the opening.The fact that my entire body did a leap of joy when he said “my real girlfriend” is all that I need to know that I would not survive fake dating with my heart intact.But even more importantly, as a reporter, my job is to tell the truth.How can I be part of a fake relationship?
Chapter six
Nick
“Shesaidno?”Joséasks, his voice over the phone echoing in my ear.But he doesn’t sound sorry about it.If anything, he’s enjoying my predicament way too much.He already asked me twice to repeat the exact words that I used and how she responded.Meanwhile, it sounds like his wife, Elena, invited friends over for the night, because I can hear a lot of female laughter in the background.
“Serves you right for keeping her up at night playing music,” he says.
“It was only until eleven p.m.Maybe, sometimes, midnight.Who goes to bed before eleven p.m.?”
“Apparently Maddie does.”José says he will ask Elena if she has any suggestions, but he needs to get her alone for a minute.And he needs to make his famous guacamole dip.We hang up.
I pace around the floor of my apartment and then stare out the window.It’s dark already, and the shades of the various windows across the street have already been pulled down.A cold draft makes me shiver.I pull on a sweater.
My phone rings, and I pick up.
José says, “I’m back.”
“But other than that, I’ve been a good neighbor.”Ican’tbelieve she said no.I thought we were friends.“I take care of her cat when she has to travel.I brought her food when she sprained her ankle.”
I move away from the window and sit back down by my keyboard and guitar, staring at the framed Rolling Stones poster on my wall.
“You’ve been out of the dating world way too long,” José says.“How could you ask her to fake date you and sign an NDA at the same time?”
“So, Big Brain, when else should I suggest that?”
“Maybe don’t suggest an NDA at all,” he says.“You either trust her, or you don’t.”
I envy José’s devil-may-care attitude.I really do.Maybe that comes with the territory of being a drummer.His attitude:Let them write what they want.Any publicity is good publicity.Or maybe he’s just smarter than me.He never liked Christina.
“Here, Elena wants to talk to you,” José says.
“Nicky, darling, you should not be having this problem, but it’s because you’ve closed yourself off,” Elena says.“You need to open up more and trust.You’ve got to let go of what that Christina woman did to you.”
“You’re right,” I say to Elena.But that is so much easier said than done.If anything, this only shows that I was right not to date—because I’m too easy a target to be pulled down by scandalous rumors right now.But Maddie has been living next to me for several years now and has never written an article about me.And she could definitely have written some horror piece titled “No Sweet Dreams: Next-Door Neighbor to an Up-and-Coming Rock Star,” based on how much she hates when I play late.She’s not going to write an article about fake dating me if she doesn’t want to be the story.
“Here’s José back,” Elena says, telling him that I said she was right.
“I’ve been telling you that for ages.And she’s right?”José asks.
“You wanted me to tell her she wasn’t right?”I ask.
