Page 6 of For Butter or Worse
“Nina?” he croaked. She didn’t turn back, but the red light on the camera pointing at him turned on.That’s just great. The GIFs that would quickly follow of him looking like a sad puppy were going to be the icing on this clusterfuck cake. If she wasn’t going to come back, he’d have to go to her. He shook his head and started to sprint until he caught up with her. She turned and a thick, wavy strand of hair fell in front of her eyes. They burned amber back at him—danger.
“You’ve made your point.” He leaned closer and put a hand on her shoulder, feeling an unexpected jolt of static electricity. She glanced down, then shrugged him off.
“If you haven’t noticed, I was on my way out. What do you want?” She crossed her arms and looked away. For a split second she seemed bored, just like the first time he’d met her.
“If you’re going to quit then you have to at least make fun of me on camera. It can’t just be that you’re gone.” He was trying to joke. He wanted desperately to turn back the dial and return to the beginning of the taping, before he’d pissed her off to the point of leaving.
But she wasn’t laughing, smirking, or even so much as giving him room to breathe. Instead, she slowly shifted her focus back to him, as if just noticing he was standing there. Then her gaze intensified and Leo took in a deep breath from the force of it.
“Good luck,” she said. “You’ll need it.” Then she broke eye contact and continued to walk toward the glowing neon exit sign at the corner of the stage. She grew smaller until he could no longer see her at all.
He turned around to face the soundstage. There was a camera in his face and the red light glowed back at him.Fuck.
@LeoODonnell’s Twitter Mentions
@mrsleotoyoumom and dad are fightingggg
@doughb4hois this real????
@thankunxtbakerLeo ur so hot. I would never walk out on you. DM me, please!!!
@le0snumber1knew this was coming. #NastyNina strikes again
@nuts4ninahello!!! He was being a dickhead!
@bakingchmp99this is why we can’t have nice things.
@bbqbrotherGOOD 4 U! Nina always seems like she’s perpetually on her period. Time 2 get RID
@rollingpindivanever used to respect Nina. Seemed like a bitch. but I think I might just marry her now?
@LeoFan03same ^^^
@rollingpindivayour profile pic is kinda cute
@LeoFan03
3
NINA
Charlie:At least I know our relationship isn’t the only thing you left unfinished.
Nina had reread the text from her ex many, many,manytimes. They hadn’t spoken since she’d left him after joining the show. So the passive-aggressive message was a surprise. She couldn’t exactly blame him for being hurt—no one wants to be dumped—but shehadleft for a reason, and he knew why.
Leo probably didn’t even have relationships long enough to keep women’s numbers in his phone. She’d seen enough tweets from gossip columnists to know he always had a new date, and never anyone steady. Not that she should be thinking about Leo, or his dating habits, anyway...
“Are we adding fish sticks to the menu?” Jasmine—her sous chef, business partner and best friend—snapped her back to the present. To stop spiraling into an existential crisis, she’d come into work three hours early. Since she’d left the show for the restaurant, she might as well get back to it. And if she stayed home any longer she would’ve been forever sucked into the void of checking the mentions on her phone. Which there were plenty of—fans asking if she was really leaving the show FOR REAL, THOUGH? Trolls telling her that #NastyNina should’ve left a long time ago, the standard comments of “you’re ugly” and worse.
“It’s a no to fish sticks. We don’t have a kids’ menu,” Nina said.
“Then what are your plans for that poor fish?” Jasmine nodded to Nina’s prep station, where a beautiful piece of sole had been cut into finger-size pieces.
Nina was supposed to be trimming flyaway edges from the fillet, but instead she’d nearly shredded it into oblivion. She hadn’t been paying attention, like, at all. Her thoughts were a bowl of eggs she’d meant to cook into a perfect omelet, but had ended up scrambling instead.
“Can I play the I-just-quit-my-job-on-live-TV-and-life-is-hard card?” she said, then told herself,Also, I’m sure Leo is over the moon that he’ll never have to work with me again.
“Lucky for you, I happen to love fish sticks. They’re an underrated option. I’ll make the waitstaff a snack out of this.” Jasmine quickly swept the limp hunks onto a clean plate, and put it off to the side. Then she turned to study Nina.
