Page 38 of Certified Heartthrob

“You were right all along.” I cut him off, shaking my head as I stared at the ground. I couldn’t stand to look at him. “All people lie and cheat in relationships, and you’re no better. What’s crazy is that I actually agreed with you in the beginning, even though I was trying to change your mind so you’d leave us alone. But then you had me thinking that maybe we were both wrong. That things could be different. So stupid...” I laughed bitterly through my tears. “If I wasn’t smart enough to listen to you about it all, I should have at least trusted myself. You were right. Love is a sham.”

“Camille…”

“I guess you got what you wanted. You proved your point.” I turned to leave, but he grabbed me again. I threw his hands off of me and growled at him. “Leave me alone! I don’t ever want to see you again.”

As I stormed off, I knew that was impossible. Our pictures would be all over the internet in a far less flattering light even than before. My humiliation would be on full display for the whole world to see, just to rub in how stupid I already felt.

Later that night, I was curled up under a blanket on my couch while Jade made me a hot cup of tea.

“Is there alcohol in this?” I asked hopefully.

“I thought that might make things worse,” she replied. “So, no. I didn’t spike the punch.”

When I had calmed down enough to stop crying for longer than five seconds at a time, I’d called my little sister and she’d been taking care of me ever since. Being the kind person she was, she didn’t say a single ‘I told you so’ or anything else that would make matters worse. Which I was very much grateful for.

My phone buzzed from where it lay on the coffee table for the millionth time. It stopped for a moment and then almost immediately started again. I snatched it up and stuffed it under the couch cushions to muffle the sound.

“Is it him?” Jada asked, eyeing me carefully.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” I huffed. “But yes. It’s him.”

“You don’t want to hear what he has to say? What if it really was just all one big misunderstanding like he said?”

“I’m not falling for that. If there’s room for a misunderstanding, something’s probably wrong anyways. He got what he wanted. He proved himself right. That’s the end of it.”

“Whatever you say.” She sighed, leaning back against the cushion with her own cup of tea. I could tell she was biting her tongue.

“I should have listened to everyone. Maybe this was all a part of his plan. To make me fall for him so he could prove his point. Joshua and Lucas thought so, but I was convinced he was different...even though every logical conclusion pointed to the opposite. I can’t believe I was so gullible! He played me like a fiddle right in front of everyone.”

She was quiet for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “Maybe. But also...what if you were right all along? What if you still are?”

“Oh, please,” I grumbled.

“No, really, Camille. You were trusting your gut, and we still don’t know for certain that you weren’t right about him. It seemed to me that what both of you felt was real. Lots of people thought you were the one playing him, but he knew it wasn’t true. Maybe he’s in the same boat. Things aren’t always as they seem.”

“You’re right about that last part,” I scoffed. “But that’s about it.”

We sat there in silence, drinking our tea, until I felt the hot rise of anger and sadness building up inside of me with renewed intensity.

“I need to be alone,” I told her, digging my phone out of the cushions before heading to my room.

“I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

I slammed my door shut and climbed into bed. After another crying spell, this time into my pillow, I was finally brave enough to look at my phone and take in the articles and photos that were spreading like wildfire.

HEARTSTRING APP CEO CAMILLE MEADOWS AND HER LOVER, MARK SILVER—The saga continues. It seems we misjudged Camille’s motives and it was Mr. Silver who was playing her...not the other way around. He was caught red-handed with one Audrey Murphy in a rather compromising position. Ms. Meadows set out to placate their company’s internet troll, only to end up getting trolled herself. And by the looks of it, she’s not taking it so well.

I read until I couldn’t anymore and let the phone fall down to the floor beside my bed, my arm hanging limply above it. My screen lit up every few minutes with new notifications from Mark—calls and texts. I couldn’t stand to see anything he had to say, much less hear his voice.

The longer I laid there, the more it was abundantly clear what I needed to do. I yanked the phone back up, scrolled to his name in my contact list, and blocked it. The sting from even looking at his name, knowing I hoped never to see or hear it again once things settled down, was the final exhausting push I needed to make me long for sleep.

As I drifted off, I couldn’t help but indulge in a fantasy about what would have happened if things had gone the other way...if I’d showed up looking so good and Mark had taken me into his arms...This time, we could have made love right there inhisliving room.

But I guessed he’d already had that plan in place, just for his stupid ex...not for me.

20

Mark

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