Started With a Lie – Chapter Seven

I tip the glass of champagne in my hand, watching it circle around in the glass. I take a sip—one of many in the past hour. The party is coming to an end.

            There are hotel assistants cleaning up tables, picking up trash, and mopping the floor. I sit at an empty table, empty glasses and plates everywhere. There are one or two guests lingering around, but they’re not important people so I don’t have to act all nice.

            Lee is trying to reason with the reporters somewhere to stop the pictures and videos from going out into the public. I sigh. I’m nervous. When he comes back, he’s going to be pissed.

            I down my drink and put the glass down.

            I shouldn’t be drinking. Mom told me not to drink until I’m old enough, but I really need a drink right now. I feel a headache coming on. I wonder if I’m drunk.

            “Miss, can you please clear the table so I may clean?” a lady in the black hotel uniform asks me. Her face is blurry—the alcohol must be kicking in. I knew I shouldn’t have downed so many drinks.

            “Surrre,” I slur. I stand up but I forget I’m wearing heels and tumble to the ground. It hurts but I can’t tell where. “Whoops.”

            “Are you okay, miss?!” the lady shrieks, rushing over to help me. She tries to tug my arm but I feel like something’s holding me to the ground—something heavy.

            “I can’t get up, lady. Zombies are coming out of the ground and are keeping me from getting up. Leave without me, lady! You can make it,” I say, flinging my hand away from her. “Go!”

            “Pardon, miss?” She sounds confused—it’s funny.

            “It’s okay, Patty, I got her,” a voice breaks in. It sounds deep. It sounds funny. Everything sounds funny. Suddenly, I’m lifted from the ground. “God, you’re heavy!”

            “Oh my gosh! Thank you, kind man. You saved me from the zombies,” I yell. He’s holding me in his arms. “Thank you!” I wrap my arms around his neck, causing the man to flinch.

            I can feel sleep tugging at my eyes.

            “God, Ivory, you’re so heavy. You weigh like a whale.” Ivory? Who’s Ivory? This man is confusing. I’m so sleepy. I rest on the man’s shoulder. He smells really good. I sniff his shoulder. “What are you doing!”

            Is he talking to me?

            “I’m sniffing your shoulder, silly. You smell really good. I can’t tell if it’s lemon or apple or what. You smell like…”

            “Stop smelling me.” He throws me on something comfy; a bed? I don’t let him go. “Please remove your arms off my neck.”

            “No!” I protest. “Come sleep with me, teddy bear.” My vision gets blurrier. I’m really sleepy now. I tug the man closer until he lands on top of me. “You’re so warm.”

            He tries to shrug off but I tighten my grip. He struggles before giving up with a sigh. I smile with content. It’s too cold without this big teddy bear hugging me. Now, I’ll have a good night rest.

            I drift off into sleep with a smile and a fluffy teddy bear.

“Wake up!” A large hand shakes my shoulder violently. “Wake up, Ivory!” The warm covers are ripped away from me. A shiver runs through me. I hate the cold weather. Mom is so violent, sometimes.

            I sit up causing my head to pound with pain. I wince. I rub my eyes open. “Mom, I’m awake. Shut up already!”

            You can imagine what a surprise it was to see Lee there instead… without a suit on. No, it wasn’t like he was naked—unfortunately. I wonder what he looked like under his shirt.

            I shake my head free from these thoughts. It’s too early to be thinking about such things. I scrunch up my face, disgusted with myself. Lee’s standing there in a normal t-shirt and plaid pajama pants. He almost looks normal.

            I notice I’m partly naked—still wearing the dress from the party. I scream, covering myself with the covers. “Lee! What’re you doing?!”

            “Waking you up,” he yells back. “It’s almost noon! Wake up. You’re so unladylike for a lady. Who sleeps this late? Don’t you have to catch up with your class or something?”

            “So unladylike for a lady,” I repeat, mimicking his tone. Lee sends me a glare. “Whatever. I sleep this late. Now, leave me alone.” I pull myself back to the bed, covering my face in the pillow.

            Lee pulls my legs and I’m dragged out of bed… literally. It’s like one of those horror movies where the stupid female lead is hiding in the most obvious place and gets dragged to her death by the killer.

            “How can you sleep after last night?” Lee asks, still shouting and pulling me out of bed. I sit up, kicking his hands away from my legs.

            I freeze. Last night? What happened lazy night? Something happened. What was it? I can’t remember but I know it’s important. Something important. I can’t remember. I groan in frustration.

            “Why can’t I remember?” I ask Lee, confused.

            “Well after taking the many drinks that you did, of course you can’t remember,” Lee explains, crossing his arms. He rolls his eyes. “Aren’t you underage?”

            “Shut up,” I tell him, getting up. I shove him out of my way. I hear him mutter something like “rude.” I walk to the kitchen, barefoot and still in my dress. I fix it so it’s not hitching up my legs and chest. Getting a glass, I pour some water for myself and finish it.

            Something pops out of nowhere in my mind. A memory—tons of memories: a kiss, flashes of cameras, lies, smelling some nice cologne, hugging someone to sleep—hugging Lee to sleep.

            I gasp, dropping the glass.

            It doesn’t break, though. The glass drops to the table sideways. Maybe expensive glasses are sturdier, I think.

            Lee is standing behind me with a smirk plastered on his stupid, shiny face. “So, you remember?” I stay completely still. I don’t breathe. I feel like he can smell my fear… or that’s just the alcohol from last night.

            “I-I don’t remember.” There goes another lie.

            “Really?” Lee says. He pulls out something out of his pocket of his plaid pajamas and lays it on the table. They’re pictures. Does he usually carry random things in his pajamas?

            The pictures are of us kissing.

            I need to mentally tuck this moment under “another awkward moment with Lee” in my head. It’s always awkward with Lee. I slowly pick up the pictures and go through them. I’m speaking in some, Lee’s glaring at me in others, but to others it might look like an affectionate look.

            Lee reaches into his pocket again—surprise, surprise—and pulls out the new iPhone. What’s he doing? Showing off? I send him a glare but he doesn’t catch it. He’s tapping against his phone.

            He comes closer so our shoulders are touching and says, “Look at this.”

            Lee plays the video. It’s loud at first—many voices all at once—but then all you hear are flashes from cameras. I realize that it’s me standing with Lee at last night’s party while reporters shove questions at my face. There are small recorders surrounding Lee and I.

            I say one sentence. “Yes, we are dating.”  That’s all I say but it causes more flashes and people surrounding us. Suddenly, I kiss Lee in the video for a good five seconds. I gasp. “Holy. Shit.” My hands are covering my mouth.

            Lee takes his phone away and stuffs it back into his pocket, his face smug. My hand is still covering my mouth. How—why did I kiss Lee? What was I thinking! I promised I wouldn’t do anything. I broke so many rules with Lee! Lee…

            He’s really going to kill me, now.

            I look over at him. He’s still smirking at me, clearly enjoying all of this. He’s going to make me pay. I know it. “What do you want?”

            “What do you mean? I told you that you can’t give me anything,” he says, crossing his arms. It’s kind of weird looking at him without his fancy business suits.

            “Then what’s the problem?”

            “Keep your promise.” He takes out another piece of paper from his pocket and I seriously doubt how many things he keeps in there. “This,” he indicates, holding the paper out, “is the contract we signed yesterday.”

            “Did you steal that from my purse?!” I protest, which he ignores.

            “You promised you’d only bother me one last time before leaving me alone. Time to pay up. I was your boyfriend for one night. And you’re the one who broke up all the rules,” Lee says. “The least you can do for me is to leave me alone.”

            I stare at him and slowly nod. Am I really that much of a nuisance? I can’t help but feel… hurt.

            “I can’t have these stupid reporters and rumors messing up my business strategies. I’ve worked too hard,” Lee continues. He runs both hands through his hair—looking stressed for the first time.

            “You want me to leave?” I ask, masking my voice of hurt.

            “Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate.

            “Oh,” is all I say before going back to the guest room. I get out of my stupid dress and change into jeans, and a long-sleeved white shirt. I remove all the crusty make-up from my face and apply a fresh coat of mascara only. I pick up all the clothes off the floor and stuff it in the suitcase. Most of my things are in my bags already but I still pack some things in.

            I put everything in my bags angrily. Why am I so angry he wants me to leave? So what he wants me to leave? It was going to happen sooner or later.

            I throw my makeup in my bag harshly. That’s right, I say to myself. This shouldn’t affect me. He helped me, and now I need to return the favor by leaving. I nod in agreement to my thoughts as I zip up all my suitcases. Fixing all the suitcases by the door, I make the beds and clean the room. I even leave a note that says:

Thanks for the help, Lee.

            He’ll get to read it whenever he finds it. I leave the note on the nightstand and wheel my suitcases to the living room where Lee stands.

            “I’ve booked a room for you. It’s a bigger room than usual but it’s the only one open right now. Hope that’s okay with you?” he says, holding a key out for me to take.

            I snatch it and shove it in my back pocket. Lee arches his eyebrow at me. I glare back and pull my hair into a ponytail. It had started irritating me.  I grab my suitcases by the handle. “Is that all?”

            Lee seems a bit taken back. “Um, yeah.”

            “Great. Goodbye,” I say without even looking at him. I drag my suitcases out of his suite and down the hall and to wherever the hell room number 219 is.

I end up in a room a floor above Candy’s. It’s big with a queen-sized bed and everything. There’s a small fridge and TV, and a decent sized bathroom that’s really clean.

            I catch up with the class and the teacher goes over the activities we’re going to do for the rest of the week: go see the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, and all that jazz. It’s actually fun. I even partially forget about Lee. Everything is fun and games, so far.

            I see Lee only once.

            It’s the last day of the trip. The day I go back to Brownwood—the most boring town of all. I’m getting my bags ready and eating with Candy before Mr. Hopkins calls us down to get on the bus.

            “Ivory, where is the chocolate pudding?” Candy asks as she raids my fridge, the third time since she’s been in my room. “I can’t find it.”

            “You’re going through my fridge again?” I ask, getting my headphones ready for the long bus ride I’ll have to endure with the obnoxious people from my class.

            “Well, not everyone has a fridge and small TV in their room!” she exclaims. She grabs a soda instead. “You’re so lucky! Why don’t you take advantage and just take all of the food? It’s our last day.”

            “Only you would consider that.”

            Candy grins as the door opens. I silently hope it’s Lee, but it’s just a girl from our class. “The buses are ready! We’re leaving now.”

            “Okay!” Candy yells back as the girl leaves. We grab our suitcases and Candy grabs a few more snacks before we go down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the class. The large lobby is filled with many people. I see our group of students near the doors. There’s another tiny group of people standing next to our group.

            It’s Lee and some people surrounding him.

            He’s talking about some business things that I can’t understand but when I pass by—our eyes lock. It’s just a split-second but it feels like slow motion. But, I pass by and he goes back to his conversation.

            Our class loads up the buses outside and I give Lee one last glance before getting up in the treacherous bus.

Hello hello.

For once, I'm not being rushed to write my little message. I hate being rushed. I want to thank every single one of you for voting and commenting! This story's reaching Teen Fiction # 30 and Humor # 15 and I can't thank you enough! I really never imagined getting this popular with this story. So, thank you.

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