As Evil As Ignorance

AEAI 16

“Did you see the tabloid yesterday?” My petite brunette best friend saunters into the kitchen as I pour my morning coffee for work.

I smirk at her ruffled hair and tiny pajamas, “No, why?”

She holds up a finger as if to tell me to hold on and runs back to her room. A second later she returns and waves what looks like a magazine around. But I know better, it’s a tabloid and they’re never good.

As soon as it’s in my hand, I know I’m going to hate it. There’s a big picture of Henry kissing me on the front with the headline, “Sam’s new toy!” And underneath it, “The mystery man tries to claim our favorite bad boy. Does he know he’s only got the night?”

“This is stupid,” I tell her as I throw it on the counter.

She opens it up to smooth out the pages, sliding it back, “It gets better.” She points to a spot in the article, “Read here.”

Leaning down slightly, I read aloud, “Our resident playboy, Sam Ashton, took the mystery man out to dinner. A source says, ‘They were loved up all night. They were chatting and laughing. They could hardly keep their hands to themselves.’ Looks like this guy might be the one to ‘Save the Day’ or at least Sam’s reputation. Could this guy be different than the others? Or maybe Sam was really desperate for some adult time.” Shaking my head I look back up, “These guys are idiots.”

Ella wags her eyebrows and smirks, “Look at the last paragraph.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Read it,” she tells me through clenched teeth.

Shaking my head, I look back down and read, “No name for the mystery dater last night. If you’re out there, you remarkably handsome young lad you, our hotlines are open and we’d love to hear how the date went. That includes anyone that has information for our newest plaything or the date itself.”

I shake my head again, “They never stop. I don’t get it. I’m not even famous.”

“You are to them,” she singsongs as she cross the kitchen to grab a coffee cup, “we all are.”

“Yea, but at least all of you do something in the industry. You and Toby do music stuff. Brie models. Maya is an actress and even Nikki did a few little roles here and there. I don’t want anything to do with this world.”

She chuckles as she takes the coffee pot from me, “And you’re their favorite subject. I think you get more headlines than Toby and Maya do.”

“I just want to do my job,” I sigh and sit down on one of the stools. “I don’t want to be a Kardashian.”

She scrunches her face up and looks over as she sits on the stool next to me, “What does that mean?”

“They don’t do anything and they’re famous because their parents are famous,” I stand up and start to walk to my room. “I’m not famous. My family and friends are. I don’t want to live in your shadow. I’ve build my own life and I want to keep it that way.” I stop just outside my door and turn to look at her, “I love you guys, but I don’t want to be you. It’s really frustrating when I can’t just be my own person, because some bullshit tabloid can’t leave me alone.”

I don’t wait for her response; I just walk into my room and straight to my closet, setting my cup down on the dresser. Routinely, I put on my tie and shoes. Just as I’m grabbing my jacket, Henry appears at my closet door.

“You upset Ella,” he says it quietly like he’s scared to tell me.

I shake my head and look up at him, “I’m upset too.”