Bed Sheets II

10. Conference Attack

Draven was in his dressing room.

He had a conference for the grand opening of his new project, and although he could not stop thinking about Kyle's encounter, he needed to maintain his composure for this moment. He examined his reflection, his black hair sleeked backwards with jail and he tightened his ty, making certain that it was not crooked.

It had been four days ever since its release, and the traitor had not yet been caught. At this point, he was beginning to worry that he may need to fire all of them, which was the last resort he did not want to take. He wanted to trust Rebecca, Miranda, Jason, and even though he hated Hector, they had all been loyal to him. However, hearing that someone had gone straight to Kyle instead of even Eric, made it even more difficult to trust anybody.

Nevertheless, he stood from his seat and left his dressing room, raising his arms with the media team rushing after him to place the mics at the appropriate spots. They placed one around his ear that stood in front of his mouth, and they said, "Say something so we can test it."

"Draven is hot," he joked, and the media team nodded their heads, his sound being confirmed.

He reached the edge of the stage, and shook his arms, his nerves causing his breathing to become a bit heavy. One member of the media team approached him, "I'll let you know when you can get on, they're introducing you now."

"Sweet," he said stressfully.

He raised an eyebrow, "Why are you nervous? You've done this plenty of times before, haven't you?"

Draven finally turned to eye the ginger kid from the media team observe him oddly. "Yes, I have but I get nervous sometimes."

"You'll be fine—oh, it's your turn."

He was introduced on stage, and bolted from the edge, finally appearing and the audience went berserk. All of them began cheering, clapping their hands, whistling, anything to capture the attention of the famous author Draven H. Malcom. A bright confident smile on his face greeted them, and women felt their heart be swarmed with butterflies, their cheeks beaming red as they waved their hands. Reporters extended their microphones at the front of the stage, and Draven finally took a seat, folding his arms on the able in front of him.

"I'm really happy to be here," he said. "I have lots of time to answer dozens of questions, so I'm all yours for today."

The host began selecting audience members with questions, mostly reporters, and Draven listened to them carefully. They were all about the released chapters from his new comic book, about the main character and the origin of the story. They all wanted background details, and Draven was doing anything in his power to refrain from using Eric's name.

Until one of the reporters asked, "Draven, five years ago you were in a relationship with a man named Eric Valence, and you titled him co-author. You've mentioned that Ellic is based on a man you've met before; do they have any connection?"

Draven snorted, then responded, "I can't answer that."

The next reporter asked, "After five years, what could Eric Valence have possibly done that caused you to create an entire comic book about him?"

"I never said it was about him."

Another one was selected, "How do you feel about the rumour of there being an affiliation between Eric Valence and Kyle Merchi?"

He frowned, "I don't feel anything. I'm not answering any other questions about Eric."

"What about Kyle Merchi? There were rumours that you were both seen next to your vehicle at your company. Was he, for the lack of better word, the driving force behind your comic book?"

"No, he was not," he was growing irritated.

"A few years back, Eric and yourself had a long explicit battle since he had written a novel about your relationship. Is this some sort of revenge plot?"

"No!" he shouted, the microphone squeaking for a moment and they covered their ears. When the squeak stopped, Draven was seen panting and his features were distorted into a rage. "Eric and I are done, alright? We fell out of love, and we hate each other."

There was a pause, nobody saying anything since Draven was near exploding. And, he did.

"You know what? Fine."

He stood to his feet, the table almost tipping over. "Yes! I admit, yes this comic is all about Eric Valence. It's all about the real Eric Valence, the one that makes promises that he never fulfills, as if they never meant anything. The one that uses people, makes them feel hopeful to only never contact them again. The one that sends his partner, Kyle Merchi, to pop up on me at various locations, but can't come talk to me himself."

"Yes, that's the Eric shown in the comic, a side of him none of you really had the chance to see. The Eric that I supported for weeks when his best friend passed but he never once thanked me. Instead, he goes and tells his new partner that I'm arrogant and conceited, and all the wrong things I may have said."

"Can you believe that he said he hated me? After I made him co-author on my biggest project at the time. It's as if he forgets he's done wrongs as well, as if he forgets that he cheated on me with one of my editors while we were together, did he ever mention that Kyle?" he spat, staring at one of the cameras. He recalled the moment Eric had kissed Jason at the bar, drunk.

"He probably didn't, because he's manipulative. He manipulated me into believing that he loved me, that he was going to come back, for us." Draven pointed to the screen behind him displaying the title of his novel. "Losing Us over Selfish You, that's what it's referring to. Before Eric left, he said he was leaving to find himself, for our relationship, for us. He said he needed to get away from the place where his best friend committed suicide, and I did nothing but respect him."

"And I waited for him, for five long hard and embarrassing years," he choked on tears, and paused for a moment. "But nonetheless I waited, because he promised that it was for us. And then he comes back, with a damn fiancé. So sorry that I feel a little betrayed and decided to write a comic book about it. Everyone is focused on the revenge aspect of it, so yes! This comic is entirely to show how vindictive Eric Valence truly is!"

He snatched the microphone from around his ear, threw it on the ground and in rage, he stormed off the stage.