Am I Perfect Now?

Chapter 21

"Race?" He asks and I smirk back mischievously. "Race."

"Maybe race will be our always." We mumble at the same time, quoting The Fault In Our Stars. "Jinx!" We both yell an suddenly he sprints off.

"Hey! No fair, cheater." I yell sprinting at my fastest speed until surprisingly, I catch up with him and even better, I get to the booth first.

"Loser! Cheating didn't really get you very far now did it, Zachary." I shove in his face and he sticks out his tongue at me. We pick our ice creams and surprisingly both go for two scoops of Cookies and Cream ice cream.

"Wait. You're Luke Hemmings girlfriend, aren't you?" The young, teenage looking girl behind the booth asks.

"Yeah. That's me." I smile and she smiled back brightly.

"Do you mind if I... uh could get a picture with you? My little sister loves 5SOS and is completely obsessed with you." She giggles a little nervously.

"Sure, no problem." I grin back and she pulls out her phone to take the selfie. "Thank you so much." She giggles after taking the picture.

"No problem. Tell your sister I say hi." I add before Zach and I continue walking. I have to say, that little encounter boosted my confidence a little since its nice to know that some of the hand like me.

As we walk further down the park, there's a group of girls staring at Zach and I and whispering between themselves. We both pretend not to notice and ignore the stares.

I pull out my phone to see I have a missed call from my mom. I text her asking why she called and she asks me to come home and help her with dinner.

"Thank you for today. I had a great time." He smiles as he pulls up at my house.

"Thank you. I had a great time too." I smile and give him a hug before hopping out the car.

"Hello mother." I greet as I enter the house, dropping the keys in the bowl next to the door.

"Hello daughter." She greets back from the kitchen. "So, how can I help you ma'am?" I ask and she giggles, not looking up from the bowl she was stirring.

"I actually don't need help. I just wanted you to come home." She smirks and I roll my eyes playfully, hip bumping her and skipping up the stairs straight into my bed. Just I get settled in bed my phone rings making me have to get up and get it from my desk. I check the screen seeing the call is from Luke.

"Hey Lukey." I greet cheerfully.

"Are you serious right now?" He snaps and I'm taken aback.

"What? What's wrong?" I ask knitting my eyebrows together, sitting down on my bed.

"Oh don't act all innocent. I know this is a fake relationship and all, but you're going out with Zach of all people? Do you know how bad that makes me look?" He yells and I'm dead silent for a moment.

"What?! I'm not dating Zach!" I yell back truthfully and he just huffs back.

"Then explain why you were cuddling under a tree in the middle of a public park?!" He snaps and it takes me a while until I realize that he meant when I almost had a panic attack by the tree.

"Luke no. This is a misunderstanding. We weren't cuddling. we were climbing the tree and I almost got a panic attack so he was helping me calm down." I explain and he chuckles back coldly.

"Quit the lies, Kathleen. I know you have feelings for him." He snaps and I chuckle back at him.

"What? Of course not. Do you not remember what he did to me? I signed a contract to make this relationship look real. Why would I risk breaking a contract? Besides, we're not even really dating so why do you care if I had feelings for somebody else?" I ask and he sharply hangs up. I lay in my bed, completely shocked from what just happened. I get a notification that Luke tweeted something so I unlock my phone to see the tweet.

"Luke5SOS: Yes, Kathleen did cheat on me. No I don't know why. I guess she just wasn't who I though she was :-/" The tweet read and I gasp at my phone. He actually thinks I'm dating Zach.

I quickly call Ashton and after a few rings, he picks up.

"What?" He asks harshly and I am once agin taken aback.

"Ashton. You have to believe me. I am not dating Zach." I tell him quickly but clearly.

"Don't try to make yourself look like the victim here when the victim is clearly Luke. You're making Luke look bad and, not like I care, you're making yourself the most hated person." He snaps and I have to try hard to hold back the tears.

"Ashton. Zach humiliated me I front of the entire school, made everybody hate me and some people even still do. Why in gods name would I date him?" I chuckle coldly and there's a silence on the other end of the line.

"You're right. It does sound unbelievable, but at the moment there's more proof that you are dating him than that you're not." He explains a little more calmly.

"Ashton. Who are you gonna believe. Some jealous fans and attention thirsty magazines who don't even know me, or me, your friend who this incident is about? I think I would know what's going on better than some teeny magazines looking for anything that they can make into a story." I reason. Once again there's a silence before Ashton huffs.

"Alright. You got me. But if there's one thing we know about Luke, it's that he'd stubborn as heck. Once he believes something, it's near to impossible to change his mind. I'm sorry, but I don't think you can convince Luke. Maybe the other guys but not Luke." In the distance in the other end of the line I hear somebody calling Ashton and he signs. "Sorry I've got to go. We have an interview. Bye Kath." He says before hanging up.

It only takes me seconds until I started bawling my eyes out. I hear hurried footsteps stomp up the stairs and Grayson, who was still here from college break, rushes into my room.

"Katie. What's wrong?" He asks gliding me tightly as he sits next to me.

"Why can't I just be happy for once in my life? Why does something always have to ruin my happiness? And I such a terrible person that, I don't know, God doesn't think I'm worth happiness?" I cry and Grayson just keeps holding me tightly in his arms.

"Katie. This isn't your fault. It's just jealous fans." He reassures me. Throwing a glance out my window I see it's already dark out.

"Go get ready for bed. I'll wait for you." Grayson says, letting me go of his strong, warm arms. I do as he says and after about ten minutes I'm back and lie down in bed.

"You know you can leave." I tell him but inside, I wish he wouldn't.

"No. I'm not leaving until you're asleep and I know you're alright." He says and I smile trough the tears, realizing that I have the best brother in existence.

"Goodnight Katie. Love you." He whispers lying down next to me, holding me tight. He knows exactly that that helps me sleep at times like this and sure enough, I find myself falling into a deep sleep just moments later.

•••••••••••••••••••

Hello beautiful people :)

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in an... Like... A decade but I'm on vacation right now and I want to spend time with la familia :)

Please don't hate me :(

-Lisa <3