Publicity

Chapter 5: I Guess It's Official

"You like me?" I asked, a little stunned.

He stared at me. "Yeah, I thought it was obvious."

I shrugged. "You've just never said it before." It was quiet and I scooted closer to Zoey. "I like you too." He looked down at me and smiled before closing the space between us and connecting our lips. I placed my hand on the side of his face, deepening the kiss. He gripped my waist causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach. Wanting more I managed to get each leg on either side of him so was straddling him. He clearly enjoyed it, gripping my waist tighter and shoving his tounge deeper in my mouth. A small sound came from the back of my throat and that was just the beginning of our heated make out session.

~Flashback over~

I felt a familiar pinch form in the back of my eyes causing me to blink rapidly. I just wish I had never fallen for him. Things would be so much easier if I hadn't. I mean, what's wrong with me that he never asked me to be his girlfriend? Was I not good enough? Cause right now, that's what it feels like.

"And I guess that's it." Kenneth finished, clapping his hands together. "Meetings over. "

I sat frozen in my seat and Claire nudged me. "Did you listen to any of that?" she quietly scolded.

I blinked once before fully coming back to reality. "Yeah." I lied. "I heard every word."

"Good." she sighed in relief. "Next week is gonna be a really busy week for you." I nodded looking around for my mom. She was standing in the corner having an animated conversation with Keisha. Ray was already gone. I'm guessing he came in his own car so he could leave as soon as possible. Smart kid.

"Nique, sweetheart come here." My mom motioned for me to join her conversation with Keisha. I reluctantly put on a fake smile and walked towards them. Yup, they were definitely taking this "dating" thing a bit too seriously.

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"Zonnique, the award show is in a week you have to get this right!" Claire yelled at me from where she was sitting.

"I'm sorry." I panted. I could barely breathe from how hard I just pushed myself during that performance and it still wasn't good enough. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling stressed.

"Something's not right? What's going on Zonnique? What aren't you focused? This performance is a big deal!" Claire placed her hands on her hips meaning she meant business.

"Nothing's going on!" I lied. Zoey getting a girlfriend was affecting me more than I wanted it to. I couldn't get this routine right to save my life.

"Alright." Claire sighed, clearly not believing me but letting it go. "Take it from the top." I shot my dancers an apologetic look, for not being able to get the routine down. They were sweating and breathing just as heavily as me.

Once the beat started, a girlish scream was heard. I squinted and noticed Chres running down one of the isles and Jacob running down another one and Craig was just walking following closely behind, obviously chasing him for a reason. Ray appeared shortly after looking annoyed and in no hurry to reach the end of the isle. I wasn't expecting company nor did I want an audience to witness my awful practice performance.

"What are you guys doing here?" I called out.

"Did you forget we had a lunch date babe?" Ray said, going along with the act as long as the clueless dancers were present.

"I did actually." I responded, waiting for him to make a rude remark about me being forgetful and dumb. Surprisingly he didn't.

"No big deal. But I have to bring these two with us." He said motioning to the boys, who were currently wrestling on the floor.