Publicity

Chapter 21: Broken Promises

"Nique Nique!" he squealed. He was too adorable. He had really grown on me and was determined to stay in contact. It's surprising the amount of times he's called me... I mean, he's only 4 years old!

"Hey babe." I smiled at him and Ryan.

"Hey Nique." Ryan smiled politely. "Are you busy?'

"Not at all." I laughed. "I'm actually here with Ray."

"Ray?!" Tay squealed. It was extremely cute how much Tay Tay adored Ray. Ray stood up and walked to sit behind me. He pulled me in-between his legs, wrapping his arms around my stomach, making it easier for me to hold my phone out and show the both of us. I tried my hardest to ignore the immense amount of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

"Hey. Hey dad." He rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Hey son." Ryan smiled. "We just decided to call Nique cause Tay Tay here really misses her."

"I miss you too babe." I grinned.

"When are you coming back?" he asked, a tiny sparkle evident in his eyes. I felt extremely guilty because, to be honest... I'm probably never going back to California to visit Ray's family. Once we're broken up it would be weird for me to go visit his family.... right? I didn't quite know how to answer that question.

Ray noticed my distress and quickly spoke up. "Nique is going on tour soon so she's gonna be pretty busy." Ray said. Tay pouted. He looked genuinely disappointed and it broke my heart.

"But when I have shows in Cali I'll visit you!" I stated and instantly regretted it. What did I just do? I just gave him false hope. I did have a few shows in Cali but I wouldn't be able to visit Tay. To Ray's whole family, I'd be the ex-girlfriend. It wouldn't be acceptable...

"Yay!" he squealed. "Bring Ray."

Ray laughed lightly. "We promise." I wonder if he can tell how nervous I'm getting. I would never want to get Tay's hopes up for something that wasn't gonna happen.

After listening to Tay talk about random things, we had finally said good bye. He was literally the cutest thing ever and since I didn't have any siblings, I instantly felt attached to him.

"Isn't he adorable?" Ray laughed once we hung up.

"He's amazing. I love him." I smiled. Ray smiled back. I knew family was extremely important to him so the fact that his family seemed to like me very much must have been reassuring to him in some way. Even if this is a stunt.

"Is that us on your background?" Ray questioned, picking up my phone before I had a chance to grab it and deny it.

"Uh..." I felt myself blush. "Yeah." It was a picture of us back in Cali in Rays dad living room. I was between his legs, we were both on the floor and we were both on our phones. Fefe tweeted it the other day and I quickly saved it to my phone.

"Send me this picture. I love it." Ray grinned. I blinked in surprise. I definitely expected him to make fun of me... "This is my background." Smiling, Ray held up his phone to let me look. His background was a picture of me. I remember because he had taken it unexpectedly. I was grinning up at him, like a dork, in the picture.

"I thought I made you delete that!" I squeaked, my cheeks getting even hotter.

He chuckled. "It was such a cute picture, I couldn't do it." I rolled my eyes.

"It's a terrible picture."

"Well I love it." He shrugged and slipped his phone back into his pocket. I leaned my head on his shoulder and set my phone in my lap. I wanted all of this cute couple stuff to be real. Of course, it was real on my part but to him it was just a publicity stunt... I felt my phone buzz in my lap and saw Zoey's name flash across the screen. Instantly feeling annoyed, I rolled my eyes and deleted it without even reading it. He tried texting me a few days ago but I ignored that one too. I don't know why he was suddenly interested in me again.

"Has he been trying to talk to you?" Ray asked. I hadn't even noticed he saw the message.

"Yeah." I sighed. "It's no big deal. I just ignore him." Ray just nodded, his face didn't give away any certain emotion. After a few seconds of silence, I rested my head back on Ray's shoulder. This time he wrapped his arm around my bare waist, sending tingles all the way down to my toes. I suddenly regretted wearing this bikini.

"Do you still think about him?" Ray suddenly asked and I knew he was talking about Zoey.

"Honestly?" I asked. He hesitated before nodding. "I don't." I answered, and it was the complete truth.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah." I exhaled. "He made me insecure. He never treated me right. He wouldn't show his feelings for me. He wasn't a good guy for me."

"Then why did you ever like him?" He asked.

"I don't really know..." I sighed. "I guess it's because he's the only one who wanted me. I liked the attention he would give me... but it wasn't always positive." Ray was quiet, allowing me to continue. "I guess after being treated badly, I believed it was normal. I just thought every guy was like that. I figured my prince charming didn't exist."

Ray knew all of this already. Why was he making me talk about it again? "Zonnique, sweet guys do exists. I promise." He replied.

"Like who?" I frowned. "The only sweet guy I can think of is you."

"Well sometimes is takes a special girl to make a guy show his sweet side." Ray explained.

"Guess I wasn't that special girl for Zoey." I mumbled.

He frowned. "No, you weren't. But you'll find a guy who treats you like royalty, don't worry." I already found him. The only thing I was worried about was that he might not share the same feelings. Each day I was falling for Ray harder... it was a scary experience. I didn't want to get hurt again.

"Come on. Let's go inside." He stood up and held out his hand for me to take. I took it and hopped to my feet. "What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked as we made our way into his house.

"I have all week off, remember?" I told him.

"I know. I was just making sure." He smiled. "We're shooting the music video for Stars tomorrow and I want you to go." I thought about it for a second... watching the guy I like be touchy with some gorgeous video girl.... doesn't sound like much fun. "But there will be lots of crew members and paparzzi so we'll have to act like a couple." He added. Hmm. An excuse to kiss Ray? Count me in.

"I'll go." I answered. "But you need to stop treating me like a piece of glass. I'm not gonna become emotionally unstable if you kiss me for the stunt. It's no big deal." Ray had been trying to avoid kissing me at all costs because he didn't want to create a "friends with benefits" relationship. But it was really starting to get old. I'm not that broken... Besides, I wanted to kiss him. Badly.

"I know." He sighed. "I just worry about you. I care." My heart swelled. He cares.

"I know you do. Thank you." I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His arms made their way around my waist, hugging me back. If I develop any more feelings for this kid, I'm gonna be in big trouble.