BEYOND THE LIGHTS «j.p.»

no place big enough

Rio stares at her, wants to scream and tell her that it wasn't a mistake, that he wanted to do it, that he still wants to do it, even if the first attempt might end his career. Their career.

"You're going to fix this." Daphne says, standing up and starting to pace again. "You have to fix this, or else everything that we've worked so hard to achieve will just be gone down the drain. Is that what you want?"

Yes.

"No," Rio says softly.

"Great." Daphne says. "Now, here's how we're gonna do it. We gotta get more press out there, get people talking about something else."

"Like what?" Rio asked, because he wasn't quite sure what scheme his mother was cooking up now, but he already knew that he wouldn't be fond of the idea whatever it might be.

Daphne sits on the desk, looking at him. "We need to get the public talking about your relationship with Gia again. We need to go on and confirm what they've already been questioning. Take her out tonight, show her off, get some pictures shot, and then confirm your relationship on Instagram."

Rio looks at her, he knew this was coming, she had been controlling every aspect of his relationship, if you wanted to call it that, with Gia from the very beginning.  Hell, she had created it.

"I'll get you reservation at Gauche." She says, pulling out her phone and dialing a number, not even giving him a chance to say anything. "Call Gia. Tell her to be ready at eight."

With that, Daphne walks out of the room. Rio sighs, burying his face in his hands, sitting alone in the conference room.

•••

Meanwhile, Aiden sits at a table for two in an upscale restaurant that he wasn't even sure he could afford, and he was also sure his father knew he couldn't afford this, and that's probably why he made the reservations.

Sitting across from him was Lauren. Lauren is a pretty girl, Aiden could admit that, she was smart, too, something else he could admit. She would make the perfect girlfriend, wifey material, except she wasn't what Aiden wanted.

Every since Aiden had picked her up, she couldn't stop talking about Rio, and what happened last night. Apparently, she's a big fan of his, has been following him since his early work, and knows every word to every one of his songs.

No matter what—Aiden just couldn't seem to escape Rio. He was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to.

"I just love him, and I think it's amazing what you did for him on that balcony." She says, taking a sip of her wine, looking at Aiden over the rim. "So, people are saying that it was a suicide attempt."

Aiden shifts a bit in his seat, he wasn't sure if this was a question that he was comfortable answering.

"Was it? I mean, I saw the video, and I can't help but notice how much it looked like a suicide attempt." She says, leaning forward a little more. "So, was it?"

Aiden looks at her unblinking. He can't believe this.

"I don't think I'm really at liberty to talk about that." He finally says, and he can see the disappointment written all over her face.