Until Mia (Until Series #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

I was woken up Sunday morning by the excessive ding coming from Layla's phone. With my eyes still shut, I groan into my pillow annoyed that I was being woken up before I was ready. Forcing my eyes open, I reach behind me and throw a pillow at my sister who slept soundlessly in her bed.
     "What the hell?" Layla shrieks at me surprised.
     "Yeah I was going to ask you the same thing. Put your phone on silent if you're not gonna respond to your notifications." I scowl at her.
     "Sorry. It's probably my Twitter notification." She tells me as she reaches for her cellphone. "It only goes off it's about Drew." She admits embarrassed.
     "You know it's officially weird that you have tweets sent to your phone about my boyfriend."
     "You know when I did it, I didn't know he was going to become your boyfriend... You hated the guy.
     "I didn't hate him," I correct her. "I just didn't care about him."
    "Now looks who's in loveee!" She says in a sing song voice.
     I roll my eyes. "You're lucky I don't have another pillow to throw at you."
     Layla laughs. "I'll mute my notifications." She tells me before logging into her phone.
    BI was wide awake now and I knew nothing would get me to go back to sleep. Drew and I have plans to go the movies in a few hours and I can't wait to see him.
     "Congratulations Sis.. You're famous." Layla announces, stealing my attention.
     I frown at her. "What are you talking about?"
    BShe holds out her phone for me to take. "If you weren't my sister, I'd probably hate you too." I look closer at the picture on her phone.
     It was a picture of Drew and I with my legs around his waist and arms around his neck as we kissed. I sink into my bed when I noticed his hands on my ass. I realize that this was taken yesterday after Drew had got off stage. Above the pictures was the bold caption: TEEN HEARTTHROB MAKING BED WITH HIS MAID STILL IN IT.
     My stomach drops lower and lower with each word that I read.
     "Easton's very own, teen heart throb Drew Lyons has been keeping a low profile and now we know why. Drew  is home for the summer and looks to be spending all his time with his hired help, Mia Thomas. The two were recently seen together backstage at Drew's Back-To-School- Summer-Concert and the two were not shy about showing a little PDA.
     We asked the fans what they think about Drew's latest conquest and they all agreed that Mia would just be another notch in Drew's belt by next week.
    Number one in the charts and number one in breaking hearts, Drew is known for surrounding himself with beautiful, exotic woman and it looks like Mia is the newest addition.
    Mia is an employee at Lyon's summer home in Easton where only the wealthy and elite reside. She works in the kitchen and cleans his bed.
     Apparently she sleeps in it too.
     Mia Thomas is a local who lives with her younger half sister Layla and alcoholic mother Celine Thomas who was recently arrested for a DUI. Celine was the first to work for Drew in his summer home and now interestingly enough , her daughter is working for and now dating the popstar. Mother-daughter team up anyone?"
    I dropped Layla's phone. How could the media say these things? They were painting Drew as this serial dater and me as a gold-digger.
    "GIRLS! WE'RE ON TV! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Celine is heard shouting at the top of her lungs. I was almost afraid to see what they were saying on the TV but I knew Celine would come drag me down if I didn't come myself. "Looks like your momma was right." Celine says to me smugly before turning the volume up on the entertainment channel she was watching.
     There's another picture of Drew and I on the screen. At least this time our hands are in all the appropriate places. They're tainting the memory of the day Drew and I said we love each other and I was powerless to stop them.
     "Hollywood Daily has the latest scoop on everyone's favorite pop star. Drew Lyons is home for the summer! That's right! Drew is spending a little time in the sun in Easton, Florida where the twenty-one year old was born and raised and from what I've been hearing- he isn't spending it alone. Now this is where all my lioness might want to cover their ears because their beloved Drew Lyons is off the market! But you never will guess by who. It's his maid! You heard me right, the "Baby It's You" singer is apparently dating the hired help. Mia is her name and she obviously has our Drew wrapped around her finger. Who is this girl? Has Drew finally found the one right here in his home town or is she just another distraction since his breakup with long-time girlfriend Casey Ventura? Whoever she is, I don't see her lasting very long... the others didn't. When we come back we'll take a look at Drew's past relationships and figure out what went wrong. You don't want to go anywhere. We'll be back with this story and much more when we return."
     I couldn't hear another word. I ran out of the room and straight into the bathroom. Their words replayed in my head along with the pictures of Drew with other girls and everything inside me just spilled out until there was nothing but dry heaves. When I was done I stood up and walked over to the sink and rinsed out my mouth before pressing a cold, wet hand to my forehead.
     "Don't listen to them Mia!" Layla tells me from the other side of the door. "They're just saying whatever will give their shows a rating."
     "I don't want to say I told you so..." Celine says.
     "Mom!" Layla scolds her.
     I didn't want to hear what either of them had to say. "Just go away!" There was a knock on the door and I groaned. "I said go away!"
     "Mia, it's me." It was Drew. I threw the door open and threw myself at him, immediately he wraps me up in his arms. "I'm so sorry." He tells me fiercely and I cry when I hear the emotion in his voice. He was blaming himself and he shouldn't. "If you guys don't mind I'm gonna take Mia for a little bit."
     "Bring her back happy." I hear Layla tell him but I didn't lift my head from Drew's neck to see her face.
     "Your room," He whispers in my ear and somehow I manage to move my feet and take us there. It isn't until the door is shut behind us that I pull away from him. "Baby, I'm so sorry."
     I shake my head. "You didn't say all those mean things."
     He gave me a humorless laugh in response. "But I brought you into the crossfire of their words. Being with you was the only thing that mattered to me and I didn't think about how it would change your life. The media knows who you are now and if you think this is bad, you won't be able to handle what comes next and it only gets worse."
     I swallow the lump that formed in my throat. How could it get worse? "How do you do it? How do you handle them saying all this horrible things about you and the people you care about?"
     "It comes with the fame. I just try to ignore it as best as I can and tell the people I love to do the same."
     "You know I use to hear Layla talk all the time about the girls you were seen with? She said some pretty horrible things about those girls. And I knew it was only coming from a place of jealousy and envy but I never thought about how those girls must feel to read and hear what people think of them.... Until now. It hurts." I admit. Drew stared at me torn and I hated knowing I was the one who put that look in his eyes. "But I'm strong." I add. "I can handle it."
     Drew doesn't reply. Instead, he pulls me into his arms and we lay in my bed in silence. The two of us don't say a word for a while and I wonder what he is thinking.
     "You know I promised your sister and you that I wouldn't make you cry again... but it looks like I broke that promise."
     I look up at him, needing him to see that I was going to be okay. "It's not your fault."
     He loosened his hold on me and stared into my eyes. "It is my fault. I brought you into this. I knew what being in a relationship with me would do to you and I didn't care. I was selfish. I can handle them running my name through the dirt, but hearing them say anything bad about you... that I can't handle."
     I sat up straight and took his hand in mine. "But I can. The media, the fans... I can handle all of it as long as I have you."
     He shook his head. "I know what it's like to feel like everyone is watching you, judging you, waiting for you to make a mistake so they can blow it up and bring you so far down you don't know if you want to get up...I don't want that for you Mia."
     I look down to realize he wasn't holding my hand anymore. "I love you."
     "I love you too." He tells me but hearing those words weren't as comforting as it should have been."Which is why I gotta let you go. You deserve someone who can take you out without cameras and mean words being shoved into your face. Someone who can show you off and won't get hate for it. You deserve better than me."
     The lump I swallowed down several times came back and I could feel my eyes burning with unshed tears.
     "So that's it?" I ask, fighting back the tears that wanted to fall.
     "You knew this was going to end one day." Drew hits me with a hard stare. "Our worlds don't mix and when they do it doesn't last. You knew that going into this and so did I."
     He was right. He never promised me forever. Only the summer.
     I promised myself I would be strong when this was over so that's what I was going to do.
     "Okay." I scooted back on the bed so that it put distance between us. "You should go then."
     "Mia," He reaches out for me but I pull back and stand up.
     "I'm a big girl Drew. I'll be fine.You were right. We both knew what we were getting into when we went into this relationship." I say, making my voice devoid of emotion as much as possible.
     "I do love you Mia." Drew tells me as he stands up from the bed.
   I couldn't look at him. "Apparently not enough."
     I didn't look up until the door opened and shut. I lift my head to stare at the door my heart just walked out of.
     He was gone.
     All the self preparation, all the mantras that I repeated that I was strong enough to handle him walking away was completely useless. I wasn't strong. I didn't see how I could go on with life like he wasn't the center of it.
    The door opens and my head snaps up, hoping that he came back. That he would fight for us. But it wasn't him. I meet Celine's eyes across the room. I don't say anything. I don't have to.
      Quickly she erased the distance between us and pulls me into a hug only a mom can give. Her hand cradles my head to her chest while the other hand sooths my back.
     "Just let it out baby. Momma's here." She repeats.
     I melt into her embrace and for the first time in a long time she was the mom I needed her to be.