Room Service

Chapter Eight

            Now she was closer, I realised I vaguely recognised her, though I couldn’t quite link the name and face. Auburn hair was cropped with the line of her chin, and her strikingly pretty features made it slightly unnerving to stare too long.

            Leon didn’t seem capable of responding, his mouth opening and closing aimlessly, so Collette went to continue.

            “What were you thinking?” she asked. “What on earth is Allison going to say about this when she gets her hands on you?”

            He swallowed, seeming to regain his voice. “How did you find me?”

            “Come on, Leon. Ever since you disappeared my entire job has been to track you down. Not much of a PA with absolutely no idea where you are, am I? And then last night these CCTV images started circulating. Unidentified brunet spotted breaking into some public pool. By some kind of lucky streak, I got wind of them. All I had to do was a little bit of research and… boom. I’m here.”

            I felt kind of awkward, standing there between them, unsure of whether I really counted as being involved in this or not. Still, I wasn’t willing to bet on the fact Collette wouldn’t tackle me if I tried to make an escape; in her eyes, I was probably just as bad as Leon. We were in those CCTV images together, after all.

            “Collette,” Leon said now, a note of pleading in his tone. “You’ve got to help me out here. You haven’t told Allison yet, have you?”

            I watched as her dark eyes searched his expression. “Not yet. I wanted to reach out to you first, see what was really going on before she came barging her way in. Still, I’m not going to be able to keep this from her forever. She’s going to find out soon.”

            “I just wanted some time off. That was all.”

            Collette folded her arms over her chest, already shaking her head. “And you thought this was the right way to go about it? Come on, I thought you had more sense than that.”

            “I don’t know,” he said. “When I took off from the set, I wasn’t thinking straight. There was so much going on… it all got too much. I know I should’ve talked it out with the company, but I didn’t. Please, Collette. Don’t tell Allison. She’s going to kill me.”

            “She won’t kill you,” she pointed out. “How’s the record label going to make any money without your angelic little voice?”

            A small smirk was creeping onto her face, and Leon seemed to relax slightly at the sight of it. Though Collette was intimidating upon first impression, I realised she was probably the least of our worries when it came to Leon’s management. From the way they were talking, it seemed like Collette was a kitten against this Allison.

            “Can’t you just pretend you didn’t find anything? Give me another week or two, and I swear I’ll come back to you lot. I’ll do exactly as I’m told, however many shoots and concerts you want to throw at me. Please.”

            “This is my job we’re talking about,” she said, shaking her head. “I get where you’re coming from, Leon, but Allison’s in charge of all of us. If she finds out I’ve been here and haven’t told her, I’d be fired at the snap of her fingers.”

            “I’ll say it was all my fault. I won’t let her fire you.”

            Collette looked uneasy. “Sorry, Leon. There’s nothing I can do. Especially not now you’ve dragged your little girlfriend into this.”

            It took me a few seconds to realise they were both looking at me; I’d become so absorbed in  viewing this conversation as an outsider that I had forgotten I was actually standing between them. I had given up on trying to work out what Collette was thinking, especially as her eyes swept over me, but in that moment I couldn’t seem to read Leon either.

            “She’s not my girlfriend,” he said eventually.

            “Yeah, well, try telling that to the tabloids once they get a hold of these CCTV pictures. The whole world’s going to see it. I can’t believe you would even think about doing something like this, Leon.”

            He ducked his head in a way that reminded me of a small child being scolded by their mother.

            “I know I sound ridiculously like Allison, but there is some truth in her ranting: you have to start considering your image. You think the media’s going to go easy on you if you’re caught breaking into public property and going missing for months at a time?”

            “I know,” he said quietly.

            “Look, we’re going to fix this, okay?” Collette said, with a newfound positivity injected into her tone. “This isn’t the end of the world. I’m going to do whatever I can to stop those pictures spreading, and in the meantime we’re just going to have to distract them. Maybe Allison will push forward the music video release date, or something. We’ll work it out.”

            “So you are going to tell Allison?” he asked.

            Maybe Collette had been about to say something; she sure looked like she’d been about to. As it turned out, however, we were all interrupted by the sound of the bell overhead the main doors, as well as multiple car engines outside. As my neck snapped in that direction, and my actions were mirrored by both Leon and Collette, and we were faced with what was sure to be a thunderstorm.

            Though I’d previously assumed it impossible, the woman in the doorway was wearing higher heels than Collette, leaving her standing at over six feet tall. With a blonde pixie cut, impeccably blended eye make-up and a fierce expression to top it all off, there was really only one person she could be.

            “Oh, don’t worry,” the woman said, “Allison already knows.”

            I noticed then she was holding a shiny-screened tablet, which she held up for us all to see. Displayed on it was what looked like a news website, headed by a title just too far away for me to read. One thing that was clear, however, was the large photo of Leon and I, very obviously snogging in the middle of the pool.

            “Leon McCarthy,” she said, in a voice that had even my heart leaping, “explain yourself.”

------------------------

Hello guys! Long time no see, huh? It's been about two months since I last uploaded anything on Wattpad, and for that I'm really sorry. The good news is that my A-levels are now over and I have the next three months pretty much free, so there should be a LOT of new stuff coming your way soon!

I'm hoping to get my act together on this story, and get it finished once and for all, because I know how frustrating it must be to have to wait so long between updates. Also, Camp NaNoWriMo starts in a week's time, for which I'll be writing my new novel (if any of you follow me on my other social networks, you'll know it's the long-awaited twin story). That should also be uploaded very soon.

So, that's basically it. This is basically my return to Wattpad after a brief absence. Hope you enjoyed, and as always, drop me a comment for the chance of a dedication. Love you all :)