Damage Control

chapter 5

"You fucker! I'll ruin you!"

I jostled awake and groaned. My head was pounding and for a second, I thought I was home again.

But seeing Hadyn standing half naked sticking his upper body out of my fire escape brought me back into reality with a harsh slap.

Shit, I thought, realizing how chilly I was. That feeling was familiar, but I hadn't felt this way in months. With a grimace, I lifted my covers and saw that I was in my birthday suit. And Hadyn Michaels had probably woken up in the same position as me. Hadyn Michaels who had a girlfriend that could probably buy my entire apartment building and then some.

Hadyn looked at me and groaned. "We-"

I jumped up and wrapped my comforter around myself, making myself look like an actual caterpillar about to cocoon. But the last thing I cared about was looking appealing. "You have a girlfriend!" I hissed.

"That's the least of our concerns," Hadyn responded, his lips tightening into a line.

"That's the-" I repeated in disbelief. "How could this get any worse?"

He looked at me, running a hand through his mussed up hair. "There was a pap taking photos of us through the fire escape," he explained.

My heart dropped. My legs buckled and before I knew it, I was staring at the ceiling.

"Lex? Lex?" Hadyn shook me, kneeling over my fallen self.

"There was a person. In my fire escape. Taking photos of us. While we slept together."

He blinked a few times. "Well, technically it was after-"

"Run," I said, calmly.

He furrowed his brows together. "What?"

"Run," I repeated in the same tone. "Because I'm going to kill you. For real this time."

Hadyn's eyes widened. He straightened up and I sat upright, tugging on the pajama shirt I had taken off and I bolted after his retreating figure.

"THERE WAS A PERSON TAKING PHOTOS OF US!" I screamed chasing him in to my kitchen.

He was on the opposite side of my island, holding his hands up in surrender. "It wasn't my fault," he began, wincing at his choice of words. "Okay, maybe it kind of was-"

I grabbed an overripe banana and chucked it at him. The fruit splattered against the wall next to his head and he had the audacity to let out a surprised laugh.

"You think that's funny, Michaels?" I demanded. I grabbed another one and chucked it at him. It would have hit him, but the asshole ducked and it splattered against the wall.

I snatched another one and prepared to throw it, but then my phone rang in the other room. It was still pretty early in the morning, so getting a call was out of the ordinary. I held the banana threateningly at him. "Stay here," I warned him and ran back into my bedroom.

The phone was still ringing and I slid onto my bed and onto the floor and grabbed it. The number was one I didn't recognize. "Hello?" I asked breathlessly into the receiver.

A male's voice responded. "Where is Hadyn?" he asked.

"Who is this?" I shot back.

"His manager," the voice snapped. "Hadyn, please?"

I rolled my eyes and ambled back into the kitchen where the devil himself backed into the corner with my carton of milk held in front of him defensively. "Oh, relax, idiot," I said. "It's your manager," I continued, handing him my cell.

Hadyn took my phone and pressed it to his ear. "Joe? Yeah, I know, I know. I'm sorry-" he paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Listen, listen. Listen. I did something. Yes, worse than running away from those demons," Hadyn took a deep breath. "I slept with someone. And there was a pap that found us with his camera."

Silence. Then even from my distance, I heard his manager Joe's enraged voice swearing. It was enough to make even me put my banana down. Hadyn held the phone away from his ear with a tired expression.

"Are you-are you done? Yes, I know, it was stupid. Yeah, I know. Okay. Okay!" he snapped. "I'll text you the address. Whatever, I'll deal with it. Bye."

Hadyn handed me my phone back and let out a slow breath. He looked at me and offered me that easy 'I'm Hadyn Michaels and life is great!' grin. "Don't worry," he assured me.

"Hadyn, stop the bullshit. I'm not one of your fans alright, I'm a person. I'm a college student with a scholarship that I can't afford to lose and-"

"Hey. Hey, hey! Don't worry. You won't lose it and hopefully nobody will even recognize you. I mean, you were kinda," he cleared his throat. "-tucked into me, so your face was buried."

I glared at him. "You cheated."

Hadyn laughed. "Oh, no, I didn't."

"Oh, yeah. Who the hell is Macy Hawthorne? Yeah, I don't know the chick with like three million instagram followers either."

He shook his head. "That's just a publicity thing. Macy and I are friends. Barely that, too."

I shook my head. "Hollywood is fucking wack, dude."

"Agreed."

We settled into a strangely comfortable silence until he cleared his throat. "I should probably put some, uh, clothes on," he said, glancing into my bedroom. "Joe will be here soon."

I nodded. "Oh, and the money you promised me? I'd rather you kept that. I don't...I don't want to feel like I sold myself to you."

Surprisingly, he nodded. "That's fair. Okay. It was...friends having too much to drink."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Friends."

He flashed me what looked like a genuine grin and ducked into my bedroom and shut the door. 

a/n: so there's that! 

i realize i haven't been plugging in my instagram so check that out @lizzyyfrancis 

xoxo

liz