Forced | cake au ✓

Chapter THIRTY-FIVE

"I say loser pays for dinner," Michael suggested, ever the competitive soul.

And though Ashton was the oldest in the group, he could never back down from a challenge. "Big talk for someone in fifth place."

I watched them for a few moments, deciding to try and egg them on for higher stakes, but my phone vibrated in my hand.

The message was from Luke. I knew he'd be wishing me good luck, he did so at every show, but I didn't expect an image to be sent.

From: Luke :-)

I'm sorry I can't call right now and wish you good luck properly. I'm still in the middle of a shoot but hopefully this can work as an apology?

The image loaded and my eyes widened.

Luke has informed me that Fashion Week in New York entailed a lot of photoshoots for the brands he represented as well since a lot of their main offices are in the city.

The image, in particular, looked like it was taken on set for a designer brand. The black leather was a huge contrast to Luke's smooth, pale neck and chest, and other than that he was wearing nothing but a pair of green velvet pants which went all the way to his waist, accentuating his shape. His face had been shaved clean for the shoot I'm assuming, and it helped emphasize the gold make-up on his eyes as well as the gloss on his parted lips.

I blinked at the photo a few more times before typing a reply.

To: Luke :-)

You're making me miss you terribly

I locked my phone when he didn't immediately reply and found myself staring at my lockscreen.

Michael began to shout, jumping up and down after an intense battle where neither of them had shut up. Ashton took his loss graciously, letting Michael celebrate his win a bit longer before both of them calmed down.

A couple of beers helped calm us down before going on stage. It also helped us enjoy the moment rather than worry about every single thing that could go wrong. Michael handed me one as his eyes narrowed. "Now, I know you miss him, but isn't staring at your lockscreen for this long a sign of obsession?"

Ashton laughed as I snorted, accepting the bottle of beer. "I'm just thinking."

"Oh, don't tell me that rumor thing is still bothering you." Michael sighed, already halfway with his own bottle as he settled back onto the couch. "I thought you said you settled that with Luke already."

About two days ago, a gossip column spread news about me being spotted in a bar. Then the article went on and on about how witnesses say I kissed another man. There were even pictures to support the statements.

Except, that was not me. I spent that night in an arcade with Michael, Ashton, and Andrew, we were nowhere near that bar. The pictures were silhouettes of a person who had a similar build as me, and everybody just continued spreading the story and blowing everything out of proportion.

"No, it's not that. I talked to Luke about that before Patricia could. He told me he didn't believe the rumors that I cheated on him either." The thought that people would genuinely try to sabotage our relationship just for the hell of it made me down half my bottle in record time. "I just don't understand why the media keeps targetting our relationship."