Spotlight {Completed}

Chapter Twenty Seven

Zach
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy she was sitting across from me.

She seemed nervous, as if she's doing something naughty.

She's quite cute when she doesn't know what do with herself, as she plays with the hem of her jacket sleeves and looks around as if we're going to be caught.

Having lunch...

She looks in my direction, as she catches me staring at her and she raises his her eyebrows, "What?" She says asks timidly. I just chuckle, shaking my head and she leans in forward with her hands on top of the other, "do you have something to get off your chest? Because if you do, I surely don't want you to bottle things up Zach, its not healthy," she says sarcastically.

"Oh nothing, you seem nervous, is all... I find it amusing," I shrug and she sits back in her cushioned booth, crossing her arms.

"I'm not," she says with her voice a bit more high-pitched.

"Whatever you say, Ria; you know lying isn't a good habit, just trying to help a friend," I say and she tenses up.

"Okay, it's just..." she trails off, "maybe I shouldn't have come," she said and it catches my attention.

"Don't you want to hear the story?" I tease. I don't want her to leave just yet, who knows when I'll see her again.

"Yeah, if you will hurry up and tell it," she said, a bit more frustrating and I laugh.

"Okay, naive little Ria... tell me what you know, and we'll start from there."

She inhales, taking a moment to think of what she knows, "Okay when I first came here, there was Ashton, as you know, and he was trying to blackmail Scarlett with some video... she seemed pretty scared. I also know you two are in a fake relationship to "get" Scar's image up a bit by dating "golden boy" Zachary Hefner," she laughs like its a joke.

"What's funny?" I chuckle.

"You're not exactly a "golden boy"," she uses quotes and I shrug.

"Yeah yeah; okay, so what else do you know,"

"That... Preston's mom is marrying your dad and well, you two don't really like each other very well," She said and I nod.

"Alright, well for one... I handled the whole Ashton business, and-"

"What's the deal with him?" She interrupts, "what does he have on Scar?"

I think about it for a minute, "it's not just her," I say slowly and she eyes me skeptically.

"Okay, so what does he have?"

Why did I bring her here? She can't know all of this information, she would hate us... it would tear her family apart... There's so much things that even Scarlett doesn't know, just me and Preston. I was selfish, I knew I wasn't going to end up telling her everything because it's too risky. I just wanted to have lunch with her, without anyone to bother.

"I... I'm sorry, this is just way too much, Ria, you wouldn't understand, there's so much shit that's involved, your sister, Ashton, and even Preston," I blurted without thinking.

"Preston? What does Preston have to do with this?" She starts to talk louder and I mentally curse myself.

Good thing, we're at a secluded restaurant where no one really goes to.

"Can we forget about this?" I raised my hand to the waitress to tell her we're finally ready.

"No, Zachary you are not shutting me out!" She says, using my full name.