Mosaic Broken Hearts-A Ross Lynch Story

How'd This Happen

Nikki's POV:

"What the hell is going on?" Ashley asked as she pulled up to the curb in her convertible 30 minutes later.

My other best friend, Samantha, was sitting in the passenger seat, also looking at me curiously.

Ashley didn't give me a chance to respond, though, she just kept talking. Out of all my friends, she was by far the most outgoing and least afraid to speak her mind.

"First with the whole skipping school thing, then borrowing my car, then having it mysteriously show up at my house the next morning, then coming here," she gestured to our surroundings.

She'd never been to L.A. before, so it made sense why she would be confused about what I was doing here.

I listened to her continue rambling as I tossed my bag in the back and hopped over the side of the roofless car and into the backseat.

"...and now this," Ashley tossed something back my way as she took off down the street. "Care to explain?"

I glanced down at the Popstar magazine in my hands. 'Ross's New Girlfriend?!' Was the headline. The front cover was a picture of us walking down Sunset Boulevard. Our arms were linked and he was looking down at me smiling as we walked.

I hadn't even realized our picture was being taken. Is this how it always was going to be?

I frantically flipped to the 2-page spread about me and Ross. It featured even more pictures of us-me pointing to one of the famous pink stars, Ross and I waiting to cross the street, and even one of him kissing me in front of the Hollywood sign. There were a couple paragraphs about it, but I was snapped back to reality before I got the chance to read it.

"Hello? Nikki?" Sam turned in her seat to get my attention.

"No," I shook my head, "this wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a secret."

I saw Ashley and Sam exchange glances before saying, "Nikki, tell us what happened. Start from the beginning."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes as I spoke. "I met Ross at a concert last week," I began.

"Wait, Ross..." Ashley cut in, "...Ross Lynch?"

I nodded. "He's in a band and I went to one of their concerts," I explained, knowing they didn't know who R5 is. "and I ran into him after the show, and we started talking, and the next day I skipped school to hang out with them." I paused needing a breath.

"Then," I resumed, "I came up here on Friday, then ended up staying the weekend, which is when that happened," I gestured to the magazine.

That was an extremely abbreviated version of the story, but I didn't feel like going into much detail at the moment.

"Ugghh," I let out a sigh. "How did I not think about this before?" I buried my face in my hands.

"So, just to clarify," Ashley cut in, obviously oblivious to how upset I was about this. "Are you actually dating?" the tone of her voice sounded like she didn't believe it.

I looked at her, trying to hide how pissed off I was at her for the way she was talking to me. "Yeah, Ash. We are."

"Isn't he, like, famous?" Samantha pulled her sunglasses over her eyes as we turned onto a busy 4-lane street.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied, annoyed.

"Ooh, Nikki's got a boyfriend?" Ashley teased. "Congrats, we thought it would never happen."

She laughed with Samantha, who added, "and not even just a normal guy, but a famous rockstar?" She paused. "I guess now we know what your type is." she threw a glance back my way.