FALLING AROUND YOU ➵ DANIEL SEAVEY ➵ SEQUEL

31 ➵ Truth Be Told

It's been a long time since our relationship has been stagnate, and it felt all too well.

"What?" I smiled, nudging the blonde next to me.

"Nothing, nothing," he stated simply, a vivid grin still on his face. "It's just refreshing seeing you two like that again."

"Refreshing?"

"Refreshing as in your relationship is finally normal," Zach chuckled.

I looked at the team, being as his comments were much more entertaining that I last remembered them. This was take same crazy, manic boy that got drunk at the masquerade ball after all. "How so?" I asked.

He shrugged, mixing the ingredients in his bowl. "No drama anymore, that's all. Well, that's until management finds out about this, oh, and maybe Marie."

"Zach!" a new voice spat.

Quickly, I looked over my shoulder, greeted with straight brown locks. I still wasn't quite use to it. It was definitely a change from the bright curls I had always known him for, but Jack looked different now. I've only found out about his daughter just a few weeks ago, it still being a shock to me. Though, I could tell he loves being a dad. He looked more mature, changed. That's what fatherhood did to him, and it was astonishing.

Jack greeted me with a short side hug before grabbing a water from the fridge. It was obvious he was listening to our conversation, already having his own input on the matter.

"Honestly, management is going to find out about you guys at some point. It's inevitable," he drank some of the water, "I just don't think you two should worry about it too much. Greg is kind of a harsh guy, but he'll be understanding. I mean, he has to be."

I knit my eyebrows. "Greg?"

Zach chimed in, "He's our general manager, highest one on our team. He's the one that tells us about keeping our reputation, what we should do, what we shouldn't do, everything."

I cringed, "He sounds more like a dictator."

Corbyn chuckled, "He pretty much is."

Jack agreed. "He's strict, I'll give you that, like insanely strict, but he can't just keep Daniel in this little box, you know? He can't make Daniel chose between a career and his relationship — that's just crude."

Zach huffed, "I wouldn't put it past him."

I looked at Jack. "So, when should Daniel tell management?"

He hesitated for a moment, thinking. Jack bit the inside of his cheek, squinting his eyes. He gripped the water bottle a little bit, sounds of crumpling plastic played melodies around the room, alongside Zach's aggressive stirs of his cookie mix. The boy soon looked at me, tilting his head.

"Tonight."

"What?"

I bit my lip. "When should we tell Marie?"

There was an aching part of me that pitied the girl, truly felt guilty for her. If she was an ounce of an angel as her little sister, Valerie, was, then I know she has a heart too pure to break. I think her feelings for Daniel were there, maybe not as prominent as mine, but they were still there. Their dates, their love was faked to the media and to the world, but I can't help but feel that those fake feelings she weren't forced upon her. They were real.

"Tonight."

Zach pieced it together. "At the banquet!" he looked at me, pointing his finger at Jack for emphasis.