Not If I Date You First

Chapter 2

Faye plays my sister on the show. She's as good as a sister to me in real life too. I was seventeen when everything went down with my dad last year, and Faye insisted I stay with her and her mom in their Upper East Side apartment.

I swipe to answer the call. "Hey."

"Where are you? I know you aren't sick, so there better be a good reason why I've spent the entire morning covering for you." Faye sounds as pissed as I've ever heard her.

Shit. I didn't mean to drag her into this. I don't even have a decent explanation to give her. I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Faye, I'm really sorry. I just couldn't do it today."

She sighs. "I understand your issues with the press, Li. But you can't keep doing this. Julian is losing his mind. He had a statement prepared for you about breaking that photog's camera last month. Now the rest of us will have to deal with a million questions about it."

She's right. I didn't think about that. God, when did I turn into such a self-absorbed ass? That photographer deserved to get his camera busted. I'd asked him to get out of my face more than a dozen times, but he kept coming at me, flash exploding in my eyes again and again until I couldn't see to walk. But my friends shouldn't have to explain that to a room full of reporters. The combination of guilt and the intolerably sweet smell of this place makes my stomach roil.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry, Faye."

"This is serious, Liam. I overheard Paul talking to Julian. He's worried your image is bad for the show. Between the camera and that pap you punched last year, he thinks Cipher will  start coming under fire for letting someone prone to violence stay in the lead role."

"Prone to violence?" I'm so staggered it comes out louder than I intended. I glance behind me. A woman sitting at a nearby table is staring at me. She leans over to whisper something to the girl next to her. I whirl around, dropping my voice. "Paul knows it's not like that. I'm not walking around the city looking for a fight."

"Yeah, he knows that, but the critics don't. And neither do the parents of the teenagers who watch the show. Paul said..." Faye trails off. My heartbeat turns sluggish. Faye's the kindest person I know, but she's also a straight shooter. Whatever Paul said must be bad if she's holding back.

"Faye, what did he say?"

"He said he's thinking about cutting you from the show."

The buzzing of the fluorescent lights overhead intensifies until all I can hear is an incessant ringing in my ears. I can't believe this. I've been the star of the most popular series on Netflix for the last four years. I might've missed a few press events, but I've shown up to set on time every day. I've worked my ass off. They can't seriously be considering cutting me during our final season. My agent is already having a hell of a time booking my next job. I don't want to think about what getting written off the show would do to my career.

"You there?" Faye's voice is light-years away.

"Yeah." I clear my throat. "I'm here."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to freak you out. I think I convinced Paul that you really are sick, but I thought you should know."

"Right. Hopefully, I won't be the next victim of the prom episode." I try to joke, but the words fall flat. A major character dies every season during prom. It's Cipher tradition. I never imagined it might be me.

Faye doesn't laugh. "I'm worried about you, Li."

The last thing I need is my friends worrying about or pitying me. The whole situation is already humiliating enough. "Everything's fine. I'll figure it out."

Mia saunters over as I hang up the phone. "Who was that?"

"Faye." I roll my shoulders, trying to loosen the tension that's settled there in the past several months.

Mia clucks her tongue. "That girl needs to get a life and stop worrying about yours."

I blink at her, at a loss for words. When Julian first introduced us, I thought dating someone in the business would be great. That Mia would understand everything I was going through, and she did at first. Or it seemed like she did. It's becoming abundantly clear, though, that not only does Mia not understand me, she doesn't want to.

"Mia Harlow!" the kid behind the counter calls out Mia's order loud enough for every person in the room to hear. My blood turns to ice as she sashays over and takes the drink from his outstretched hand. I feel the weight of every pair of eyes in the room land on me like a noose around my neck.

"Jesus, Mia," I hiss. "Would it have killed you to give him a fake name?"

"Okay, first I'm not allowed to post things on social media, and now I can't use my own name? What's next, Dad? Are you going to take away my phone and ground me for the weekend?"

I gently place my hand on her elbow, trying to communicate that it's way past time for us to GTFO. I've got to bail before someone pulls out a phone and starts shooting. I lock eyes with Briggs, and he nods.

"Slow down!" Mia's steps are infinitesimal in the ridiculous shoes she's wearing.

"We need to leave." I lower my chin to my chest and hold up a hand to cover my face.

"Well, I'm not ready to go." Mia jerks her arm out of my grasp.

"Mia, I'm not losing my job over your green juice. Let's go." I yank the door open, and an automated bell lets out a high-pitched whine.

She folds her arms, taking a swig of her drink and arching a brow like she's daring me to try and make her.

"You know what, fine." I turn and storm out the door, Briggs on my heels. My entire career could be on the brink of imploding. I can't handle Mia's drama today.

The bell above the door moans again as Mia wrenches it open. "It's always all about your career. I have a career too, you know," she yells after me.

I bite the inside of my cheek, not turning around. I won't let her bait me into a public blowout. Not today. I fight through the stream of people flooding the sidewalk toward the waiting SUV, keeping my head down, eyes on the ground.

"I'm so over having to dim my own light because of your daddy issues, Liam!"

My head snaps up. I stop walking so abruptly someone collides into my shoulder, almost knocking me to the pavement. The ringing in my ears is back. There's no way Mia, my girlfriend, would throw the worst moment of my life in my face like that...except she just did. I turn to her.

"What did you just say?"