• Troublesome • Rhett x Reader •

• Chapter Twenty Six •

My fingernail traces the shape of my phone screen. I quietly ponder whether or not to send a message to Rhett.

'Good morning ☀️😃'

I send the text and lean my chin into the palm of my hand, staring out of the window. My eyes idle along the screen of my phone and rest on the social media icon. Tap.

The site opens and I scroll through the trending. Record high temperatures for this time of year. Mr Beast giving away 'Mr Beast' submarines for whatever reason. Something about BTS. Followed by several other kpop stan-fueled hashtags. And my eyes settle on #goodmythicalmourning.

I sigh and shake my head, a smile on my face. What did they do now?

"GMM is trending. But they spelled morning as mourning." I tell Nicole and she tries to take a glance over at my phone.

"Oh really? Wow. What did they do?" She serves the car by accident and jumps to correct her self, eyes back on the road.

"Uh, let's see..." i hum.

As soon as I click on the hashtag, the first thing that pops up in front of me is a grainy photo of two silhouettes.

I squint, and zoom in, trying to examine better. Then I realize there are more photos. I swipe. A blurry photo replaces the previous photo on my screen. The position the picture was taken from had changed. The dim restaurant lights are now in front of the figure's faces. Wait.

I swipe once more. Now, it's undeniable.

In the picture sits an identifiable photo of both Rhett and I, hand in hand, my head thrown back in a laugh, him smiling in my direction.

'this girl doesn't look like his wife. 🤔'

I panic and fumble for some kind of bullshit lie I could tell her.

"I think it's just a bunch of fans making fun of someone for accidentally misspelling ''morning."

"Oh, well... That's borderline ableist, isn't it?"

"Maybe, I don't know."

I can feel the blood drain from my face in a cold horror. Nausea trickles it's way up from my gut.

"So one of my friends introduced me to a cute single guy. His name is Ryan. Showed him your picture and he thinks you're adorable, so.... double date?" She winks.

"Uh, I'm not looking to date anyone at the moment..." I falsely confess. "But hey, I'm not feeling good all of the sudden..."

"Huh? Is it your leg again?" Genuine concern flushes over her face.

"Uh, no... just... nauseous... I think I must've eaten something bad."

"Oh god, want me to pull over? To bring you home? Whatever it is, please don't puke in the car... or I'll puke too..."

"Yeah, just - let's turn around." I roll down my window.

She drives me back home. I grab my bag and rush myself inside as soon as the car squeaks to a stop.

As I swing the door shut behind me, I hightail it to my room, where I break out my laptop.

Reddit. Twitter. Facebook. Hell, even Tumblr.

All posts about Rhett and the Homewrecker.

"He's cheating on Jessie with THAT?!"

"I can't believe he's doing his family dirty like that. 😡😡😡"

"Guys, come on.... can you please wait to hear what he and Jessie has to say? We don't know the details."

"I wonder if they're in an open relationship 🤔"

"Hope that's his cousin or something.... otherwise #goodmythicalmourning #cancelrhettGMM"

"This entire thread is so toxic. You all assume the worst. This whole thing shows how little you respect Rhett and Link!"

"Saw #goodmythicalmourning trending and thought it was expecting something funny. This wasn't what I thought it'd be though... damn."

"Isn't that one of the new crew members?!"

My heart tries clawing it's way out of my throat.

My phone begins vibrating in my pocket against my thigh. I barely notice it as I begin to disassociate. This can't be real. This has to be some sort of nightmare.

My heart burns as it pumps in fear. Each heartbeat draining the color from my face further and further.

I wanted to stay out of the public eye for a reason.

People are unforgiving. People are cruel.
People make assumptions. Especially when they think that they know someone they've never met. They feel personally offended when that person makes a mistake.

Rhett's mistake was jumping the gun. Stringing me along before he made their separation known.

"Who the heck is banging on our door....?" My dad's raspy voice startles me. He stands in my door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. I stand up and slide past him in the doorway. "Is it those Mormons again?!" He yells downstairs as I descend.

As quietly as I can, I sneak up to the peephole.

Nicole. Eyes in an intense craze. Anger in every fiber of her being. She sucks in a deep breath before knocking again, this time visibly restraining herself from absolutely kicking my door down.

"(Y/n)! I know you're in there. Get. The. Hell. Out. Here."

My arms fall to my side and I turn away from the door. I, both physically and mentally,  can't handle this right now.

"IF YOU HIDE, I KNOW YOU'RE GUILTY." She yells into the door. I ascend the stairs once again, passing my father.

"She's sure angry. Did she get cheated on again?" He remarks.

"No, dad. It's just.... forget it."

I shut my bedroom door, hiding away his look of concern. As I settle back into my bed, I watch from between the blinds on my window. She begrudgingly returned to her car, which was sloppily parked, one of the front tires propped up on the curb. She stops in the middle of our yard and turns towards my window.

"I HOPE YOU KNOW YOUR REPUTATION IS FUCKING RUINED AT THE STUDIO!"

If they're this angry with me, I can only wonder what Rhett must be going through at the moment.