Tessa's P.O.V:
"I trust the both of you not to screw this one up." Paul says. I stay quiet as I stay seated in the back seat next to Marshall who looks away from me and out of the window. Paul sighs and turns to face us as the driver stops by Nicks apartment. "Can I trust you both?" Paul asks.
"Yes." I nod.
"Yeah." Marshall mumbles.
"Right then. Tessa, do you want us to collect you-" Paul starts as he gets out of the car but I cut him off.
"No thank you." I mumble as I slide out of the car. I don't want to talk to our managers right now. "I have my own car." I add as I walk away.
Marshall doesn't bother looking back at me as I leave. Letting out a sigh, I walk into the building. I ignore all the stares from people in the lobby and make my way towards the lift.
"Tessa Black." The doors to the left open and the young man in his early 20's smiles at me. I scan his red uniform as I step into the lift.
"Hello Drew." I smile as I step into the left.
"Same floor?" He asks.
"Yep." I nod.
"Bad day?" He asks as he leans against the wall.
Drew is the elevator boy and we've gotten to know eachother since he's always here when I come to Nicks apartment. Nick hates fancy shit so I don't understand why he's staying here.
"You have no idea." I let out a sigh as I run my fingers through my hair.
"Well...Let's hope tomorrow is better." He smiles, making me return a smile back. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Black. Have a nice night." He adds.
"Yeah. You too Drew." I say as I walk past him and out of the room. I walk towards Nicks door and before I can knock, the door swings open. "You scared me." I let out a sigh as I walk past him.
"Well?" He says impatiently.
"Well what?" I ask.
"Did you sign it?" He asks.
"I had no choice." I shrug and turn to face him. "I'm tired. I just came to hand you the copy of the new contract." I say as I hand him the blue file. "They told me to tell you to sign one of the papers in there. It has your name on it." I add as I walk towards the door.
"You can stay at mine for the night if you like." He shrugs.
"I don't think Oliva will like that." I say making him sigh. "And my cars outside so...Yeah. Goodnight." I smile and pull open the door.
"Tessa." Nick calls me, making me stop in the doorway. "Are you okay?" He asks after a few long seconds. It goes quiet between us as I try to sum of my feelings but my heads all over the place.
"I've got one year left with Marshall." I state as I lean my back against the doorway and cross my arms across my chest. "In one year, I lose everything." I add. "You know...When I first signed this contract, I never thought I would be this position and now look at me, I break down at just the thought of leaving Marshall and Iris and...Iris and I just became close. As weird as this sound, she's like a daughter to me. I feel like i've known her for longer then these couple of months we had together and the thought of losing her is just...." I let out a sigh and stand up straight. "No. I'm not okay." I say as I smile at him sadly. "Goodnight." I mumble and walk out of his apartment.
***
"One year....Let's keep it professional." Leroy says as he stands up. I don't bother looking at him as he shakes hands with Marshall and then Paul.
Leroy looks at me and lets out a sigh when I don't say anything and refuse to look at him. Picking up his suitcase, he walks out of the room, leaving me alone with Paul and Marshall.
"Have a safe flight." Paul says and from the corner of my eye, I see Leroy nod in response. "Right. Well, I'll leave you two alone. We trust you to keep this professional." He adds before he walks out, leaving me alone with Marshall in his living room.
Marshall doesn't move from the far couch as he stares up at the lights in deep thoughts. He doesn't even glance at me once. I sit up and clear my throat, making him snap out of his thoughts. He looks away from me and at the fireplace.
"Marshall-" I start but get cut off.
"I don't wanna talk to you right now." He says quickly without looking at me.
"Hear me out, please." I practically beg him.
"Hear you out?" He laughs. "You accused me of cheating whilst you had some other prick all over you." He says and finally looks at me. "Do you know how much it hurts for me to see those pictures everyday on the news or the fucking magazine." He says in anger.
"I was drunk." I state.
"What else his new." He scoffs as he looks away from me.
"How could you be so-" I start but get cut off.
"I'm done talking." He says as he stands up.
"Well i'm not." I say as I stand up and stand infront of him to stop him from leaving. "I love you." I say, making him let out a laugh in anger.
"You had another guy on top of you." He says through gritted teeth.
"You broke up with me." I snap. "You fucking broke up with me!" I yell again.
"Yeah. To save your fucking ass. To save your fucking career. To fucking help you!" He shouts back.
"Why do you care about me kissing some other guy when you broke up with me!" I say in frustration. "You fucking broke up with me!" I let out a confused laugh. "We were over when I kissed that guy." I state.
"I'm done with this bullshit." He says and walks past me.
"No." I shake my head and grab his arm.
"Let go off me." He says as he tries to push me.
"We have one year left." I state as I grab onto the sleeve of his hood.
"Let go off me." He sighs and pushes me back but I still keep a tight hold of him.
"You said you loved me!" I yell.
"That was before you had that bastard on top of you!" He screams in my face
"So what? Over the drunk mistake, you're...You're actually ending this?" I ask in confusion.
"My heads all over the place-" He starts but I cut him off quickly.
"No." I shake my head quickly.
"We both need a brea-" He starts but I cut him off.
"You had over a fucking month!" I shout. "I just...I just moved back in. We have a year left, Marshall...We have one year." I repeat.
"Tessa. Don't make me..." He trails off and squeezes his eyes shut. "Let go of me." He lets out a sigh.
"Are you even listening to what i'm saying?" I ask.
"Yeah." He nods and pulls my hand away from his arm. "And I wish they would have given us less then a year." He says before he turns away from me and walks away.
***
I remove my arm from under Iris before I move the duvet off me and slide off her bed. I grab my phone which falls out of my head and onto the table with a thud.
"What...Hmm." Iris moans in her sleeps before she turns to lay on her side. I freeze in my spot and watch her as I wait for her to fall back to sleep. Iris has been ill for the last two days and Marshall and I would take turns laying next to her since he didn't want to be in the same room as me.
One year. I have one year left and then...It's officially over. I won't have Iris anymore. I won't have Marshall anymore. I'll move back to California and move on with my life without ever looking back.
Letting out a small sigh, I bend down and stroke her hair back before I place a kiss on her forehead. I slowly walk out of her room, closing the door behind me slowly.
"Hey. You ready!" My assistant Lilly says, making me jump up in suprise. "Oh. Sorry." She lets out a laugh as I let out a shaky breath. "I didn't mean to scare you." She adds.
"It's fine." I force a smile onto my lips as I tuck my hair behind her ear. "I'm ready." I nod and walk past her.
"You look amazing by the way." She adds. "Okay. So!" She opens her folder up. "The car is already outside waiting for you-" She starts but I cut her off.
"How long do are we going to be at the kids hospital." I ask. "Iris is ill and I don't want to leave her alone with the maids for to long." I add.
"Well-" She starts but gets cut off.
"Tessa. You're making us late." Paul says as I pull on my jacket.
"I'm ready aren't I." I mumble under my breath and walk past him.
"You're not wearing the outfit that we purchased for you." Paul says as he walks behind me.
"It's a charity event, Paul." I roll my eyes. "You got me a dress that is suitable for clubs." I state as I walk towards the car.
The driver pulls open the door for me and my eyes land on Marshall. Marshall doesn't bother looking my way and looks out of his window. Letting out a small sigh, I climb into the SUV and close the door before I lean my head against the cold glass window.
After half an hour, we arrive at the kids hospital. I ignore the papparazi as I follow my guards towards the entrance with Marshall following a couple of steps behind me.
For the next few hours, we spend our time with the kids at the hospital. Most of the times we sing their favourite songs to them or take pictures.
Paul was also there with us and he would make Marshall wrap his arm around me, saying something about how we look like friends instead of a couple. After the pictures, Marshall would quickly remove his hand from my waist or my shoulder and would turn towards the fan, leaving me in an awkward place with the cameras still rolling.
The last few days were spent with us avoiding eachother, well, Marshall avoiding me. If I walked into the kitchen or the living room, he would stop what ever he would be doing and then he would walk away. He would walk towards the opposite direction at the sight of me.
I've given up talking to him and i'm giving him some space. I can tell he hates being home but stays for Iris. I'm just waiting for him to calm down so we can have a real conversation like adult do.
I just hope this fights and arguments come to an end so we can enjoy the time we have left together but with everything that happening, I doubt we will actually get back together.