Josie’s P.O.V.
My mind was constantly stuck on the process of writing that it consumed my life for a few weeks. Once my concussion was fully healed, Lily and a few other friends brought me out of my cave and I saw real sunlight and breathed fresh air for the first time in ages.
The one thing I did not miss though was the flash of cameras from paparazzi trying to capture my first steps out of my recovery.
"They just need to have their pictures don’t they?" I asked rhetorically taking off my sunglasses as Lily and I walked into a restaurant for some lunch
"Guess your life is back to normal now with them watching your every move again," Lily commented once we were seated
Thankfully the place we were eating at didn’t have two way glass in the front so photographers or tabloids couldn’t come in or take photos through the glass so I was safe for the time being.
"Yeah it’s totally back to normal," I said sarcastically slapping my turned off iPhone onto the table between us as I sighed
It’s been weeks and I still haven’t brought it upon myself to turn it on. I refrained from using any sort of social networking the entire time I was recovering because I knew that the new rumors being spread about me were probably going to put even more stress on me and I was one mental breakdown away from being hospitalized again.
"Still haven’t opened it yet?" She asked picking it up and looking at me for a gesture of approval
"Just do it," I said closing my eyes as if this would help in any way
At least my concussion was gone so anything impacting me wouldn’t hurt as much as it would’ve when I was still injured.
"So. Many. Notifications." Were the only words Lily spoke as I watched her fingers repeatedly slide down the screen keeping me from seeing what she was seeing
"Good or bad?"
"Most of them are just get well soon tweets, and the occasional hate, then a- oh," Lily stopped mid sentence worrying me even more
"Then what?"
"Nothing you’d want to see," she said quickly closing my phone and putting it back down
"Well now I have to see it," I said about to grab it in front of me until she took it away
"Trust me. You wouldn’t."
"Is it worse than hate?" I asked
"For you, yeah," she nodded
"Is it… Is it about him?" I finally asked
"Unfortunately,"
"Did he get hurt? Is he alright?" Concerning questions were the first things that flooded to my mind when she confirmed my question and I couldn’t help but worry
"No, he’s fine. It’s just something you wouldn’t want to see right now," she explained as I was slowly starting to understand
"There’s another girl, isn’t there?"
Luke’s P.O.V.
Julia was everything that I needed right now. She took my mind off Josie completely never even giving me a reason to ever think about her again. We’ve been talking for a few weeks now and there was just something about her that I couldn’t seem to let go of. When I was with her, If I was going to be honest, she didn’t make me completely happy, but she filled enough of me to keep me going through the day. I knew that this wasn’t the same feeling I had with Josie, but at least it was a feeling. She was making me feel something and I wasn’t going to risk losing her until I figured out what that something was.
"Hey Lucas" She greeted me at her door before I walked in
"Julia, I missed you," I said hugging her once she shut the door behind me
"You just saw me last night silly," she said
I was just so drawn to her, maybe a little too clingy for comfort but she didn’t seem to have a problem with it, so I didn’t have a reason to stop.
"And the day before, and the day before that day before," she continued
"I know, but I just like spending time with you," I said as she led me to her living room where we’d usually be to watch tv together
"Well do you want something to eat? I could order in a pizza or China’s food or-"
"I was thinking that maybe we could go out to eat or something," I suggested
"Out to eat?" She questioned
"Like in public?" She asked hesitantly
"Why? You’re embarrassed of me?" I asked only half joking. Whenever I’d ask her to come out with me, she’d always reject it by coming up with an excuse, but she never told me the real reason why.
"No, of course not, I just. I know how fast rumors spread and how big you are with your band and everything so I don’t think I’m ready for that sort of fame yet," she said
I guess I could understand her point of view She didn’t want to be preyed upon by paps and the tabloids because of me and I couldn’t blame her. I was actually surprised though because most girls would kill for a spot to be in the limelight but for some reason she didn’t. Julia was different and maybe that’s what made like her even more, she wouldn’t use me like Josie did.
"I get it now, but we’re going to have to eventually go out in public. I promise it’s not as bad as it seems, I swear, my bandmates can vouch for me," I reassured her
"I know but I’m just not ready at the moment," she reasoned
"That’s fine, but you should meet my bandmates too Julia! I’ve been dying for you four to finally meet," I pushed until I noticed the change in her expression at the mention of having to meet them
"I mean not if you’re not ready for that either cause I understand about that too," I started rambling before she stopped me
"Calm down Hemmings," she said putting a hand on my thigh to get my attention
“Sorry, my bad, I’ll shut up,” I said before forcing myself to stop talking I’ve developed this rambling tick over time whenever I was with Julia, but I don’t even know how it started. The only thing I could remember was how Josie would ramble when she was nervous and the only thing I could do to get her to stop was kiss her.
Fuck Luke. You’re not supposed to be thinking about her. You know you’re not.
Especially when you’re with Julia.
Julia’s P.O.V.
I don’t know what the hell happened. Ashton told me that it would just be “one night with the dude just to get his mind off his girlfriend” and now we’ve been talking to each other for weeks. It didn’t bother me, Luke was a great guy, but whenever he looked at me I could still tell that he was still hurt. It made me feel even worse about getting paid to do this.
I had to though. I was moving paycheck through paycheck and not even using it on myself, once I got paid from whatever crappy job I had at the time, the first thing I’d do is give it to my parents. Not because they had some strict authority over me and demanded my money, but because I knew that our life wasn’t as easy as we made it out to be. On the outside, our family seemed perfectly stable and strong, but on the inside, god, we were breaking apart at the seams. Money just got too tight with us, my mother, father, little brother, it was all spread too thin and with my impending college fund, I needed to make sure that they wouldn’t suffer because of it, so I worked my ass off. But the only jobs I could find were average waged since I didn’t haven’t even gone to a university yet.
So when Ashton offered me this deal, I couldn’t say no. The boy had more than enough money already with how successful his band was and it was only going to grow larger, so a few bills from him wouldn’t hurt him, but it would help me so much more. I also knew that if he really knew my current situation, he wouldn’t even hesitate to pay off everything because that’s how close we were, but I didn’t want his pity, I wanted to do this on my own, to earn this money, so I didn’t tell him what was really going on.
Sex was off the table for this bargain, Ashton reassured me that he wouldn’t be paying me off to have sex with one of his douche friends, so I didn’t think there would be any harm done with just talking to the guy.
Little did I know that we’d end up here. Together in my flat about to order take out after just barely meeting each other.
"If you really want me to meet them then sure I will," I gave in to him knowing that it would have to happen sooner or later
"Really?" He asked as I noticed the slight spark in his eyes
"Yeah," I nodded
"How about tonight then? We can skip take out and eat the dinner that Ash took home from his mum’s with the rest of the guys," He said
"From his mum’s? I haven’t ha-" I began commenting on Ash’s mum’s cooking because I knew how good her food was after my countless amounts of dinner with the Irwins, but I immediately shut myself up once I realized how this would blow everything
"You haven’t what?" He asked
"I- I haven’t had my mum’s cooking in a while, it’ll be nice to have someone else’s," I let out an awkward laugh trying to make it seem like a joke as he gave me a weird look
"You’re something else, you know that?"
"You can say that again," I breathed
"So is that a yes for today?"
"Uh okay," I hesitantly agreed as his one sided dimple beamed with his smile
"Great, you can change then we’ll head over there," He said as I nodded and casually made my way to my room
The first thing I did was call Ashton
"Hello?" I heard him answer groggily into the phone as I whispered to him in case Luke could hear through the closed door
"Did you really just wake up? it’s 5 in the afternoon Fletch,"
"I was taking a nap! And are you really going to bring that name back up again?" He groaned
"You deserve it, you made me the main point in this whole scheme of yours with Luke," I spat
"It was out of my control! I didn’t know he’d like you this much, or I guess I did because you are you after all," He started rambling before I cut him off
"Ash that’s not the point! The point is that I’ve had to lie to the guy for weeks now and he’s trusted me with his entire life, he opened himself to me and I can’t even tell him who my best friend is because he happens to have the same exact one,"
"Aw I’m your best friend?" he asked
For fucks sake, is that really all he got from what I just said?
"Shut the fuck up, he wants me to meet you. All of you. Tonight." I said getting to the point quickly as I picked out my clothes
"What’s the problem with that then? We’ll just act like we don’t know you," He explained
"The problem is that we’re building more lies on top of lies Ash, this wasn’t apart of the deal,"
My morals were always embedded in the back of my mind, whenever I did anything remotely bad, I felt so guilty inside and it would keep eating me out until I’d finally have to confess and Ashton knew that. Hell, he probably could tell that I’m going through that current stage right now.
"I know what you’re thinking Jules, but you can’t do it. Josie already hurt him enough and then you come along and he’s finally smiling, you know he hasn’t done that in weeks. If you tell him the truth now, we don’t know if we’re going to ever be able to bring that back again, and you know that too,"
It’s true. I did know. I could see him flinch whenever he spoke about her, Josie Castano. From what he’s told me, I would’ve never in a million years thought of her to do such fucked up things, she was one of those celebrities who you thought could be a real genuine and down to earth person in real life, too bad that wasn’t the case. But he was still stuck on her, there was nothing I could do to get his mind off of her. She hurt him, no, she broke him, but I know he still loves her.
I, myself, have never really experienced true love in my past relationships, or maybe I just didn’t know it, but if this is really what love is like then I want nothing to do with it. But of course, Ashton would drag me into this one with him.