Free Happily Ever After? (Sleeping Handsome Sequel) by Jean Haus

off. “She
doesn’t get it, okay? She’s too naïve to think people will follow
her with cameras and come to bullshit conclusions.”
    He moves toward the
fridge. “Well then, she’s in the wrong business and you’re
definitely in luuuve .” He pulls out a milk jug and takes two swallows from it.
“Cause there’s no way I could deal with that shit.”
    Feeling like I’m sticking up for
myself more than Paige, I snap, “How the hell would you know what
you’d deal with when you haven’t had a girlfriend since what? Sixth
grade?”
    He tosses the milk back in the fridge.
“See, I know I couldn’t deal.”
    The music from the phone in my pocket
stops my retort.
    Drake raises a brow and his eyebrow
ring disappears under a purple ski cap. “Guess this one’s not going
to include phone sex.”
    “ Shut the fuck up,” I say,
reaching for the phone and moving toward my room.
    With the phone to my ear and the door
pressed against my back, I answer, “Hey.”
    “ Oh Zach, I’m so, so
sorry,” Paige says in a rush.
    “ How could you, Paige?”
The question comes out of me without a thought.
    “ I didn’t think
he—”
    “ And while you were pissed
at me. So the spawn of Satan worked with me, but hell, I didn’t
hang out with her after work. Didn’t invite her into my fucking
room.” I start pacing the short length of my bedroom.
    “ I know. I get it. I’m
just as bad. Worse probably. But we were just friends, nothing
more.”
    I pause in front of my closet.
“Friends who kiss each other?”
    “ Okay, I deserve your
anger, but I didn’t kiss him. And it was like a second
long.”
    “ Angry?” I kick the shoes
spilling out onto the floor back into the closet. “You think I’m
angry? Every time I think about his arms around you or his lips on
yours, I feel like exploding. I’m furious. Don’t you get what that
image is doing to me?”
    “ I do,” she says in a
small voice. “I feel the same imagining Amanda on your
bed.”
    I kick the last two shoes. Hard. The
smack resonates within the small space. “I wasn’t on the bed. I was
nowhere near her or her lips.”
    “ I already admitted what
happened with me was way worse. I’m sorry. It was nothing. It meant
nothing.”
    I start pacing again. “Have you seen
the pictures on the net?”
    “ What
pictures?”
    “ Of you and your buddy
having a good time.”
    “ Huh?” I hear her moving.
“Just give me a minute.” The echo of her punching keys sounds
through the phone. “What the…These are freakin’ ridiculous. That
asshole must’ve known we were being followed!” She lets out a deep
breath. “You know these don’t mean anything, right?”
    I snap open the blinds on my window
and stare out at the parking lot without seeing it. “I don’t know
what they mean.”
    “ What?” her voice is a
screech. “Zach, you can’t seriously think anything was going
on.”
    My fingers push the window open. I
need air. “Do I think you’ve been cheating on me? No. Yet I have to
wonder why you’d hang out with someone like him.”
    “ I told you. I thought we
were friends! Are you saying I can’t have male friends?”
    Breathing near the screen, I ignore
her question. “So he never flirted? Never came on to you before
last night?”
    “ Ugh. Okay, he may have
flirted a bit. A come on before last night, no. Seriously, why
would someone like him be interested in someone like
me?”
    My forehead hits the screen. The mesh
digs into my skin. “Holy shit Paige, you can be so dense
sometimes.”
    “ Did you just call me
dense as in like stupid?”
    “ You know that’s not what
I meant.” I start pacing again. “You just don’t get it. Look at
your costars. They’re some of the most beautiful people in the
industry. Yes you can act, but that’s not the only reason they
picked you.”
    “ I still can’t believe you
called me stupid.”
    “ I said dense,” I spit out
from behind my teeth. “You need to take it in context. You’re