"AAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed, causing me to have to cover my ears in protection of them, the sound nearly breaking all laws of science with how loud it was. 

"What is your problem?" I asked her, less aware of the scene that she had just walked in on.  I mean, it was kind of understandable.  If I had walked in on my best friend kissing an international superstar like Sebastian, I would have freaked the hell out too. 

"I knew it!  I knew it!  I knew it!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down on the spot like a little girl who had just been given a lollipop. 

Her blonde hair splayed about in excitement and Jason came bounding up behind her like someone was dying.

"What's wrong, I heard screaming?" he asked us and I just buried my head in my hands in embarrassment.  Of course our first real kiss just had to be intruded upon by my best friend and Sebastian's best friend too.  What did a girl have to do to get some privacy around here?!

"No one's dying, but Sebastian and Holly finally kissed!  Now they're gonna get it on and have beautiful ginger babies!" she screamed out jovially and I groaned into my hands which I still had my face buried in. 

Sebastian's deep chuckle resounded beside me and the aftermath of what had just happened between us made me feel all tingly and good inside.  I didn't really know what to do with my body after that so I just stood up to face my embarrassment head on. 

"No one is having any babies, and why would you think they would be ginger?  Anyway, I'm going downstairs for some food, anyone care to join me?" I asked the group of teenagers clustered in my room and laughed when Josie's hand shot up rocket high in the air. 

"I do, I do!" She exclaimed. I looked at Jason and then a thought hit me. 

"Jason, Josie, you two seemed to get here around the same time.  We sent Jason home after he dropped us off here...so how did you two seem to arrive perfectly in sync, hmm?" I asked them, hoping to just embarrass them, but got a reaction that was completely unexpected. 

"WHAT?! No, I mean umm...I was just driving by and saw that Jason had pulled up, I guess he was coming back in case Sebastian here needed a ride home and I just wanted to be polite...you know how I always want to be nice to people and so I just kind of stopped to say hello, but then I wanted to go see you so I just said goodbye, you know, like normal people do, and then I came up here and I guess he heard me scream and yeah, that's...that's what happened..." she trailed off and her blabbering was not lost on me. 

"You're so into him," I whispered quietly in her ear.

She slapped me one the arm as we made our way down to the kitchen and I couldn't help but look back over my shoulder at Sebastian who was laughing and joking around with Jason, probably teasing him about Josie like I was about Jason. 

His smile struck me to my core and a thought hit me that I had never been faced with before. 

Staring at his beautiful face and catching his emerald eyes, it was like time slowed down and in the process my mind cleared like Moses parting the seas, the big thing that had been staring at me in the face the past few weeks now blaring in my head loud and clear. 

I was in love with Sebastian. 

It was a striking thought to think about, something that I'd never even considered a possibility.  But could he ever feel the same thing for me? Probably not, I had just asked him to be my fake boyfriend. 

But that kiss.  I couldn't even remember a time before him when I had felt so happy, even with all of the terrible things still going on around me like the trial with Dylan and his evil parents that wanted to paint me as a liar to everyone. 

I ground my teeth together as another wave of emotions hit me hard enough to make tears prick at the edges of my eyes.  His pearly white, perfectly straight teeth blazing at me as his mega watt smile tore through my heart and the floodgates of my emotions poured out of me. 

I had always been fake to my other boyfriends.  I was slow to let anyone in, and I never usually let anyone in.  Ever. 

I was always one foot in and one foot out, never too emotionally invested just in case they decided they didn't want me anymore and cheated on me, or if they changed their mind about the way they felt about me. 

At least if I wasn't fully and completely devoted to them, then they couldn't hurt me, not really.  But I had let Sebastian in, and it definitely hadn't been intentional. 

I had accidentally handed Sebastian the keys to my heart and my soul and I didn't know if I could get it back, or if I even wanted to. 

Somehow, some way, he had weaseled his way into my emotions and stolen the key right out from under me, but I didn't really mind it.  Looking at his face and his eyes connected with mine in a way that made me question everything I had ever felt-I knew that I never wanted to let him go.  And that was more terrifying than anything I had ever encountered. 

***

"And you're sure you're up for this?" Sebastian's voice echoed in my mind. 

"Absolutely," I told him, trying to focus on steadying my racing heart instead of how effortlessly gorgeous and breathtaking he looked in his navy blue suit coat, matching fitted trousers, crisp white undershirt and his hair slicked back making him look like sex on a stick. 

I had opted for a more refined look, with  a mauve colored long body con dress with spaghetti straps and nude pumps with a silver drop faux diamond necklace and matching earrings.  I had my hair blown out and curled in soft, flowing waves that showed off the blonde highlights in my dark red hair. 

I wished I felt as put together as my outfit did, but just one look at Sebastian across from me and I was a nervous freaking mess. 

He grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently and it felt like he was doing that same thing to my heart. 

I took a deep breath and almost exploded on the spot as the producers started counting down from ten and we were ushered to the wings of the set.  

"Here we go," he said both nervously and excitedly. 

I gulped. 

I heard the talk show host's voice before I saw the lights and bit down hard on the inside of my cheek as I heard what she was saying. 

"Our first guest is someone we've all seen in the news recently, but not for something positive.  She's been through a lot and she's here to tell us her side of the story and her compelling tale of her struggle and her survival.  Everyone please help me welcome Holly Vickers," she said and I heard the overwhelming, thundering sound of applause and cheers as music played and I made my way out of the wings. 

Here goes nothing, I thought to myself. 

The bright lights etched onto my face as I concentrated hard on not tripping in the pumps that were custom fitted to my feet. 

I painted a bright smile on my face and shook hands with my interviewer and we sat down on comfortable chairs across from one another, a coffee table between us. 

I looked out at the audience and wished I hadn't, the unmistakable red light on the camera facing directly at me telling me of the millions and millions of people waiting to hear what I had to say. 

"So, Holly, so good to have you here and so good to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you," she said, her blue eyes creasing with her smile and she seemed sincere. 

"Thank you, it's so good to be here," I said back, proud that my voice didn't crack. 

"So, I hear we have a certain boyfriend that you want to talk about is that right?" she teased me and my smile finally became genuine, a light blush dusting across my cheeks. 

I looked behind me where I saw him shooting me a thumbs up from where I had been hiding just moments previously. 

"You could say that," I said coyly, wanting to seem flippant about it. 

"So, come on we need details.  How did ya'll meet?"

I laughed at her bluntness. 

"Well, I had gone to one of his concerts that my best friend dragged me to, and we had back stage passes.  I left mine in the car so I ran out to go get it but my feet just hurt so bad I decided to wait for my friend in the car after the concert was over.  Little did I know, a certain someone had the exact same car as my best friend and he just hops in the driver's side and drives away, thinking his people left the car on and running for him when he got out of his show," I began and I could tel by the way the audience was completely quiet that I had their entire attention. 

"Obviously, I was too stunned to speak.  We got a few blocks away and he finally realized he wasn't alone in the car," I said and it was the audience's turn to laugh. 

"We got a flat tire, which he didn't know how to fix, it started pouring down rain on us while I had to fix the tire and the rest was history," I said and I could hear a collective, "Awwwwwww" from the audience from my sappy story. 

"Wow, that's an incredible story! What an interesting way to meet as well!  Now, I understand that something happened shortly after you began secretly dating Sebastian, is that right?" she asked me and my demeanor  instantly changed. 

I knew I would have to talk about it but I didn't think it would be so hard. 

"Well, I guess I should start from the beginning.  I dated this guy for about a year and a half and he decided to break up with me for someone else.  I tried to move on from him and decided to change up my look a bit, but when he saw this change he came up to me and said he basically wanted to get back together with me, but when I refused because of the way he'd treated me in the past, he got...physical.  He refused to take no for an answer on multiple occasions and I had to use force a few times to get him off of me.

"He continued to say very rude and vulgar things in the hallways at school but I just brushed him off because I didn't want to let him get to me.  Then we had a physical altercation where he hit me and cracked my phone.  I was too scared to say anything because of who his parents are and that no one would believe me.  And then he cornered me in the stairwell about a week later..." I trailed off, my voice choking up on the words. 

"Him and two of his friends boxed me in and wouldn't let me get past them, I remember thinking I should have just walked with my friend to class, and maybe they wouldn't have cornered me then.  He started-" I cut myself off, the pure emotions from that day coming back in waves. 

"It's okay, take your time," the interviewer told me. 

"Thank you.  He started to hold me down and was acting like he was going to try and kiss me but I didn't want that.  And then I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong for me.  I can just remember looking down at the stairs and thinking, 'this is where I die,' but somehow, when I fell down the stairs, I survived, and I promised myself when I woke up that I wouldn't let him get away with what he did to me, and I refuse to let it happen to someone else, especially not if I could have prevented it by putting him in jail," I finally finished and I was met by raucous applause. 

"Wow.  I can see you're visibly shaken up, why don't we bring someone out that might make you feel a bit better, what do you guys say, huh?" she asked the audience and their applause was immediate. 

Sebastian walked out, a half smile on his face and he strode immediately toward me, forgoing the interviewer's handshake and pulled me into a bear hug that I really needed at that moment. 

"Perfect timing," I said to him quietly and he held on to me tight and we sat down together, his arm firmly around my shoulders. 

"What a beautiful couple.  Now, is it true that you can't change a tire?" she asked him and the room went wild with applause. 

And it was then that I realized, with his arm holding me safely in place and playing the role of a doting, albeit fake, boyfriend, that I never wanted to stop touching him for the rest of my life.  And the fact that I didn't know how he felt back was the most terrifying thing I had ever endured. 

Author's Note:

Extra long chapter because I'm a horrible person who loves my readers!

-Kristen :)