“Can you put out a statement?” Lizzie whispers, and my eyes find her hazel ones.
“And say what? Cole Green pretended to be my boyfriend on the night we met, and continued pretending every single day on set until I actually, really fell for him, only for him to fuck someone else?” I shake my head. “That just makes me sound desperate.” I slump my body back down onto the couch.
“It might not even make it to the press.” Olive offers, but it’sMarawe’re talking about. Ms. ‘All press is good press.’
“Don’t hurt the messenger, J, but…Harley is pretty adamant nothing happened,” Cassandra tells me, a little more confident than Lizzie, but not her usual self.
“And what gives him that impression?” I scoff, rolling my eyes so far back that it feels like they’re gliding against my brain.
“Like I said, Cole stayed at our place last night. I guess Harley got him to open up over a drink.” She shrugs. “But don’t hurt the messenger. And by that, I mean, please don’t hurt my husband. He’s just trying to help.” She rubs her hand on my back, and I lean my head onto her shoulder with a chuckle.
“What are you going to do?”
“How long do you have left of shooting?”
Lizzie and Olive ask their questions in unison, both pairs of eyes burning into the side of my face.
I don’t know how to answer Lizzie’s question. While itlookedincriminating, I genuinely don’t know if I believe what I saw. I know Cole, but do I know him well enough to tell if he’s telling me the truth?
You do, the angel on my shoulder tells me, while the devil begs me to run for my life.
“You don’t think he did it, do you?” My best friend asks, and I shake my head gently while a single tear falls down my cheek.
“No,” I admit in a whisper. “But I don’t think I have it in me to stick around, only to find out that I’m wrong.” A tear drips onto my hands clasped together in my lap, and I don’t wipe the remnants off my cheek.
“You want to go home, don’t you?” she asks, and I pause before nodding once. “I’m not ready to say goodbye to our two song length distance,” she tells me, tears of her own cutting through.
“I know,” I reply. “But everything here is a reminder of the first man I ever fell in love with.”And probably the last.
She nods in agreement.
Cassandra might not be ready to say goodbye to me, but she’s mybestfriend in this universe and the next.
She and I will never say goodbye for good.
But Cole…I’m not ready to have him, only to lose him.
Because losing Cole Green now, will be easier than losing him after being able to call him mine.
That’s a loss I don’t think I could ever recover from.
Chapter forty-three
Cole
I know better thanto push Jenna Rogers to talk or open up before she’s ready, but dammit, I miss her.
In every single way, I miss her.
And I saw her less than twenty-four hours ago.
Sure, she was furious, but I still got toseeher.
I just got back from Harley and Cassandra’s place, and threw myself face down onto my bed.
We have one week left of shooting, and I can finally put this job to rest and move on from all the drama that came along with it.
I have to put it in my past. I'll deal with movie tours, and press when I have to, but I'll make damn fucking sure that the entire world knows Mara and I arenothing.
