began to arch, but he was there to hold
me, hug me...pet me, make it look as like I was inconspicuously
sobbing wildly with happiness, cameras flashing, capturing our
moment.
I'd never forget that moment, for reasons
both good and bad.
***
My heart never fully rested when I returned
to work. As I walked around, shuttling reports, my eyes just kept
darting back down to that ring, in all of its glory. An engagement
ring. I went from his girlfriend...to a fiance. Like I needed more
to make it all seem unreal to me.
"You have a very nice ring. You don't have to
keep showing it to me like that." The courier said as I was signing
for some packages.
I blushed, hiding my hand. Subconsciously, I
kept flashing it off to the poor delivery guy, rubbing my nice
thing in his face. "Oh, I'm sorry. Just excited."
I took the box, signed the paper, nodded and
let them take off. I dropped it off in the mail room before
returning to my desk, leaning back, still riding on that high of
the proposal.
"Suzanne Carter, tabloid star." A mousier
voice spoke up in the distance and swaggered into my own little
office, and threw down a newspaper.
"Hello to you too, Kat." My eyes darted down
to the paper.
"Never expected my little Suzie to be on the
front page. 'West's Weighty Wedding'. They got a show last night,
didn't they?"
"They've been...kinda following us for while.
The company's been doing well and they're just looking for some
scandal to sink us."
"I shouldn't have to hear about this stuff
from the tabloids first, Suzie. Should have told me."
"I thought you'd want to hear the news in
person."
Kat started flipping through the paper for
me. "Well you're slow about it. If I didn't get my daily dose of
gossip from the paper, I would have heard it from all the other
girls round the office."
"Oh? What are they saying...?"
"Lots of 'oh how can Mr. West be all over a
girl like her', 'I'm prettier', 'blah blah suck enough dick blah
blah'"
I recoiled a bit. "...Ouch, Kat..."
"Fuck 'em. Jealous bitches, all of them." She
blew up hair out of her face. "Not like the tabloids are treating
you much better."
I looked down at the trashy reporting. They'd
outed me as a literal nobody, painting me as a slob that somehow
seduced Will for his money. They captured me in the most awkward of
poses, untouched photos, raw to make me as ugly as possible. To
really kick me in the face, this was opposite a page with a
beautiful airbrushed model. Ugh.
"Kickers everywhere. 'Girls like Susanne
Karter don't typically get men like William West...because of the
simple fact they don't deserve them. West should get his head
checked because he can do much better'." Kat chewed on her tongue a
bit, rolling her eyes.
"...If they're going to bash me, can they at
least spell my name right?"
"Don't pay them any mind, Suzie. It's not
about you. It's about West, and tearing him down."
I tried to stay calm and get some breathing
in. In theory, it should have helped with my anxiety. In practice?
Not so much.
Kat placed a hand on my shoulder. "No one who
matters is going to judge him or you. Just remember that. If this
is what you want, nothing ought to stop you."
Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by
an imposing presence. "We have places to be, Suzanne." Will entered
my sight, bringing me a slight grin.
"Oh...? You never tell me these things,
Will..." I stood and dusted myself off, wanting to look nice for
him, unlike the slob the world apparently thought I was.
"I dread to do so, but I owe it to my family
to pay them a visit with my recent commitments."
"Family? You never told me about your family,
Will..."
"I have my reasons." He glanced at Kat and
the tabloid. "Those are full of garbage, Katherine. You know better
than that."
"Gotta have my gossip." She snapped back,
unconcerned with me taking off across the world again. It
Fran Baker
Jess C Scott
Aaron Karo
Mickee Madden
Laura Miller
Kirk Anderson
Bruce Coville
William Campbell Gault
Michelle M. Pillow
Sarah Fine