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🦋Listen to "Stone Cold" by Demi Lovato🦋

"You look terrible." Lucy gave a sloppy comment, I didn't bother to look at her. I threw my bag and shoes next to my closet and approached the bed.

"I feel terrible." I dropped my body on the mattress and buried my face in the pillow. Worst night of my life.

"Want some pizza? I bought enough for the both of us." Lucy mentioned casually.

Is she being nice to me? Or is this some sort of illusion?

I sat up and just stared at her. She had the box of pizza right next to her on the bed as she chewed on a slice.

"What are you waiting for? Jesus?" She eyed me. "Come over here."

"I'm not hungry." I lied. Lucy has never offered me anything before, so this is just weird.

"Seriously? It's not poisoned okay, you can have some. I can't finish this on my own so stop being such a wuss." She rolled her very large blue pretty eyes and took a bite out of the slice to prove her point.

May be I could really use some of that food. It's a great stress reliever or so I've heard.

I moved to sit beside her by the bed.

"Oh! Its really good." I confessed after one bite. "Where do they make this?"

"I got that from Elgin. They have the best pizzas in New York." She grinned.

Never heard of it.

"So why are you home early? Shouldn't you be at some damn party?" I chewed on the delicious cheesy food. I love pepperoni in pizza, who doesn't?

Lucy sighed.

"I wish I was at a party but my Mom is back in town from a business trip in Seoul and she wants to pay me a visit sometime this week. I'm trying to be at my best for when she sees me." She frowned.

"She's so annoying sometime." She folded her hands. "Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, but she is just a little too much. If she wants to see me, I could just drop by at home. But then she instists on coming over here ."

I should have known. This sneaky little brat.

"So that's why you're being very nice to me? You want to get on my goodside so I can keep this place all cleaned up. Unbelievable!" I glared at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't flatter yourself Betty. I can do my own cleaning." She waved her hand.

Oh! Then why don't you ever bother yourself to do it?

"Good." I resumed eating.

"Now you tell me, why is it that you arrive so damn late these days while dressed like that?" She pointed at my outfit. "I mean it looks cool and all but it's not your style. And tonight you look worse than usual?" She added. "And is that a swollen ankle?"

It hurts badly. "I'm not used to heels, I tripped and fell."

"Let's get that foot checked out." She advised.

"WHOA! Does cute little Lucy care about me?" I teased.

"Fine, you can die for all I care." She grabbed a slice and ate it.

I sighed heavily and placed my palms on my face.

"I'm just curious, that outfit got me thinking you're now working at a night club."

If only she knew. I leaned on the wall and frowned. I took off the damn wig and tossed it on my bed.

"This night was so horrible. I don't even know where to start." I looked at her.

She took the box of pizza that was between us and placed it on the bed side table.

She moved closer to me.

"Why don't you start from the beginning."

I took a breathe and placed my head on Lucy's shoulder and began telling her everything that happened. I didn't even question why she was giving me her time and trying to comfort me after acting like I don't even exist since I came here.

I told her about how I and James met, about how I got myself into a secret affair with him.

I told her that I loved him and that's why I was never able to end it. I spoke about my mum and prison and how I have to do everything possible just to get her out.

I opened up about the strip club thing and that kinda shocked her, she didn't dwell on it though.

I also told her I lied to James about alot of stuff including the Merissa thing and the strip club and Callum . That's when I began to narrated the whole Callum and Adrian situation and James having the picture.

All the while Lucy listened carefully. She wasn't being judgemental as most people would have been. I don't know if I should be grateful or worried.

"So that's why I spotted unlimited supply of men's wear in your wardrobe. And those extra toothbrushes must be his. I can't believe you've been sneaking a guy into our dormroom all this time and I was oblivious to it." She beamed.

"It wasn't that hard. You are never here." I bumped her shoulder with my own slightly . "This whole thing backfired on me so terribly."

"You marvel me Elisabeth. Who knew that the quiet, controlled and well behaved Elisabeth can do such stuff?" She chuckled lightly. "Definitely not me."

I shrugged.

"I don't understand how that picture ended up in James's phone. None of this makes any sense." I sighed. "Do you think there's a picture of me and Callum going around in campus?" I almost cried. The last thing I want is getting slut shamed for something I didn't do.

But this is a university of over a thousand students. My only hope is that nobody cares about that.

Lucy seemed amused. "I'm sure if there was a picture of two naked people spreading in campus I would have seen it. I have other suspicions though. You mentioned Callum and Adrian? Are you perhaps referring to Callum and Adrian Stevenson?" She asked a little too awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if that's their last name..." I told her.

She quickly got off the bed and began walking across the room with her green pajamas as if she realized something.

"They're both blonde though one of them has much shorter hair and is more built, right?" She questioned while tapping her chin.

I nodded hesitantly. How does she know this?

"Oh my God, This is actually starting to make sense here." She held a strand of her blonde hair between her fingers.

"So this means the James you're referring to is actually James Scott, right?" She asked curiously.

"Yah..." I confirmed and that made Lucy nearly scream.

"I can't believe this." She said in a high pitch voice. "What world do you live in betty? Are you so coaxed into you're own little world that you don't even notice things around you?"

What's going on?

"Did I miss something here?" I'm confused.

She looked at me like I'm crazy.

"You're missing alot of things Betty." She chuckled. "But I'm actually surprised here, you have totally blown my mind."

What is she talking about?

"Can you please explain this to me in ways I can understand." I was beginning to get agitated.

She came back to sit down and adjusted herself by my side.

"I think I know how James got a hold of that picture." She held my hand. "But don't panic when I explain. I could be wrong about this."

She's beginning to scare me.

"I'll try not to freak out." I nodded.

"So let me shred some light into this whole situation so you can understand what your dealing with. It's obvious you have no idea what's going on in your own life." She continued.

"Callum and Adrian Stevenson are infact Sophomore's here at NYU incase you didn't know this. And they also happen to be sons of Alexander and Fleming Stevenson owners of one of the biggest technical company in the states. Everyone knows who they are." She spoke.

Clearly not everyone.

"And James is son to widower Mason Andrew Scott who is the owner of a multi Billion dollar Cyber space security Company also here in the United States. Mason Scott and Alexander Stevenson are in fact best friends and that's why their sons happen to know each other. They are famous basically everywhere in America because of their companies fame and prestige. The contributions they make around the country is platinum. How do you not know any of this? Almost everyone knows their sons."

"Sorry what....?" I choked.

Everything that Lucy had explained to me was slowly evaporating from my mind and the only thing left was "James, Callum and Adrian know each other."

This is too great of a coincidence that the James I've always known is infact friends with the same Callum that I incountered a few days ago. The very same guy that caused all this trouble for me.

"You're joking right? That can't possibly be real." I shook my head. "James showed no signs of knowing Callum when he confronted me about that picture. This can't be. Besides, Callum and Adrian didn't know I existed until the club."

Lucy placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Betty, what everyone here at NYU knows and what you don't, is that James, Callum and Adrian practically grew up together. They rebelled on their parents a year ago by dropping out of Havard and instead inrolled at New York University in attempts to start their own future that isn't under the shadow of their parents success. I am a hundred percent sure of what I'm telling you. I'm very serious."

Did William know? Lucy clearly stated that everyone at NYU is aware of James's wealthy background. Why did james keep that from me? He never once told me anything like that. Sure, I noticed that he had money, but not in that extreme. A billion dollar cyber security company......that's the kind of investment his father owns. And I never knew anything.

Now I'm starting to understand that James had more reasons of wanting this affair to be a deep secret.

"Now from what I know about Merissa, she comes from a wealthy family too but nothing Incomparison to James or Callum. She's the daughter of George Maxwell who owns a modeling agency in Milan and England. Merissa and James met recently and started dating, that's all I know about their relationship."

I frowned. "How recently?"

"About two months now. They haven't been dating for long."

If only I met James two months earlier. This would've been a totally different story.

"Now, I assume Adrian probably showed that picture to James and he must have recognized you." She announced. "He was convinced Callum had sex with you."

It makes sense. Adrian might have shown the picture to James without knowing that James and I were together. And James kept quiet about our relationship so that Callum and Adrian can remain in the dark.

I truly believe James never told his friends about us. He obviously hasn't since Callum did not mentioned it earlier at the club and Adrian would've recognized me the other night, but they haven't.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I don't know how to deal with this.

But I'm grateful that James has kept this relationship secretive, not revealing it to any of his close friends.

"So this affair is over isn't it?" I asked Lucy as if she had the answers.

"I'm not sure about that. I think James actually really likes you. May be even more than you think. If he reacted that way about you and Callum then it must mean something. He acted like a jealous boyfriend inspite being aware that he is already with someone else. He knows you don't owe him an explanation yet he asked for it."

Lucy tried to explain as best she could. And I was starting to get it.

"But he shouldn't be mad. I'm not mad that he is with Merissa."

"I think James is not only mad because he thinks you slept with Callum. But also because he thinks you may be doing it with other men as well."

I sighed.

I almost forgot about that. I remember James accusing me of sleeping with men. He must think I'm a stripper. I did pretend to be a stripper to Adrian so I could help Callum.

This is so messed up.

"How do you know about all of this?" I questioned Lucy.

"Unlike you Betty, I actually watch the news, read magazines, and explore social media." She smirked.

Of course thats where she got all this info. I really need to open up a Twitter account and probably start getting magazines.

"And I also happen to pay attention to my surroundings. I can't believe you were with James Scott and also met the Stevensons and didn't even know who they are."

I need to stop hiding in the library.

"Oh!....."

"Yap." She nodded.

"So what do I do now?" I bit my lip.

Lucy placed her arm around my back and moved me closer to her as I placed my head on her shoulder.

"I think you should face the fact that what has happened is beyond repair. I don't think James is ever going to look past the fact that you work at that strip club. Imagine how scandalous it would be if word gets out that James has an affair with a girl working at a strip club. It could tarnish his own and his family's reputation."

"And I also don't see him breaking up with Merissa anytime soon. For all we know he might actually really like her. Or even perhaps love her. May be he cheated for his own damn reasons. I just don't want you to get hurt." She rubbed my shoulder.

Lucy's words stabbed my already wounded heart to the core. I try to ignore how my chest is burning from hearing the possible truth.

"This is all Adrian and Callum's fault." I began to cry, the irony, here I am blaming other people for my own problems, but its way better than admitting I messed up from the very beginning by getting involved with a man who was never mine.

"Callum should've stopped his brother from humiliating me like that. Instead he kept quiet to save his own skin as my dignity gets thrown to the mud." I added with a painful sob.

"Your right about Callum doing something but may be he doesn't know that Adrian did that. You said Callum was also upset about the picture right? So perhaps he thinks Adrian deleted it. Callum doesn't seem like the type to drag a girl down to save himself.

In all honesty this affair was bound to end Betty. James was already Merissa's boyfriend by the time you guys met. You have no claims to him. This affair was over before it even started. And you made a mistake of falling in love with a guy who was never meant to be yours."

As much as I hated to hear Lucy's words. She was right. This affair was doomed from the start. I'm an expert at making mistakes. I'm not surprised I ended up with a broken heart. I probably deserve it.

"That's the thing about illicit affairs and clandestine meeting and stolen stares. They're born from just one single glance but they die and die and die a million little times."

That night I cried myself to sleep. But for the first time in a very long time, I had a shoulder to lean on as I broke down. And I was glad it was Lucy's.

Perhaps this was the beginning of a long lasting friendship.

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