When I arrived home later that afternoon, Becca and Gabby suggested a debrief over pizza. If there was one food I craved more often than anything else, it was pizza. Considering my two flatmates didn't share my intense love for Domino's, I wondered if they'd chosen it deliberately as a thank you for going through with the plan.

The combination of fresh air, exercise, and concentration on not fucking this up had exhausted me, though, so the prospect of reliving it all under the girls' scrutiny filled me with dread, despite the food on offer.

It wasn't that I wanted to hide anything from them—I was doing this under their encouragement after all. But there lay the problem. Playing two sides was hard enough without the added pressure of feedback.

I tried to keep things vague to start, but that only led to more questions as they both strived to fill in the gaps.

"I'm just knackered, guys," I said when they asked if I was holding back. "There really isn't anything that interesting to report."

"You spent three hours with Teddy Stone and nothing juicy happened?" Becca raised an eyebrow, as if to suggest I was lying.

"I hardly know the guy," I said, tossing my hands in the air. "It'll take time and I'm not prepared to throw myself at him because that'll only look dodgy. What kind of girl hits on the man her friend's obsessed with?"

As soon as the words left me, I wanted to take them back. Too late. Exhaustion had clouded my judgement, and tension crackled in the air between us.

My mouth dried up, my stomach squirming as I scrambled for something to say that would diffuse the awkward atmosphere. No matter how many times I'd apologised for the compromising situation I'd found myself in a few years ago, it continued to haunt me. And for however badly it haunted me, it must have haunted Becca twice as much.

"Sorry," I said, before running my tongue over my lips to dampen them.

"Forget it," Becca said, her voice no louder than a murmur as she picked a mushroom off her pizza. "Let's focus on the current topic."

I cleared my throat. "We did actually talk about the future. I made it clear we should go slow. Friends first. Out of respect for Becca."

"You just need to be careful you're not completely friend-zoning him," Gabby said, nervous eyes darting towards Becca. "He needs to think he still stands a chance, or he might lose interest in you."

Another one of Gabby's classic feel-good offerings. I let it slide, understanding her point.

"He appreciated where I was coming from," I said. "Seemed cool with it."

Not saying anything, Becca reached for another slice of pizza. I'd reopened old wounds, and she was being a good friend by not demanding I help heal them. Ironically, one of the reasons I'd agreed to do this Teddy charade was to compensate for bad decisions I'd made in the past, but reminding Becca of those decisions risked making the process even more painful.

*

The next morning, I woke to more Twitter messages from Teddy: a photo taken during our walk of a view over the rolling hills and a suggestion of non-romantic things for us to do next.

Teddy: I've been thinking of friendly things for us to do

Me: Do you not have many friends?

Teddy: I feel like you're trying to tease, but I actually don't... I hope you now feel guilty about your insensitive joke

Me: Yes, too embarrassed to see you again. Guess you're back to zero friends...

Teddy: Okay, you win. On a serious note, you like to keep reminding me of how much you don't know, so what about a crash course in my life tomorrow?

I considered making another joke about his appeal lying in the fact I didn't know him, but I refrained, remembering Gabby's advice from the previous night.

Me: Sounds good. Do I need to prepare anything? Bring a notepad and pen?

Teddy: No. Just bring your beautiful self

Teddy: And I of course mean beautiful purely in a friendly way... 😊

The speed with which he'd sent the follow-up message suggested he'd second-guessed my reaction to it. That reassured me. At least we were both treading carefully in this 'relationship'...

Once again, he arranged for me to be picked up and dropped off. Being chauffeured around seemed unnecessary on the surface, but the alternative was public transport and I'd take a posh car over that any day.

Although I'd been joking about preparing for a crash course in Teddy's life, I undertook a little bit of research anyway. I couldn't go in completely blind in case I made an idiot of myself, and the more time I spent with him, the more curious I became.

Typing Teddy Stone into Google brought up 200,000,000 results, led by his website, Wikipedia page and social media. I clicked through onto Wikipedia and read the basic biography about him—his age (26), where he grew up (Surrey), his awards (lots).

The juiciest part—Relationships—had barely any information, though. Just one sentence about the up-and-coming Hollywood actress, Lacey Holland.

Notoriously private, Teddy Stone has kept his romantic life under wraps but has been repeatedly linked to Hollywood actress Lacey Holland since his music featured in her debut movie, Blinding Lights.

Interesting. I'd spent more time watching Lacey Holland's films than I'd spent listening to Teddy Stone's music. In fact, her older brother had often appeared in my fantasies as a teenager. Aaron Holland had been to me what Teddy Stone had been to Becca.

Clicking back a page, I amended my search to Teddy Stone and Lacey Holland. The top results were news articles from various media sources, all commenting on a potential romance between the pair.

Will they, won't they? Leddy keep us guessing.

Pop sensation Teddy Stone and Hollywood's sweetheart Lacey Holland were spotted having a cosy lunch together in Los Angeles, just hours before the singer was due to hit the stage and perform his sell-out tour at Staples Center. While no relationship has been confirmed, the two have made no secret of their affection for one another and regularly share teasing messages publicly on social media.

My head spun, trying to work out what this meant. Was it the media making a story out of nothing? Were Teddy and Lacey deliberately baiting the press for publicity? Did either of them even need the publicity? Or was it genuine? Could Teddy be using me to divert attention from his secret romance with Lacey?

Shuffling off my bed, I padded into the living room, my eyes falling on Gabby stretched across the sofa and cradling a cup of tea as she watched TV.

"Aren't you going to be late for work?" I asked, flicking on the kettle.

"Not in 'till ten," she said. "Working late tonight to meet a client who wants to check out the venue."

"Is the client famous?"

"Mine isn't, but theirs might be."

Gabby's job at the arena brought her into close contact with a lot of singers, comedians, and actors, but she rarely got to meet the person behind the manager. Nevertheless, it still came with certain benefits—VIP tickets to concerts, for example.

The ad break kicked in and Gabby sat up, extending her legs and stifling a yawn. "What are your plans today? Anything from Teddy?"

"I'm getting a crash course in his life tomorrow." I leaned back against the kitchen table and scratched at my shoulder.

She raised an eyebrow. "A crash course in his life?"

"Yeah. 'Cause I know fuck all about him."

She snorted. "Right. You won't know much more tomorrow. He's only gonna tell you the good bits."

"Probably. What's the situation with Lacey Holland?"

That piqued her interest, her pointy eyebrows shooting upwards. "He talked to you about Lacey Holland?"

"No. I Googled him, and she cropped up."

"'Course she did. They've been playing the part of a lovesick couple for years."

"It's not real, then?"

"Doubt it. If it were real then there'd be genuine photos of them together. Like actually together, going on dates, holding hands, kissing... No such thing as a private relationship when you're both celebrities."

We both seemed to have the same idea at the same time, as if the cogs in our brains clicked into place simultaneously.

"If you can get inside info on the pair of them, the media would go nuts for it."

"But how can I get inside info on a relationship with her if he's trying so hard to get into one with me?"

Gabby shrugged and took a sip from her mug. "You're just friends at the moment. If he does have something going on with her then he'll probably keep a hand in it while trying to win you over. Let's face it, he's hardly proven himself to be a beacon of morality when it comes to girls."

"True."

Downing the rest of her tea, she headed over to the sink to wash up the mug, just as loud music from our upstairs neighbours started to seep into our flat.

"Really?" she asked with a groan, tilting her head up towards the ceiling. "At this time?"

"At least you're going to work," I said.

"Hm. Have fun," she said with a dry drawl. "Inconsiderate bastards."

In retaliation, she slammed her bedroom door shut—but I doubted upstairs would have heard it over the sound of their thumping bass. As for me, between the piercing thoughts inside my head and the loud music outside it, I didn't hold much hope for a productive day.

Already all I could think about was my next encounter with Teddy Stone. 

***

Thank you for reading :) xx

***

So what's the deal between Teddy and Lacey? Secret romance, publicity stunt or just friends?