"What are you doing out here?" Cara's voice startles me awake and I jolt upright.

I look up at her blearily, trying to get my eyes to focus. "What?"

"I have a spare room. Why are you sleeping on my sofa?"

"How was I supposed to know that?" I yawn and stretch, "It didn't exactly come up before you abandoned me there."

"I didn't abandon you. And if the pictures are anything to go by? You look like you had quite the night anyway." She says with a sly smile shooting me a wink.

Pictures? That wakes me up. I blink hard to clear the sleep from my eyes and focus on her,  "What pictures?" I whisper.

Cara's face pales, "You didn't know there were paparazzi there?"

I shake my head mutely.

"Pheebs, you were out with a celebrity in London." She says softly, sinking into the sofa beside me.

"Where? I...I..." I can't finish the thought and only manage the couple of strangled words.

"Elliott should have known better. Why would he kiss you there?" Cara jumps up, pacing back and forth around her living room.

I pull the fluffy throw over me as I remember how Elliott tried to get me to leave the club.

"It was my fault." I whisper.

"No, Phoebe. No it wasn't." Cara has her fierce mama bear voice now as she marches over and pulls me into a hug.

I hug her back but I'm numb. "He tried to get me to leave, and I said I didn't mind him kissing me there. He tried to warn me. It's my own fault."

The words come out stilted and expressionless. I can't cry, I can't move. I can't work out how to react.

"You weren't to know. Don't worry, we will get someone to manage this. One of those people we interviewed."

The interviews feel like a lifetime ago now. I scrunch my eyes up as I try to remember which of them I had actually liked.

"Sam." I say after a moment.

"Sam Choa? The one with Halo?" she asks, grabbing her phone.

I nod and she starts tapping furiously. I need to see the pictures. See how bad it really is.

I reach slowly for my phone where I abandoned it last night on the coffee table. My thumbs hover as I try to work out where to look. Twitter seems like a good bet and I open it quickly. The top suggested news story headline, 'True Outlaws, True Love?' catches my eye and I click it.

There's a dull roaring in my ears as I gaze at the photos. In some ways I love them. Candid captures of the end of our incredible night together. That looks in his eyes as he gazes at me in the moment before our kiss. Our faces lit by the pulsing red, blue and purple lights. The one with our foreheads pressed together in the seconds after the kiss.

We are both smiling and I smile too as I remember it. And then I remember that our private, amazing moment is splashed across magazines, newspapers and the internet across the world and my stomach rolls.

My phone buzzes with a text in my hand and I refocus my attention on it, 'Do not look at the news. Can we meet?'

An ache builds in my chest and I try to remind myself it was one date. One incredible, mind blowing date that had no other date could ever beat but still just one date. He had delivered what he had promised. He didn't owe me anything more and despite what the headlines were saying, I didn't expect anything from him either.

"It's going to be ok." Cara promises, squeezing my knee.

I glance up at her and see that she truly believes what she's saying. That thought brings me a little comfort at least.

Sam doesn't take long to arrive and I'm suddenly aware of the fact I probably look like a wreck when he swans in wearing an expensive looking suit and carrying a briefcase. I'm still in last night's clothes, rumpled from a nights sleep. My eyes feel gritty with sleep and chunks of mascara.

"Excuse me." I murmur and bolt for the bathroom.

My reflection doesn't disappoint and I begin rummaging through the cupboards searching for something that will help put me back together but I can feel myself falling apart faster than any make-up wipe or hairbrush can repair. I want to scream that I never asked for this at the same time realising that I knew full well what was possible and still kissed him anyway.

Internally raging about the unfairness of it all and cursing my own stupidity for not thinking far enough ahead, I begin the process of fixing my face as it is the only thing actually in my control.

Finger combing my hair, I pull it into a messy bun on top of my head. It takes three attempts to ensure I don't look like a poodle but even with the third it's not great.

Next I target my skin, splashing it with water and removing the artfully applied make-up with rough scrubbing motions that would make Cara cringe.

With my face bare of make-up and pink from rubbing I'm not sure it is much of an improvement. A soft knock at the door interrupts my thoughts. "I've got fresh clothes for you hun." Cara says softly.

What did I do to deserve her? I open the door and shoot her a grateful smile as I accept the pile in her hands, "We're just in the living room." She says and retreats back up the hallway.

Yesterdays jeans and a top too sparkly to be mine, make me feel a little more human.

I try one more time to restrain my hair, this time in a ponytail and it doesn't look too awful so I decide to leave it and pad quietly towards the living room.

"I will cover your fees, I just need to make this right." Cara's voice is thick with emotion and I wonder if she's crying.

I step into the room, shooting her a look of concern. "You ok?" I ask.

She looks round from where she is perched on the arm of the sofa, "I should be asking you that." She says with false brightness.

I know it's false because I am using the same one to hide the mess of emotions warring inside me right now.

"Phoebe." Sam says, standing and offering his hand to shake, "I'm so glad you chose to work with us at Halo. Are you happy to work with me or did you want a female rep?"

I was surprised he remembered, "I'm happy to work with you." I said quietly.

He smiled brightly and I couldn't help but smile too. "Perfect. Ok, so let's talk about what happened last night and how you want to manage it."

He gestured to the sofa and I moved to sit down, Cara, sliding down into the seat beside me.

"I just went out for dinner with Elliott-"

"Just dinner or was it a date? And just to confirm this is Elliott Hawk of True Outlaws?"

I frowned, "It wasn't a date initially and yes."

"It was always a date Phoebe. The boy has made his intentions very clear on that front." Cara said, rolling her eyes.

I shot her a look before I continued, "I didn't consider it a date but as it went on I realised it was. After dinner we went to a bar for a few drinks, we kissed and then I came back here."

"Where did the kiss take place?" Sam was typing notes on his laptop which was perched on his knees.

"In the bar, I can't remember what it was called."

"That's fine." He said distractedly, still typing.

I waited for him to finish and he looked up at me. "So where do you and Mr Hawk stand now?" he asked.

I glanced at my phone on the table and remembered his message, "I don't know." I confessed without looking at him.

He was silent long enough that I relented and looked up, "What do you want me to do?" he asked me gently.

My eyes filled with all the tears that had been building, "Make it stop?" I choked out.

He was sympathetic but I could tell that what I wanted just wasn't possible. I had destroyed my chances of fading away when I kissed a rockstar.