Chapter 18: Ed

Helen launched into crisis mode. That was good in a way, because my head was in no state to think strategically.

Cheating? How could they think that? My fans loved Soph. At least, I thought they did. Could they really flip this quickly? At a video where it was abundantly clear she was frightened?

Hell, they'd seen me leave minutes earlier. They'd known I was there. It wasn't like Soph and Aaron had had a romantic dinner alone and then been brazen enough to flaunt their secret affair in public.

Helen had warned me about this countless times over the years: the way a narrative can be easily twisted. Not that we'd ever imagined it happening in this scenario.

She lashed out at Mark for Security's role in this, and he stood there and took it. I knew he disagreed—he'd told me only moments earlier—but with Helen on the warpath, nobody wanted to cross her. It was a real pity Danny wasn't here to bear the brunt of it.

Words faded into background noise as I concentrated on Soph. She stared at her hands resting on the tabletop, motionless.

Angry blood surged through my veins. She'd be blaming herself for this. For a fear she couldn't control. For a crowd she couldn't control. For a rumour that had spiralled on the internet.

"...Issue a public statement setting the record straight."

My ears pricked up. We never issued public statements addressing rumours.

"We are transparent about everything. The decision to prioritise Teddy. The lack of protection that left for Sophia. The fear that Sophia has around crowds. The mutual friendship with Aaron. We nip this in the bud now."

I sat up straighter, engaged again. "We never publicly comment on internet gossip."

Helen's gaze snapped onto mine. "Gossip about you, no. But this is about your girlfriend. It doesn't look good if you stay silent on it, especially with how high-profile your relationship is."

Next to me, Soph seemed to sink further into her chair. She picked at her chipped nail varnish, head bowed down.

I looked back at Helen. "You don't need to sell it to me. I'm more than happy to set the record straight."

She held up a hand to stop me. "It will be a scripted response, Ed. Produced by Zola."

My hands balled into fists. "This is my relationship, Helen. If it's important enough to you that we break our stance on addressing rumours, then it's important enough for me to speak freely on it."

"So that you can say something that gets twisted? We have to be strategic."

"This is strategic. It's being authentic. Far more genuine than a scripted response."

"I'll do the music video." Soph spoke up for the first time, and I whirled around in my seat to face her.

"What? No. You're not thinking straight—"

"It'll be a distraction, right? I just... I can't let this rumour spiral. I can't have them linking Aaron and me together. Not after what happened last year."

Helen clapped her hands together, the sound so loud that I jumped. "Security can leave now. That includes you, Mark. We'll catch up later."

They didn't need asking twice. Bodies hurried towards the door.

As they filtered out, I placed a hand over Soph's. "It'll be fine, guapa. I promise."

Her gaze whipped up to mine and narrowed. "Don't make promises you can't keep. This is exactly what those crazy fan girls want. An excuse to paint me as a demon so they can deem me not good enough for you."

Panic was clouding her judgement. This was her first proper taste of the nasty side of fame. Through a carefully curated image, I'd managed to avoid scandals for the most part. People would get over this. They'd move on once they realised it was untrue. Soph couldn't see past the here and now, though, and I understood that.

"We spoke about the music video last year," I reminded her. "We agreed we didn't want to do it. That it would chip away at the barrier too much."

"But if that's what it'll take to convince the world I'm not having an affair—"

"Although it may seem like it, a few loud voices online don't always represent the majority," I said. "This will pass, and I don't want you regretting anything once it does."

Helen cleared her throat. "I actually don't think it's a bad idea, Sophia. Your PR skills are showing."

Soph scoffed and leaned back in her seat, hands falling to her lap. "Glad my mere five months in that role wasn't a total waste of time."

"The public statement will set the record straight, then the video will back it up and serve as a distraction."

"And I'm even happy to do the kiss."

"Great. We can do as many shots as you're comfortable with—"

"Hang on." I interrupted the two women and buried my face in my hand. "There is a third person in this relationship: me."

Soph tutted. "Don't be like that. I'm being pragmatic."

"Our relationship is not a publicity stunt."

Her brow furrowed. "In these four walls it's not. Everywhere else, it is. Your whole life is a publicity stunt, Ed. I'm not going to sit here and let me fuck it up for you."

"Because of one video that's been taken out of context?" I asked.

"Everything can be taken out of context if a suitable narrative is attached to it."

"Not when we control that narrative."

"Words aren't always enough. We need something concrete. Something that puts the focus back on us, not on Aaron."

I groaned and rose from my chair. Started to pace back and forth. After a broken night's sleep, my brain couldn't cope. A headache brewed behind my temple.

"And you also need to talk to Aaron," she said. "You can't let him stir the pot on this. Honestly, Ed. If he so much as suggests—"

"He won't." I fired an irritated glare at her.

This was spiralling. Getting out of control. It didn't need to be a big deal. I knew it was her anxiety causing her to catastrophise, and that wasn't her fault—none of this was—but somebody in this room had to talk sense.

Helen folded her arms. "Am I missing something here? Do I need to speak to Aaron's team?"

I started to shake my head, but Soph chimed in. "Aaron and I kissed last summer."

Right. Fine. Great. Just what we need. I dropped into a chair and rubbed at the bridge of my nose.

"Okay." Helen opened her notebook and picked up her pen. Business face on. "You failed to mention that when we spoke about past sexual partners."

Guilt crossed Soph's flushed face. "That's because it wasn't sexual. It was just a kiss. I didn't think it counted."

"Details, please. Where? When? What happened?"

"Escala. July. Just a kiss."

"Inside Escala or out?"

"Smoking area. We weren't smoking."

Yeah, because that was the important detail in all of this. My displeasure must have shown because two sets of eyes landed on me.

"It's his MO," I explained. "Sorry, Soph. I know it meant nothing to you, but it'll still piss you off to learn that he takes every girl he hits on out there. Pays off the bouncer to clear the area so he has privacy."

"Privacy." Helen cocked an eyebrow brow. "You knew about this?"

I waved a hand to dismiss her concern. "Knew of it, yeah. Aaron won't talk. We don't need to worry about him."

Her lips pressed together. "I'll ask the Security team to check out the CCTV. I'll give you the chance now to be honest. Do we need to worry about that?"

The insinuation didn't sit well with me, and apparently Soph didn't like it either. Shoulders tense, she held Helen's stare.

"It was just a kiss," she said for the third time, now through gritted teeth.

"One kiss that required privacy in the smoking area?" Helen's voice was deadpan, and irritation tightened my throat.

Soph shrugged with disinterest. "You want a play-by-play? Everywhere he touched me? Where I touched him? How long his tongue was in my mouth?"

Her sass was a defence mechanism, but with Helen's intrusive questions and Soph's clear panic, all about a kiss I wished had never happened, it rubbed me up the wrong way.

So when she casually checked her phone, notifications swarming her screen, I snapped. Reading the incessant vitriol wouldn't help her.

"I thought I told you to keep your social media notifications turned off."

She speared me with an icy scowl. "They are. These are messages from people I know. Checking I'm okay."

That last sentence left her lips with an emphatic bite to it. I clenched my teeth to stop myself from biting back. It wasn't because I didn't care. Quite the opposite.

"Let's take a break," Helen suggested. "Emotions are high. The two of you can discuss it in private, then we'll re-assess. I'll talk to Security in the meantime. Sound good?"

No. Nothing about this situation was 'good'. At least she was giving us some autonomy, though. Small victories.

Pity that talking about this was the last thing I wanted to do.

In private or not. 

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Thank you for reading :) xx

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How would you react in Soph's position? Would you try to ignore the hate or prefer to address it?