A gleeful reality

Chapter 17

It had been about a week and a half since Cory called Dianna to his trailer to ask about the public status of their relationship and he was getting just a bit antsy to say the least.

He watched on at her and Lea shooting their "I Feel Pretty/Unpretty" duet scene at the doctor's office and he sighed when he looked at his beautiful girlfriend singing in front of the camera as he remembered back to that day in the trailer.

"I've been thinking about something." He paused and took hold of Dianna's hand across the table. "What would you think of going public with us?"

He watched as Dianna's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the bluntness of his question.

"I don't really know Cory..." She responded slowly, her eyes drifting down to the side of the table as to not look at his.

"'W-Well, what do you mean you don't know?" he questioned in turn, his own eyes boring into her more than ever with his eyebrows knitted together in upset confusion.

She inhaled a deep breath and timidly shrugged her shoulders. "I just mean, don't you like us being private?"

He let out a breath and looked briefly out the window before he turned his head back to her. "Of course I like that. I mean, I love being with you Di. It's been something that I've wanted for, I don't even know how long anymore but… I just thought maybe that it was the right time to make it officially… official…" his eyes rolled in his head in thought after thinking of what he said. He didn't know what else to call it other than 'officially official.'

"Officially official?" she softly giggled at his choice of wording. "And that means?"

"It means I want other people to know that we're committed to one another!" he suddenly shot a little louder and harsher than he meant it.

"Cory," Dianna began with a stern look. "People know we're committed to each other."

He silently scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Just the people we work with that see us everyday."

"And what's wrong with that?" she retorted, having caught his silent but partially audible scoff.

He bit the side of his cheek and nodded his head slightly before he pulled the magazine Lea had shown him earlier that day, from where it lay on the seat next to him.

"This." He informed and dropped the glossy magazine on the table in front of Dianna.

"A magazine?" she wondered quizically with a little shake of her head. What did this magazine have to do with them?

"Page 82." He dully enlightened, prompting her to shuffle through the thin pages until she got to the one labeled '82' in small, bright numbers on the bottom corner of the page.

There was about a minute of silence between the couple while the blonde skimmed the article and when she returned her vision back up to her boyfriend in front of her she couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"This is just gossip Cor- gossip, and that's all it is." She stressed through her feeble laughter and amused appearance.

At this, Cory let go of her hand that he had kept a grip on with one of his own the whole time, pulled it back to his side and stared at her.

"Did you not get that people think you and Alex are back together from that photo?"

"I read what it said," she told him still fully intending of continuing. "And I don't care. It doesn't matter to me."

Cory's lips formed into a small and offended 'O.' "But it matters to me!"

"Why?"

He ran a hand through his hair, forcing the strands back with much pressure. He just wanted to pull it.