H&J Lockdown

55

"Josephine!"

"Jo!"

"Josephine! I'm coming in if you don't get your ass up!"

Banging on my door startles me out of a deep sleep but before I can comprehend what is going on the door is thrust open and my best friend runs inside.

"Whats going on?" I ask sitting up. Looking at the alarm clock I can see it is only 6 AM. "Why are you up so early?"

"You are going to be so mad." She tells me, looking pale as a ghost.

My thoughts instantly go to Hero, thinking maybe he did something behind my back and the whole world found out before I did. Tears instantly start streaming down my face and my breathing becomes erratic. "What did he do?"

"Oh no, no girl! Nothing like that. Don't be stupid you know he would never do anything like that." She tells me, trying to calm me.

"I know but whenever something happens my mind instantly goes there. Stupid pregnancy hormones." I whine, wiping away my tears. "Go on. What are you freaking out about then?"

"Your phone must be on silent because Heros publicist had to call around to get my number so they could get a hold of you. You know when you went out to dinner the other day with your friend?"

"I turned it on silent so I could sleep. But yeah, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Someone took pictures of you and her. They sent them to a agency to sell and they are looking for buyers."

"Thats okay. She posted a picture of me at dinner already. I wore layers and was covered. No one could see I was pregnant."

"Girl I don't want to hurt your feelings but they know. The pictures show your belly in some shots." She hold up her phone and swipes through some pictures of me at the restaurant with my friend. In some I just look chubby and others, depending on the angle or how I am moving you can defiantly see my pregnant belly poking out.

"Fuck!" I scream and then stand up pacing. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Its okay! Its okay!" She repeats, trying to calm me down. "Hero and your publicist are working on buying them. We just have to wait."

"What if she can't!?" I ask, more to myself then her.

"You need to calm down. At least for the baby." She tells me as she picks up my phone and hands it to me. "Call Hero."

I unlock my phone, ignoring all of the notifications and face time him. He picks up instantly and his smiling face comes onto my phone screen, calming me. "Hey sleeping beauty."

"Hero..."

"Why were you crying baby?" He asks interrupting me.

"Nothing... Hormones." I stutter. "What are we going to do?"

I notice he doesn't seem upset and actually seems, happy.

"They are trying to make a deal to get the photos right now."

"Aren't you freaking out? What if they can't get them and they are released?"

He shrugs his shoulders before sighing. "I'm not going to hide her Jo. I am surprised we were able to hide your pregnancy for as long as we have. Fuck. I'm surprised we were able to hide our relationship for as long as we have."

His tone sets me back and it takes me a second to process it. We have always agreed it was better to have a private relationship for many different reasons and I thought it was something we were on the same page on. I had assumed the same would go for our child. "Its not like I want to hide her either Hero. I just don't want her exposed to all this. To all of the nastiness that comes along with our job."

"For how long? I want to be able to walk freely around with her. With you. Neither of us are going to give up our career. So what are we supposed to do? Sneak around forever?"

"No.. I mean, I hadn't thought about it like that but I still wanted more time before everyone found out about her." I explain. "Don't act like we all didn't agree in the beginning that it was best that we kept things private. Our teams, the movie studio..."

"I'm not but this is different." He states and then continues. "I won't care if the pictures are released. The only thing I'm worried about is you, baby J and you getting your ass back here safely."

He disconnects the call before I can respond. Angrily I turn my phone off while my friend rubs my arm trying to comfort me.

"I can see his point but I know how much you hate people in your private life." She whispers as I cry quietly.

I move away from her and lay back down deep in thought. On one hand I want what Hero wants but on the other I want to keep both of them my little secret, To build a career in this industry based off of my work and not for who I am dating or who my sister is. To not have to hear thousands of strangers opinions on my personal life. I never intended for us to stay a secret forever. Just until our careers took off. Then when I was ready we would ease into it but instead, everything is coming crashing down at once.