The One and Only

Chapter 6: The Paparazzi pt.1

Amelia smiled as she stared up at the sky, sitting down on the grass once they arrived. She watched the sky glow red, orange and pink, all at once. Chris dropped down onto the grass, groaning lightly as the slices of pizza he ate were finally hitting his stomach. He rolled onto his back, staying by her side as he rested his hands behind his head as he watched the sky as well. A little peek of his navel and happy trail showing from the shirt rising, Amelia completely oblivious to it. They watched the sunset quietly side by side. Amelia seemed to have journeyed off to a whole other world as her eyes were glued to the sky. She noticed how specks of stars began to show. If there was anything in the world she loved more than sunsets and sunrises, it was definitely the starry night sky.

A quick breeze rushed through them, snapping her out of her trance. She shivered lightly and so did Chris. "Woah, it got chilly!" He laughed lightheartedly, sitting up. "Yea, it did." She responded, hugging herself to block off the wind. "Lets get out of here, neither of us brought sweaters." Chris added, standing to his feet before extending his hand down to her, helping her up.

"Thank you."

"Of course." He walked her down the street to where he had left his car a couple of blocks down. He opened the door for her, Amy thanking him as she stepped into the car. He nodded, closing the door and trotting over to the other side, quickly getting in. He started the car, turning on the heater to warm them up a bit. The clock on the dashboard read 8:17 pm. "Which way do you live?" He asked, turning to look at her as he assumed she was ready to go home, taking the time into consideration. "You can go straight and I'll let you know where to turn. It should be about 5 minutes from here." She explained.

He maneuvered the car per her direction, eventually arriving at the apartments. "Thank you so much for today. It was super fun." She said happily, turning her head to face him. "I'm glad you had fun. Hopefully we can do it again soon." He responded, enjoying every second he spent with her since the moment they met. "I also wanted to thank you for..." he paused, kind of embarrassed to say it now that he thought about it. He cleared his throat, Amelia keeping quiet as she watched him trying to spit out his words. "For treating me like an actual human being, and not some idol or just, i don't know." He spoke, lowering his head lightly to look down. "Chris, you are a human being," she spoke, reaching over and resting her hand onto his to reassure him. Part of her regretting her actions at just the thought of how awkward and embarrassing the action was. "And you should be treated as such. But don't worry, sometimes I simply forget you're a celebrity." She teased, lightening up the mood as she removed her hand swiftly. At times, she really did forget she was friends with a famous actor, which just made it easier for her to treat him how he liked to be, just a normal person.

"Thank you. I mean it. It's nice having an actual friend that isn't an actor or celebrity themselves."

"Of course! You don't have to worry about all that stuff with me. Remember, I'm simple and boring." She teased. He chuckled, feeling better as he nodded. "Alright, go on now. We'll keep in touch to see what other plans we can make, with or without dogs." Chris spoke with a gentle, soothing tone. Amelia nodded, leaning over the middle console to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. Once again, instantly regretting her decision. It was as if she had no control over her body. She parted from their hug, seeing his cheeks flushed red, knowing hers were too by the heat radiating off them. "See you later, alligator!" She chirped, hopping out of the car. "After a while, crocodile!" Chris laughed out, playing along. They waved goodbye, Amelia heading inside. Chris drove off once he had seen her enter the apartment and close the door.

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The sun shined through the window with open curtains, slowly dragging over Amelia's face over time. She awoke once it had reached her eyes, happy it was Sunday. She groaned and stretched, sitting up, standing and going over to the bathroom to go brush her teeth as she did every morning. She heard the vibrations of her phone going off like there was no tomorrow from the moment she woke up to the moment she finished brushing her teeth. She huffed softly, assuming it was a group chat, ignoring it for the time being as she proceeded with brushing her hair. The phone continued buzzing, basically non stop. She growled softly, walking over to her nightstand and picking it up, noticing it wasn't from any group chats.

Individual messages flooded her phone. All her friends texting her. She quickly got worried, unlocking her phone as she feared the worst. Death, an accident, someone being in trouble, all that went through her mind as she opened a message from her best friend, Emma.

"Is this you?"
"Dude answer!"
"Amy"
"Pick up!!"

Her friend texted, spamming her phone with repeated messages. Amelia grew confused, eventually spotting a link hidden between all the other texts from her. She stood by her bed, not sure what the commotion was all about, kind of suspicious of the link but opened it anyway.

She scrolled through an article, scanning the words quickly. She approached the bottom, her body froze and tensed heavily. She gave a sharp but soft gasp, letting herself collapse to sit on her bed. Multiple pictures of Chris and her were published. From the coffee shop, to the museum to the pizza shop and park. Every step they took yesterday was being showcased for the whole world to see. She scrolled a bit more, making a huge mistake of looking at the comments.
"Omg, is that his new gf?"
"Who is she?"
"Are they dating?"
"Bro!!! Why do they look so cute! She's so lucky!"
"Eww, who's that?"
"The way he looks at her omg!" A heart eyes and a moany, weary face emoji accompanied this comment.
"She's fat, why would he even be interested in her? He would never"

"Umm, eww!"

"Chris, baby. No! She's ugly, do better."
"She looks like a pig, so fat!"
"How cute!"
"No! He better not be dating that thing!"

Her eyes teared as they read rapidly. Her mind ignored the nice comments, only processing the hateful ones. Her mind continued repeating the comments and mean words said about her. "Ugly. Fat. Short. Chubby. Obese. Disgusting. Pig. Horrifying obese cow." The list went on, every comment only giving her more reasons to hate herself. It was like the commenters knew every one of her biggest insecurities and put them on display for everyone else.