Second Chances

sixteen

a l e x

"Thank you so much. I will have my assistant send you the details immediately," I smiled, ending the call with the last investor I had to contact.

I got enough money so that I wouldn't have to be forced to take Issabella's.

I slumped in my seat and took a deep breath. I was finally done for the day.

Collecting funds took me more than an hour, and I was exhausted from having to persuade anyone to agree with me. Thankfully, I did it.

"Done?" Luke perked up on the couch after staring at his phone the entire time he waited for me.

I nodded. "Just finished. You know you didn't have to wait for me, right?"

"I don't have anything better to do anyway. At least this way, I can be with you," he told me, getting up from the couch.

I accepted his words and got up from my seat as well. My butt was starting to ache from sitting in that chair for so long. "Ready to get out of here? I wanna be gone before my mom realizes what happened and she comes in here to scold me."

"Sure, but before we go, I think you should see this," Luke held out his phone.

It was open on a news article, or should I say gossip article, saying that my sister, Lexi was dating that Evan Shob guy that I specifically remember being called some particularly colorful words by Lexi.

"What the hell? 'Alexis confirmed with us that she and co-star, Evan Shob, are, in fact, dating.' Please tell me this is some sort of joke?" I read out.

He tried to keep me from exploding, but his next words didn't help all that much. "Well, it said they received two anonymous tips before confirming it with Lexi."

"She's never going to hear the end of it with me," I growled. "She better watch herself. She's just getting herself into trouble."

"Lexi can handle herself," Luke reasoned with me.

"I just saw her this morning. Why wouldn't she tell me if it was true?" I wondered.

Luke stayed silent for a while before voicing his thoughts. "Then maybe you should call her. Ask her if it's true or not."

I nodded at what he said and reached for my phone, immediately scrolling through my contacts to find Lexi's number.

"You read it, didn't you?" was how she greeted me.

"Lexi, what are you thinking? Just a few weeks ago, you told me he was some selfish, egotistical fuck. Then, you went on an interview and said you two weren't seeing each other. And now this comes out?" I raged.

I could imagine her getting riled up as well. "If you listen to my explanation, maybe you wouldn't say these things. But I guess sometimes, you just forget to listen."

"Fine, what's the truth then? Are you and this guy really dating?" I gave her a chance to explain herself.

"It's for publicity, Alex," Lexi revealed. "Our characters are dating on the show. If the audience thinks we're dating in real life, ratings will go up."

I sighed at what she said. "I understand where you're coming from, Lex, but don't you think this is a little too risky? What if you find someone you're actually interested in? What will you do? Hide him forever?"

"I can make it work, A. Besides, there's no one anyway. Evan is still as annoying and pretentious as ever, and when I find someone who will treat me better than my ex, we can figure something out," Lexi reasoned.