Scars [An Exclamation Point Fan Fiction]

PART 18

This time I wake up to Lyndsay jumping on my bed.

"Nikki wake up!" She says. "You're all over Twitter!" She throws a pillow at my face and I finally open my eyes.

"What?" I groan.

"Look!" She says shoving her phone in my face. "You're a top trend on Twitter and you're on Facebook!"

I sit up and take the phone from her. Sure enough tons of pictures of Paul and I are all over the Internet. There's one of us holding hands and smiling at each other. There's another of us hugging. I read the comments with the photos.

"They're official!"

"So cute!"

"Love them!"

I start to smile until I see the hateful comments.

"She doesn't deserve him."

"She's so fat and ugly."

The worst comment comes from Danny and Paul's 'biggest fan.'

"She's going to get him killed by her psycho ex. She's crazy. Someone should lock her up."

There are more negative comments than positive now. My eyes get teary. I drop the phone and run to the bathroom. I start puking, and I can't stop. I lay my head on the side of the tub, and take a few deep breaths. I flush the toilet and swallow a capful of mouthwash, to get rid of the taste. Back in the room Lyndsay's reading the comments. She looks over at me.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't see those earlier." She says.

"It's fine." I say crawling back into bed.

"I have to go to the Over 25's rehearsal. You going to be ok?"

I nod and she walks out the door. I pick up my phone from the floor and open my Twitter. My mentions are blowing up. All I can see is hate. After almost an hour of reading through the horrible comments, through teary eyes, I hear the door close. Paul walks over to the bed and sits by me.

"Lyndsay told me I should come see you. Everything ok?"

I think about lying, but instead I slowly shake my head.

"What's wrong?" He asks brushing my tear stained cheek.

I hand him the phone and roll to face the other wall. I softly start crying, and Paul crawls under the covers, putting his arms around me.

"You can't listen to them baby. They're just jealous and want to be you."

"Easy for you to say. They love you." I spit out.

"Not true. They're mad at me for keeping it a secret. I got some hate too."

I roll over and face him. "Really?"

"Yea." He brushes hair behind my ear, and rests his hand on my cheek. We lay in silence for a few minutes before Paul speaks. "Did you know you're still in your dress?" He asks.

I laugh. "Yea. I went back to sleep after I texted you. I never got up to change, plus I need to shower."

"I wasn't going to say anything, but yea you do." He says sarcastically.

I playfully hit his chest. "Shut up." I start getting out of bed.

"Do you want me to leave so you can?" He asks sitting up.

"No I'll be fast." I say grabbing clothes from my drawers.

"I could join you, you know. Help you wash your back." He says winking at me.

I grab a pillow from the floor and throw it at his face. Paul raises and eyebrow and smirks at me. "Oh really." He says climbing off the bed. I run to the bathroom door, but Paul catches me. His arms are around my waist lifting me off the floor. I shriek with laughter as he carries me to the bed. He turns me around and lays me on the bed. I try to back away, but he grabs my waist and starts tickling me, I squeal, laughing, trying to get out of his grasp.

"Paul. Stop." I say in between laughs. He laughs with me and continues to tickle me. Suddenly he stops, and puts both hand on my neck. Very gently he pulls me so I'm sitting. He stands between my legs and leans into kiss me. I put my hands on his sides and pull him closer. We stay like that, clinging to each other kissing, for a few minutes. I put my hand on his chest, and push him away.

"I'll be back." I say, picking up my clothes again and walk into the bathroom.