Book 1: Echoes Of The Past

Chapter 7- Paparazzi

The next day at work was hell for Ivy. Somehow a paparazzo had managed to snap some shots of her walking into Hotel Italia and had zoomed in from the sidewalk to snap a shot of her meeting with Shannon in the hotel's restaurant lobby. Shannon was hugging her and it had been made out to be something it totally wasn't and had been blown way out of proportion.

She guessed it was an everyday occurrence for Jared and Shannon, but it was totally out of her comfort zone and she hated being flung into the limelight like that and now it was splashed all across the gossip magazines with plenty of lewd headlines such as

'Shannon Leto's Secret Rendezvous'

'Ladies Can't Seem to Get Enough of Shanimal'

'Has Shannon Leto's Mystery Blonde Got What It Takes?'

and her personal favourite

'His Shannoconda Don't Want None Unless You Got Buns, Hun'.

What the fuck was that last one about? Something told her, she didn't even want to know.

The fact she was also being described as a 'Mystery Blonde' irked her. She wasn't a 'mystery', she was an old friend if his, but she guessed they didn't know that and they were only doing their job, but because of it, rumours had been spreading like wildfire. She hated being at the centre of attention, especially gossip, and some of the women who she worked with could be real bitches.

Another person who wasn't too impressed was Mr Thompson, be that due to work or personal reasons she didn't know, but he made sure to let her know that he was far from impressed.

She'd only just had time to take coat off and set her bag down before he appeared at her office door.

"Ivy, can I have a quick word?"

"I-If it's about the photos. I-I had no idea. I'm sorry. Shannon is an old friend if mine, well, I guess friend of my brothers'. I've known him for years. We just had dinner together before I film that music video for his band tomorrow like I told you. I-I guess some Paparazzi must have had a tip off or been following him to know where he would be. It's all new to me, I'm sorry." She blabbered. She could almost feel herself on the edge of tears and knew she needed to suck this up, she didn't want to cry in front of Mr Thompson, that was the last thing she wanted right now.

Ivy's phone started to vibrate from where she had put it on her desk and she could see that Jess was trying to call her. She did her best to ignore it and turned her gaze back to Mr Thompson.

He reached behind himself and clicked her office door closed. She sank down to sit in her office chair as he took a seat perched on the edge of her desk.

Swallowing slowly, she lowered her gaze and started to pick at the cuffs of her shirt that she wore. She was so dead, she just knew it, and was waiting for those words 'You're fired' to escape from his mouth.

"Look Ivy. I don't blame you for what happened, I just worry about how it may reflect on the company. No doubt some people are going to want to know who the girl is that he's with and when they find out it's you, they'll probably be able to find out that you work for my company. I just don't want to have to deal with crazed fans camping outside the building." He pressed his fingertips together and turned his head to look at her.

"I doubt that will happen. I'm sorry this has happened Mr Thompson. I'll have a word with Shannon and Jess and see if my face can be kept out of the video somehow. That can't be too hard to do, plus I can't back out now. I've signed a contract."

"What's this music video of yours going to entail? As in what's the theme/storyline?"

Ivy started to blush. She couldn't blurt out to her boss that she was apparently there just to film a steamy make out session.