𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 • Miguel Cazarez Mora

XVII: ARTICLE

The next morning, Tatum woke up early. Not as early as Miguel, who was already sat up on the other end of the couch. "Good morning," she said happily, a smile on her face.

The smile soon faded when she saw the scowl on Miguel's face as he looked down at his phone. It was an article. The title read 'Tatum Kennedy gets romantic with co-star Noah Schnapp as boyfriend, Miguel Cazarez Mora, is nowhere to be seen'. The picture was a picture of Noah and Tatum when Miguel had went to the bathroom.

Shit. "Miguel, I promise you that's not what it looks like, he-" Tatum began, before being cut off.

"Not what it looks like? How else do you explain that? Its like, the second I left you took the opportunity to grab onto him. Maybe the rumours are true. I tried my best to ignore them, but now it's obvious."

"He was reassuring me!"

"What was there to be reassured about? Was he reassuring you that you wouldn't be caught cheating? I bet it was so fucking hard to keep your hands of him, right?? How did it feel to be sat in between both of your boyfriends at the same time? Huh?!"

"Because you just stormed out! Don't say you didn't, because I saw the look on your face. When you left, I was upset, he literally squeezed my hand and let it go straight away!"

"And what does he do when no one is there?"

"Nothing! Me and Noah have hung out once since we finished filming."

"Really? You guys seem pretty close considering you never hang out? Do you text a lot? Do you tel him how much you miss him? How hard it is to keep your little secret?"

"No, oh my god, you can check my phone!" Tatum grabbed her phone, holding it out to Miguel.

"I don't fucking need to. I know what's happening. I'm not stupid, Tatum. How long has it been? Before or after we got together?"

"Nothing is happening, Miguel!"

"You know, I tried to convince myself that that kiss was acting only, but maybe there was some real passion."

Miguel walked out. Tatum followed, grabbing onto his arm. He hit her off. It wasn't aggressive. He was angry, but not aggressive. It didn't hurt her. Not physically, anyway.

Tatum followed Miguel out to the patio. "Miguel, please. Just hear me out."

"I don't even wanna fucking look at you right now. I never should have became your friend, let alone your boyfriend."

"Miguel..." Tatum whispered.

"Fuck you, Tatum."

With that, Miguel walked away. Tatum watched with tears pouring down her face, until Miguel was out of sight. She walked back into the living room, where everyone else was already sat.

"It's not real, right?" Maddy asked. Tatum shook her head.

"We believe you, Tatum. It got into Miguel's head easier, for obvious reasons," Tristan said.

"I don't know what to do," Tatum said, choking on her tears. Becca stood up and took her hand, leading her to the couch where she sat in between Mason and Brady. Maddy, Becca and Tristan sat on the floor. "I wanna talk to Noah, but that will make everything look worse. Miguel said he doesn't even wanna look at me. If I get one of you guys to talk to him, he'll just be mad at you."

"Give him space," Brady suggested.

"Is that really a good idea?" Tatum said.

"I mean, we can't think of any others," Mason said. "Miguel's spoke to me before, in private. About you. He really liked you, Tatum. If he lets some stupid picture of you and a guy being normal friends ruin your relationship, he's an idiot."

Tatum nodded. "I'm gonna go and get changed," she said, heading to Miguel's room. She wiped the tears from her face and changed into her clothes for the day, even though she wouldn't need them, considering she planned on lying in bed all day and not moving the second she got home.

After about five minutes of sitting on Mason's bed and staring at nothing, Tatum looked up to see Tristan walking in. "Hey," he said quietly, sitting down next to Tatum.

"Hi," she said back.

"Mason was right about Miguel. He really likes you. I think he needs some time to cool off. You should talk to Noah, though. Maybe he can talk to Miguel."

"I'm scared it'll make it worse."

"You don't know until you try. If it does make it worse, then you can yell at me and hit me and cry on me as much as you want for giving you the idea."

Tatum laughed slightly. "Thank you, Tris."

"It's fine. Do you need a ride home?" He asked. Tatum nodded. Her mom wasn't home, she wouldn't be for a few weeks.

Tristan dropped Tatum off at home. "Are you gonna be okay by yourself?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah. God, Tristan. I'm fifteen, not eleven."

"I know. I just mean, like," Tristan tried to find a way of getting his point across without being morbid. "You're not in a good state, I mean, so you might..."

"Oh. I promise, I'd never do anything like that, okay? I'll call you if I get really bad."

"Okay," Tristan said as Tatum began to walk away, "Hey Tay?"

"Yeah?" Tatum turned around.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll see you soon right?"

"Right."

Tristan drove off as Tatum walked into her empty house. She slid down the door, letting herself burst out into tears. She cried for a good half an hour, until her eyes were dried out and her throat hurt. She decided to text noah.

private messages

TATUM🪷
did you see the article?

NOAH🍂
yeah
is miguel okay?
he seemed pretty upset at
the movie
cant imagine what he's like
now

TATUM🪷
we had a fight

NOAH🍂
he hit you?

TATUM🪷
not a physical one, noah
an argument
he stormed out of masons
house and hasn't called or
texted me since
he hasn't even spoke on the
group chat
i think we like
broke up?
he said he didn't even wanna
look at me

NOAH🍂
tatum, i'm so sorry
if i knew it would be like
this i wouldn't have grabbed
your hand

TATUM🪷
it's not your fault
the media takes anything they
can take out of context and
makes it something that it's not

NOAH🍂
ur right
do you want me to talk
to miguel?

TATUM🪷
idk
not yet
i just need some time to think
things over
i dont wanna make the situation
worse
he might get mad if you talk text him
considering you're my alleged side piece

NOAH🍂
ur right
u both need space rn
just know i'm her if you need
anything, okay?
and not just now
like
in general

TATUM🪷
thank you, noah

NOAH🍂
ur welcome