For Fake and For Real

28. #FreeTim

Lucy spent most of the night crying and eating ice cream while Tamara stayed up to comfort her. An hour after sneakily texting Jackson, Tamara was pleased to hear knocking at the front door to indicate his arrival.

He took one look at his friend's bloodshot eyes and asked, "Umm...how come you two aren't celebrating?"

"Jackson, I don't care about some stupid award. I lost Tim," Lucy whimpered.

"So, you haven't looked at your phone?" he asked.

"I'm thinking of throwing it into the ocean."

"You are about to turn that frown upside down, because there's NEWS! Two pieces of news!"

Tamara gave him a questioning look.

"Let's start with the best thing I've read in MONTHS!" Jackson said happily, and after a few clicks on his phone, presented the device to Lucy to read the article he had pulled up:

#FREETIM
The hashtag "#FreeTim" has been trending for 8 hours after a video went viral yesterday of actor Ashley McGrady yelling at her boyfriend and "Impossible Operation 5: Never Over" costar Tim Bradford. Last night, Bradford and Chen won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for last year's big sci-fi and romance release of the year "Galactic Wars", and as tradition dictates, they kissed on stage in lieu of an acceptance speech. Attendees were not at all surprised to see the passionate lip lock, but it angered McGrady enough to scream at her boyfriend after the award ceremony was over but before they left the theatre.
The fight was captured on video where McGrady accused Bradford of "embarrassing both of them" and "being the absolute [expletive] worst" for kissing his former costar. Once the footage was posted on social media, a campaign to "#FreeTim" began with fans of Bradford begging him to break up with McGrady and find a more suitable girlfriend, or rather, get back together with Chen. To look back on simpler (and better) times, click this link to check out the best of Chenford moments in 2022. And if you're curious, scroll down to see Ashley McGrady blow up at her (hopefully soon to be ex) boyfriend.

"Wow," Lucy gasped. She couldn't bring herself to watch the video; she was already in an emotional state, and she couldn't imagine seeing someone yell at Tim right now without crying again.

"This is good news, Lucy! You're gonna get your man back soon!" Jackson beamed.

"It's hopeless, Jackson," she resigned.

"Really? So, you stopped counting how many days left of his contract?"

"Yup."

"Well, there's only 31 days left," Jackson offered.

"It's 33," Lucy corrected.

"Hmm...looks like someone is still keeping track," he smirked knowing he was testing her, and YES he had an app with the countdown on his phone titled: CHENFORD FOREVER.

Lucy groaned in frustration from being caught up in her lie. She couldn't resist the countdown even after everything.

"What's the other piece of news?" Tamara asked with her eyes glued to her screen as she retweeted every #FreeTim tweet she saw.

Jackson looked over at her phone and giggled. "I've been doing the same thing all morning."

"Can we focus? What other news do you have...unless it's more Ashley stuff, because I don't wanna hear it," Lucy sounded unamused and tired.

"If I were you, I would be basking in this. Dragging your man's fake girlfriend is good for you and the chance you get back together before that 33 day countdown is up."