Meant To Be

They Don't Know About Us

You say you wanna forget me, baby,

So ready to erase the times we had

You say you wanna forget me, baby,

To tell the truth, I thought you already had 

  - Forget Me, from FOUR's second album, Falling Asleep Without You 

"Cass." Holland's shaking my shoulder. I don't want to wake up. Everything's fuzzy, but I know that waking up means it's my last day here, and that means leaving Holland.

I want to live in this oblivious bliss for as long as I can, before reality comes crashing in. Except reality seems to want to come crashing right now, no matter what I want. Actually...

"What are you doing here?" I mumble-ask, sitting up and pushing my hair out of my eyes. Every little bit of sleepy happiness I was holding on to evaporates when I see Holland's face. His mouth is set in a serious, worried line, and his shoulders are slumped like he's tired - no, like he's exhausted.

He's holding his phone in one hand, and he turns it and shows it to me. It's open to some gossip site, the name of which I don't recognize - but I certainly recognize the picture that sits, perfectly clear, on Holland's screen. It's Holland and I. It's from the side, and you can't see my face, but it's pretty clear that it's Holland, and the arm around me and the bits you can see of my body make it pretty clear what our relationship is.

At least, it's enough for these sorts of articles. I don't pay that much attention to the headline, but the gist of it is clear - does Holland Bellamy, heartthrob member of world famous boyband FOUR, have a new girlfriend? And who is she?

It's that last part that catches my attention.

"They don't know who I am," I say, trying to look reassuringly up at Holland. "Okay? They don't - this is okay. Do - how did they get this picture?"

We've been so careful. So, so careful. I'm wracking my brains, trying to figure it out.

"We went and got hot chocolate, remember?" Holland says. He doesn't look mad, he looks - apologetic, like he thinks that I'm going to be mad. Like I'm going to blame him or say that this whole thing was a terrible idea or something.

Which is ridiculous.

"But I didn't even come in," I protest. "How - "

"Someone must have noticed me and followed us back," he says. "I'm sorry, Cass."

"It's okay," I say. "I mean - they don't know it's me. It's fine. I'm assuming that if there were other pictures, they would be spread all over the Internet by now. And - " I take a deep breath, to give myself a moment, but who am I kidding. I've been a sure thing for a while now. "Even if they did find out, I don't care. I'm in this. Even if it means everyone knowing."

Holland shake his head. "You don't understand," he says. "They'll - they'll pick you apart, destroy you. You think that the fans would be happy, but - sometimes they are, and sometimes they're just jealous." He looks desperate. "I love our fans, Cass. They're amazing. But some of them are crazy, and even - anything, it can be a lot. Will had a girlfriend last year, and they barely lasted a month after they went public - "

"That's because everyone thinks Will and Noah are secretly in love with each other," I say bluntly. "And that any relationship is just a publicity stunt forced onto them by your management."

Okay, maybe it's a little blunt, and an overstatement, but I know for a fact that Will and the girl he was dating, Annie something, broke up because she cheated on him with some famous model. So he's exaggerating as well, and I didn't know any other way to shock him out of this spiral he's in.