Teach Me Something // LH44

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"I feel like there's still a lot you don't know about me," I tell Lewis as I'm lying in a four-post bed that is so huge I'm pretty sure it is bigger than a King Sized. I prop myself up on my elbows to get a better look at where he is sitting at the table in the corner of the room, eating what I think is his second breakfast of the morning. His laptop is open, playing a meeting I can tell he doesn't care about because his eyes have been consistently wandering back to where I've been scrolling through my phone in bed. I'd tried to ignore it but it's pretty safe to say that he can't be ignored.

"I can't wait to learn it all... is there anything in particular that you think I should know?" Lewis asks, firmly losing interest in said meeting as he closes the laptop and I sit up against the headboard, drawing the duvet all around me. "Gigi?" He prompts, noticing that I've paused and I shake my head as I draw myself back out of my head.

"Er... can you go first?" I ask nervously, realising that although it was my issue that had been raised. Suddenly, I was feeling pretty vulnerable  I wanted to hear something from him that would make it easier to say what I wanted. I was trying but I wasn't that far changed. "Like, er, can you tell me what the whole 'Paris plan' was?" I ask, watching his eyebrows raise at the same time that he chokes on his food.

"Er... plan? I didn-" he cuts himself off when he sees my eyebrow raise, calling his bull without using another word. "Okay... erm, you want to do this now? Today?"

"Unless you'd rather not do it? Not if it will distract you," I suggest, giving him a route out if he really isn't comfortable with sharing. He puts his spoon down and sits back in his seat, folding his arms as he strokes his chin as he looks at me, the image almost comical as I look at him from where I am, watching as he tries to find a place to start. When he finally looks back at me, he lets out a heavy sigh

"After Nicole... I, er... people were interested in what I was doing and who I was seeing. I hated it for a really long time - especially when it actually got close to people I was seeing, especially just as friends and then suddenly it was everywhere. I resented being misrepresented. Eventually, though, I learned that they're interested in every girl I was seen with or even just near and I learnt how to use it to my advantage. I'm spotted with a lot more women than I'm actually ever with..." he trails off, trying to explain and for the first time, I actually think I understand. I might have suspected it but I didn't know for sure until now and it turns out that knowing really is everything. Being asked to trust someone blindly... well I could do it, but it wasn't so easy all the time. Having the logic behind the decision was useful.

"So you haven't actually hooked up with all those supermodels?" I ask, trying to keep my face straight and unemotional. I just about manage it, even when I see the answer in the way that he winces.

"I have... spent time with... several of them. Probably not all?" He says, almost a question mark behind his words to let me know that he's not enjoying this conversation one bit.

"Juliana?" I press him and he pushes his bowl away and comes to the bed, sitting at the edge of it before reaching out and taking my hand in his, his thumb running up and down the back of my hand as he talks.

"That is an example of two friends strategically working together to get benefits. It started when I was seeing someone else and I wanted to give the press something else to talk about," he explains, as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it is, but we have never actually discussed our past experiences andI hadn't seen it coming... but it was working perfectly in my direction, for my confession. "The relationship didn't work but it served as a good cover and because it happened frequently..."

"Seeing who?" I ask him, still not convinced that nothing had ever happened with Juliana but I wasn't going to push him on it. It didn't make sense, we didn't need each other's lists of ex's. There was nothing to be gained, I knew there was nothing to be gained... still, my curiosity was the result of being human I think. My ask makes him laugh, a wry smile clear on his face as he shakes his head, letting me know that I'm not going to make room there either.