Love in the Shadows ~ Dean Portman x OC

Ch. 38: Nothing More, Nothing Less

Pov: Morgan Tibbles, September 5th, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota

"Hey Connie, what's up?"
"Have you seen it?!"
"Seen what?"
"The articles?!"
"What articles? You're scaring me"
The sound of franticly flipping pages is heard over the phone. It's 8 am so I'm not totally alert right now, especially because I have a distraction next to me.

What distraction you may ask? Why only shirtless, gorgeous Dean Portman who's now my unofficial/official boyfriend in my bed lying next me with his arm around my waist (they didn't do anything nasty you filthy animals. he's 16 for christ sake)

"BREAKING NEWS: Maple Hart Caught Kissing Teammate- Not Banksie. Read more on Page 3"
That headline makes me jolt up
"Excuse me?! What the hell!!" I'm yelling at this point so Dean starts to stir awake
"Why are you up so early yelling?" He groggily questions, trying to pull me back into bed but I push him off and start pacing on the floor which wakes him up
"Where did you find that article Connie?"
"School paper but it's all over the blogs. People, Time, Vogue, Cheetah Beat, everyone is talking about it! And if there not talking about that their talking about Adam with a mystery man which thankfully makes this whole thing way less believable but still-"
"Wait Adam with a man?? SHIT SHIT SHI- Connie. I gotta call you back"

I've never dialed Adam's number so fast. It rings and rings but no answer. We're still in Minnesota so I rush to get my shoes and coat on as I prepare to run to his house

"Hey are you ok? Where the hell are you going in such a hurry? What was that call?"
"They know"
"Who? Knows what?"
"The press. They know about us"
"That fast?! How the hell did they find out??"
"The damn game. We practically gave them a full minute of action shots"
"Shit"
"That's what I said"
"What are we gonna do?"
"Well I have to go to Adam's"
"I'm coming too"
"That's not wise"
"They already know. You can't really spin that crap plus you're not going out alone"
"Fine then get your shoes on because we gotta rush. The faster we deal with this the better"

We start to run to Adam's house when Dean hails us a cab. "4200 West Mountian Dr. and step on it" Dean ushers us into the cab and orders the driver. He obliges and gets us there in 3 minutes. I pay him way extra but that's not my concern at this point because we bolt out of the car and bang on his door. Adam's dad opens it, furiously

"What is the meaning of this Ms. Hart?"
"The news is spreading gossip about me and Adam. It's bad. We need to talk strategy"
"Fine. He's in his room sleeping. I'll have him awoken. Sit in the living room and don't touch anything" He directs that last sentence to Dean and we both scowl at his dad as we walk in. We anxiously wait on the couch till Adam comes out in silk pajamas and a Captain's robe (bathrobe you'd see someone like Hugh Hefner in)

"What's up?"
"The press found out"
"About you and Portman?"
"And about you and who I'm assuming is mystery crush"
Adam's face is drained of color and his eyes go wide. He beckons us into his room and he closes and locks the door
"Are you serious?"
"Yea the headline is either me and Dean or you and 'Mystery Man'"
"Wait man? What-" Portman asks confused. Shit right. He's not in the loop. Me and Adam share a look before Adam spits out "I kissed Charlie"
"As in Conway? Dude Conway? Uh..." He just kinda sits there processing such huge news but we don't have time for all the gears to click
"We'll catch you up later but for now we need to talk about how we're gonna handle this"
"What is there to handle. My life is over" Adam sits depressingly on his bed
"Not necessarily, we have 2 options. Duck or Cover. We can either both step out of any form of limelight and practically vanish from the press or we make a joint statement and gaslight the world into believing those photos are either out of context or fake"
"What does limelight entail? Like do I just not leave my house for a bit or just continue my life?"
"You'd have to completely switch your life around. Any award you win this year can't be in your name or at least announced publicly, no ceremonies, probably would have to quit hockey if I'm being honest. Stop going to the places you frequent. Essentially disappear from the world. I'd have to quit music, cancel press tours and meet and greets, probably move, and never join another public team or school again"
"You're not doing that Morgan" Dean pipes up "You'd be throwing your whole life away"
"Yea but if I don't then we can't be together and I have to really pretend to date Adam. More than we are now. Like really lean into it"
"So do it then. We can be together in secret or we can just-"
"No. Don't talk like that. I just got you back, I'm not loosing you again over some stupid press leak Dean. There will always be more. Always"
"That's great and all but I can't step out of the press. I just got into a hockey program that could change my life. I can't quit that"
"Really? Congratulations Adam Which one?" I say, stunned at the news
"University of New Brunswick-"
"Canada. You got into the Junior Stars Program didn't you?" I ask knowing all about that program
"Yea how'd you know?
"My dad got into it when he was a kid. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can't pass that up"
"So it's decided then" Adam says confidently
"No. I'm not leaving Dean. I'd rather live like a crazy man in the mountains than leave you" I turn to Dean, who turns fully to me
"I will never live with myself if you trash your music for me. You love writing music and preforming"
"But it's nothing compared to you. It's not my favorite thing and I'll find something else but I won't find someone else"
"Yes you will Morgan. Please don't do this to yourself or Adam. The dude has a real future, just like you, you can't ask him to walk away from that"