Cherry Bomb [H.S.]

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"She just decided to speak out to a tabloid about you and Harry, or what?" Kailey asks as we walk around the outside mall - coffees in our hands and sunglasses perched on our noses.

"We're still not really sure yet," I sigh with a shake of my head. "Lys is trying to figure out if she sought out some online tabloid to talk to, or if they dug into Harry's past and somehow found out about their relationship, and reached out for a statement."

"God, that's so fucked up. Either way, it's childish of her to do that. Rylan knows damn well that you and Harry weren't seeing each other like that when the two of them were together. She's just pissed off that he chose you over her in the end. It's not even like they were a true couple, you know? Everyone could see that it was just a relationship of convenience."

"I'm just trying not to let it get to me. We've already made a statement yesterday, and Lys is trying to get the sites who have reported on it to take their stories down, or to at least say that we reached out to comment, but it seems like we're hitting a wall." We stop in front of one of the stores we want to go to so that we can finish off our coffees before going in. "I'm just happy that she didn't she didn't say anything about his addiction or his sobriety. Regardless of her being out of line, at least she knows that would be too far."

"That's true." Kailey nods as she tosses her coffee cup into the recycling bin, and I do the same before we head into the store. "She better hope that I don't see her in person anytime soon. I won't hesitate to give her a piece of my mind."

"Trust me, Harry already said he wanted to call her, and I stopped him. Honestly, if anyone were to try and say anything to her, she would just use it as another ploy against us. Us just putting out statements to the bigger parties, and staying silent when it comes to her, is our best option."

"I guess you're right. I just don't think it's fair. She gets to run her mouth and spread lies against you both, but she doesn't get any repercussions. Why don't you sue her for defamation?"

"God, you and Harry are the same," I laugh as I start to sort through a rack of clothes. "He suggested that too, but I explained to him that would mean we would have to deal with her for a longer period of time, and I don't feel like doing that. If she wants to get her couple weeks of fame by trying to get people to think negatively about us, then fine. Eventually she'll get tired, and the excitement will die down, and she'll go back to being her miserable self."

Today I told Harry that I needed to get out of the house for a little bit while he was at work, so I asked Kailey if she had any plans. When she said she didn't, I brought up just going out and doing some shopping, and she was all for it. It's been a while since she and I have been able to hang out one on one, so I was more than looking forward to this once she agreed.

After us finding out about what Rylan had said to that tabloid last week, Harry and I have been a bit on edge. Thankfully nothing has really changed between our dynamic, but it's easy to tell when one of us is in our heads about the whole thing. When I found Harry standing in front of that bottle of liquor that I had overlooked in my pantry, I felt like everything was about to crumble from underneath us. I also felt so guilty that I had somehow missed it when ridding the house of alcohol. I could tell he was upset that I was feeling the burden of that so heavily, but I couldn't help it. It was a foolish mistake.