All of the Lights

Chapter Nine

Previously...

"You better not forget about me." He leaned his head in the car. I smirked, biting my lip.

"Give me something to remember." I stared at his lips. His eyes gazed down at my lips, too. He leaned his head closer to mine, tilting it to the side.

Our warm lips touched each other. The soft, fleshy feeling filled me with energy. I didn't want the kiss to end. It was an amazing feeling. I didn't pull away until I absolutely had to. Sam smirked at me.

"Clever." He whispered, admiring my use of words. "You better not forget about that."

"Trust me, I won't." I smiled. I was so happy.

...

"Bye. Be safe." And with that, I drove out of his driveway.

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Chapter Nine

I woke up the next morning with butterflies in my stomach. I needed to tell someone about this, but could only think of Grace to keep the information secretive.

Ugh. I almost forgot about our fight.

Grace had never returned my calls and was still pissed at me about the whole situation. I bit my lip, decided to try and call her again. I had to make things right. I never meant to bail on her.

"Hello?" Grace's quiet voice filled the speaker.

"Grace?" I said, sounding overly enthusiastic.

"What do you want?"

"Grace, I'm sorry..."

"Yeah. Ok. Bye."

"Wait! Grace, please! Just let me explain." My voice was starting to get louder.

"And what do you need to explain? That you ditched my birthday to go hang out with Sam Bernard? Yeah, ok. I think we have that covered." Grace was being super sarcastic.

She is so pissed.

"But... Ugh! You just don't understand!" I rolled my eyes.

"What don't I understand, Riley!?"

"You're just not famous! You don't get it!"

"Fuck you." She hung up the phone. I angrily threw my iPhone against my wall, letting out a frustrated scream.

She doesn't understand. Forget her. She never was a good friend anyways.

I sat on my bed and went through my contacts. I needed someone trustworthy. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of friends. I have to in order to keep up my profile. It's just that a lot of them can't keep secrets, or are just in it for the fame.

"Riley, I'm going out to lunch! See you!" Rob shouted from an intercom. I yelled back an ok and curled into my bed. Once I heard his car pull out of the driveway, I let out the sobs.

It's so hard to be perfect. It's so hard to try and keep this image.

..

I ended up falling asleep. I woke up to my FaceTime ringtone going off. It was Sam. I quickly tried to rub away any tear stains and fix my hair. I pressed the answer button, waiting for his face to pop up.

"Hey baby!" His smile was bright. I put on a forced smile. Sam was in a hotel room. They must've made it to Nevada by now.

"Hey. How's it going?" I tried to muster up as much positive energy as I could, but it didn't work. Sam saw right through me. His smile turned into a concerned frown.