Someone In The Crowd [Paul Wesley]

30. IRL

Phoebe walked through the Vampire Diaries set, on the phone to Joseph.

"You owe me for this," she said. "Where is it again?"

"In my dressing room," Joseph said. He'd forgotten his watch on set and, as Phoebe would be there anyway, he'd asked her to do him a teeny favour.

"And where's yours again?"

"Next to Cece's," he said automatically. "At the end."

"Right," Phoebe said, walking up the corridor and towards the room. She was surprised to see that Cece's dressing room door was slightly open. She could hear two people speaking.

"I'll call you back when I find it," she said to Joseph, before ending the call and standing outside the room, listening to the conversation. Not that she was spying on her friend, of course! But she didn't want to interrupt the conversation by marching past.

"When are we going to tell her?" a male voice asked. Phoebe immediately knew that the voice belonged to her ex-boyfriend Paul.

"Never," Cece responded. "I don't want her to think that we're being insensitive, or that you cheated on her."

"She's gonna find out. We can't hide this forever."

"Well we've been doing a good job of it for the last 4 months!" Cece argued.

"We broke up 5 months ago, I think it's safe to say she's over it."

"That's not the point, it's not about the time. A girl will never get over her friend dating her ex. It's like, the first rule of the girl code."

"But I want to be open with this," Paul said. "I want to tell the world that I have an incredible amazing girlfriend."

"I want that too, but not if it hurts Phoebe."

There was silence, then a kiss. It was only then that Phoebe realised that her eyes were filled with tears. She turned on her heel and headed out of the set, looking for the one person who could tell her exactly what had happened between them: Claire.