Mimeomia

24 | lionize

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

LIONIZE

( — to pursue celebrities or seek their company. )

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          MICHAELA WANTS TO HATE BEVERLY KEAN—REALLY, SHE DOES. Things would certainly be a lot easier if she was able to do that, but even her voice screams 'I'm one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, so that's probably the only thing about me and my sparkling personality you can possibly hate', and, when she's not talking, she's sitting with gritted teeth as Beverly speaks.

          Nice people often can only be hated for being exactly that, but Michaela supposes she's simply envious. The poor girl has been bombarded with hate comments, most of them on her Instagram posts—even if she hasn't posted anything about Lincoln—and, though people have jumped to her defense, they didn't do it the way they did to Michaela.

          She felt terrible about it, wishing she had the courage to speak up and tell the trolls to leave Beverly alone, as they didn't know the whole story—but, then again, neither does she. Nevertheless, she still felt it was her duty both as a woman and as a human being to get over herself and her heartbreak and defend someone who was clearly in need.

          Then she stopped.

          If the whole Beverly and Lincoln thing was real—though she seriously doubts it was, especially after Roya's opinion on it and after Jillian's words—there had to be something else about it that was the PR stunt itself. She let Beverly blabber her apologies, as she had never agreed on this thing in the first place—adding she'd much rather date someone without as much baggage as Lincoln, with Michaela knitting her brows together at being called baggage—and spent the whole time thinking about any possible loopholes.

          Maybe the relationship is a PR stunt, with Beverly calling it exactly that, saying it's all part of a big plan coming from her agents and publicists, but there's something else. If the big plan is to fix Beverly's reputation, the plan is failing miserably, thanks to all the hate she has been getting, and there's no way they'd do something like that without having a way of fixing it.

           The backup plan is to have Michaela come to her defense after it all. If she does it, perhaps they'll leave Beverly alone to fix everything, get back on top, and then she and Lincoln can move on with their lives. If the baggage is completely cool with two people using each other to fix their reputation—not that Lincoln needs it—then why not go forward? Everyone is happy.

          Except Michaela definitely isn't happy about this. It's her heart that's on the line, as seeing the man she's in love with kiss another woman, despite knowing he returns her feelings, doesn't do any wonders to ease the ache.

          Michaela really wishes Beverly would shut up.

          She fears she might be getting played by the girl, even if it's not her true intention, even if she had no choice, even if dragging more people into this mess was the very last thing she wanted to do. Nevertheless, she still could have said no, but Hollywood cares about your reputation a little too much for comfort; one day you're in, the next you're out. It's simply the natural course of things.

          "Beverly," she chimes in, pinching her nose bridge when she can't take any more apologies, and Beverly immediately falls silent. Michaela doesn't want to yell at her or be rude, but it's late, her soup is growing cold, and she's had one of the worst days of her life, meaning this conversation is one of the last things she wants to do. "Stop. Please."