She Looks So Perfect

Chapter Twenty-Nine

This chapter is very short. I hadn't intended for it to be at first, but once you reach the end, I'm sure you'll see why I stopped writing where I did.

Alexza's POV

"Lexi." The simple nickname he'd given me years ago was spoken, but in a different tone I'd ever heard him use. It sounded forceful, like he had something urgent to tell me. He sat me down across from him in the small plastic chairs outside of the studio after insisting I get down there as soon as I could, "This is going to make me sound absolutely fucking crazy, but Angelica told me it was okay."

"What are you saying, Calum?"

"She came into one of my dreams last night for the first time in a couple of weeks, and she told me that we were okay. You and I , our relationship. She told me she could see how you made me feel, and if anyone would get to take her place she was glad it was you."

At the time, I honestly didn't know whether he was making it up, had gone mad, or if my best friend had really visited him from the greater unknown in his sleep to approve of what we had become. Either way, I had more confidence in the relationship than intended, and I leaned in for a kiss I so dearly craved.

It was finally okay for us to be together, only one more obstacle standing in the way of mine and Calum's freedom; the fans.

~

"I can't do it anymore. I don't care if you end my pay checks, I don't care if this gives me bad publicity. I don't care. The only thing I care about is my real love life, not the one you've forced me into." I had finally had enough of the damned contract I was so eager to sign a year and three months prior. Finally, I was free.

We were rushed into a small room full of microphones and strangers. Somehow our management got us into an interview within twelve hours of deciding we wanted to end our contract. They told us just to stick to the plan; I miscarried and we decided this wasn't going to work out.

I hate lying. Lying is a sin, and it's rude. I didn't want to lie to my fans, his fans, or anyone. Even if I hadn't realized my love for Calum, I feel like I wouldn't have been able to stand the strain of being a fake, deceiving everyone.

"Now, Alexza and Michael, let's not beat around the bush. Why're you two really here?" The radio announcer asked, cutting straight to the chase.

"Right," Michael started, "As some of you may know, Alexza and I just recently got some news. She was pregnant. Some of you also may know that during another interview she announced that she wasn't pregnant, and abruptly left the room. Sadly, Alexza has had a miscarriage." He bluntly stated. A few of the random people in the room gasped and covered their mouths as their eyebrows raised in sympathy. The whole room was silent, and for a moment I felt as if I truly had lost a child.

Michael continued, "Alexza and I have decided that it's in our best interest to break off our relationship. We've thought that maybe this misfortune has lead us to break off from each other, and start over seperately."

"You heard it here, guys. Malexza has ended. What a tragedy." I shivered at the name. Malexza. Something our fans had come to a consensus on calling us. But none of that mattered any longer, because we weren't a thing. We could finally part, and forget about all of this. Or so we thought initially at the time. Seems as if we had forgotten he was best mates with my real love interest. We stood up from our seats in the crowded room and departed, a tear falling to the ground.

We may not have been in love, but a year of pretending so could really screw with you.

As the contract was voided, my career ahead of that day completely unknown, my heart stayed strangely calm and collected. After over a year of posing as Michael Clifford's girlfriend as a publicity stunt, I was set free.