When We Realize (A Sheo Fanfic)

Chapter Twelve

*Shailene’s POV*

He let it slip during an interview with one of the most popular magazines in the world. How could he be so careless?! Now the whole world is going to know now, and we haven’t even gotten a chance to tell the managers yet. Or am I under thinking the whole situation… maybe he said it on purpose, because he knew that right there was the best opportunity he had to let the whole freaking world know!

I don’t speak or look at him the entire ride home, and once we are in my apartment and the door is shut behind us, I walk into the living room and then turn to him.

“How could you do that?” I say, my voice shaking.

His eyebrows furrow. “I-"

“You know how I have felt about this!” I interrupt. “I didn’t want to be irresponsible and risk ruining the movies!”

“What are you even talking about?” He says desperately. “People date their costars all the time! We aren’t going to ruin the movies!”

“Even if that whole side of this worked out, what about our personal lives? They’ll be all over us nonstop! They’ll ask us questions, they’ll make up lies, they’ll take little things and turn them into big things!”

“Kind of like what you are doing right now? It’s like that with any celebrity relationship, Shai! Everyone has to deal with it, and it has worked out fine for plenty of people! We won’t even see any of what they have to say; nothing’s going to change!”

“I care about you so much, and I just wanted one damn thing in my life that is mine!”

“It sure doesn’t feel like that, you know! What with you wanting so bad to keep us out of the media. This is our life; cameras and magazines and rumors and lies! You can’t change any of that. You’re the one who is always so positive. You always say that we have to think of the best possible scenario in life, not the worst! Where’s that now?” He asks loudly, stepping closer to me.

I put my hands on his chest and push him away.

“I can’t take back what I said, babe. I’m sorry. Can’t we just move on and move forward? You know in your heart that we love each other enough not to let whatever they do or say affect us. We will be fine.”

“We can’t move on. How can we move on when for the rest of our lives everything in our personal lives is exposed! We’ll have to wonder how every little thing we do will affect the movies! I wanted one thing to be normal for once. How can I expect our relationship to be fine when you can’t even listen to me and keep this one thing secret for a while?”

“It was an accident! Being public might be easier than keeping everything private. We deserve to be happy.”

I shake my head. “This is bigger than us. I wish it wasn’t but it is. This is the whole franchise, and I can’t believe you were careless enough to let it slip. I need you to leave.”

His face is a mask of horror as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Shai…”

“I need time to think.”

His hands drop to his sides. “Think all you want. It hurts me so bad that you think what we have isn’t strong and that something as dumb as a movie or a tabloid can affect it.” He walks away and opens the door as I watch him. “Maybe it really isn’t strong, then.” He murmurs, before shutting the door.

My mind is cloudy all night as I book my flight to Maine. Maybe he is right. Maybe we aren’t strong enough if I’m doubting it so early on. I don’t tell him I am going to Maine for the week, or say goodbye. This will be the longest we will have been apart for over two months now… He’ll go his separate way, and I’ll go mine, and maybe once this week is over we will realize that things will be better that way permanently.

***

My flight to Maine is easy and effortless. I don’t pack much and I listen to music the whole way there. I’m ready to have a positive and energizing time with my friends. I miss them all a lot, and being around their natural auras is something I really need right now. Nature in general is what I need now. I arrive there late at night, and I greet one of my best friends in the world, Makayla, with a lot of enthusiasm. I didn’t tell her why Theo couldn’t come, just that he was busy. I crashed on her couch soon after.

I wake up early the next morning to whistling. Makayla is an early riser. Her house is tiny, but it overlooks a beautiful mountain view. She notices me wake up and walks over and sits by me on the couch, handing me a cup of coffee. I don’t usually drink coffee, but I may need it today. She of course, knows that.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Fine, thank you.”

“Kayleigh and Jeremiah are coming over. We’re going to forage for wild leeks today! It’s the perfect season. Do you want to come?”

I laugh and take a long sip of coffee. My friends and I are honestly so weird, but this is the perfect surrounding for me to take my mind off of everything.

“Of course I want to!”

Suddenly my stomach twists. I stand up really quickly and run over to the garbage can in the kitchen and throw up. Not this again. I know that I’ve been having stomach problems, but I don’t want it to ruin my vacation! It must have been the coffee that set it off. Coffee has never settled well in my stomach, but this stomach virus could be something serious…

“Shai,” Makayla says, holding my hair back. “What’s wrong?”

“I have stomach problems lately… I know I should see a doctor about it soon, but I’ve just been making tea’s and usually it helps.”

“Come on. Come rinse your mouth out.”