Ghosts (A Christian Yelich Story)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: TMZ

I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, sore throat, and the feeling my body was on fire. Shit.

I attempted to get out of bed, but just moving slightly was too painful and required too much energy. Feeling dizzy, I repositioned myself on my pillow and squeezed my eyes tightly in a failed effort to reduce the pain in my head.

Before I could attempt to get up again, Christian stirred in his sleep and lazily wrapped an arm around me. "Mmm, hi baby," he muttered dreamily.

I wasn't sure if he was talking in a sleep state or actually awake. "Christian?" I called softly. I didn't want to wake him if he was actually asleep.

"Yeah, baby?" he responded, tightening his grip around my body.

"I think I'm sick," I said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want to get you sick too."

Christian shot up in bed. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice concerned. He reached for the lamp on his bedside table, flipped the light on, and looked at me.

"I think I have a bout of flu or something. Could you maybe make me up a bed on the sofa? I can move to that to keep my germs away from you."

"No way. I'm staying with you. What can I do to help that doesn't involve exiling you to the couch?" He placed a hand gently on my forehead. "You're burning up, baby. Like, really bad. You need aspirin and water. I'll be back."

He got up to leave the room, but he came back right away with our phones. It must have been after 4:00 am. "See you in a few minutes." He handed me my phone and leaned down to kiss my forehead before leaving again. Good Lord, could he turn the charm on.

After he left, I unlocked my phone only to be bombarded by missed calls, voicemails, and texts — all from Hannah.

Hannah: You need to call me NOW.
Hannah: What is this?
Hannah: You need to talk to me about these things before they happen. This is a BIG deal.
Hannah: I didn't even know you liked him . . .
Hannah: What the fuck, Annie!?

Hannah included a link to a TMZ article. The headline read "Annie Delaney Swings for the Fences with New Baseball Boy Toy."

Fuck. FUCK. I read a bit more of the article — until I couldn't stomach it any longer.

Annie Delaney was caught smooching reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich in London while the pair films a reality show together. Is it love, or will the quirky actress break another celebrity heart? We'll keep you in the know on this breaking news.

There were a few pictures below the article, including one of Christian kissing me on the swing set and another of us holding hands. We looked so fucking happy, so TMZ had to find a way to ruin it.

Overcome with anxiety, I ran to the bathroom and emptied what little food I had in me into the toilet.

Christian arrived back at the same time. Of course.

He immediately knelt down next to me and placed a hand on my back. "I didn't know your stomach felt sick too. Should I go get something for it as well? Wait, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?"

I shook my head no. "Our relationship is public."

Christian looked at me with a confused expression, so I handed him my phone. I could feel tears running down my cheeks as I did so.

Christian grabbed my phone and started to read the article. "What are you worried about?" he asked me as he returned my phone. "It could be worse, right? We look happy, and it's PG. Baby, I really don't think you should worry." He knelt closer to me and wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

"Now there's pressure on us. If something goes wrong, I'm even more of a slut. I never even broke anyone's heart."

"No one takes this stuff seriously." He kissed my forehead. "You need to get back in bed and break this fever."

"I also need to brush my teeth," I said firmly.

Christian got up and put toothpaste and water on my toothbrush before handing the brush down to me.

"Thank you," I said before brushing my teeth on the floor. I felt too weak to move, even weaker now that I was emotionally defeated by TMZ.

When I was finished, Christian helped me up. "Come on, time to get you in bed."

I nodded, rinsed my mouth, and let Christian guide me into the bedroom. He handed me water and aspirin as I sat on the side of the bed.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked him. "Why are you so nice to such a quirky, slutty actress?"

He sat down next to me and put an arm around me to pull me closer to him. "It's probably because I'm falling for you, Annie. Like, pretty hard. And this isn't normal for me. It's new."

His words caused me to tear up again. "I don't want the paparazzi to ruin our relationship. It's going to ruin us before we get started. Pressure."

"This is going to work," he said calmly.

But I wasn't as sure.