Hollywood Heartbreaks: The Fall

Chapter 17 - Jordan

"Foodies, Foodies, Foodies!" Kitchen Kitty's voice boomed from the sound bar speaker, "You're about to burn your tongues, this tea is so hot! Leading man, Jordan W, is winning with the number one movie at the box office but losing in love as his lady, Alexandra Montgomery, is seen sneaking around with a secret lover!" Kitchen Kitty paused to sip from her mug and adjust her pink wig.

"Let's take a closer look, ya'll! Here is the mystery man entering Alex's apartment building with a bouquet of flowers. Now this next picture is the same mystery man leaving a whole three hours later, with no flowers and a smile on his face! Of course, you're probably thinking how we know he's not visiting one of Alex's neighbors. It's because, here, they are on the Midnight Sun red carpet getting out of the same car together! He's whispering in her ear, rubbing her back, kissing her cheek-- and this is at Jordan's premiere, ya'll! So disrespectful!"

Jordan's jaw tightened as he watched the report. Nothing good could come from this.

"Well Foodies, looks like our favorite snack and a half, Jordan, is about to be back on the market, soon! And you can trust that millions of Jordan's fans will be coming for Alex on social media and beyond!"

As if on cue, Alex's phone started rattling off the night table as one notification after another came in from her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Her Instagram photos were flooded with popcorn emojis, which was the signature emoji for Jordan's fans, since popcorn is the go to snack to eat at movie theaters and Jordan was a movie star who was also considered to be a snack. On Twitter, the hashtag 'GiveAlexTheAx' was trending. She was being called every explicit name there was and even getting death threats.

"Don't worry about my fans. I'll get them in check." Jordan said quietly watching even more tears rolling down Alex's face. He began to wonder if he and Alex would ever have a moment to breathe. It seemed like they were finally falling into step with one another, but problems were sprouting from thin air, like weeds.

He figured most of his fans were harmless and the worst they would do was spam Alex's social media accounts. What worried him were the handful of outliers that could potentially be a threat to her safety. He'd be sure to speak with his full-time body guard, Vince about his concerns. Jordan figured it wouldn't be uncomfortable for Alex to occasionally travel with Vince, since the two seemed to get along well after meeting at Ralph Steven's home. He knew Vince thought Alex was cool; otherwise Vince never would have let Alex past the gates when she showed up to Jordan's house unannounced, at almost midnight. Past love interests had been turned away, on several occasions.

"I'm done with this." Alex said, standing up. "I've been sitting back and letting too much slide. These past couple of weeks have been out of control and every time my gut tells me to do something - speak up at the studio meeting; put Damien in his place for his advances; clear up rumors of our relationship when my mother said to ignore them - I just let it slide. I'm done with it, now." She accepted the tissue Jordan offered and wiped her tears away.

"Jordan, I don't know why there have been so many issues with leaks and pictures and meetings, but I've got to start listening to my gut. Right now, my gut is telling me that it's all connected. I just need to figure out how."

A feeling of pride washed over Jordan, seeing his girlfriend get fired up and take control of the situation. It made Jordan love her even more. It also made him want to finish what they'd started the night before. However, Alex wasn't the only one in their relationship to put business before pleasure. Standing up, Jordan clapped his hands twice, "Alright, then. Let's get to work!"

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When the video from his parent's cookout first leaked, Jordan called his parents asking them to find out who may have been the culprit. No one had come forward, which disappointed Jordan because he felt the number of people he could trust was shrinking by the minute.