Stefani was sitting on the soft grass behind her house, watching the sun set over a spectacular view. She sighed - it used to be these sunsets would make her want to write songs and compose and create, but now all she could think about was the dilemma she was facing.
She watched her dogs scampering in the grass as the shadows slowly lengthened. What should she do? Should she keep up the "friends" act for the public and occasionally meet up with Bradley for a quick fuck in the dead of night like a criminal or a whore while he went back to his family, leaving her alone here, in this huge empty house? The idea was so repulsive to her that she shuddered. But what then? Tell the public the truth? Show up somewhere on his arm and just let the PR bomb go off? It was tempting, extremely so. But could she actually do it? Yes. Would he be willing to? There she had no answer. He had left in a hurry to go back to LA this morning and they hadn't really talked. How could she even be sure he loved her - maybe he just wanted her, it definitely wouldn't be the first time this happened. You give your heart away to someone and then it turns out all they want from you is a good fuck.
"Bradley's not like that" a voice in hear head answered immediately.
"I think he's not like that" she mused out loud, rubbing her hip absentmindedly. It had started hurting again because of all the nerves.
"Right. I'm a grown-ass woman and this is not the first time I've had to handle people saying shit about me in the media" she said firmly to Asia, one of her dogs. The animal looked at her, wagging her tail. Stefani laughed, picking her up and getting to her feet. She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts and dialed her manager Bobby's number.
"Hey. Do you think you can score me a talk show interview? For about tomorrow".
Next day
She had refused to call Bradley all evening, not even texting him "good night". He had called her a few times, but she hadn't answered. She knew that if she had, this thing she was about to do would become ten times harder.
How ridiculous it was that she had felt free to be with him after the Oscars party, for she was never free. "I belong to all of you" she thought as she scrolled through the endless Twitter comments, "I'm yours. Forever".
The decision she had come to had been difficult, but it was right. She might have self-esteem problems, but she absolutely refused to stoop so low as to be someone's mistress, even Bradley Cooper's. Bobby had texted her some pictures earlier today of Bradley and Irina going about their business in LA together. Neither looked very happy, but still.
The knock on her door jolted her up from the piano where she had been sitting, staring broodingly into the distance. She stood up and went to answer, letting in her team who had come to help prepare her for Jimmy Kimmel tonight.
Around an hour and a half later she was striding down her driveway looking like a million bucks in a sheer black dress and heels, her platinum hair loose around her shoulders.
At precisely that moment Bradley snapped to attention as he looked closely at the TV.
"And tonight, don't miss, brand new Oscar winner Lady Gaga and many more on Jimmy Kimmel..."
He stared at the television dumbfounded. What the fuck was she doing? Ignoring his calls and messages was one thing, but this...
Without much thought he stood up from the couch and started getting dressed.
***
The interview started off great - the audience gave her a long standing ovation and Jimmy himself first asked her about the Oscars of course. They had had a talk before the program started, during which Stefani let him know the real purpose of this interview, and he had nodded with understanding. Jimmy had always been a sweetheart and she was immensely grateful that this one was with him - she had told Bobby to get her anything available on such short notice.
Then, of course, he asked the question on everyone's minds. Gaga took a deep breath as she began to answer "First of all, social media is, quite frankly, the toilet of the internet..."
Little did she know that Bradley was standing a mere 15 feet away from her in the back room, staring up at her image on the flat screen TV, taking in every word, frowning.
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Romansa"Who are you kidding Stefani?" He said, his face inches from hers. "I see the way you look at me, the way you blush when I say you're beautiful, the way you sing to me like I'm the only person in the world. Don't think I'm blind, princess, you've be...
