Old, But Not That Old [Motough]

15. official? [bethany]

We all look at the camera man. This guy, I swear.

"How much do you want?" Derek says, in defeat, walking over to the guy and reaching for his wallet.

The camera man chuckles and raises his hand. "Save it. Don't worry man."

I look at him with scrunched eyebrows and Derek takes a step back, surprised. "Really?"

He shrugs. "Yeah. I won't give you guys a hard time..."

Mark laughs. "How nice of you." His voice is somewhat sarcastic and I laugh. This guy gave us a hard time before. Why not now?

"But if it was up to me, I'd let everyone know you were together..." The camera man says. "Your passion and love for each other is... touching. I think America would love it."

We are all silent for a moment until Derek speaks. "Well... thanks."

The camera man nods. "Yeah, sure. Just don't slip up on a live show or anything." He winks. "The other day during the dream scene filming I could see ya almost cracking."

Derek laughs. "Yeah, it's hard." He glances at me and I blush.

"You could just come clean then..." The camera man raises his eyebrows, then walks behind the camera and shuts up.

We finish practicing for the day and then Derek walks me to my car. "So are you still coming over tonight?"

I turn to him. "Couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday."

He grins at my smile. "I'm honored to share your special day with you."

I lean up and kiss him on the cheek. "I'll see you later." He winks at me and I bite my lip as I get in my car. I drive back to the hotel with butterflies in my stomach, thinking about the home cooked meal Derek has promised me.

I get a bunch of calls and sweet messages from friends and fans everywhere, and they make my day. One call, though, particularly makes me smile.

"Bethanyyyy, happy freaking birthday!" I grin wide when I hear Troye's voice over the phone.

"Ahh, thanks Troye! How have you been? Any news since I saw you?"

He sighs. "Not particularly. What about you? How's Derek?" His voice emphasizes Derek's name and I roll my eyes, giggling.

"Alright. We had a little... bump in the road, but we got through it."

"Oh gosh," Troye says. "Tell me."

I fill him in on what happened with Cheryl and everything else Derek-and-Bethany that's happened since we last talked. "Well... I'm glad you worked it out," Troye says.

"Me too," I mutter, laughing slightly. I pause before asking Troye his opinion on what the camera man said. "Hey, Troye? What do you think about us... telling everyone that we're dating?"

I hear Troye pause. "Um... I don't really see anything wrong with it, personally. But you haven't told everyone because you're afraid it'll affect your chances in the competition right?"

"Yeah..." I say, sighing. The truth is, the camera man might be right though. It might help us instead of hurt us... But I don't know if we should take that risk.

"Listen though, Beth, nobody should have to hide their relationship. Like you and Derek are having a nice home-cooked meal at his house tonight, which is great, but it's your birthday! He should be taking you to a fancy restaurant and pampering you, but you two have to keep your relationship a secret, so he can't do that. You're kinda screwing yourselves."