Reality

Zoe

The ride home was quieter than I expected.

Rachel had started the journey with enough excitement to power a small city.

"You hugged him." She burst at last. I should have known Rachel couldn't bottle that kind of excitement.

I groaned and turned toward the window. The city lights streaked past us in blurred lines of gold and white.

"You definitely hugged him." She said again, this time she dragged it like a song.

"Rachel." I warned.

"You did." She defended.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass. "Please drive." My cheeks were burning. Not because of her tease but because I had thought what her reaction would be if she had seen us kiss, and then that brought the memories of the kiss in HD.

Rachel laughed. "No."

I should have known making friends would come with consequences. For most of my life, nobody had cared enough to tease me. Now I had one friend and she apparently intended to make up for lost time. It felt nice though.

"I only hugged him goodbye."

Rachel made a dramatic sound.

"People don't hug celebrities goodbye."

"He isn't a celebrity to me." There. I fell for her bait.

The words escaped before I could stop them.

I immediately regretted saying it.

Not because it wasn't true but because it was.

Somewhere between helping recover after waking up confused and watching him try to remember who he used to be, Arman had stopped feeling like an actor.

He felt human. Dangerously human. Flesh and blood. Passionate. Seeing his parent was making me understand him more.

The car fell quiet.

When we finally pulled into the driveway of my house, I immediately understood why M.J. had sent Rachel.

His car was parked outside.

Rachel followed my gaze and sighed. "Good luck." I wondered his he had said harsh things to her. M.J. was really nice to me, but I'd seen him tear others apart with words.

I narrowed my eyes. "I didn't know he was waiting."

"I guessed, I didn't want to burst your boyfriend induced bubble.." Traitor.

M.J. was already waiting in the living room. The television was on but muted.

He sat comfortably on the couch, one ankle resting over his knee as though he owned the place. He kinda did. I put at the back of my mind to check who's name the house was under and what to do to make it mine. It was most likely a rent but I knew it could be for sale at the right price

When he looked up and saw me, his face softened immediately. "There she is."

The irritation I'd prepared immediately weakened. That was the thing with M.J. He cared he felt like family.

"Hey." I waved as I took off my shoes. "Rachel said you wanted to see me."

"I did." He stood and walked over.

His eyes swept over my face. Checking. Evaluating. Making sure I was alright. It was something he had always done but now more because he didn't trust Arman with me.

It felt like something a dad or a senior brother would do when their sister or daughter got a boyfriend. "How are you feeling?"

The question should have comforted me. Instead it made me tired. While I craved attention and care, I wasn't good at handling it. "I'm okay."

M.J. studied me for a second, then nodded. "You're lying."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm tired." Giving him what he wanted to hear.

"That's better."

He gestured toward the kitchen.

"Come eat. You skipped lunch."

I didn't have the heart to tell him Arman already cooked for me.

Twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting at the kitchen island eating takeout while M.J. pretended not to watch me.

The silence between us wasn't uncomfortable, It never had been.

Maybe that was why I trusted him.

When I finished eating, he finally spoke. "Do you know what people are saying online?" I immediately groaned.

"No."

He nodded, saying nothing.

"What are they saying?" We had decided to hire someone to handle a page for me, I had access to it, but I really didn't care what happened on it.

M.J. leaned back. "Fans are going crazy over than kiss again." He didn't sound surprised.

The stupid award-show kiss. The one that had changed everything.

"The fans love it."

I rubbed my forehead. "Wonderful."

"They love it so much that they want more of it." I winced.

"What does that mean for me?" I asked. Celebrity language wasn't one I was fluent in.

"It means people want to see more of you both together." M.J. didn't sound happy about it. It seemed like he had tried to fight what he was about to say but he hadn't won. "The agency want you both to create a couples page."

I looked away. That was going to be a problem. "They want to milk the situation. Now, while this might increase my paycheck, it's making me worried about you."

M.J.'s voice softened. "Because the longer this continues, the harder it becomes to separate reality from expectation."

Something about the way he said it made me uneasy.

The lie was becoming real in other people's minds.

M.J. watched me carefully. "You care about him." It wasn't a question.

I looked down at my hands. "He's been through a lot."

"That's not what I asked."

The room became quiet and I hated that. I hated when people asked questions I didn't have answers to. It made me feel incompetent.

M.J. sighed. Then his expression softened. For a moment he looked less like the most powerful manager in Hollywood and more like the man who had discovered me outside an ice cream shop.

"I'm worried about you."

My chest tightened. "I know."

"No." He shook his head. "I don't think you do." Something cold settled in my stomach.

M.J. leaned forward. His voice was gentle. "Tell me honestly, Zoe." I looked up.n"If Arman got all his memories back tomorrow..." He paused.

His eyes held mine. "...where would that leave you?"

I opened my mouth.

Then closed it again.

Because for the first time since the accident—I realized I didn't know the answer.