C18 Chapter 18

“What the actual fuck?”

Peyton looked at Cassie in the hope that her sister could explain what the hell had just happened. She didn't even get a chance to mention Chloe’s charity. The entire interview had been hijacked. She should have known better than to trust this sleazy excuse for a news program.

“Devious pieces of shit,” Cassie muttered under her breath.

She looked around spotted the producer and took off after him, leaving Peyton standing there. With a sigh, Peyton fished out her phone and switched it back on, regretting it as her phone blew up with text messages and notifications.

“Fuck my life,” she muttered.

Shouldering her bag, Peyton stalked out of the studio. She didn't know how long Cassie was going to be and the last thing she wanted was to be standing around feeling like some specimen under a microscope. She could not believe just how awful that interview had been. Blindsided by Starr Sparkles, her replacement, and then baited into some sort of challenge. What a bitch that was going to be. She was already a meme from her last foray into the exciting world of the internet; now she was a hashtag and trending on Twitter.

How did this even happen to normal people? She really wanted to know. Peyton had never gone out of her way to get attention. Yes, at times she felt like she lived in the shadow of her older and more perfect sister, but she had always been content to just live her best life. She had thought that marrying Dale would be part of that, but it had all been a lie. He never loved her and she had never loved him.

Watching Cassie and Brian had been an eye-opener for her and she had tried to manufacture the same sort of fairy tale romance into her own relationship with Dale. It wasn't the same. There was something special about her sister and her husband, something that Peyton was starting to wonder if she would ever experience in her lifetime.

Chloe and Declan had it too, although she hated to admit it. She had a crush on Declan for a long time, which was further proof that she and Dale had never been meant for each other. She was of the firm belief that if you were truly in love with someone then you had no interest in even looking at someone else. It was her own fault for not seeing the truth before it was too late.

“Here you are,” Cassie said, coming up to stand beside her.

“Hey,” Peyton said. “Yeah. I needed to get out of there. I couldn't stand all those people looking at me and smirking.”

“I'm really sorry,” Cassie said, “I had no idea they were going to do that.”

“It's okay,” Peyton said with a sigh.

“What are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“About the challenge,” Cassie said and rolled her eyes.

Peyton shrugged. “Ignore it,” she said.

“Do you think you can?”

“You don't seriously think people are going to take that seriously, do you?”

Cassie bit her lip and looked worried. Peyton’s gut clenched.

“Fuck,” she whispered and swallowed back tears of frustration. When would the universe stop fucking with her life?

“I think you need to go on the offensive,” Cassie said.

“I think I need to just ignore it. If I don't engage then it will fizzle out.”

“Maybe,” Cassie said, but she didn't sound convinced.

Peyton rubbed her eyes, careful not to smudge the six thousand layers of mascara that the makeup artist had applied. The last thing she needed was to walk around the city with raccoon eyes.

“I just want to pretend that this isn't happening to me,” Peyton said, tiredly. “I really just want it all to go away.”

Cassie hugged her. “Okay,” she said.

“Is it too early to get a drink?” Peyton asked.

Cassie laughed. “It's not even eight o'clock in the morning.”

“But it's five o'clock somewhere, isn't it?”

Cassie laughed again. “Come on. Let's go get coffee.”

They linked arms and walked down the street toward their favorite independent coffee shop. Melbourne was over-saturated with cafes and there was no need to even consider visiting a chain store, not when their coffee couldn't compete with the indies.

The further they walked, the more uncomfortable Peyton began to feel. The prickly sensation of being watched skated over her skin and she hunched her shoulders trying to make herself look smaller and more insignificant.

“What's wrong?” Cassie looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“Everyone’s looking at me,” Peyton whispered.

Cassie glanced around and Peyton elbowed her. “Don’t look,” she hissed.

“No one is looking at you,” Cassie hissed back. “You're just imagining it.”

Peyton darted her eyes around, but she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

Cassie led her into the cafe and Peyton headed for a seat in the back corner. Cassie rolled her eyes.

“I take it I'm buying?”

“Would you mind?” Peyton asked.

Cassie shook her head but headed for the front counter anyway. While she was gone, Peyton pulled out her phone and started thumbing through the notifications on her screen. Her Twitter was blowing up thanks to that stupid morning program, and the hashtag #makepeytonfallinlove was trending. Oh my fucking god! Could her life get any worse?

“Hey,” a deep voice said and Peyton looked up. “Aren't you that girl on—”

“No. Uh-uh. Not me. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”

“You really look like her—”

“No, I don't.”

“You're even wearing the same—”

“Oh my god, get a clue! I'm not her, alright!”

He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head. “No need to be a bitch about it,” he said and walked away.

Peyton’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Had she been bitchy? She didn't think so. Was this what her life was going to be like until this all blew over? Probably.

“You'll never find a guy like that,” a woman at another table said to her.

“Pardon?”