"…And then he said, "Sweetheart, there are only three things that tear families apart and that's money, sex and maple syrup!"" Alice Cooper finally reached the end of her long, tedious anecdote leaving a notable pause for comedic effect. Like clockwork, her guests chuckled and chortled in good humour, including Josie McCoy herself, despite not really understanding what the point of her longwinded joke had really been in the first place.

Look interested, play the game, Josie instructed herself calmly. With her clutch purse in one hand and a glass of chilled water in the other, she sent the hostess a polite smile before taking a sip of her beverage, acting as though she was perfectly comfortable within the multi-million dollar household that was buzzing with socialites, celebrities and business people.

Alice's husband, Hal Cooper, the CEO of Canada's most widely used supermarket chain "The Coop" took a generous swig of his urine coloured drink—probably whisky. "Speaking of family, Josephine here is Myles McCoy's daughter. Excellence certainly runs in that family. She struck silver at the Athletics World Championships a few months ago," his beady eyes graced her with an impressed gaze which she acknowledged with yet another closed tight-lipped and somewhat appreciative smile.

It wasn't easy being the daughter of an ex-athlete who'd won not one, but two Olympic gold medals for his country in Men's 400M. Josie ran the same distance and second place was a disappointment to him; "a glorified loser". He'd given her the cold shoulder for a week.

Hums of amazement came from various other members of the social circle. The elderly French couple to her left regarded her with a newfound admiration in the wake of disdain.

"Ah!" Mrs Cooper put a hand to her chest in recognition. "Oh, Myles is such a lovely man. You must tell him we said hello," she trilled, coming across as rather patronising.

The young athlete nodded, "I'll be sure to tell him that." Then she added, lying smoothly, "Thank you so much for inviting me to your home, Mrs Cooper. It's beautiful." There was nothing more flattering to an upper class housewife than a complement toward her house, even though she didn't clean it herself.

That caused another wave of cooing. "Oh, aren't you polite?" Her dad had heavily hinted that she could make up for her previous failure by securing a sponsorship deal with The Coop. Josie had no desire to be at this mixer, but was determined to make him proud this time around.

"It's no problem at all," Hal answered on behalf of his wife, taking another drink of his alcohol. He pointed his empty glass toward her and looked her dead in the eye. "If you ever need anything—a sponsor, some money—let us know, poppet, we'll hook you up."


She'd gotten what she wanted. Now she wanted to go home.

However, Alice had taken a special liking to her and had introduced her to one of her daughters, who was the same age as Josie.

Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper was a younger model of her mother, sharing her pin straight blonde hair and condescendingly kind blue eyes. She had the whole girl-next-door persona on lock. From what Josie had seen of her on TV, she was certain it was all an act. But as Betty led her through the hallway toward the rec room where her friends were hanging out and talking her ear off about all the charity work she'd done in Riverdale, it was proving to be 100% genuine.

The Coopers were the closest thing that Canada had to the Kardashians, well, if the Kardashians had a living patriarch and no sex scandal. "Coping with the Coopers" followed the three Cooper children through their daily triumphs and tribulations, acting as the favourite over-produced and scripted reality TV drama source for many. Personally, Josie preferred something more intellectually stimulating like Survivor or Big Brother. Chic, 32, was a lazy lone wolf who was constantly unsure on whether he wanted to take over the family business. Betty, 21, was a real life Mary-Sue whose biggest problem was coming to terms with how perfect her life was.

Sales were thriving and the show had reached peak ratings, especially after the surprising reveal that Hal was distant cousins with his business rival Clifford Blossom of Blossom Foods. The cherry on top of the cake that Polly, 22, and Jason, heir to the Blossom Foods Empire, were dating (a modern day Romeo and Juliet storyline) and with child.

The whole situation sounded like a hot mess. Yet, Josie's mum was eager for her to network with them "just in case her career in sports didn't work out".

The two women finally arrived at the rec room, Betty made a bee-line for the grouch-ey looking dude in a hat who was slumped on the sofa. The blonde socialite placed a chaste kiss on his grey cheek and gestured toward the athlete who nervously fiddled with her clutch purse in the door way. "Juggie," her voice had adopted a sickly sweet tone that made Josie want to throw up, "this is Josie McCoy. She's a runner."

Josie brought a hand to greet him casually, "Hi."

The guy merely spared a withering glance in her direction, remaining silent. Wow, rude much?

Betty giggled in good nature, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, "Don't mind him, he's just shy." Yeah, sure, the athlete thought sarcastically. Her instincts were urging her to do exactly what she did best: run. "Come inside. Take a seat. We're not bad, I promise you."

Josie looked around the room cautiously, surveying everything from the well-stocked mini bar in the corner to the massive state of the art-speakers that were pumping out the chorus to Closer by The Chainsmokers. Betty and Druggie or whatever his name was, were intertwined on one of the two glossy leather couches that formed an L shape in the space's centre. Game console controllers sat on the floorboards below the 85 inch plasma TV resting on the far wall, it appeared as though a game had been paused.

Gripping her purse, the runner was about to take a step forward however her movements were stopped when something bumped into her, causing her to stumble backwards. Luckily, she was able to grab onto the doorframe for support however a wet sensation crept along the front of her dress and she looked down in panic to see that it was covered in giant red stain.

Somebody let out a sharp gasp. It took Josie a moment to realise that it was her who had made such a sound. She knew she shouldn't have come. Instead, she should've just arranged to meet up with Toni, Mel and Val so that they could discuss their relay strategy.

"Oh my gosh, Archie! What did I tell you and Reggie about play fighting?!" Betty quickly detangled herself from her zombie-like boyfriend and hurried over to her guest's side. Her lip quivered inconsolably as she placed a concerned hand on her shoulder, "Josie, I am so so sorry." She looked as though she was about to burst into tears at any given second, which was strange considering Josie was the one with her dress ruined by an unidentified substance.

A pale red-haired guy stood nearby with an empty wine glass in his hand, awkwardly scratching at the back of his head whilst his mouth gaped open, an equally astonished handsome Asian dude hovered behind his shoulder. "Shit, I-I'm sorry," Justin Gingerlake's cheeks turned a furious shade of crimson as he apologised wholeheartedly to an unbothered Josie, "we weren't fighting we were just fooling around." Like that makes anything better?

"You may have been fooling around, I wasn't," his accomplice retorted quietly, glaring at the back of his rival's ruffled head.

"Shut up, Reggie!"

"Make me, Ed Sheeran!"

Round 2 was fast approaching. Josie rolled her eyes at their bravado, these guys were such idiots and she could feel herself slowly choking to death on the testosterone radiating off of Dumb and Dumber. "I'm just gonna head home. Is there a way I can leave the house without being seen, like a back door or something?" She asked Betty, deliberately ignoring the two men that were standing toe to toe.

The Cooper's middle child gulped and nodded like a deer caught in the headlights, "Yeah, if you walk back up the hall we just came down. It should be to your left. Gosh, I'm sorry."

"Me too," Josie muttered dryly, staring down at the state of the once white off-the-shoulder dress her mother had bullied her into wearing earlier in the evening. "Me too, girl."


Josie kept her head down as she hastily walked around the side of the Cooper residence, the combination of wet fabric clinging to her skin plus the nippy night air made her shiver uncontrollably. The sooner she left this place the better, she didn't know how much more bullshit she could tolerate.

"Hey! Wait up!" A masculine voice called from behind her. Nope, she wasn't hanging around any longer, so kept things moving. She let out a small sigh of relief when she reached the front of the house, just a little further and she'd be back at her car. "Hey, did you not hear me?" The pitter-patter of footsteps drew near and Josie stopped just as Reggie jogged up beside her and then in front of her and inserted himself right in her path.

Josie raised an eyebrow, letting out a dry scoff, "What do you want?"

Even though she was wearing heels, he towered over her but she was anything but intimidated. In the first few minutes of meeting him she could just tell he was an absolute dumbass. "Look, I'm sorry about your dress." His dark eyes raked over her body from head to toe, the inspection was thorough and triggered an unexpected warmth within her. It's nothing, get it together. "Lemme give you my shirt or something to cover up, you're shaking."

"No, I'm not," she denied harshly, crossing her arms. She totally was.

He shamelessly proceeded to unbutton his shirt, his hands were big and broad but they moved swiftly. Josie's eyes widened, without any thought her hand darted out to grab his, forcefully stopping him. "Stop!" She hissed, "What are you doing?"

Reggie's eyes gleamed at her flustered nature. He's loving every second of this, isn't he? "I'm giving you my shirt so you don't get cold," he explained with the patience suited to an infant learning to read.

The athlete sighed, withdrawing her hand from his as though it was inflicting her with third degree burns. "Keep your clothes on." She side stepped around his tall muscled frame and continued on her way down the drive way. "I don't want to be humiliated any more tonight," she threw over her shoulder frostily.

Yet, he didn't listen to single word that she was saying and he was still following her closely. God, he was annoying. Josie rolled her eyes for the nth time, it was a wonder that her eyes weren't permanently stuck in the back of her head already. She exchanged a nod with the large elderly gatekeeper as he opened the front gate, allowing her to leave the Cooper's residence. He sent her a friendly smile in return, his teeth gleaming due to contrast that his mahogany skin provided.

"Wait, you have no idea who I am, do you?" Reggie smirked in amusement, falling in step with her. For a split blissful moment, she had forgotten that he was even there.

Josie looked over at him, her eyes narrowing into unnerving slits of suspicion. She'd definitely seen Reggie somewhere before. He was from that boyband that Melody and Toni loved so much. "Nope. Should I?"

He was suddenly in her way again. Flailing her arms dejectedly, she tried to walk around him, however he slid sideways blocking her path on the pavement with ease. "Hey—look at me. Please just accept my shirt. I feel like a jerk just leaving you alone like this," he insisted in a lowered tone of voice and he softly placed a hand on reassurance on her arm. His lips slowly curled into a persuasive grin and he shrugged, "Plus, you'll get to see me shirtless which is an added bonus."

Josie inhaled sharply, wrenching her arm away from his touch. Reggie's shirt was already halfway open, revealing a portion of his built, sculpted chest. He did have a great body. Stop! She couldn't believe that she was even thinking about this. This guy loved himself way too much, she wasn't about to feed his ego. Using her purse as a pointer, the runner motioned up and down his frame, "Whatever-your-name-is, run back to your frat boy buddy and leave me the hell alone," she demanded.

Click. Click.

A persistent clicking sound was coming from the gaggle of bushes adjacent. The plant shook and rustled. Reggie and Josie sent each other confused glances as they watched it curiously. Suddenly, a small skinny man with glasses emerged from the leaves gripping a camera and snapping picture after picture of the couple before him. "Hey, Reggie!" Click. "How's it going?" Click. Click. Click.

The man in question brought up his arm to cover his face. "Shit, the papz are here," he ushered the athlete along the empty streets. "I'm walking you to wherever you need to go." His phrasing was a fact, not a question.

"Whatever. Just…don't talk to me," Josie put a weary hand to her forehead. Her feet throbbed in pain with every step that she took, she yearned for the comfort of her own bed and a cup of hot cocoa.

The photographer was trailing after them relentlessly, shooting them relentlessly with probing question after probing question. "Reggie! Reggie! Where's Archie?"

"That's none of your beeswax, buddy!—"

"Is it true that you two hate each other?—"

"No, there's just a lot of sexual tension between us—"

"Will this break up the band?—"

"If anything, it's make us a lot more intimate." Reggie joked arrogantly peeking in her direction to see if she was laughing, his swagger becoming more pronounced. She wasn't. She wasn't impressed by him in the slightest.

"Reggie! Is this your girlfriend? I know you! You're Myles McCoy's daughter! Er, Jessie?"

Shit, the clicking of Josie's heels hastened whilst she desperately dug her car keys out of her purse upon arrival at the vehicle. After a few tries, she clicked on the right button, her car opening with the swift flash of the headlights. There were multiple photos of her with an ugly stain on the front of her dress, standing in close proximity to a famous boyband member whose shirt was halfway open exposing his chest to the world. There was no doubt in her mind that they would be published tomorrow, or later that night. When her other sponsors saw them, they would drop her quicker than the deadliest plunge of a rollercoaster.

This wasn't a good look for her at all. Her father would be furious.

Josie yanked open the door of her BMW, sliding into the driver's seat. "Um, is there, like, any chance at all that I could get your number? What we have goin' is pretty undeniable," Reggie smouldered flirtatiously, rubbing his hands together. There were no words to describe the woman's exasperation. She prayed that she would never lay eyes on him again. Mustering up the dirtiest look possible, she glared him down slamming the door firmly shut.

Shakily, she put the key into the ignition and turned it, practically speeding it out of there—she remained within the legal confines of course, she didn't want to add any more dirt to her image.

She didn't let herself breathe until she was on the highway.


this idea just popped up in my head and i had to write it! what do you think? pls don't be afraid to leave a review. no matter how long or short I love hearing from readers, plus they help me stay motivated :