"What's up, Nate?" Shane said into his phone as he pushed open the door to his hotel room.
He dropped several bags to the floor as Victoria followed him inside. They had flown back to LA last night, and the movie premiere was tomorrow. They had the day off, so they decided to go shopping on Rodeo Drive.
He hadn't told her. If she was using him, he wasn't sure he could stand knowing that; at least not when he still had to be around her. He had tried taking Nate's advice and not giving her everything she wanted, but the most he could really bring himself to do is tell her that he was busy a couple times when she wanted to hang out. Even then, he always ended up apologizing.
"You're kidding," he said, shocked. Victoria looked towards him questioningly, but he held up a finger to tell her to wait. "That's amazing! Okay…I'll see you tomorrow."
He flipped his cell phone shut and grinned at her. "The album just went platinum!"
"Oh my God!" she squealed. "That's incredible! Congratulations!"
He threw his arms around her and spun her in a circle. When he put her feet on the ground again, she looked up at him and gave him a sexy smile. She stood on her tip-toes and pressed her lips against his.
His whole body went on alert, like it always did when she kissed him. But this time, it hurt, and most of the joy he had just been feeling disappeared. After the premiere tomorrow, what if he never heard from her again? He wasn't sure he could handle being rejected by her, but he really couldn't live with never seeing her again; especially never knowing how she felt about him. It had been two months, and she still hadn't given him any clear indication of how she felt. He couldn't take not knowing anymore, and he couldn't take being used. The more he thought about the possibility, the faster he went from hurt to angry. As she moved her hands towards his belt, he knew that it was now or never.
"Tori, stop," he said.
He turned his head so that she couldn't kiss him, but she kissed his neck instead and started to undo his belt. He grabbed her wrists to stop her.
"I said 'stop'," he repeated, more seriously this time. She stopped kissing him and looked into his eyes, shocked. "Tori, what are we doing?"
Victoria looked at him as though it was a trick question. "It wasn't…obvious?"
Shane rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to slow the thoughts in his head enough to put together a coherent sentence. "I mean, what are we? Are we friends? Are we more than friends? You sleep with me, and then next day you act like nothing happened. You've been giving me all kinds of mixed signals for two months. I need to know…what are we doing?"
"I…I don't know," she admitted, visibly flustered. "I…"
He held up his hand to stop her. "Tori…for the past two months, I've been trying to make you see that I could make you happy. But I guess I was wrong. I don't know. I just know that I can't be some guy that you sleep with when you're in the mood, because if I keep playing this game I'm really gonna fall in love with you and then this will all suck even more."
He glanced at her nervously, expecting to see the same shocked look on her face, but she did something that she didn't expect; she started laughing.
Shane's jaw dropped. "Unbelievable. I lay my heart on the line and you fucking laugh at me?"
He stormed out of the room, not sure whether or not he wanted to scream or cry. He had known there was a chance that she didn't feel the same way, but he had never expected that she would be cruel about it. He felt like he didn't know her at all. Maybe this had all been an act, and the real Victoria was the one who had made him miserable the whole time they were filming.
"Shane, wait," she called, running after him and grabbing his arm. "I wasn't laughing at you."
He turned around and glared at her. She was still grinning but suddenly he didn't think it was cute at all.
"Oh, really? You just thought about something funny that happened yesterday?" he asked sarcastically.
He turned to leave again, but she stopped him with her words.
"I laughed because for the past two months, I've been trying to figure out who this dumb bitch you have a crush on is, so that I could make you see…that I could make you so much happier than she could."
He turned and stared at her, a small smile spreading across his face. "Are you serious?"
She nodded, embarrassed. "Remember at the Oscars when I told you that Pierce Mathers always tried to hit on me so I made you act like my boyfriend?"
"Yeah…"
"I've never even met him," she admitted. "I just wanted the bitch to see us together so she wouldn't try to talk to you. And I thought that if she liked you back, when the tabloids started spreading rumors about us being together, she would just give up."
"That's evil," he laughed.
"I know," she grinned. "If I'd known that I was the dumb bitch…"
Whatever she was going to say next, he would never know, and he didn't really care. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. She liked me, too…this whole time. He walked her back to his room, not breaking the kiss until they were inside. He looked at her and smiled, their foreheads pressed together.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm just excited to take you to the premiere tomorrow," he told her. "As my girlfriend."
"I don't remember saying anything about being your girlfriend…" she joked.
"You really want me to ask you?" he laughed, and she nodded, obviously teasing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, looking her dead in the eyes. "Tori…will you be my girlfriend?"
Victoria pretended to consider it for a moment. "Well…yeah, I guess so."
"I was hoping you'd say that," he grinned, pressing his lips against hers again.
His album went platinum and he had a new movie coming out, but none of that matter. He had the girl of his dreams, the girl he was quickly falling in love with, the girl he never wanted to be without.
And I'm never letting her go.
A/N: Thanks for reading! REVIEW!! Maybe a sequel if enough people want it.
