Chapter 10

As much as Maxie and Johnny hoped otherwise the ride to the Fashion show was awkward. It felt like although she was trying her hardest to stay away from him, to be strong, other forces were working against her. The driver seemed to be driving a bit to fast and every time he would turn she would unintentionally lean up against him. Every bump in the road they hit caused her dress to slide up her leg and she would smooth it down again. She had been so excited to dress up and have a fun night but now all she could think of was how she had to keep Johnny at a far reach. She sat quietly fidgeting with her bracelet and wishing the night would fly by.

"So this is kind of awkward huh?" he said breaking the silence.

"Yah I guess" she gave him a small smile. "Damn it" Her bracelet clasp came apart. She tried to fix it herself but couldn't get to clasp around her wrist.

"Here. Let me help." Johnny took her wrist into his hand and placed it on his lap. Then he brought the two ends of the bracelet together. "Looks like the metal is bent the wrong way." He pinched the small clasp together. Pushing the back of her hand into his lap.

She tensed up.

"Did I hurt you?" he had fixed the bracelet and was now holding her hand face up and rubbing the inside of her writs with his thumb.

"No. I'm fine." She said quickly sliding her hand from his lap. "So you excited to go to this thing tonight? Sienna supposed to come, she seemed charmed by you last time."

"Really? I guess I didn't notice. What with my date being so amazing and all." He smiled at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Johnny you promised. I thought I could trust you to keep this . . . professional."

"Professional?" he said the word like it was an insult. "I thought we were going as friends." He mocked her.

"Fine then, as friends." She said sternly.

"So that's all we are now? Friends?"

"Yah."

"And you will be ok with that? Being only friends?" he looked at her with his intense eyes.

She looked away. "Yah, of course."

"Ok then. Friends it is." His tone had changed a bit. He seemed colder but for the time being it would be easier this way if he were less flirty with her.

The rest of the ride was silent. When they arrived Johnny helped her out of the car and they posed and smiled for pictures. Then they made there way inside. The show was high energy with fast runway walks and extremely loud music. Johnny and Maxie couldn't have talked if they wanted to but had anyone been paying attention they looked like they hardly knew each other.

When the show ended they went to the after party. Johnny handed Maxie a glass of champagne.

"Thanks." She said politely while looking around the room.

"I'm going to find something stronger to drink. I'll be back in a bit." With that he was weaving his way through the crowd away from her and towards the bar.

Although she was upset about the friction between Johnny and her, Maxie still was her friendly and out going self. She talked with designers and models, with critics and fellow magazine staffers. She talked and she drank. She must have had at least 4 glasses of champagne. It wasn't until a gossip columnist came up to her that she even realized how long it had been since she saw Johnny.

"So I see your man is here. When are we going to hear more about you two?" the woman questioned.

"Oh, well yah Johnny is here . . . somewhere" she looked around for a second to give the impression that she wanted to find him. "He's so popular at these things. He really is very comfortable with mingling." She didn't want to have the conversation but she knew that this was part of the gig and the reason Kate got her into so many fashion events.

"Popular huh? You don't say. Isn't that Riley Summers he's talking to by the bar? Now that girl is good at "mingling". She's only been on the model scene a few months and has already got a string of celebrity men in her wake. She even hooked up with half of a very solid A-list couple. We may start nicknaming her Angelina." The girl laughed loudly at her own joke but Maxie had stopped listening.

Instead she was watching intently while Riley laughed at something Johnny had said. She flipped her hair and licked her lips while leaning towards him. Maxie watched in disgust as Johnny leaned over and said something into Riley's ear. Again she watched as Riley laughed like he had told her the funniest thing she had ever heard. Maybe it was the drinks or maybe it was their argument earlier but she couldn't help the feeling of jealousy boiling up in her. Sure they weren't together but that's not what the fashion world thought. For all intensive purposes, Maxie and Johnny were a very exclusive couple and this bitch was messing with the wrong girl.

"Actually Riley is an old friend of ours. We've known her forever. She's practically Johnny's sister. Pardon me." Maxie slid by the girl and grabbed another glass of champagne as she walked toward them at the bar.

"Hi there" Maxie said wrapping her arm around Johnny's waist and pulling him against her.

Before he knew what hit him her lips were on his and they were kissing. After a few seconds Maxie pulled away.

"Oh my goodness. How rude am I? I didn't even see you there. I'm Maxie, Johnny's girlfriend." She put her hand out to Riley.

"Riley Summers" she said shaking Maxie's hand.

"Riley Summers, that name sounds so familiar. Where could I have heard your name before?" Maxie looked at Johnny and batted her eyes. "Wait, are you that new intern over at Teen Vouge?"

"No. I'm a model." Riley was clearly not enjoying the conversation and was looking around the room.

"Oh well I'm sure that you will do well with that. You're very . . . cute. Isn't she honey" Maxie turned to Johnny.

"Yah." He kept looking at Maxie with a confused smile.

"Thanks. Well I see someone I know -" Riley started

"It was nice meeting you Riley." Maxie said still with her arm wrapped around Johnny.

She waited about a minute after Riley left before taking a step away from Johnny. Just in time to grab another glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

"Don't you think you should slow down with those? That's like your sixth one." he tried to take it away from her.

"Please." She pivoted so he couldn't take the glass. "After taking care of both you and Lulu completely trashed. I think I get a free pass on this one. Besides, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" She said just loud enough for him to hear her.

"What do you mean? We're just friends remember. I can talk to however I want to, no matter how "cute" she may be." He said mocking her again.

"I- " Maxie started to say something but instead she grabbed Johnny's hand and he followed her through the party and to a back room. Once she closed the door she let him have it, in all her drunken glory. "You know what Johnny, you can fuck any slut you want when I'm not around but when you start to fuck with my career then you better watch yourself. I don't have many things in this world that I care about but I've worked very hard to get were I am and I'm not going to lose it all because you can't keep it in your pants."

The whole time she had been talking she had taken steps towards him and Johnny had backed completely into the room. He had kept a straight face through it all but the minute she was done he started to smirk.

"What the fuck are you smiling about? Didn't you hear me?" She was livid.

"Yah I heard you? But I call bullshit." He took a step toward her

"Oh I assure you. I take my career very seriously-"

"I know you do." He interrupted her. "But you said that you didn't care if I "fucked any slut" when you're not around and we both know that is a load of . . bullshit." He was now taking steps towards her, taking back the control and causing her to back towards the wall.

"No -" She tried to talk

"Yes. It is. You can't stand the idea of me fucking someone else. Especially since you don't know what it's like." He got closer to her. "You can only imagine what it would be like to be with me. And lets not kid ourselves Maxie, you know it would be a whole hell of a lot better than with Spinelli."

She was losing ground and her back was almost against the wall.

"So you want to play this game? Try to stay away from me? Fine. It's probably safer for you in the long run anyways but don't lie to yourself and say you don't care who I "spend my time with" because we both know that is such a load of crap."

She hit the wall with her back. She was next to the door but couldn't seem to move. Johnny had taken all the power back. She felt electricity shocks run through her body with every word he said.

"So enjoy your little computer nerd because I'm done playing games." With that Johnny opened the door and left the room.