Chapter 14, Going Public

When Twilight first start filming, I pretty much fell in love with Rob. He made it all to easy.

I'm not sure why, but that popped into my head as I sat in front of a crowd of open mouths and raised eyebrows. Maybe because if Dakota had just told them I was dating Rob, they would be smiling, and not frowning.

The world is really screwed up.

"So, the two of you are dating?"

"Yes." Dakota said again.

I sank lower in my seat. "Thoughts, Kristen?" the interviewer said.

I sighed. "No."

"You seem upset."

"I'm annoyed." I grumbled.

"Why?" Gosh, this interviewer just didn't back down.

"Because your stupid audience is gasping like I just killed a puppy or something."

No one said anything.

I went on. "Is it really that hard to believe that just maybe I'm not straight?"

The crowd muttered. I rolled my eyes.

"You all are horrible, really." Dakota nudged me, and I sighed. "Sorry."

"I support you, Kristen." I heard a small voice say. I turned towards the audience. A young girl, no older then 6 or 7, was standing in the front row,

"Huh?" I said, sounding stupid.

"I don't care if your dating Dakota, I still like you." her voice was so little and sweet.

I gulped slowly. "Thanks."

She smiled and her mom took her hand.

"Thank you a lot." I said. "You all should be more like her." I said, looking at the rest of the crowd. They all looked guilty. I felt proud.

"I think your crazy." Dakota said on the ride home.

"I think your beautiful."I replied, not moving my eyes from the window of the car.

"Thanks." I could almost feel her blushing.

"And I'm not crazy. Your the crazy one." I said.

"Maybe." she muttered.

"I hope I don't get sent to jail for dating you." I turned and grinned at her. "It will be your fault after all."

"Your not going to jail." she almost looked worried. "Don't say things like that."

I set my hand on her leg and squeezed. "I'm never leaving you."

The sun was setting when we got to Dakota's house. Taylor had been driving us, and he said goodbye.

"Mr. Joseph is done for sure." he said with a grin.

"Thanks Taylor." I said. He drove off, leaving me and Dakota alone.

We entered her house, and I headed straight to her kitchen.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" I said, opening her fridge.

"Make me some of whatever your getting." she called from the living room. I heard the TV turn on.

I left the fridge and found some chips sitting around. I grabbed them and brought them into the living room. I fell onto the couch next to Dakota. She snuggle into my chest and I held the bag of chips out. We ate and watched TV in silence.

"This show is really stupid." I commented.

"I know." she muttered.

"Why are we watching it?" I asked.

"I don't know."

I laughed because she was so freaking cute.

"What?" she said.

"You are the cutest person I have ever met."

"Thanks." I felt her blush.

We fell asleep there, and I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing.When I answered, I found out it was the always awful Mr. Joseph.

"Kristen, fancy you picking up Dakota's phone!" he said. I hated the fact he was probably smiling.

"Shut up." I grumbled.

"Oh, let's not get rude now, darling."

Darling? Who did he think he was? "What do you want, Joseph?"

"Just calling to tell Dakota how nice it was of her to say all those things. Really, it's helped me so much."

"Cut to it, Joseph." I snapped.

"I won't rest until I'm back at the top." he muttered in a evil, deep voice. I shivered at his words.

"At least we knocked you down."

I felt him grin through the phone. "You win this round, but I've got a thousand more chances."

"Bring it on." And I hung up the phone. I turned around and looked at Dakota, who was still peacefully asleep. I paused, and reached for the phone. I hesitated, then pressed redial.

Mr. Joseph picked up on the second ring. "Yes Ms. Stewart." he knew I would call, he knew what to say, he knew what he was doing.

"Don't hurt Dakota." I grumbled into the phone.

Again, I felt him grin on the other side of the phone. "My poor, poor dear. Afraid poor little Dakota will get hurt. She's a big girl now, you know."

"Shut up. This is between you and me, not her."

"Then why did she go on the air and trash me? Were you to scared to?"

I paused, trying to not yell. I didn't need Dakota to wake up to me yelling. "I would have, but because of you I don't have a manager."

"I guess I play this game well then, huh?"

I gridded my teeth and pushed my nails into my leg. "You planned this whole thing, didn't you?"

"Yes, nice of you to catch on." he said. I hated his voice so much. "Now you see Ms. Stewart, now I can go after Dakota for trashing me, and no one will think badly. It's all to perfect."

"Shut up." I grumbled.

"And once she's down, you'll go down quicker then a ballon with no air." he chuckled. "You need her so much, you can't live without her."

"Shut up." I repeated. It was all I could think to say.

"I realized after the whole cheating thing that bringing you down first wouldn't work, so I went after Dakota." he chuckled again. "It's going to end soon, Kristen, then you can crawl back to your hole and be down for."

"Why?" I asked.

"This is what I do." he was serious now. "And I'm damn good at it."

A/N: Yeah, so Mr. Joseph is a jerk... I really hate him, like a lot. But this story needs some action so he's returned.

Tell me what you think?