The next morning, I woke up wrapped in Seven's hoody with a whole new lease on life. I'm pretty sure it was safe to say we were a thing. If the stunt he pulled in front of the cameras yesterday didn't prove that, nothing would. My god, I woke up in an article of his clothing. That right there was like planting a flag on the moon. It's not like I was complaining. Seven's hoody kept me warm. In more ways than one.

I rolled over and grabbed my phone off my nightstand, checking for messages. And look at that. Lucky me just happened to have one.

707:

Good morning. :)

You:

Good morning.

Should I expect you in the office today?

707:

Not today. :(

Diner tonight?

You:

What time?

707:

Say…11PM?

Take the night off?

You:

My pleasure.

I'm a puddle inside. Dammit, Seven. You made a bitch go soft. Not that she was very tough to begin with. Oh yeah. It's safe to say we're definitely a thing. I just hope this date doesn't go like the first one. Seven and I may have done some considerable personal growth in the last couple days, but I'm still a tad on the skeptical side. There's no telling if or when he's going to backslide. As long as he's got someone there to catch him, I think he'll be ok.

Now, fingers crossed that the stunt from yesterday got the press to shut up about Zen and me. I pushed myself out of bed and made myself a cup of coffee. Something to warm my body and my soul. I did get creamer when I went shopping last, didn't I? Yes, I did. Once my coffee was to my liking, I took a seat in front of my laptop and made myself comfortable in my desk chair.

Oh…Oh, no…That's not good.

In big, bold letters at the top of the article, it said: ZEN LEFT HEARTBROKEN.

Oh, shit…More PR nightmare. Why can't I wake up from this? I'm HORRIFIED to open up my email or my blog. God only knows it's just going to be more of Zen's fan club tearing me a new asshole for absolutely no reason. We were never together! I was never dating Zen. I happened to be working for him when those pictures came out. And now that they've seen me with my actual boyfriend, they're all going to turn on me! I've done nothing wrong except hang out with a friend and I have to pay the price for it. Awesome. Just awesome. Hell of a way to start my morning.

Ring, ring.

Dare I answer it? According to my caller ID, it's Zen. But if I answer a call from Zen, does that mean I'm cheating on Seven now, too? Un-goddamn-believable. I swallowed my pride and slid my finger across my phone screen, "Hello?"

"MC?" Zen spoke on the other end, his voice full of worry and concern, "Tell me you haven't opened up the internet this morning yet."

"You're too late," I tucked my knees into my chest, leaving my phone on speaker, "Already have."

"Are you doing ok?" he asked, treading lightly.

"I should be asking you that," I pouted a little, "You're the one allegedly heartbroken."

"Those pictures of me they used," Zen explained, "Those were stills from a new movie I'm working on used totally out of context."

"Yeah," I grumbled into my coffee, "But you're not the one getting painted as a slut in a public light."

"I'm working on it," he assured, "And I'm in the process of getting a new publicist. Apparently, my last one was the one who gave the media those stills. My director's pissed. But seriously, MC…Are you ok?"

"Somewhat," I let out a heavy sigh, "I'm more pissed off than anything."

"Since I have you here," Zen wondered, "Out of nothing more than sheer curiosity, who was the guy in the pictures of you? The one you're apparently cheating on me with."

"That's the funny thing," I looked at those very pictures, saving one of them to my computer. Love or hate the context of it, it's a really cute picture of the two of us, "You already know who that is."

"You know, MC," he pointed out, "You speak in riddles like…"

"Come on…" I coaxed him, "You're almost there."

"THAT WAS SEVEN?!" Zen exploded.

"That was, in fact, Seven," I smiled, already feeling better, "That kiss was his idea. He thought it'd get them off my back."

"So," he started to relax a little, "Seven finally grew a pair with you, huh?"

"Yeah," I giggled, "He did. We're definitely a we. That's for sure."

"Well," Zen perked up, "Congratulations, MC. I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you," I couldn't help but wonder, though, "Hey, Zen…Since I was honest with you, could you be honest with me for a second?"

"Of course," he allowed, "Is something bothering you?"

"You weren't thinking…" Something tells me I need to phrase this delicately, "You and me…Were you? I mean…I'd hate to think you were actually left heartbroken here."

"No," Zen promised, "No, no, no. Seven needs something to balance out his manic, crazy ass. You're his balance, MC. You make him simultaneously less, yet more manic than ever before. I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. I'm more concerned about you than anything. Now, are you ok? Really? I know how awful bad press can be when it comes on like this out of nowhere."

"Yes," I nodded, "Thank you, Zen. I'm good. I'll be going out with Seven later tonight anyway. He knows how to get my mind off things."

"MC," Zen teased, "That's a little too much information."

"Not like that, you weirdo," I laughed a bit, shaking my head, "I was even at his house the other night and we…"

"MC, please," he gasped.

"Were watching shitty sci-fi movies for the sole purpose of making fun of their special effects and bad acting," I finished. I wonder what Zen would think about the night that dare not speak its name…No. I got a feeling he'd be squeamish about that sort of thing. Or into it. I don't judge, "Despite what your twisted fantasies may be telling you here, Zen, Seven can be quite the gentleman when he wants to be."

"I don't doubt it," Zen dropped it, "But take care of yourself, MC. Please. Don't go down the tempting rabbit holes of gossip blogs that only exist to tear you to shreds."

"I won't," I promised, "Trust me, Zen. I've been on the internet long enough to know better than to read the comments. I don't need that knife to the gut today."

"Good. See you later."

"Bye."

Click.

It was awfully sweet of Zen to call and check up on me. I told him that day that I'd be totally fine with working on his apartment, but oh, no. Take the day off, MC. It'll be fun, MC. There won't be any repercussions, MC. Regardless, I needed to do damage control. Even though I always told myself that I'd never do personal posts on my professional design blog, it looks like I have no other choice.

EMERGENCY BROADCAST:

Hi, guys. I'm sorry that this post had to happen. I know my personal life isn't everyone's cup of tea and that's fine. Next week, I'll have something more relevant to what this blog was meant to do, but for now, this needs to be put on the table. I need to be totally honest with you. Let's start at the beginning…

About two weeks ago, I woke up one morning and thought I'd go to my yoga class. I hadn't been in a few months and that needed to change. When I got there, a man took the spot next to me. Even then, I didn't realize who he was. I just thought he was a beautiful man that happened to walk into my yoga class. Nothing more, nothing less.

After yoga, he and I went out for coffee, got to talking, and next thing I knew, he was asking me for a commission. I posted all about that commission. With the exemption of the hate mail from his fan club, it was met with positivity. And to make it even better, he liked it, too. Yet another satisfied customer. This is when things start to take a turn.

One day, I had gone into the project, not quite myself. I had some other personal things going on at the same time I was working on my commission and they were clouding my thinking. So, what happens next, you may ask? My client noticed I was feeling a little down and wanted to make me feel better. So, that brings me to now.

This is the truth about what's been going on with Zen and me. Don't trust any of the other blogs doing their speculation, because this right here is the one hundred percent God's honest truth. Context included. Zen and I aren't a thing. We're not an item. We never were. He's been an excellent friend when I've needed one, though, and I have nothing but nice things to say about him.

About the guy in the recent pictures…That's the one. That's my real boyfriend. Not Zen. He's…Amazing. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. He's exhausting…but wonderful. He's ridiculous, but so very, very sweet. He's a complete and utter mystery to me that I don't think I'll ever figure out. And you know what? I'm ok with that. I wouldn't have him any other way.

I'm not going to be taking questions on this. I've said all that needs to be said. As I said before, if this wasn't your usual preferred blog post, believe me. It's not mine either. I didn't think I'd ever have to take to this blog to defend myself publicly, yet here we are. Hopefully, we can move on from this and go back to the fun times we have every other week here. Good? That's good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to get ready for with this new, wonderful creature in my life. I'll see you next week.

There. That should do it. Now, I'm going to turn off my notifications and call it a day. Seven did say we were taking the night off. Since I already got all my work done today, I can definitely take the night off. I just hope to God that Zen's fan club finally gets off my dick about me dating Zen. At least my international man of mystery doesn't have anything like that. Thank God for Seven's anonymity. Before I get ready for our date tonight, a nap wouldn't be a bad idea. In fact, since I know damn well the two of us are probably going to be out for a while, a nap would be nothing short of brilliant.

Instead of dealing with the aftermath of the new wave of pictures and my blog post, I was going to take a nap. Why? Because I'm an adult. Sometimes, a girl needs to take a knee on these kinds of things. And where better than balled up in my bed? It's not like I ever had much for problems sleeping everywhere and anywhere. Although, I do wish Seven was working in his office today. That way, I'd at least have something to fall asleep to. Nevertheless, it was naptime for MC, so she could go out later tonight and play with her boyfriend. That sounded like a plan.

A little while later, I woke up and checked the clock. It was five o'clock. I slept three hours. That should be good enough. Now that Seven and I are a thing, I'm sure we're going to put in a lot of late nights together like this. Some of them may end on the roof, if we're lucky enough. I had six hours to become a functioning human being again. I could do that.

I got a bottle of iced tea out of my fridge and sat back down at my laptop. Dare I do it? Should I do it? Zen's words came back into my mind. Don't do it, MC. It's a tempting rabbit hole, but don't do it. I shouldn't…But I want to…But I really shouldn't…But…I'm conflicted! I threw myself onto my couch, in an argument of will I, won't I, back and forth with the little voices in my head. I've been burned on that argument many, many times before. One would think I'd learn. Maybe this time will teach me.

I turned my notifications back on and silently prayed for them to be nice. I don't ask for much, but some nice comments would be wonderful. To no one's surprise, my phone went completely apeshit. That's ok. That doesn't mean they're all going to be assholes calling me a slut. Again. Deep breaths, MC. Deep breaths. With great caution, I opened up my blog. Here goes nothing.

You didn't deserve those comments to begin with, MC. It's your life. People need to learn to keep their nose out of someone else's business.

Bless you.

I hope things with you and your new boyfriend turn out well. He seems really cute from his picture.

You have no idea.

Remember when MC actually posted about design stuff and wasn't a trashy gossip blog? Those were simpler times.

Uh…This was one post that was off brand. Get off my dick.

It was a mixed bag of comments all ranging from people being really sweet to people being assholes to people being self-promoters. Overall, things seemed to be rather positive. That's good. Looks like I won't have to rely on Zen's publicist. Now, with a clear conscience, I could get ready for my date with that alleged cutie from the pictures.

It's just a night out with Seven. I didn't need to go too over the top. After the Googleplex event, I didn't need to put him through another nosebleed. Something simple would do. I pulled out a light yellow dress and jumped in the shower. With a clear head and an open heart, I did one last spin in the mirror, letting the skirt billow out. There. Not overly cute to the point where I'll overwhelm him and throw him into a nosebleed, but just cute enough to make myself smile in the mirror.

Knock, knock.

I looked over at the clock again. Dammit, if that boy's not on time. If I had to praise him for one thing, he's definitely punctual. I slipped on a pair of black flats and ran toward the door, "Hi."

"Hi," Seven took my hand and pulled me into his shoulder, "You look cute tonight, MC. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had a date or something."

"Something like that," I nodded, "This guy I know promised me a trip to the diner tonight. And if I play my cards right, he might take me to an X-rated movie theater downtown."

"No, he won't," he shoved his finger in my face, "That's not happening ever again, young lady. Your innocent eyes don't need to partake in such shameful things as pornography."

"Seven, when we first met, you bumped into me because your laptop was dying with a good JAV on it."

"Fair enough," Seven shrugged, "You ready to go?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright then!" he sang out, "Let's go!"