Chapter Six

All For The Best

Cynthia took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. Her anxiety had been at a high all day for something that she was likely just overthinking. Sitting at her kitchen table, tapping her fingers against the surface did little to ease it. "I just…I don't know, Steven," she said, adjusting the phone against her ear.

"What exactly has you bothered? Like, can you pinpoint a specific moment that started this?"

She nodded, as though he could actually see her. "Yeah, Diantha had to go to some casting thing the the other week, and Kathi Lee wouldn't let me go with her—"

"I really can't stand that woman. She's just…vile," he interrupted.

She groaned in response. "You're telling me. I hate her and her stupid, obnoxious voice, and—" she grumbled something unintelligible. "She's literally the worst. Like, I would have been fine with not going with her to the cast thing. I wouldn't have really known what was going on, anyways, and you know I trust her, but it was how she told me I wasn't allowed to go with her. I also really can't stand how Diantha's mother refuses to let her get a new manager! Like! She's twenty-three! Let her make her own damn decisions. Really, I think they both hate me more than they care about her career." It was taking everything to not start ripping her own hair out at that point. Ever since they had started dating, Diantha's mother and Kathi Lee both made no secret of their mutual distaste for her.

"You anger is all understandable."

"It's just…yeah, sorry I love Diantha. Sorry she loves me, too. I don't know why they —yes I do, I know why— but I don't know why they hate me so much!" She shifted around in the chair, getting uncomfortable. Her anger was making her hot.

Steven sighed. "It's not fair to you, and I'm sorry they've always treated you so poorly. Especially her mother. She's no prize as a person, but I know it must be hard having your girlfriend's mother not like you."

She wanted to derail from the subject. They had that conversation more times than she really cared to count. "Yeah, it does but, anyways I'll get back on track. I think all this started when Diantha came back from that thing. She said Kathi Lee made her keep socializing with this guy, Mal Garden, or something like that." She was too disgusted with Diantha's description of him to care enough to remember his name.

"Mel Gardner, probably. He got famous pretty much overnight from some crap film noir," he corrected. She could picture him rolling his eyes. They both hated film noir for no real specific reason. Even though it might have been something that would normally be up her alley, there was something about every movie in the genre that she had seen that rubbed her the wrong way.

She forced herself to stand, getting antsy from sitting too long. The chair screeched against the wood floor. "Yeah, that sounds right. Apparently, he wouldn't stop flirting with her, even when she told him no, and even after she said was dating someone. To make it better, Kathi Lee wouldn't let her walk away because some bull about needing to 'make connections' or whatever." God she hated that woman.

He made a disapproving noise. "I hate men like that…and that's just awful of Kathi Lee! She's her manager! She should be protecting her." He sounded heated.

"It's just…Steven," her voice had noticeably gotten smaller. "We had such a great weekend not too long ago. She hasn't been that happy to see me in forever. I can't remember having that wonderful of a time together in years. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm totally happy, but that was just…different, I guess. Now it's just…something feels off. I don't know what but I feel it. I thought—" she felt a knot forming in her throat. She didn't want to cry. Not over something she wasn't sure was even a big deal.

With words refusing to meet her, Steven continued. "Do you want me to come see you?" He offered.

She wanted to tell him no. She didn't want to bother him, but right now, mind flooded with questions and doubts, there wasn't anyone else she could tolerate seeing. "Please…"

The sounds of him already getting his keys came across the line. "I'll be over shortly, Cynthia…"


A harsh screech reverberated off the walls as Diantha turned away, leaving a black skid mark under her heel. "Stop," she pleaded with her manager.

Kathi Lee pressed on, marching up to the other woman, using what little hight advantage she had to intimidate her. "This is my final warning to you, Diantha. If you marry her, you will only regret it."

"I love her," she defended, feeling her hands trembling. "I will regret nothing." The argument was getting tired. Ever since she mentioned just the idea of getting married to Cynthia, Kathi Lee had been on her case every time they were around each other —and being her manager, it was often. Then, once she had bought the engagement rings, it got worse. She started showing up uninvited, accosting her for the decision.

How much longer until she started saying these things in front of Cynthia herself?

She grabbed her shoulders, gripping with enough force to guarantee a bruise in the shape of her hands later. "Listen to me! She will hate you! When It Rains is going to take off, I guarantee it! And when it does, you will not have time for her! Press tours, interviews, new films, you name it, it will come between you two! She. Will. Loathe. You."

Tears finally poured down her cheeks, bringing with them streams of her makeup. "No she won't! She loves me! We will make it work!" They loved each other. That should have been more than enough.

The fire in Kathi Lee's eyes made her sick to her stomach. She grabbed her face with one hand, roughly, forcing her to keep eye contact. "Listen to me, little girl. You need to be with someone who is at your level. Cynthia is so below you, it's not even funny. You need to be with someone who can stand on their own. I know girls like her. She can't stand on her own. She will either leech off you, ruining you, or your career will come between you. I won't tell you again," she hissed. "Leave her on your own terms, or watch your marriage burn to the ground."

When she let go to storm off, Diantha found herself unable to stand. Her jewelry jingled as she fell to her knees, unable to hold back her sobs any longer. Everywhere she had been grabbed already began to throb.

She's wrong.

She's wrong.

She's wrong.

But no mater how much she tried to convince herself of it, already in the back of her mind was the thought that she was right…


Dressed in all back, Diantha couldn't help but feel she was just putting forward the image of being in mourning. Maybe she was. Everything that had led her to Cynthia's door left her feeling like it was an appropriate enough emotion.

The air around her felt oppressively warm. Wisterian summers weren't supposed to be this warm, but maybe it was just her emotional state that aggravated it. She supposed it was a tad ironic. A day without a cloud in the sky was the stage for a tragedy.

It felt odd to use the doorbell. She had a key to the apartment, but she knew that if she used it, she wouldn't be able to follow through. It was all for the best, she continued to reason.

When Cynthia answered the door, looking throughly confused, it became almost too much.

"Did you forget your key?" Cynthia asked, stepping to the side, trying to ignore every indication that something was wrong. Diantha never wore all black. Never. She never forgot her key.

She shook her head, unable to look up at her. "No, I just…Cynthia we need to talk."

The phrase nobody wanted to hear. The phrase that usually never had a happy ending.

"Okay…Do you want to come inside?" She hesitantly asked, feeling her mouth go dry.

Diantha shook her head. It was another thing that wouldn't allow her to follow through.

"Okay…" she stepped out, closing the door behind her. "Diantha, is everything okay? You're worrying me." And to think, Steven had only just calmed her down a few nights prior…

Swallowing hard, she finally looked up at her. "I…we…" she prayed for an interruption. Anything to keep her from saying it. But that interruption never came. "Cynthia, we need to break up."

The world almost stilled at that. The birds and usual summer insects fell into a hush, and the breeze died down. Nothing but the distant highway dared to break the tense silence.

"…What?" Her voice was just barely above a whisper.

The look on her face would surly hurt more than any physical wound ever could. Lost, confused, hurt. She felt her own heart breaking. "I'm sorry. It's for the best."

"Wha-…why? Was it something I did? Something I didn't do?" She sputtered, searching Diantha's face for some sort of answer.

She forced herself to turn around, unable to face her again. "I'm sorry." One foot in front of the other, she forced herself to begin walking away. Her heart shattered more and more with each step.

"Wait! What did I do? Can I fix it— Diantha! Please!" She begged, following her, nearing tripping over herself.

She stopped in her tracks, looking up to help keep the tears from falling. "You did nothing wrong, Cynthia. It's just…It's better this way." Of all the excruciating exercises and practices she had gone through in her acting classes, none of them could have ever prepared her for this.

"Diantha, please…I love you…can't we talk about this?" She didn't need to turn around to see that she was crying. Her tears were evident in her voice.

She would have given anything to just be able to turn around and wipe them away, and beg for forgiveness. To tell her that this was all because Kathi Lee's instance. That she still loved her and wanted to marry her, and have everything be alright. But the stubborn fear of a future together filled with loathing kept her from looking back.

"Goodbye, my dear Cynthia…" She pressed on, not allowing herself to be stopped again. It was over. She had done it…but why didn't it feel like she had spared herself any pain? Why did it feel like with every step she took from Cynthia that her whole world was going to crumble down around her?

"Diantha!"

She wouldn't look back.

"Diantha!"

Getting in the car, telling her driver to go, had never been more painful. She looked to her manager who sat at the other side. The smile she wore was more than enough to make her start crying all over again.

"You did the right thing," Kathi Lee told her.

"Then why doesn't it feel like it?" She asked. Her whole body was wracked with sobs. Nothing about this felt right.

"You'll see in time that this was the right choice…"


Cynthia screamed in vain, watching her be taken off.

Her phone's ringtone went off in her pocket. Automatically, she pulled it out, seeing who was calling. Kay.

"Kay," she answered, unable to withhold a sob for even a second.

"Hey —whoa, hold up. You okay?" He sister asked.

"No. Diantha- she-she's gone, she left…I need you, please," she said between sobs.

A frantic shuffle could be heard on her end. Just out of reach from the phones mic, "Baby, you're going to go over to Gram's for a bit, okay? Cynthia, Cynthia were are you?" She asked, now at full volume.

"Home."

"Stay where you are. I'm going to take Avery to Gram, you just stay where you are, I'll be there as quick as I can."

She forced herself to get walking back towards her apartment. "Okay."

"Cynthia, please, whatever you do, don't hurt yourself. Wait for me to get there."

She mumbled some sort of response before hanging up. Once inside, the mute color scheme of her apartment really took its effect. It was dark and lonely, and god did she just want to know what she had done wrong.

Slamming the door, she stopped in the hallway. Looking up, she turned to face the large framed map she had on the wall. Something about seeing her faint reflection broke her further. Falling against the wall, she slid to the floor, letting the tears fall.

She wasn't sure how long it took Kay to get there. All she could do was think over everything, searching for an answer as to what went wrong. What had she done to drive Diantha away like that? Why wouldn't she explain? Why was this for the best?