✮Ｓｔｅｐｈａｎｉｅ✮

CH.22: CRYSTAL VS EMLYN

I woke up so late, feeling like a slob.

My alarm clock had gone off by six sharp but I turned it off as soon as I heard the sound. I was very sleepy due to visiting my bed late at night after spending the whole evening hanging out with Nicole at her house.

First thing in the morning, I went live on social media to keep my newly found fans updated about every detail of my life.

Yes... I had suddenly gained hold of the media through my interaction with the celebrity's daughter. I was increasingly becoming popular and influential on the media and it felt so great to gain that much validation. Hence, I did more of what I did in the real world to please them and as well keep them updated, always filming my every experiences with thousands of interactions and love from every corner. I'm getting there! Soon, they'll value me even more than this Nicole when they see how special I truly am.

Filming—speaking of which—it was only few days to my audition and Nicole and the crew assured me that I would get the lead role I was aiming for. I was so excited. Life seemed to be going pretty much great.

As for Arthur, we continued to stay apart from eachother and I perceived that he would soon take the veil of affection off Emlyn eyes and make him see how different I was becoming. Emlyn especially, simply needed to spend more time on the media.

The previous night, I and Nicole's friends spent hours at her place. Crystal was present.

"Yo, I'm sorry I bailed on ya the other day."

"Uh-huh?"

"My father—got into trouble with him and he was jus' actin' up. Had to stay back."

"Okay. It's fine."

"Did you receive my package?"

"Yeah, I did. Thank you."

"And did you read my letter?"

"What letter?" My eyes travelled about the room as I tried to recall the contents of the large box. "Oh! You mean the written lyrics of one of your rap music."

"Naw! That was from ma heart, straight-up. I was tryna tell you how I feel 'bout you."

"Okay?" I dunno where this is going.

He drifted closer to me on the sofa.

"So, will you be ma girl?" He said flirtatiously.

"What?! No!" I drifted backwards.

"No? Why not?"

"Because... I'm just not old enough yet. I'm not sure, ain't ya?"

"Well, duh."

"You cannot receive the package and deny the proposal. They were in one box after all. You approve of this. In fact, we are already in a relationship. I jus' need you to go over your social media and tell 'em perverts that you got the man of your dreams."

"Are you crazy?"

"Crazy 'bout you, sure."

"I'm outta here."

I arose from the sofa and went to Nicole.

"C'mon sweetheart, let's resolve this conflict reasonably. It's normal for couples to have their first fight," he simpered.

"Shut up!" I shot back at him.

I faced Nicole and she looked up at me. "What's up?"

"Tell Crys that he's out of his mind. He really thinks we're a thing."

"You're not?"

"Of course we're not!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Nicole sniggered. "You're telling me that a guy would spend a fortune on you and have no intentions to date you? Why then is he being oddly generous? For charity? You're silly."