Paper crowns (James Marriott)

Part 18: midnight phone calls

She sat back in her chair, the cushion she was leaning on now squished and flat beneath her.
It had been hours of streaming, and I suppose she wasn't in the right headspace. That's why she had made such a big mistake at the end.

Ohh fuck.

Twitter was gonna blow up in a matter of hours,
Clips and comments will be thrown across platforms.

She put her head in her hands.

"Fucks sake."

She couldn't take it back now.

after she had brushed her teeth, made some tea and sat staring at her suitcase she was warming up to the idea of this next show.
It seemed like the crowd liked the bits of her performance where she would jump around a bit, make a show out of it... Wilbur style. (The one we don't speak of)

She looked down at her phone.

She hadn't got a single call from James.
No texts,
No dms
Nothing.

It was clearly because he felt awkward, this random ugly girl he was only talking to because he felt bad for her... had kissed him. And he regretted being friends with her at all. Clearly.

He wouldn't walk out without a word if he wanted to be with her.

He wouldn't mention to the internet he had a girlfriend if he wanted to be with her.

She could lose all hope now.

A call broke her out of her chain of thought, and Rennie was shocked when she saw who was calling her.

James.

Maybe she could let it ring out?

No.

It was probably an emergency.

Or not, it could be a feeble apology, a quick sorry for kissing her when he knew another girl was waiting for him at his house.

But she answered nonetheless...

~More James centered~

(This is straight after he met the fans, so Rennie's POV is a little head of time, just bear w me 😭)

He still couldn't believe it.
I suppose the internet is the internet in how gossip is spread around, but surely some people would have common decency?!
Clearly not.

It had only taken a matter of hours for the whole thing to blow up in the fandom.

'James has a girlfriend'
And
'James Marriott married?'

Was trending throughout socials

He was even losing subscribers.

Now he was laying in bed, his arms missing the feeling of Renn in them, and his lips longing for hers again.

Now he had taken a glimpse of what it could be like to be with her, it was torturing him more than ever. His body aches with longing to be by her side and it was taking over his mind.

(Writing from personal experience btw 😭
I miss her so much she's in Scarborough rn)

It was then clear to him that Rennie had obviously got the wrong message.

He shot up in bed.

This was bad.

It all came together in his head; Rennie obviously thought he had kissed her accidentally and didn't mean it, and that's why he walked out.

And then she must think that he mentioned his imaginary girlfriend so she'd find out without James having to talk to her that he was taken by another girl. When in reality, he has just blurted it out so he didn't have to give a fan his number.

All this was rushing through his head as he picked up his phone, and called her.

A midnight phone call.

"Rennie? Hello?"

"Hi James."
She sounded hurt, understandably.

It sounds horrible I promise-
this is a coincidence I didn't mean it
Please I beg just listen to me...

It was clear how frantic he was.
Like she would hang up any second,
like this was his only chance.

Im listening.
She was almost whispering.

"Look, Ren. I have no girlfriend, I said that so a weird fan didn't get my number."

"I get that, but why did you randomly run out on me?"

"Ugh."
He wegretted that so much.

"It's because, Rennie. I always imagined our first kiss to be the most magical thing ever. I'd make it special... you know?
And I just feel like I wrecked the first time. You needed me in that moment as a friend,
not anything more. And I let my feelings get in the way."

She was silent.

So he kept going.

"And it's not that I regretted kissing you. At all. In fact, all I can think about is doing it again."

"Hello? Ren? Please answer me."

"It's ok, James."

"What?"

Her voice seemed lighter, and it's almost like he could hear her smile from the end of the line.

"James, it's ok"

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Sorry for not posting in a while guys 😭😭
I'll be updating more now :)