Extra

21- That's Too Optimistic

"That was a long time ago," I find myself saying in response to seeing the picture of me as a stripper on this strange man's phone. It doesn't matter that he's a stranger to me though because he's friends with Hudson's parents. The thought of Hudson's family knowing about that part of my past makes me want to vomit. "That's not who I am anymore."

"Really?" He scoffs at me. "This was taken only a year ago."

"I've changed since then," I explain to him, hoping desperately that he won't tell Hudson's parents. What would they think of me if they found out? What about the world when this guy leaks the pictures to the mediar and find out that Hudson Gray is dating a stripper? And... oh god... what about my family?

"That doesn't matter to me, sweetie," The man steps a little closer to me but I step back, hitting the wall with my back. Like before, the plaster is cold on my bare back. "I think you're still that little slut. Inside anyway, you can't change yourself that fast."

He pushes himself against me and I try to push him away but he's very tall and strong and I start panicking. He can't do anything to me right here in the hallway, only a living room away from a plethora of people, right? Does he think that he can blackmail me into doing something with him? I don't want anybody to find out about my stripper past but I'm not willing to go that far to protect my secret so he's going to be very disappointed.

"So we're going to have a little fun," He decides and it feels like it's happening in slow motion as he starts to bring his hand up to my chest. The thought of this creep groping me gives me enough fight to push him off of me so I do that and he stumbles back. I wiggle free and start speed walking through the living room back into the dining room.

I can't sit in that room though, knowing that this strange man can email that picture to everyone at that table if he wants to. I just want to be around people for a moment so that if he follows me, he obviously won't be able to try and attack me again.

I approach Hudson and put a hand on his shoulder before I lean down so that when I whisper, only he can hear me. "I need to talk to you outside for a minute please."

I think that he can tell that something is wrong because the hand on his shoulder is trembling and I'm trying the best that I can to not cry. I know that I'll break and that I will start crying soon, I just want to get out of this dining room before doing so. I'll cry in front of Hudson but not this whole crowd of strangers.

"Is everything alright?" Amelina asks, also noticing that I'm not as chipper as I was prior to going to the bathroom.

I nod at her in an attempt to ease her worry but I know that it isn't convincing. I don't know what to say to her so I just turn and leave the dining room. Hudson follows.

I want some fresh air so I head for the front door and once we're both outside, I sit down on the cold cement steps of the front porch.

"What's going on?" Hudson asks, standing behind me as he puts a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

I don't speak because my mind is whirling with a new realization. That man has a picture of me working as a stripper and that means that obviously, many people who had visited that strip club in the few months that I worked there have pictures of me in the background. And when my relationship with Hudson goes public, some of those people will come forward with those pictures and then they'll get blasted with headlines like "Hudson Gray dating a stripper?"

Not only will his reputation be jeopardized but if those pictures go public, my family will see them. My parents, Kurt, it would kill all of them. It would absolutely kill them. I can't even imagine the guilt that Kurt would feel if he knew that I became a stripper to pay his medical bills. Or what my father would think when he realized that because he was following his dream, his daughter had to give up her body.