Cut And Dried

Damn The Internet

Chrissie

As the evening drew to its conclusion, Brent and I bid our farewells, with promises to link up with Jasper and Mandy for drinks and meals.

Walking to the exit with Brent clinging to my arm, I could feel the stares from the other patrons probably wondering what he was doing with someone like me.

And as we pushed through the doors, we were greeted with shouts of 'there they are' and the mob surged towards us, luckily security had barriers in place and managed to confine the press to their designated side.

But that didn't stop the photo's being snapped and the questions being asked and it seemed as though my antics with two well known actors were the hot topic.

"Chrissie, Chrissie why did you assault Ralph Tomlinson"

"Did he attack you"

"What about Buster"

And so it went on, I clung to Brent's arm as we hurried towards the waiting limo and breathing a sigh of relief when I climbed into my seat.

As I did up my seat belt the door opened again and Debbie got in with a smirk on her face.

"Well you sure stirred up a hornet's nest, however it's all good especially from the female contingent, they love you for standing up for women's rights.
Plus you are trending on Facebook, Twitter and a lot of celebrity sites, expect a lot of attention for a while"

"Terrific" I muttered.

Debbie didn't hear or just ignored my remark.

"But this is great, don't you see, we'll Liase with Ralph's people, put this down as a publicity stunt, Ralph thanks Brent for participating, Ralph then owes us, couldn't have planned it better myself"

I sat there my mouth hanging open, I was gobsmacked, I had been groped by a drunken lecherous old man, now she wanted it to sound like I let him do it, that was it.

"Are you fucking kidding me, that bloke groped me and now you want it to seem as though I was happy for him to do it for publicity for Brent, are you nuts" my temper getting the better of me.

"It's how the games played honey, Hollywood style"

"Well let's be clear on one thing shall we darling, I don't play games and if I get asked any questions then I tell the truth, Woodstock style" letting my words sink in, I turned my attention from the witch to Brent.

"And if you believe in what she says, then you can shove the bet where the sun dosen't shine and sue me in court"

"Woah! Calm down you two, I've just had a text from Ralph's team apologising for his actions and he intends to apologise to you Chrissie in person"

"Well he needn't bother, just keep him away from me, I'm not into games and Hollywood shit"

"Okay, okay" rubbing his hand up and down my arm "But you would be the first woman he has ever said sorry to in his life and he's going to do it in public, so it might look bad on you if you don't accept it"

"Ooookayyyy! fine. I give in, what the hell"

I'm not sure if it was because I was feeling charitable, or the affect of Brent rubbing my arm that made me back down, but if the jerk was willing to apologise then I suppose I better hear him out.

"Good, oh and by the way I have a present for you" handing me a box.

I have to admit I love presents, I suppose not having many in your life makes you appreciate them when you do get them.

"What the..." Pulling the top of the box open, I gasped a brand new Samsung smart phone.

"I can't accept this" handing the box and phone back to Brent.

"Thank you but I don't need a phone and this is way to expensive anyway"

"You do need one as I said before" pushing the box back into my lap "It has my number already in it and Debbie's, it's only on loan to you okay"

"Umm, okay I'll borrow it for the time being, but I have no idea how to use it" turning it all angles studying it.

"What are you doing?" Brent enquired, as I screwed my face up.

"How do you start the thing"

"Here let me show you" taking the phone from my hand, his fingers brushing against my palm, making my breath hitch.

He then began a lengthy explanation on how the phone worked, going on about internet, texts, emails, social media etc, etc.

"I thought it was a phone, does it make phone calls"

This caused Brent to laugh out loud, I loved the sound of him laughing, it made him so much more lovable and carefree, I didn't say lovable did I shit, easy there Chrissie I chided myself, tuning back into Brent's monologue.

"And this is how to dial a number and this is how you store a number and this.."

"Stop" holding my hand over the phone, causing Brent to cease and face me. "No way am I going to remember all that, does it come with instructions?"

"It does, so you can play with it and learn, but the first thing most people do is Google their own name look" and he proceeded to show me with his name.

"Wow that's so cool" I gushed as images and sites came up with his name. "Can you do it with mine see if a site has my name"

But when he put my name in, I got one hell of a shock, there were hundreds of sites with my name splashed over them and numerous pictures of me at the gala and in the pub, even in the fish and chip shop, I hadn't seen anyone with a camera where did they come from?

"Oh no" clutching the phone tightly as pictures of where I work and worst of all where I lived, appeared before me.

Headlines ranging from Brent's girl floors Ralph to stepping on Busters toes, speculation on Brent and me from love triangle to marriage and pregnancy.

I sat there in absolute stunned silence, eye's wide, mouth open and feeling kind of sick as everyone had their say on my life and what I should expect, now I was a celebrity.

Me a celebrity, are they joking, I'm no more a celebrity than Donald Duck is a mouse, I mean come on, I'm a second rate ladies hairdresser at best.

As panic started to overcome me, Brent wisely closed the browser, handing me the phone, he coughed.

"Yer well they speculate a lot and make up rubbish just to get people to look at their site"

"But Brent, didn't you notice, I'm trending whatever the hell that is, number one on Facebook, Twitter and gods knows what other places.
They even say I'm the 23rd woman in the world that men want to marry for fuck sake and I dread to look at where I am in the most want to sleep with poll"

"Fifth" piped up Debbie with a smirk.

"Gee thanks" I groaned as Brent shot her a don't go there look.

"Why are people so interested in me, I must be the most uninteresting person on the planet and just because I stopped a guy groping me, I become a talking point on the internet"

"Chill, Chrissie it's news at the moment, but something else will come up and this will all be forgotten, believe me, after tonight, we head back to Woodstock and hide away"

"You can't..." a slightly irritated Debbie tried to butt in.

"No!" Brent insisted. "That's what's going to happen"

Resting my hand on Brent's arm I looked up into his eyes and mouthed a thank you, I really could do getting back to my life, my reality.

But that wasn't going to happen just yet, no way!