Player 99

An Announcement Robert would be Proud of

The next morning, I could barely open my eyes. Eye boogers had formed over night and they made it hard to pry my eyes open. I sat up, rubbing them out of the way. I looked at my clock. It was ten. I was late for work. I laid back down. Who gives a shit, i thought, pulling the blanket over me again. It was so warm and I didn't want to get up. I closed my eyes and turned on my side, blocking out the sunlight. I was about to drift off again when there was a knock on my door. I groaned and ignored it, not bothering to care. 

The knocking continued. Finally after five minutes of nonstop knocking, I threw the covers to the side and got up. I grabbed my robe and shrugged it on. I tied the rope around me as I walked to the door. I threw it open. 

"What?!" I shouted at...Josh.... My jaw dropped as he stepped in. 

"It's good to see you too," he said, standing to the side as I shut the door. I ignored him as I went to the kitchen to make coffee. As I got the stuff out, Josh made himself at home at the bar. I hit the button and the familiar drip drip of the coffee machine floated through my apartment. Josh put his elbows on the table and he set his head on his fists. 

"Robert wanted me to come get you," he said. I rolled my eyes. 

"Why should he care?" I growled, getting a coffee cup. Josh looked offended. 

"He's known you for nearly eight years, Paige," he said. I snorted. 

"Yeah, he really cares about me by forcing me into this situation," I said, nearly crying at the thought of what happened yesterday. Josh looked down. 

"It's not personal. It's business," he said. I reached out and took the coffee pot. 

"It's personal to me," I said, letting a tear slip out as I poured a cup of coffee. I sugared and creamed it up before I turned to Josh. 

"Did you break it off with Justin?" he asked. I looked up sharply. 

"Don't you DARE call him that," i growled before i looked down, my tears threatening to fall. "Yes, I did." I had to clear my throat before i was able to look at him again. He reached out to try to take my hand. I pulleld away. 

"You really did care about him," he said. I laughed. 

"Of course I did," I said. "But it doesn't matter now, because it's done and we don't need to bring it up anymore." Josh nodded and got up. 

'"I'm sorry," he said, pulling me into a hug. I set my coffee cup down and hugged him back. 

Josh had been my friend before anything had happened. It was good to confide in him again. He pulled away. 

"I'm sorry that this had to happen, but we have to do this," he said. "Robert will make our lives hell if we don't." I nodded. He took my hand. 

"I'll try to protect you from this as much as I can Paige," Josh said. I nodded. "I'm going to call Robert and say we're taking a couple's day off. He'll love it." I nodded. "We're going to have to go public soon." I nodded. 

"Why not today?" I suggested, figuring that I had nothing to lose now. Josh looked surprised. 

"Really?" he asked. "You want to do that now?" 

I shrugged. "I have nothing to lose now. I've already lost the man that I've loved and he hates me now, I might as well," I said. Josh nodded. 

"Let me make a call," he said. 

...............................................

Josh and I were sitting in front of several reporters, cameras and lights. He was holding my hand and I was holding onto my "I'm in public. I must look happy" smile. I tried to make it look like I was in love with the man sitting next to me, but my mind was on J.J. He was going to see this and it was going to make things worse. The reporter in front of us opened their IPhone. 

"So, when did you start dating?" 

Josh and I had already decided that he would answer and I would add anything that I thought would sell t even more. 

"We started dating a few weeks ago," he said, smiling at me. "I just thought it was time to announce it." 

The reporter turned to me. 

"What about you? Did you agree?" she asked. I nodded, smiling. 

"Of course! Josh and I had been friends for a couple years and I've always had a slight crush on him and when he asked me out, I thought it was perfect," I gushed, blushing with shame. The reporter ate it up. 

"You've been dubbed the "Power Couple" already. How do you feel about that?" 

Josh glanced at me. "We've heard that and we just laughed it off. We're just good at our job," he said. The reporter nodded. 

"There've been rumors about the CEO forcing you two to do this. Is that true?" she said, looking at me. My jaw dropped. Who would let that out? The only three people who knew was me, Josh and Robert, I thought in shock..........And Justin. But he wouldn't do that would he?

The reporter looked at me expectantly and Josh squeezed my hand, silenttly telling me to answer the quetion already.  

"Of course not!" I said, quickly. "That's an outrageous lie! Josh and I are in love and I hope that doesn't make anyone doubt that."

The reporter nodded. "Well," she said, looking at the camera. "Here you have it! The new Power Couple of Houston and who knows were their next stop will be? Have a nice night and we'll see you tomorrow on Channel 13 news." She smiled as the camera was shut off. She thanked us and left us alone. I looked at Josh.

"Well this is going to be an interesting night," I said. He nodded.

"Yes, that was one big announcement that no one expected," he agreed.