The Art Of Loving You

One

THE HELL OF IT WAS, IT WAS HER BEST FRIEND.

Martha gaped at her phone screen, unable to believe the words she was reading. Disbelief made her look twice to ensure her eyes hadn't gone as crazy as her clamorous thoughts. She scrolled up, down, read and reread the headlines until her vision turned blurry. She wasn't crazy, she hadn't gone mad. What was written in the headlines was just as she had read;

" 'NO FAKE LOVE SINGER GETS BACK WITH EX, BARELY A MONTH AFTER BREAKING OFF ENGAGEMENT WITH EX-FIANCÉ - TNA REPORTS' "

Her vision clouded with tears, and her lips quivered but she kept the threatening tears at bay. The iOS 12 she was holding dangled from her limp hand and she sank back into her chair, devastated and distraught.

How could she? How dare she do that to her?

"Martha? Are you okay?"

Martha looked up at her makeup team who had been applying makeup and fixing her hair. The six of them had stopped what they were doing and were looking at her with concern. Then she looked at her junior assistant, Krystal who had posed the question. The concern in Krystal's voice was crystal clear.

She didn't know what to tell her. Was she okay? Of course, she wasn't. Who would be? What sane person would be? One would think that by now she would be used to rumors as a celebrity, given the kind of scrutiny celebrities were subjected to, both on social media and in their everyday life. And she was used to rumors and fake news about her, just that this one hit her slam-dunk in the face.

"Take that phone from her!"

Martha leaned into her chair and sighed as her senior assistant, Corey hurried into the room. He got close to her and yanked the phone from her grasp.

"You shouldn't have let her see the news." He snapped at Krystal, then turned to the makeup team. "Please excuse us." He took Martha's hand and led her into an adjoining room.

"What's the point? I would have seen it anyway." Martha said sitting, hoping to avoid a conflict between her two assistants, one older than the other not only in age but because he was hired first.

"I still think Krystal should have done something to hide the news from you, for a little while at least."

Krystal barked a snide laughter. "Hide something that's shutting down the internet? It's as if you're telling me to mute the sound of a cannon blast with a cup."

"You should have at least tried." He said through gritted teeth.

"I did." She replied, also gritting her teeth to match his hostility.

"Obviously whatever you did was lame and unproductive."

Krystal responded with an irritated snort. "Well then Mr. Perfectionist, why weren't you here to avert it yourself? Where were you?" She placed her index finger on her lips and frowned as if in thought, then snapped her fingers. "That's right! You were out kissing a woman's ass and cradling a bottle of wine you sniveling snout."

"Stop it both of you."

Corey scoffed and rolled up his sleeves. "I think the best answer is to ignore you. You're still what, twenty-five? Yeah, that pretty much explains it."

"For the last time, cut it off." Martha directed a warning look at Corey and then at Krystal to cut off the clap back that was brewing hot in her.

Corey drew up a chair and sat facing Martha. "I'm so sorry you had to see that news. You didn't deserve any of it."

"How could Tasha do this to me?" She asked for the umpty-umpth time to no one in particular.

Tasha was her so-called best friend of three years who was the proud owner of a thriving news blog, Tasha News Agency while Tasha was her best friend, Martha had always told herself to be careful of what she confided in her. Tasha had proved her worth over the years and had published only what she was allowed to when it involved Martha and so Martha trusted her completely.