The One Read Free

don’t want to see it.”
    “It’s not — well.” She hesitated. “There’s a
little bit of Jason.”
    “No.” I took off my shoes and marched past
her. “I don’t want to see anything involving him. I don’t even want to hear his
name.”
    “But, I think you should really see this!”
    “Ellie, I asked you not to tell me about
anything you see on those gossipy websites.”
    “It’s concerning you.”
    I stopped. “ What?” Did I hear that
right? “It’s about me?”
    Occasionally I saw my face on a magazine but I
was usually overshadowed by Jason and whatever he was doing. Tabloids didn’t
normally concern themselves with me.
    Ellie nodded.
    “Is it bad?” I asked.
    She made a face that was a mix between ‘yes’
and ‘not really’. I wasn’t sure how to interpret it.
    Clicking on the screen, she started a video.
    “No.” I pulled away. “I don’t want to get
involved with this. Aren’t you the one who has been telling me— ”
    The sound of my own voice came from Ellie’s
pink laptop.
    “But… Jason.”
    Grabbing the screen and tilting it towards me,
I watched in horror as Luke cornered me against a wall, breathing heavy on me.
It looked bad, but it felt worst. I could smell his sickening cologne from
here.
    “Oh no,” I said.
    “Someone must have been filming you guys,”
Ellie said as she watched the video. “Great shot, too. It almost looks like it
was planned.” She shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “That guy is a fucking sleaze-ball.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
    “It gets worst.” I said it just as he plunged
in and kissed me.
    “What the fuck!” Ellie was livid just as I was
then and now.
    My heart beat hard in my chest because I knew
what I was about to see. I instinctively looked to the upper left corner of the
screen, where Jason appeared. Seeing him relaxed me for a moment and made me
forget about the horrific thing happening in the foreground. His face looked so
confused, so hurt. I relived all the shame and heartbreak of that day.
    “How could you do this?”
    Jason’s words broke my heart all over again.
Jason disappeared just as fast as he appeared.
    “Oh, Sophia.” Ellie patted my back, rubbing it gently.
    I fought hard to hold back tears, but I could
feel them forming, swelling in my eyes, threatening to tumble down my cheeks. I
swallowed back the hurt.
    “Let go!”
    The video showed me pushing Luke back and
spitting at him.
    “Whoa, Sophia!” Ellie smiled.
    “It gets worst,” I said, wincing because I
knew what was coming.
    *SACK*
    I didn’t watch it because after feeling it in
person, there was no reason to relive it, but I could see the damage through
the pained expression on Ellie’s face.
    “ Fucking . Awesome .” Ellie looked at me with a
look of respect and appreciation. “You showed that guy.”
    I smiled. “It did feel pretty good.”
    “Hell yeah it did.”
    “And does it make me a bad person that knowing
a video of him getting kicked is on the internet?”
    “And it’s been viewed over ten million times!”
Ellie chirped.
    “And it what ?” I shook my head. “Did I
hear that right? This has been watched over ten million times?” I put my hands
on my cheeks and shook my head, looking off into the distance. “This is
terrible.”
    Ellie’s expression dropped to confusion.
    “Why?”
    “This is assault, Ellie! I kicked a guy in
the…” I looked around and lowered my voice. “I kicked a guy in the balls.”
    “He assaulted you first!”
    I ran my fingers through my hair and shook my
head. “No, this can’t be happening. Do you know how bad this video looks to my
clients? And to Jason?”
    “Please, Sophia.” Ellie grabbed my hand.
“Nothing in this video is your fault. Luke is a sleaze and he deserved what he
got.”
    Breathing out slowly, I nodded. “You’re
right.”
    Still, I couldn’t help but think about Jason,
and what dragging him into the media like this would do for his reputation.
    My