I blocked his number with a swipe, and my world became a lot quieter. But then my manager, Emily Queen, said her phone was blowing up with calls all morning.
"Can you explain what's going on? Our PR team is at a loss!"
"Emily, I'm really sorry," I said, rubbing my temples. This situation had escalated beyond my wildest expectations.
"Hold on a second," Emily paused. "Check Twitter."
I opened Twitter and saw: [#Best Actor Admits to Dating#]
Bruce said: [I'm pursuing Cecilia!]
My face went from annoyed to furious. I thought, What is this, a soap opera script? Isn't anyone at his company going to rein him in? Could Bruce just do whatever he wants?
The comments on Twitter were a mix of outrage and confusion. Oh great, Twitter is crashing, too.
"Care to explain?" Emily's voice came through the phone again.
"If I say he pestered me until I agreed, do you believe it?"
Bruce had a crush back in school—someone beautiful and leggy, like a campus queen. And it was me. But I didn't have any special skills; I just had a face that made people hesitate to approach me.
To be honest, Bruce was a senior of mine. I was studying musical theater; he was into acting. We didn't have much overlap.
"Hey, is anyone around?"
"Nope," I mumbled, not bothering to look up as I continued eating.
The guy opposite me took the chance to sit down and silently joined me.
"Bruce, I like you!" I looked up and found myself buried in a huge bouquet of roses.
"Ugh, what is this?" The roses smelled like some overpowering perfume. I rubbed my nose and looked up. Everyone was staring at me. "What's your problem?" A nearby girl was trembling with anger.
I frowned, not sure why I was involved. "Why are you yelling at me? Ugh." The girl threw down the flowers and ran away, sobbing.
"You're my only one!" The guy opposite me looked at me with admiration. Just like that, I ended up with a new fan after lunch.
"Cecilia, open up! You need to explain your relationship with Bruce!"
Before I could even recall our first meeting, Jennifer was banging on my door. I peered through the peephole and sighed. Our leading lady was nothing like her on-screen persona. Normally, I'd ignore her, but she was now the top star at the company. I sighed again, thinking, Who can argue with money?
"Jennifer, what brings you here?" I forced a weak smile.