Tell the Truth (J)

“Sir, what are your motives in dating Grace Skybain?”

I blinked. “I— What?”

“Does Grace ever visit you at your apartment?”

How did they know I lived here? I didn’t exactly advertise my location, and we’d been careful to avoid anyone finding out. I didn’t really have a social media presence, so there wasn’t that much for people to get info from. But they knew.

How did they know?

Was it the woman who lived downstairs? I’d helped her move her groceries up, so she knew I was in the building. But she was a sweet lady. I refused to believe her cinnamon cookies were filled with lies. Then what about my relatives? Only my close family knew where I lived. My sister was a blabbermouth, but she wouldn’t have done something like this.

“---Written on TT’s Tea true?”

TT’s Tea?

My retinas couldn’t take it anymore, and I pushed inside. I’d never been more grateful to have an apartment on the upper floors. Every time the elevator had broken, I’d had to hike up, but I’d take that over being closer to those damn reporters.

“Jasper!” I heard Fabi coming from behind me.

I turned to her. “Yea—oof!”

“I’m so sorry,” she said as she hugged me. “I can’t believe they—how could—”

“Fabi,” I said firmly. “You’re not to blame for this. You don’t need to apologize.”

She gave me a smile that definitely missed her eyes. “Yeah.”

“Just try to be careful going home, okay?” I smiled. “Text me when you get there so I know you’re safe.”

I watched her leave, the people outside clearing the way for a woman who wasn’t interesting to them. Just a few minutes later, I was faced with my door, relieved to be done with it. Making sure to lock it behind me, I went to my computer. As soon as the search bar appeared, I put in TT’s Tea. Immediately, a website with that name came up.

Son of a bitch. . .

On it were pictures of Grace everywhere—corners, centers, and even the fucking cursor. Looking closer, they were general takes, likely a paparazzi’s work. Then I read the words on the page. It held all kinds of personal shit. Her allergies, the name of her last cat—Gracie didn’t like to talk about Mittens very much. Whoever was responsible had done their research. But at the bottom was an area that chose a different topic: Me.

Right there, in bold letters, was my address. How they had gotten it was a mystery no meddling kids could solve, but it wasn’t the only thing on there. They had my height, how long I’d been dating Grace. I even saw the name of my high school, for fuck’s sake.

For Grace’s sake, I read the rest of the website. Surprisingly, there wasn’t that much personal info on Grace, which I was relieved for. But what the hell was I supposed to do here? I can protect against intruders and shit, but how was I to protect against the world? It was all too much. I should have listened to the dude in the text.

Has that crack always been in the wall?

What was I doing just sitting there, my head in my hands? I had work in the morning. I looked at the clock and considered my options. I should shower first. Then I could put that extra lock on my door. No, I should put the lock on first. But then what? I could game with my friends, send them a message asking for a quick round. I opened my contacts, the screen highlighting the last person I’d texted.

Grace.

We’d worked so hard to get to this point. I’d pined after her for ages before my friend finally told me to just ask her out. I already knew that ‘no’ was far from the worst thing a girl could say. The last lady I’d tried with threw her drink in my eyes—coffee, by the way— and called me a ‘dense dipshit’ who was ‘destined for dumbassery’. So it stood to reason that Grace would do the same.

But she’d said yes.

And ever since, I’d really loved how comfortable we’d been with each other. A comfort I’m sure would be hurt if I went to her and said ‘heyyyy, so your fans found me : 0. Also, all kinds of personal info is on this public website now. Anyway, happy one month anniversary, baby.’ Knowing my Sky, she’d freak out, but I still had to tell her. I’d watched enough romcoms with her to know better than to keep something like this from her. Besides, this shit was probably going to become top news tomorrow.

Hey, I texted her. Something happened. Can I stay at your place tonight?

She probably wouldn’t reply for a while. Gracie had a bad tendency to work rather late. At this time, she was probably headed home, her mind already thinking about editing her work. I knew my Sky well enough to note that she wouldn’t be checking her phone for a while.

So I took the time to shower, turning the heat to the max. I let the scalding water focus me. I could have dwelled on the situation all night, but it wouldn’t change things. After leaving the bathroom, I was even tempted to check outside my window in case they were still there. Putting down the towel, I turned my computer on once again. Maybe I could game until Gracie replied.

“Hey, Asper!” said Dinnent, using my username.

“Nice of you to grace us with your presence,” added Stiplebottom.

“Hey man,” Dinnent said at my silence. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I saw the news, superstar,” Stiple added. “You good?”

“Better than you were last night.”

“DAMN,” Dinnent choked.

“Alright, hotshot,” Stiple scoffed. “Get in the party so I can kick your ass for that.”

A few hours later, I heard the text ping from my phone. I hesitated in checking it. Was it the guy who’d tried to warn me? Had other people gotten my number? Was my own phone not fucking private anymore. Well, the government had my internet history, so it couldn’t be any worse than that.

Of course, came my beautiful Sky. What happened?

Logging off, I tried to think of how to answer her. ‘Your fans are assholes’ wasn’t really the best conversation starter. I shoved shit in my duffel bag, frowning in thought. ‘Some douchebag put a spotlight on me’ was really weird. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her the whole story in text. This felt like the kind of shit you said in person., like ‘I won the lottery’ or ‘I robbed a bank’. But I had to give some explanation, or my Sky would be out of her mind with the worst possible scenarios. So I decided to summarize.