Headlines and Heartbeats

Alexandria

I woke up to the sound of my phone trying to have a panic attack.

Buzz. Buzz. Ping. Pingpingping.

I rolled over, half-blind, and grabbed it off the nightstand. Four missed calls, nine messages, and way too many notifications from apps I usually ignore. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes—and then I saw it.

#YoureNotTheOneHeWatches

#ValtorSaidWhat

#AlexandriaKeys

Oh no.

I sat up fast, nearly knocking over a glass of water I don’t remember pouring. My heart was already racing, though not entirely from panic.

Then Cent called.

“Please tell me you’re awake,” he said, not waiting for a hello. “Because, babe... the internet exploded.”

“I’m looking at it,” I muttered, scrolling. My face was everywhere. Frozen mid-expression. Mouth slightly open. Eyes wide. Captions like: “when your enemy gets wrecked and you weren’t ready.”

“Trending. Fourth. Worldwide,” Cent said. “And people love you right now. Like, underdog Cinderella levels of love. Even the former anti fan accounts are rooting for you.”

“This isn't a happy moment Crescent. It's a public disaster.”

“Public drama. And in PR land, that’s liquid gold. Also… no one’s heard from Starr since last night. Not even a pity post. It's like she just disappeared in shame”

Cent was obviously in a very good mood this morning, I just felt tired,I rubbed my temples. “She’s probably plotting my downfall.”

“Yeah, and you’re the mystery girl in the spotlight for once.” There was a pause. “Also… Valtor?”

I froze. “What about him?”

“He said that. About you. In front of half the industry. And, let me just say—if that wasn’t loaded with subtext, I’ll eat my shoes.”

I didn’t answer. Because truthfully, I didn’t know what it meant. I just knew I hadn’t stopped thinking about it since he said it.

He didn’t say it with fire,passion or venom. He said it like a fact. Like everyone should’ve already known.

My phone buzzed again.

Unknown Number: Coffee. Westend Café. 10 a.m. Just us. – V

I stared at the phone in shock.

I didn’t save Valtor’s number, and we had never contacted each other before, but somehow I knew it was him. It just had that seriousness and straight to point aura around it..

No cameras. No assistants. Just us.

My stomach flipped.

I looked at the time: 7:38 a.m.

Roughly two hours to decide whether to hide from this entire mess—

Or walk straight into it.i felt all jittery and nervous,just thinking about how I might make a fool of myself and how my overthinking will probably get the best of me, what if it's not that deep and everything was just a huge misunderstanding.

I set the phone down, took a deep breath, calming my nerves and whispered to no one:

“What the hell are you doing, Keys?”

But I already knew the answer.

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