Chapter 21

      Emie stepped out of the shower, wrapping her robe around her waist and squeezing the water out of her hair with a towel.  The boat had been great, but it felt nice to be back on solid ground. Emie had been able to relax and now she felt ready for the crazy week ahead. There was five days until the wedding and Emie was sure she would be busy the entire time.  Lucia had some last minute things she wanted to go over, as well as all the parties and events they had planned.   Their aunt was coming to the island soon and Emie was looking forward to seeing her.       Emie wrapped her towel around her head and made her way out to the suite.  She walked out into her bedroom and let out a strangled scream.       “LUCIA! Jesus.  You scared the shit out of me.” She laughed, then glared at her sister.  Lucia was sitting on the end of her bed with what looked like some kind of tablet computer on her lap.  She was still wearing the clothes she had been wearing on the boat, and her blond hair was haphazardly thrown on top of her head.       “Sorry.” Lucia said softly.  Emie frowned, taking a half step toward her sister.  Something wasn’t right.  She could tell just by looking at her.       “Luce? What’s wrong? What is it?” She went directly to Lucia and sat down next to her on the bed.  “Is it Chris? What’s going on?” Emie felt panic rise in her chest.  Lucia turned to her, her blue eyes looked worried and a bit sad.       “Emie, promise not to freak out.” Lucia said.  Emie stood up.       “That’s a great way to start a conversation.” She said, pulling the towel off her head.  Her damp hair fell in waves around her face and she pushed it roughly out of the way.       “You’ve got to just take this with a grain of salt.” Lucia stood as well, and took a hesitant step toward Emie.  Emie frowned, tilting her head.       “You should probably tell me quickly what you’re talking about.” She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting.  Lucia grabbed Emie’s arm and pulled her to the bed.  They say down and Lucia turned to Emie.       “They found out who you are.” She said softly.  Emie froze for a moment, not quite sure what Lucia was talking about.         “What? Who—“       “The paparazzi.  They figured out who you are and it’s all over the internet that you’re seeing Tom.” Lucia said the words, and Emie felt them fall like lead blocks at her feet.         “What do you mean they figured out who I am?” Emie’s thoughts went immediately to her pseudonym, Eme Leo.  Lucia seemed to read her thoughts.       “No, not your writing identity.  No one knows about that.” Lucia assured her.  “I just mean that they’ve identified you finally from the pictures from the café.  And there’s some new pictures.” Lucia turned on her tablet, and Emie felt her mouth go dry.  She was relieved that Eme Leo was safe, but she was wary of what Lucia could be talking about.  New pictures?       “ Show me.” Emie nodded toward the computer and Lucia started swiping through websites on her tablet.  She pulled up a rather well known celebrity paparazzi site called “Hot Shotz”.  Emie hated those sites, especially Hot Shotz.  Even Lucia, who didn’t let the stalking bother her much, didn’t like the site.  It often fabricated “news” from rumors, and the paparazzi associated with the website were well known for being rather aggressive and rude.       “Luke called me.” Lucia said, referring to her agent.  “Luke is Tom’s agent too.  Did you know that?”       “No.” Emie shook her head.  It reminded her again how little she sometimes felt she knew about Tom.        “He called me four times.  I’m sure he’s called Tom, too.”       “Just show me the pictures.” Emie said, her voice monotone.  Lucia hesitated, but then sat the small screen into Emie’s hands.         The first photo made Emie want to throw up.  She felt her reaction right in the pit of her stomach.  It was her and Tom at the airport.  They were hugging.  You couldn’t see Tom’s face because his back was to the camera, but you could see Emie’s face.  Her face was a red and blotchy.  She had her eyes closed and her face partially buried in Tom’s shoulder.  Emie didn’t mind that she looked terrible.  She minded that she had no idea the photos had been taken.  She minded that it had been a particularly shitty moment for her, and someone had taken the photos of a personal moment between her and Tom.       Along with the photo there were a few paragraphs of type.  She took a deep breath, held it, and began to read quickly.       “Tom Hiddleston’s mysterious blond beauty identified! After being spotted a few weeks ago out and about with a mysterious, unkown blond bombshell, fans have been clamoring for info on who has seemed to have stolen the Brit’s heart.  Well, wonder no more, dear followers! Just the other night, Mr. H was spotted out again with the same lady.  After some serious digging, it’s been discovered that it is best friend, Chris Worth’s, soon to be sister in law! Mr. H’s new leading lady is none other than Emeline Harris, the baby sister of A-Lister Lucia Harris! Not much is known about her except that she lives in the same town that Tom has been filming in for the last three months.  According to a close source, sparks have been flying between the two. Apparently, Emie has been on the chase after Mr. H, texting constantly and calling him at all hours! Is love in the air? We’re not too sure as they were recently spotted at LAX and Miss Harris was looking none too thrilled.  A follower sent us these photos along with a video clip of the new duo.  As you can see, Emeline looks anything but happy to be seen at the airport with her new man.  Could there be trouble in paradise so soon? What do you think?”       Emie let out her breath, and then sucked in other lung full.  She swallowed, feeling a combination of anger and hurt build up in her chest.  Who did these people think they were?  She gripped the tablet and swiped down, reading the rest of the blog entry.       Accompanying the article were four photos.  They were somewhat blurry and extremely candid.  The first one was of Emie, sitting on her suitcase, eyes red and knees drawn to her chest.  Tom could be seen approaching in the background.  The next three were various shots of the two of them talking.  One with Tom hugging her and the rest with Emie looking rather upset and disheveled.  She stared at the photos, flabbergasted.  Who had taken these? She hadn’t even seen anyone around, let alone someone taking photos.  She felt like her privacy had been invaded, like she had been spied on.  It was creepy.         She took a deep breath and clicked on the video clip. Lucia made a little noise as if it were a bad idea, but Emie held onto the tablet.  The short clip was filmed on a shitty camera phone and only 8 seconds long, but it was upsetting.  She’d been anxious and under stress at the time and completely vulnerable.  Tom had comforted her and made her feel better.  It had been a rather personal moment and now it was all over the internet.  She bit her lip, hard.       “Emie…” Lucia said, her voice gentle and also warning.  She reached over, taking Emie’s arm.  Emie let her, and immediately noticed her hands were shaking.       “Why do they do this? Why?” She managed, her voice shaking.         “I’m sorry. I know how much you hate it.” Lucia said.  Emie blinked, and looked back down at the computer.  She idly flipped through the website.        She read through a few of the comments.  Most of them were negative.   They varied from questions about the pair, to comments on how Emie was a slut and a fame whore, using Tom for his celebrity to get famous.  She swallowed hard.  She knew not to let the petty comments from random strangers on the internet upset her.  She’d gone through similar things with her sister.  But this was on a different level.         The comments picked apart her face, her hair, her clothing choices, her body.  People had discovered the brand of clothing she’d been wearing and immediately attacked her for wearing what was basically modest lingerie out of the house.  It wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose!  She wasn’t quite sure why she cared what these people thought.       The caption on the video commented on how the source had heard them fighting, and saw Emie crying and begging Tom to do something.  Emie frowned at the lies.  She felt her stomach drop when she thought of what Tom might think when he saw the blog.  She knew he wouldn’t believe all the ridiculous comments, but she also wondered how he’d feel being associated someone who was obviously just a “fame whore”, as someone had so eloquently posted. She quickly closed the website knowing she shouldn’t have read the comments.         “This is all lies.” She stammered to her sister.  Lucia nodded, looking pained and upset.       “It usually is.” She replied.  Emie shook her head.  “I’ve been getting a lot of comments on Twitter and Facebook.  Which means Tom is probably get at least double that.” Lucia’s voice was soft.       “Why?! Why are they sending things to you?” Emie cried.       “Because they can.  And you don’t have a Twitter.  At least not one they know about.” Lucia sighed. She knew about Emie’s EmeLeo account on Twitter.  “I don’t give a shit about twitter, Em.  Those people can go to hell.”        “Have you seen Tom?” She asked, roughly brushing away tears. She wasn’t sure why she was crying.  She just felt so invaded and betrayed.        “No.” Lucia pulled Emie into a hug.  “Baby sis, you’ve got to ignore it.  Don’t let it get you down.  You’ve been so happy, I can tell.  And Tom’s going to be just as upset as you are, but he’s on your side.” Lucia kissed her forehead.  Emie nodded.  “We’re all on your side.” She added.         “Do you think I should call Scotty? Maybe if I release a statement saying we’re not dating.” Emie said, her voice rushed and shaking.  Lucia frowned, and held onto Emie.       “Is that what you really want to do? You should call Scotty so she knows what’s going on, but do you really want to add any fuel to the fire? Maybe you should talk to Tom—“       “Talk to Tom? About what? What can I say? I’ve told him over and over that we just need to take it slow and be friends, and now you think I should go to him and have ‘the talk’?!” Emie said, panic rising in her chest.  Lucia let her go, and leaned back.       “Emie. You’re sleeping with the man.  I think it would be perfectly appropriate to have ‘the talk’ with him.” Lucia said flatly.  Emie shook her head.       “We haven’t had sex.” She retorted.         “Does it matter? Em? Get out of your freaking head.  You like him.  You care about him.  You need to figure out your response to this as a pair, not separately.  It’s the only way you’ll make it out alive.” Lucia warned.  Emie closed her eyes, feeling a fat, hot tear roll down her cheek.  She’d been on such a high.  She’d been starting to relax.  And now this.       “I don’t know what we are.  I can’t even think about what we are.” She managed, her voice cracking.         “He cares about you, Emeline.  He cares about you a lot.  More than I think you want to think about.” Lucia said softly.  Emie froze.  She wiped her eyes roughly, and stood up.       “I’ll call Scotty and tell her to issue a statement saying we are just friends.” She walked quickly over to her nightstand, looking for her phone.  Lucia stood, her hands raised.       “Emie, talk to Tom first.” She said, her voice worried.  Emie shook her head.       “No, no. I should just do this now.  It will take care of it.” She started searching for her phone, throwing aside the covers on her bed, and rifling through her bags.       “Emie, stop.” Lucia took a half step forward.  Emie was racing around the room. “Emie, stop and think.” She said again.       “That’s the problem, Luce! I haven’t been thinking.” Emie said through clenched teeth.         “Talk to Tom, Em, please.” Lucia said a bit louder.       “Talk to Tom about what?” A deep voice ran through the suite, and Tom seemed to materialize out of nowhere.  He walked in through the double French doors that led out to the patio.  They had been open to let in the warm, island air.  Emie turned and froze, not moving.  Her back was to him.         “Hi Tom!” Lucia said, her voice obnoxiously cheerful.       “Ladies…” Tom said, his voice low and cautious. He knew he’d walked into something serious.       “I was just leaving.  See you later.” Lucia said as she all but ran out of the room.  Emie closed her eyes for a moment and then turned around.  Tom was only a few feet from her.  He had changed into jeans and what looked like the softest t shirt she had ever seen.  It was dusty blue and practically threadbare in places.  She could see a hint of skin under the most worn places.  It matched his eyes.       “Emie?” He said gently, taking a step forward, holding out his hands.  She stared at them.  They were so strong, capable.  She felt the pull.  Felt the pull to take his hands and let herself depend on him.  She swayed slightly.  Emie swallowed and looked at him.  His brow was creased, and he had his head tilted down toward her.  He looked ridiculously worried and heart wrenchingly handsome.  Emie felt her chest squeeze and she wondered just how hard it was going to be to announce to the world that they were friends.  Just friends.