Stuck with Him (3 page)

She returned the monitor to its original position, pinched her nose, and then sighed.

"So what are we going to do about this?" she asked.

How the heck was I supposed to know? I threw my hands up. "I – I don't know!"

"You know I can't have this sort of disruption to the library, Penelope. If this is your fault, I don't want to have to let you go, but…"

I didn't want her to finish that sentence.

"Maybe they'll lose interest. It's just a small story, right? I'm sure they'll go away!" I said.

Ms. Hamilton looked back at the screen, and then to me. She sighed again.

"I'll give you a week. If they're still here on Monday, then…"

"They'll be gone!" I said hurriedly. "Don't worry about it."

As I left Ms. Hamilton's office, I wanted to punch someone. More specifically I wanted to punch one of those stupid paparazzi and break their cameras into a million pieces. How dare they? Even here, of all places!

Not only were they impeding on my life, but they were threatening my job. How was I supposed to deal with
that
?

I finished up my shift, but Ms. Hamilton's ultimatum was on my mind the entire time. I didn't even notice it was time to go home until Linda told me.

"Penny, you okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine."

"You always get so lost in work that you never know when it's time to quit," Linda said. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

"No, it's okay really. I can make it on my own."
 

I didn't want her to have to deal with the paparazzi. That was my problem, not hers. It took me a while to notice that my refusal brought a frown to her face. She hovered near me, looking like she was lost in thought.

Then Linda finally spoke.

"I should have made you go home," she said.

"What?"

"I should have made you go home. I shouldn't have left you behind. That's how this all happened. None of this would've happened if I just made you leave. I heard what Ms. Hamilton said. I don't want to work here without you," Linda said.

Her lips were trembling. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around her.

"It's not your fault," I said. "Don't blame yourself."

I gathered up my stuff and took Linda's hand.

"Come on, let's go."

We had to escape through the back, down a small alley. It was the only place the paparazzi hadn't managed to surround. Once we got onto the subway, we were safe. There was no way that they could all fit on the train, was there?

Linda's stop was before mine, and she stood at the platform waving goodbye to me as the train pulled away. It wasn't until then that I realized I had been forcing a smile the whole time. My body slumped, and the fear from this morning came rushing back. Would they be there again? How was I going to live like this? When would it stop?

When the train reached my station, I almost didn't want to get out. I knew they would be waiting for me. I spent a long time standing at the stairs to the exit, just convincing myself to walk up.

Once I finally got above ground, things felt a little better. There were no paparazzi waiting for me. Maybe they had lost interest.

Or at least that's what I would've thought until I got a block away from my apartment and I saw the huge mass of people waiting outside. My feet stopped, unable to even take a single step forward.

How the hell was I going to get home? It took me another two hours, running around in back alleys, to figure out a way to get home without being spotted. When I reached our door, I was breathless.

I unlocked it and basically fell into the room.

"Penny, what happened to you?"
 

I slumped to the floor, covered in sweat despite how cold it was.

"Our new friends," I said, "they are very persistent."

Kiara stormed over to the window and stuck her middle finger out at the crowd.

"I just want to go out there and smash all of those cameras," she said. "They shouldn't be allowed to do this to people. There should be some kind of law."

"Yeah well, there isn't. And they even followed me to work. If there not gone by Monday, my boss is gonna let me go."

Kiara turned to me with her eyebrows raised.

"You can't be serious!"

I simply nodded my head and stood up. Then I walked over to my side of the room.

"Yep," I said. "This week is going really well for me. Anyway, I'm going to bed."

Chapter 5

I don't remember my dreams from that night. I think they were calm, boring dreams. At least the paparazzi didn't follow me there. But from the moment I opened my eyes, the story was the same.

There they were again, our early-morning alarm clock. Then they were at work, stopping children from going to their story time. I had hoped they would be gone by Friday, but I'll give them one thing, they're persistent. By then, the crowds had simply become a strange part of my life. An intricate daily hide and seek between me and them.

It wasn't until Friday afternoon that I realized just how bad things were.

I had just come home from the library when my phone rang. The screen lit up with a picture of my mom.

"Hi Mom!" I said.
 

I hadn't talked to her since the whole library incident. It had taken me hours to calm her down.

"Penelope, baby, is everything okay with you?"

My stomach dropped. Why wouldn't things be okay?

"Yeah mom, why? Did anything happen?"

"Well, there are these people at the house here. They are asking me all kinds of questions about you," she said. "They have all these cameras, and are taking pictures. I think they said this will be on TV…"

My heart stopped. How dare they! Now they were going after my family too? That was too much.

"Mom, don't you talk to those people. Just stay inside. I'll get this sorted out," I said.

"Are you sure? Is anything going on over there, Penelope?"

"Nothing that I can't take care of, Mom. Gotta go."

Mom's voice was hesitant. "Okay baby, bye."

"Bye."

I clenched my phone in my fists as I hung up. My arms were shaking. Not from fear, but from anger. It was one thing to come after me, but to come after my mom? I would drag those paparazzi's away from her front door myself if I had to.

No, but I knew whose fault this was. If it wasn't for him, none of this would've happened. Matt. It was his fault. And he was going to fix it.

I scrolled over to the contacts list on my phone before I realized that I had just one problem. We never exchanged phone numbers.

Whatever, that wasn't going to stop me. Besides, Mr. fancy pants Dufour was probably all over the Internet. There had to be some way to contact him.
 

I opened up a search engine and started typing. I looked for his name, his family, and then finally his company. That led somewhere. It wasn't a personal number, but it was something. I pounded the numbers into my phone.

"Hello? This is Dufour Incorporated, how may I help you? If you require technical assistance, please call our support hotline at 1-800 – "

"I want to speak to Mr. DuFour," I said.

The woman on the other end of the line sputtered. "E- excuse me?"

"I want to speak to Matthieu Eamon Dufour," I repeated.

"That's not possible," the woman said. She sounded like she was on the verge of laughing.

"Tell him that Penelope wants to talk to him."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to do that. If you would like to talk to one of our assistants –"

"I wonder how quickly you'll lose your job when he realizes that you refused to connect me with him. What do you think? Within a week?"

There was a pause on the line. I heard some typing and then a gasp.

"Are you Ms. Hart?"

"What do you think? Maybe we should ask Mr. DuFour," I said.

That's when her tone completely changed.
 

"Miss Hart, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience!," she said. "I'll connect you right away!"

She must have been at the bottom of the food chain, because I spent the next few minutes bouncing from one department to another, rising up the ranks. I guess it took a lot before they found someone who could actually put me through to him. Smooth jazz music streamed through the line while I waited.

"Hello, Ms. Hart?"

"Yes," I said, "how long before I –"

I thought it was just another receptionist, but it only took me a moment to recognize that voice.

"I see you're terrorizing my employees," Matt said. I could almost hear him smiling.

"Yeah well, I didn't have your number so …"

My cheeks started to burn and my hands were clammy. What was I getting flustered for?

"I'm happy to hear from you again. Did you like the flowers I sent you?" he asked.

I remembered the vase that was sitting in front of our door, how pretty it looked.

"Yes. They were beautiful, thank-" I caught myself. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"I want you to make it stop."

"Make what stop?"

"The paparazzi! They're stalking me, they're stalking my family. There even at my job! I can't escape them!" I yelled.

"Yes, you've been very popular lately. Everybody wants to know about the mysterious woman who was with me in the library," Matt said. "But what am I supposed to do about it?"

I hated how calm his voice was. Didn't he see this was a serious situation?

"I don't know," I screamed, "something! This is your fault, so you should fix it! They are even bothering my mom!"

What could he do about it? I didn't know. But with all that money, he should be able to do something. Anything. I just wanted him to make it stop.

"If you were with me, I could protect you," Matt said.

I went silent. What was he saying? Was this some kind of joke?

"I could protect you and your family. The paparazzi wouldn't bother you again. I could take care of you," he said.

My mouth opened, but the words stuck in my throat.

"Or, if you prefer, I could make a public statement. I could tell them that we're not involved and find a girl to distract them. They'd lose interest then, but I don't think either of us wants that solution." Matt paused. "Do we?"

I hung up and threw the phone on my bed. My pulse was racing. The thought of Matt with another girl, of him saying that I was nothing, made my stomach churn. I punched my thin mattress and the metal frame jumped.

Who needs him? I would take care of this myself. No more hiding. Tomorrow I would show the paparazzi who they shouldn't mess with.

As I got ready for bed, the potential scenes played out in my head. What was the worst-case scenario? It couldn't be that bad, right?

By the time I laid under the covers, I was covered in sweat. No matter what position I got into, nothing felt comfortable. When I closed my eyes, all I could see were hundreds of cameras flashing in my face. It must've been hours before I finally fell asleep.

Chapter 6

The next morning I jumped out of bed and walked over to the window while holding my breath. Maybe they were gone. Maybe it was all over.

I pulled back the curtain, and there they were. Just as many as before. Actually, it looked like there were even more. Maybe they came out of hiding on the weekends. As soon as they saw my face, the cameras started flashing. Before long, our window was filled with nothing but white light. I pulled the curtain closed.

My chest tightened when I thought about going out there all on my own. The room spun around me, and I was almost certain I would vomit. I bent over.

Kiara turned over in her bed.

"Hey, good morning Penny," she said. Then, when her eyes finally opened and she saw me, she rushed out from underneath the covers.

"Penny! What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said. "It's just that I'm a little nervous."

"About what?" she asked.

I pointed toward the window.

"About them. I'm tired of running away. Today's the day I face them."

Kiara looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you sure?"

I nodded my head.
 

"I have to, or this will never stop."

She looked over to the window and then back at me. Then Kiara took a deep breath.

"I'll go with you," she said and put her hand on my shoulder.

I smiled. She really was a good friend.

"No," I said, "I have to do this on my own. This is my problem, not yours."

I stood up straight and tried to gather up some courage. Kiara was still looking at me with fear in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it! What's the worst that could happen?"

As I prepared for the day, those words kept repeating in my mind. My stomach felt like jelly, but I kept telling myself the same thing. Don't worry. What's the worst that could happen?

When I was all done, I looked at myself in the mirror. I wanted to look good, so I wore a simple dress and heels. After all, my photo was probably going to be in all the tabloids that afternoon. I didn't have much, but I brushed a little makeup onto my face. When I was satisfied, I walked over to the door.

"Wish me luck ," I said.

Kiara looked at me with worry in her eyes. Then she finally said, "luck."

Then I opened the door and walked out. Each step down the stairs and out of the building seemed like one step closer to a war zone. The quivering in my stomach only got worse, and by the time I was at the front door of the apartment building, it felt like there was a giant lump in my throat. One more step and I would be outside on the street with
them
.

I grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath. Okay. Showtime.

It began as soon as the door opened. The lights flashed in my eyes. The voices were deafening.

"Over here Ms. Hart!" "Is it true that you're Mr. DuFour's mistress?" "Smile!"

They had me surrounded on all sides. It looked different from afar, the middle of it was like being trapped in a hurricane. One person after another called my name. It was so loud that I had to cover my ears. I couldn't even remember what I had to say.