Only With You (35 page)

I nodded. “I think that’s nice.”

I think we both also knew that no matter what she said, speculation would still flow, and people would make their own assumptions about the truth. But at least she was addressing the situation instead of hiding from it.

She took a deep breath. “It’s damage control. We’ll see what the fallout looks like. I could have some very pissed off parents on my hands
, or it could all blow over. I don’t know.”

I nodded. “
Well, on the bright side, it’s not like you did drugs, stole from a clothing store, got a DUI or went crazy and shaved your head,” I rationalized, and she laughed. It was the first time I’d heard her laugh all day, and it felt good to hear it.

“I know, and I know I told you I never pretended to have a squeaky-clean image, so I’m not thinking anyone is going to be concerned that I’m having sex before marriage, but it’s the fact that it wa
s so graphically stated what the sex I was having would entail.”

“I know,
” I sighed.

It was also embarrassing as hell. I’d talked to my mom
during my layover in Atlanta, and that hadn’t been a fun conversation. Never good for your mother to actually see what your girlfriend does to you in private. I’m just saying.

“Look on the bright side,” I said when Sydney just l
ooked down at our joined hands and didn’t say anything else.

“Is there one?” she asked, not looking at me.

I reached out and tilted her chin up with my fingertips. “Yeah. There is. We don’t have to hide anymore.”

She smiled. “This is true.”

“We just won’t go online, watch TV or read magazines for a while,” I said, shrugging. “Sure, we’ll be the butt of a few jokes and people might have their opinions about us, but it’s probably better if we don’t hear any of them.”

She shook her head. “If only it were that simple. You don’t have to get up in front of thousands of people
in a few hours and sing about love and smile and pretend to be happy.”

“Hey,
” I said firmly, and she looked at me as if I’d smacked her. I shook my head. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Belittle the fact that you
are
happy and in love. If you do that, you’re letting them win. You need to own this as much as you can. Don’t let them beat you. It’s what they want; to see you crying and broken down and embarrassed.”

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to go out there tonight and make blow job jokes. That’ll go over well. Hey, maybe that can be my new thing. You get a song and a dirty joke when you come to a Sydney Chase concert.”

I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed what I thought of that idea and her flippancy toward my advice.

“Syd,” I said and raised my eyebrows at her.

“I know,” she finally relented.

“Do you love me?” I asked her.

“Yes, you know I do.”

I shook my head. “That’s not why I’m asking. I know how you feel – and how you feel about my penis.”

She reached out and smacked my shoulder. “Jerk!”

I ducked away from her and laughed, but she was laughing too. “Too soon?”

“Uh, yeah. Probably.”

“Fine. No more penis jokes. But tell me this, how many of your songs do you sing each night thinking about me?”

I actually didn’t know the answer to that question. I only knew about
Only With You
. She’d never told me who her other songs were about, but I knew how many of them I imagined her singing to me.

“All the ones about love,” she said honestly.

I smiled. I liked that answer. “So tell your fans that. Tell them about me.”

She raised an eyebrow
. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. I’m okay with it. Hell, everyone already knows we’re together.”

“Some people probably hate you. They liked Dillon and me together. You might get booed”

I waved a hand in dismissal. “Whatever. He didn’t love you like I do, so I win. And I’m cute. The girls will like me. I’ve already seen the comments on Twitter. Hey, maybe we can do a poll. Who do you like better with Sydney Chase – Ryder Nobody or Dillon Boy Band? I’m cute and smart.”

“Yeah, but he’s cute and he sings.”

“Damn,” I said, snapping my fingers. “Oh well, I got the girl, so who cares.”

She leaned forward and kissed me. “You sure did. And if it’s any consolation, I think you’re cuter than him, and you’re a better kisser.”

My eyes got wide and my mouth dropped open. “You kissed him?!”

She smiled. “Nope. Gotcha.”

“Oh, you’re so gonna get
it,” I said, pulling her onto my lap and tickling her until she screamed.

Then I just held her close to me so she was snuggled on my lap. She laid her head on my shoulder.

“How is it that in five minutes you can make me go from feeling like absolute crap to laughing? You’ve always been able to do that.”

I smiled. “It’s because we’re meant to be together,” I said simply, and I think she knew that too.

A knock on the door sounded then. “We heard laughing. Can we come in?” Denise asked.

“Sure,” Sydney called out, and the door opened as everyone filed back into the room.

I knew they were way behind schedule, but Sydney was smiling, so I didn’t think anyone would be all that upset with me. I’d kind of saved the day.

“Go on,” I gestured to Sydney, and she hopped off my lap and back into the make-up chair.

“Thank you,” Shelly mouthed to me, a grateful look on her face.

Clea immediately started fussing with Sydney’s hair. Usually they didn’t work in tandem, but I figured since they were behind, it was necessary. Denise came and sat next to me.

“You’re a miracle worker,” she told me, elbowing me in the arm. “She’s been in tears all day, and after five minutes you’ve got her smiling.”

“I
must have a magic touch,” I joked.

She laughed. “No, in all seriousness. Thank you. We were all really worried about her. I hate that someone did that to you guys. Do you know who it was?”

I nodded. “Yeah, a jealous ex-girlfriend of mine, unfortunately.”

Denise shook her head. “That’s awful.”

“She’s not really a very nice person, I guess,” I said, wondering why I’d ever dated someone so unstable. I still couldn’t believe Kirsten had done that.

“Well, for what it’s worth, we’re pissed you guys didn’t tell us you were together,
especially since we knew something was going on, but we understand why you wanted to keep it under wraps. And we’re so happy for you. You know we all thought Syd should have dated you years ago.”

I smiled.
“Yeah, me too. But we’re together now, so I guess that’s all that matters.”

“How long are you here for?”

“You know, I’m not sure,” I said looking up at Sydney who was munching on a Twizzler and watching me in the mirror. I smiled at her and wondered what she’d say if she could hear my conversation with Denise. “I was thinking of staying for the rest of the summer.”

I knew a week with her wasn’t enough time, especially after everything that
had happened. I didn’t want Sydney to be alone over the next few weeks. On the plane ride up, I’d given it a lot of thought, and I was considering staying. I’d have to rearrange my schedule and add the classes I’d planned on taking to my fall schedule, but I didn’t think that would be an issue. I just couldn’t wrap my head around leaving again. A part of me felt like I belonged on tour with Syd, at least for now.

Denise beamed at me.
“Does Sydney know?”

I shook my head. “No, I was going to tell her tonight.”

“That would make our girl so happy. She’s been missing you. Even when we thought you were just friends, we knew she was sad when you weren’t around, reading your textbooks and smiling at her from this very spot. And that spark that’s in her eyes when you’re around, it fades when you go away. You make her brighter, Ryder.”

She made me brighter. Hell, she lit up my whole damn world.

Laurie chose that moment to walk in the door, but instead of going to Sydney, she went right to me. Sydney watched us in the mirror.

“Tell me you didn’t make a statement to the press,” Laurie said, hands on her hips.

“I didn’t make a statement to the press?” I echoed, not sure what she was talking about.

Her whole body relaxed then. “Thank God. This day has been bad enough without you telling off the media.”

Oops.

“Uh, I migh
t have done that,” I said quietly.

Laurie threw her hands up. “Jesus, what did you say?”

I cocked my head at her. “What did you hear that I said?”

She repeated a rough version of what I’d said outside of the frat house earlier in the day, and then she looked at me expectantly. “Does that about sum it up?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said.”

“Way to go, Ryder,” Denise said, elbowing me playfully.

“No, not way to go, Ryder,” Laurie said, visibly unhappy with me. “Next time, don’t speak to the press unless you talk to me first. I speak on behalf of Sydney Chase, not you.”

I shot a glance at Syd. She was watching our conversation, but she hadn’t said a word. I was having trouble reading her expression to know how she felt.

“Hey, I spoke on behalf of myself, not Sydney,” I defended. “Last time I checked, you don’t represent me.”

I’d never spoken to Laurie, or anyone else on Sydney’s team, that way before, but I wasn’t going to let her persecute me for something I did for myself.

“When you admitted you were in a relationship and talked about ‘we’ you did speak on her behalf, and when you’re dating her, yes, I do represent you. I represent her and her interests, and you are one of her interests.”

“Her
interests?” I said standing up so I could face Laurie. I wasn’t sitting down for this conversation. “I’m her boyfriend. I love her and she loves me. I’m not ‘an interest’. And this isn’t a relationship you’ll have to worry about dealing with. I’m not about drama of any kind, and quite frankly, I knew what I could and couldn’t say today. I’m a pretty intelligent guy, and I’ve been around Syd enough to know what is acceptable for the media to hear.”

Laurie looked read
y to smack me. “Ryder, I know you’re intelligent. No one is questioning that, but this is a big deal. It’s her career.”

“It’s also my life,” Sydney piped up. “And I personally support what Ryder said one hundred percent. Especially the parts about how he feels about me.”

“Sydney,” Laurie protested, but Sydney shook her head.

“No, Laurie. I get that today has majorly sucked, and you have done a fabulous job of navigating through everything. You and your team are the best. It’s why I hired you, but you’re wrong about this. Ryder would never do anything to hurt me. I know that, but you have to put yourself in his shoes. He came home f
rom an already stressful week of finals to a yard full of paparazzi. He’s had no formal instruction on what to do when that happens, and in light of all of that, I think he handled himself pretty damn well.”

Thank you, baby.

Laurie let out a sigh. “You’re going to be here all week, right?” she asked me.

I nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“Fine. Elisa will spend some time coaching you on how to handle the press. If you guys are serious about being together then we’ll need to make sure you’re prepared – when you’re with Sydney and when you’re alone.”

“Fine by me,” I told her.

“Fine. Sydney, you have five minutes until the meet-and-greet starts. Will you be on time?”

“Yes,” Sydney said confidently.

“Good. See you there.”

Then she left the room, leaving us all in silence for a few seconds.

As Sydney and I left the room for the meet-and-greet tent, she took my hand. We both knew there was no sense in masking who we were to each other now.

“Did you really lay into the paparazzi today?”
she asked.

“Yeah, I did. They pissed me off. They were asking all these invasive questions about us, and I figured if I answered them, they’d leave me alone.”

She chuckled softly. “It didn’t work, did it?”

I shook my head. “No, it didn’t. But I learned my lesson. I
’m just going to ignore them from here on out.”

“It’s what I do.”

When we reached the tent, she stopped outside. “Tonight it’s probably best if I go in alone,” she said, and I could hear how much it pained her to do it, but her fans would go nuts if they saw me there, and we both knew it.

I smiled. “I understand. I’ll hang out with Elisa,” I said, gesturing to the blond who was talking to someone on her walkie-talkie nearby.

“Thank you,” Sydney said, and then she kissed me, something she’d never done in front of other people before.

“I think I’m going to like that our secret’s out,” I told her, and she smiled.