Tethered (17 page)

We walked in, one right behind the other, and my ears were overrun with the noise of shitty house music, with the screeching robot sounds and overbearing bass
. So typical was this music. It was so cliché it was painful. Morgan didn’t pay much attention to me, instead looking around for guys standing by themselves, making me believe there truly was no reason for me to be here. I could just leave and walk away, and I was positive she wouldn’t even notice, especially if she found a guy. I figured I had put so much effort into getting ready and walking here, though, that I should give it a chance, even if I really didn’t want to.

“Want something to drink?” she asked as we walked into the crowded kitchen, where the beer was.

“No, I’m fine,” I said before she shrugged and went to get herself something.

“Hey
, baby, you ever seen a huge one before?” a guy asked me as he grabbed his crotch and jiggled it.

I rolled my eyes and looked in the other direction, looking for Morgan, hoping she could save me.

“Come on…baby,” he said as he hiccupped.

“
Sure, and now it’s shriveled,” I said before quickly kneeing him in the groin, nobody else seeing it with how packed the place was.

He groaned, his face turning red, as he held onto his crotch tighter and walked away,
well, hobbling really.

“Man, that line was rough,” Morgan said as she came back with her red cup.

“I already got hit on,” I said.

“What the hell
? You have a man and they still come to you. Was he cute? Maybe he’ll settle for this,” Morgan said.

“I don’t think he’d be a good match
. He seemed a little sore,” I said.

“
Well, maybe I could massage him,” she retorted.

“
Yeah, I bet he’d like that,” I said under my breath.

•••

An hour passed and there was nothing for either of us. I was happy no other guys had come back to me and tried to hit on me, but Morgan looked a little agitated, and
a lot
sad. I wanted to wave my magic wand and get her something, anything, but it just didn’t work like that. As I looked at these guys, some of them hollering and acting stupid, I wasn’t even sure half of them were clean. As much as I knew that Morgan wanted some action, I was sure she didn’t want a lingering reminder in the form of the herp.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I said.

Morgan shook her head, and I walked away, trying to find the bathroom. I might as well have been in a maze, for I had no idea where anything was in this house, and there were so many people in this place that you could easily walk by a room and not even know it. After about two minutes, I saw a line and someone opening the door and other people going in alone. I figured this was it, and got in line, waiting patiently behind five other people, mostly girls. After five minutes, it was my turn, and I went inside and did my business. The toilet was gross, looking like it hadn’t been cleaned, but with all of these guests using it, I was afraid I would be the one getting the lingering reminder of this party. I quickly washed up and walked back outside, letting the next person in line go inside.

As I walked back over to where Morgan and I were hanging out, I saw her talking to a guy
. They were smiling, and it seemed that me walking away might’ve given them the push they needed to find each other.

“Oh
, Chloe, this is Robert,” she said as I approached them.

“Nice to meet you
, Robert,” I said with a smile.

“Nice to meet you as well,” he replied.

“So, do you two know each other?” I asked, drawing out my sentence.

“Just met
. We kind of just—”

“Bumped into each other,” Robert interjected.

“Look at that! Already finishing each other’s sentences,” Morgan said with a smile as she shoved him playfully.

“Well, it looks as though you don’t need me here any longer,” I said.

“Nope, I guess I don’t.” Morgan smiled as she looked at Robert.

“Well, I’ll see you at home, if you decide to come back,” I said.

“Oh boy,” Robert said.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Morgan replied.

I gave her a sly wink, and turned around to leave the party and go back home. I had stayed close to two hours, just like I had planned, and now I was finally free! Free to go home and curl up inside my comfy and warm bed, hopefully texting Tom and falling asleep with a smile on my face.

I squeezed through the people blocking the doorway, and walked down the steps of the porch, going into the sea of people and finding my way back the route Morgan and I had come from
. There were two more police roadblocks. I guess either their quotas were running low or a crazy party night, but I luckily got right past them like I had when we came. I had nothing to drink, not even a sip of that piss beer, and the only stumbling I was doing was from the cracks and pebbles on the sidewalk.

As I got home, there were people all over the sidewalk yelling at each other, but mostly happ
y and very drunk. I took out my keys, opened the door, and quickly locked it behind me, my paranoia kicking in and making me believe that someone, a masked man, would run in behind me and try to kill me. My parents let me watch way too many crime shows when I was a kid.

I slipped off my heels, tossed my stuff by the front door, and walked into my room with my phone in hand, unlocking it to text Tom after a long night without him.

"Went to a party tonight. It was so boring and nothing without you."

I tossed my phone on my bed and grabbed some clothes, going into the bathroom to change and get ready for bed. I was diligent about washing my face and brushing my teeth; making sure I flossed and that every speck of makeup was off of my face. I splashed my face with water for the last time and patted it dry, looking back up at the mirror and smiling at myself, as I looked as fresh as I could be.

I turned off the bathroom light and walked back into my room
—shutting my door behind me in case Morgan brought that guy over—and grabbed my phone, seeing I had a message waiting for me from Tom. I smiled, and quickly opened it, only to smile even more.

"I wish I could’ve been there. Would’ve loved to dance with you. I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to you soon."

"Good night, sweetie."

"Good night, babe."

Babe…I was his babe. I didn’t love pet names when I was single, but now that I was seriously talking to Tom, I felt like all I wanted to be called was some cute pet name. Something that tied a couple together and made them feel even more affectionate with each other.

As the smile was still on my face, I turned off my lights, plugged my charger into the phone, and l
ay back on my bed, curling myself up in my comforter. My life finally felt perfect.

Chapter Seventeen

Life ha
d a way of taking us by complete surprise. Whether it was a death in the family, flunking out of school, or even getting fired from our jobs. It seemed as though no matter how lucky you were, you could never escape the bad things from happening in your life. I had felt fairly unlucky lately, although it had been looking up. I went from a nobody, a barely had sex kind of a virgin, to a strong woman who was having a love triangle with the all-American kid and an A-list movie star. The problem, though, was that this love triangle had proven disastrous. Being with a movie star was hard enough, but when something happened that put you in the public eye, it could only get worse. I was just about to find out how bad it could truly be.

“Chloe! Chloe wake up!” Morgan yelled from the hallway as she pounded on my door.

I opened my eyes, the little bits of crust crumbling away under the pressure of my fingers, as I tried to focus on the white ceiling and see if this was all some weird dream.

“This is important!” Morgan yelled as she continued to knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said with a groggy and raspy voice, my mouth likely left open for most of the night.

Morgan swung the door open and rushed inside, almost out of breath
, as it looked like some masked maniac was chasing her, trying to kill her. She looked at me in the eyes, as if she were analyzing me, before opening her mouth.

“It’s all over the news
. Did you see?” she asked with a sense of haste.

“See what?” I asked as I sat up in my bed and ran my fingers through my stray hairs.

“You and Kurt. You’re all over the place!”

“What do you mean?” I asked with hesitation.

“A sex tape…or at least that’s what the media is calling it. It’s all over the place!” she exclaimed.

My heart dropped
. My stomach sank. I wanted to cry…badly. Was this some sick nightmare, or was this my reality? That one thing…that one mistake in Napa…was coming back to haunt me. Who could’ve gotten a hold of that? Kurt swore he wouldn’t, citing his privacy as a concern, so it couldn’t have been him. His career wasn’t in the toilet at all, so he didn’t need to leak a sex tape to try and make himself relevant again. Then there was Tom…sweet Tom. He knew I had sex with Kurt…but a sex tape? No, he wouldn’t stand for something like that, and I knew this would ruin things. His parents just met me yesterday, and they were appalled that he had an ex that did nude art modeling. Imagine if they found out his new flame got strangled by an anaconda.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said.

“Did it happen? Did you two really do something like this? I’m not mad or judging you…but did you?” Morgan asked before coming and sitting down next to me on the bed.

Morgan was one of my closest friends, and definitely the closest one here
. I shared a bathroom with her, an apartment, and we went out together. She was my closest confidante, and I knew I couldn’t sit here and lie to her, especially when the media was talking about this.

“Yes…we made a short one, but it was stupid
. It was sudden and not planned at all. When we were in Napa, he whipped it out and set it on some dresser or something, I don’t know. He said it was just for him, and he wasn’t going to show anyone or even tell a single soul that he had it.”

“Damn, that’s rough
. There’s one positive thing from this, though,” Morgan said as she rubbed my back.

“And what’s that?” I asked.

“At least nobody can doubt that you had sex with a celebrity,” she said.

“Yeah
, Morgan, that’s great.”

“Come out when you’re ready
. I’ll give you a few minutes,” she said before getting up and leaving my room, the door still open.

I grabbed my computer from my desk and opened it up, MingleCam load
ed up, as it was the last website I was on. My cam didn’t go on, only my account stats came up, and even that took me by surprise. I had over ten thousand new followers. How did
this
get out? The room was dark, so I wasn’t sure how I was already identified. Even then, how did they find me on this site? I was climbing up the charts on here, rated number three worldwide for followers, and while this could help me in the bill department, was it worth it? Not only was this sex tape out, but now everybody, everyone from my family to friends, knew I was some cam whore.

I opened up a news website, seeing the headline scrolling across the screen
.
This was the top news of the day?
Nothing about Syria or North Korea or something? Surely there must be some kind of terrorist attack going on somewhere in the world that was way more important than this tape. I clicked on the headline and was redirected to the news page, which contained a screen grab…with my breasts blurred out. It was grainy, and it was dark, but it was me. I wasn’t sure if it was because I already knew I was there, or if I really was that noticeable, but I could make myself out.

I scrolled down, skimming past the article, which wasn’t very long, and hit the reader comments, which were seven hundred and sixty
-six comments strong.

“This girl just wants attention.”

“I knew he loved sex, but not this much! LOL.”

“
Poor girl’s life is ruined now because of this.”

Those were just a few of the comments, which ranged from feeling sorry for me, to saying how much of a slut I was
, and that I should’ve known better. They stung, knowing that strangers, people sitting behind their computer screens, were being so rude and mean to me. What if this was their daughter…their sisters? I bet they wouldn’t be saying those things then, and if they would, then they had some serious problems.

I closed my laptop, not able to
sit there and read anything more, and placed it back on my desk, sitting back down on the edge of my bed and trying to compose myself enough to go into the living room with Morgan. I knew she was watching the news, I could hear the soft fuzz of the speakers, and I really didn’t want to hear what everyone had to say.

In an act of fear, I grabbed my phone, which was on silent, and unlocked it, seeing the barrage of missed calls, text messages, and voice mails
. Friends back home, friends here at school, old coworkers—and even my parents, who had called the most number of times. Most of the messages were positive, as positive as they could be, with people just wanting to know the scoop and if that really was me on the television. Nobody was mean, calling me the names people online did, which was probably only because they were so stunned it was me.

My mom kept asking if it was me and to call her back, but I couldn’t…I just couldn’t
. I was their little girl, and now I had embarrassed them. My whole family would have to hang their heads now, and everyone in town would know that their daughter, their only daughter, was whoring it up in Los Angeles. I replied back to her through text, telling her it was me, but I couldn’t talk now. I said I’d contact her later, and that I was turning off my phone because it was blowing up. After I hit send, I held the power button, the little logo finally coming on the screen before it turned black. I was free from her reply…for now.

I set my phone back on my nightstand, stood up, and walked out of my bedroom and into the living room, where a waiting and antsy Morgan was sitting
. I walked behind the couch, her watching me, not saying a word, and sat down on the cushion by her, my hands resting patiently on my legs.

“Any word from Kurt?” she asked.

“No,” I said, my tone indicating that I wasn’t expecting anything from him.

“Do you think he will call you or something
? Maybe he just hasn’t seen the news yet,” Morgan said rationally.

“He likely will sooner or later, but it won’t matter
. This whole thing won’t matter,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t it matter?” Morgan asked with an inquisitive tone.

“Because he’s a movie star, Morgan. His life is glitz and glamour, and this won’t affect him. What will it do, give him another movie role? Make him millions of dollars?” I asked.

“I’m sure it’s more than that, Chloe,” Morgan said.

“Doubtful, highly doubtful. Kurt Simmons only cares about Kurt Simmons, and that’s that. If he cared about me, or anyone else for that matter, he would have made sure this thing never got released. Now, the entire world is talking about me, and even my parents know about this. This
isn’t
fine,” I said with a furled brow as my heart began to beat faster.

“I know this doesn’t mean much now, but it will get better
. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get rich because of it. Those celebrities always make money off this stuff,” she said.

“Great,” I replied.

•••

Half an hour passed, and all I could hear was commotion in the street
. The blinds in the house were closed, like always, since we didn’t want peering eyes seeing in the apartment at night. I walked up to the front door, Morgan still on the couch, and put my ear up to it, trying to hear what was outside. I could hear chatter, and a lot of it, but nothing else. I unlocked the door, the worn off brass deadbolt almost chipping away in my fingers, before turning the handle and opening the door, sticking my head out.

Camera bulbs flashed incessantly, my eyes seeing dots and almost being blinded, before I shut the door and locked it again, trying to keep them out
. How did they, the paparazzi and news networks, find out I lived here? Morgan and I weren’t even listed in the phonebook, and other than some family members, Kurt, and Tom, the school was the only other place to have our address. This was a nightmare. Being in the news for this was one thing, but now I couldn’t even hide inside of my house. I could’ve skipped classes for a week until this all died down, but I was trapped…like a caged animal.

“What the hell was that?” Morgan asked.

“People…people everywhere,” I replied.

“They found out where we live?” Morgan asked in shock.

“It appears that way. I don’t know what to do,” I said as tears began to roll down my cheeks.

“Oh
, Chloe,” Morgan said as she got up and ran over to hug me.

She held me, my chest moving wildly as I whimpered and cried, unable to keep any of it back
. My head, buried in her shoulder, refused to come up, refused to be noticed and acknowledged. I just wanted to fade away, to leave this cruel and senseless dream. Why couldn’t I just catch a break?

As I cried in Morgan’s shoulder,
she patted and rubbed my back, a knock came at the door, almost suddenly.

“I’ll get it,” Morgan said.

“You don’t need to do this to yourself, Morgan. Don’t involve yourself in all of this and ruin your life,” I said.

“Chloe, it’s okay
. You’re my best friend, and they don’t deserve to do this to you,” she said as she let me go, out of her grasp, and walked over to the door.

She grabbed the same chipped brass deadbolt, the same handle, and opened it just slightly, enough to get her face seen, but the contents of our apartment, myself included, obscured from view.

“Hello, I’m Chuck Thompson from Channel 12 News. Can I get a word?”

“Yeah, the word is to go screw yourself
, you bloodsucking leech. You have no right to be here, and certainly no right to knock on my damn door to harass me. I’m going to call the cops and file a civil suit on your ass for trespassing and harassment,” Morgan yelled before slamming the door and locking it in Chuck’s face.

“Morgan…” I said in astonishment.

“That asshat had it coming. It’s one thing to sit across the street, but to come up to our door? No, that shit doesn’t fly with me,” she said.

“Thank…thank you Morgan,” I said with my head down.

“Go take a shower, relax, and mull this all over. Sitting here sulking won’t get you anywhere. We will take this every hour as it comes,” she said.

“Okay,” I said, agreeing that a shower could help me think.

I walked into my room, grabbed some clothes, and went into the bathroom to turn on the water. It poured violently from the faucet before I pulled up the little tab, the water quickly flowing up the pipes and out the showerhead. I got in, closed the curtain, and took my shower in peace. If there was one thing that could always help me think and clear my head, it was a long, hot shower. There was nothing like it in the world.

•••

I walked out of the bathroom, a half an hour-long shower under my belt, and ran the towel through my hair as Morgan was still watching the news.

“Come look at this,” Morgan said.

“What is it?” I asked as I walked over behind the couch.

It was Kurt
. He was on the news, well a video feed of him in the parking lot of some business, and he was getting in his car, looking visibly upset. He had scruff, his clothes were all wrinkled, and his boxers were hanging out of the back of his pants. Was he as miserable as I was? I thought that he wouldn’t care that much, since it would likely do wonders for his career, but his expression was telling me something different.