The sun shining through the shutters in Catherine's bedroom was brighter than usual. Catherine rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 10:30am. No wonder it was so bright, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept in this late. She looked over at Jackie who was still sound asleep. This wasn't surprise considering the lack of sleep she had gotten all weekend. Catherine slipped out of bed and began getting ready for the day. When she returned to the bedroom, Jackie was slowly opening her eyes.
"Please tell me I didn't sleep all day again."
"No. It's only 11:15. I actually got up 45 minutes ago. I guess you wore me out."
Jackie grinned, "Mission accomplished."
Catherine smiled at her and then made her way across the bedroom, and sat next to her. She leaned in for a kiss when Jackie's phone began to ring.
"Hold that thought. It's Matt, I need to take this."
"Hey Matt...What?...Which one?" Jackie suddenly moved to the other side of the bed and turned her back towards Catherine. "Why would I be happy about that?...You know why...Okay Matt, talk to you later."
Catherine was curious as to why Jackie seemed to be so upset. She kept her back towards her, completely silent when she hung up. Instead of telling her what was going on, she was looking down at her phone intently.
"What was that all about?" Catherine asked.
"I made my first tabloid magazine." Jackie didn't seem thrilled.
"What's wrong with that?"
"They aren't exactly the most flattering pictures."
"Let me see, they can't be that bad." Catherine said as she moved to Jackie's side of the bed and stole the phone from her hands.
"Catherine, wait!" Jackie shouted as she whipped around, trying to stop her.
Catherine could feel the smile on her face slowly disappear as she stared at the pictures. She was well aware of Tommy and Jackie's fake relationship, but had no idea it was this physical.
"I was drunk. Too drunk. The publicists were pushing us to flirt and the crowd was loving it. So I just got caught up in it all."
Catherine stayed silent as she began reading the article. These pictures were from the Vancouver premiere, after they had gotten back together.
"Catherine say something. Anything."
"I guess I just didn't know this was still going on."
"I know. I should have discussed it with you but our publicists were there and kept pressuring us, and I didn't know what to say since we're not public. I'ms so sorry. Please know it means absolutely nothing."
Catherine paused before saying what was on her mind.
"Is this as far as it went?"
Jackie was silent. Catherine looked up from the phone for the first time and Jackie wouldn't make eye contact. Catherine's skins began radiating, matching the burning she was feeling inside of her chest and behind her eyes. Something happened.
"Not exactly. I woke up the next morning and he was in my bed. We didn't do anything though. He told me he came onto me, but I slapped him across the face and told him I had a girlfriend. He figured I was drink and meant boyfriend."
"What do you mean he told you?"
"I blacked out that night. I don't remember getting back to my room."
"So it's possible that something could happen?" Catherine wasn't convinced. If nothing happened, why did they sleep in the same bed when Tommy had his own room.
"I would remember something like that and you know I would never do that to you."
Jackie lifted herself onto her knees and moved over to Catherine, taking her hand.
"Please don't be upset. I have been feeling absolutely awful about this. Not because I did anything, but because I remember the feeling I felt when I saw you with that man here last time, and I don't want you to ever feel like that. I love you so much and just wanted these couple of days here to be perfect."
Catherine stayed silent, carefully absorbing Jackie's worlds. She began thinking about everything that happened between them last night and started to question the sincerity of Jackie's actions.
"So was last night all just to help relieve your guilt? The phone, the jewellery, everything that happened in this room? You know you were above and beyond last night, you said yourself. I went to bed feeling the happiest I ever have in my entire life, thinking how safe I felt with you. Now it just feels like it was all just a show to mend your guilty conscience."
Jackie just stared at her. The expression on her face started to change as she let go of Catherine's hand.
"That's what you think of me? You think I'm manipulative? I completely exposed myself to you last night, and you accuse it all of just being a guide?"Â Jackie got up from the bed, Â "I assure you Catherine, you just hurt me much deeper than these pictures hurt you. The imperative difference being I was putting on a show in these pictures, not last night." she said before storming out of the bedroom.
Catherine sat on the bed thinking about everything that had just happened. How come every time they had a really  good night, it was all shot to hell the next day? Was all of this really worth letting Jackie storm out of her room, and out of her life yet again? They promised each other this time would be different but so far it hadn't been. As she made her way downstairs to go and apologise, she almost ran over Jackie who was sitting at the top of the steps.
"This is as far as I got this time." Jackie said with her arms crossed around her knees.
Catherine smiled and sat down next to her.
"And this is the first time I've chased after you when you left. Seem like we're both making progress."
Jackie offered a slight laugh but kept staring down the steps.
"I'm sorry. I know you're under a lot of pressure to keep this thing up with Tommy. It just makes my skin crawl knowing he's all over you."
"It's not that. It's what you said about last night. It was one of the best nights we've ever had and it hurts me to think it's all tarnished now."
"It won't be. I'll never forget that night, I promise. I was just hurting and being overly dramatic." Catherine swooped Jackie's hair out of her face to show her sincerity.
Jackie finally turned to face her, "I don't want to fight anymore."
"Me either but can you maybe not get black out drunk around Tommy anymore?"
"That is a deal I will gladly accept."
Jackie laid her head on her shoulder as Catherine wrapped her arm around her.
"Come to New York with me." Jackie said softly.
"What?"
Jackie got down on the steps and knelt in front of Catherine.
"I'm serious. Come to New York with me. It's our last premiere in the States and it would mean a lot to me if you would be there."
"I have my interview."
"Not until Tuesday. We will be back by then. Please? All I kept thinking about in Vancouver is how much I wished that you were there to share it with me."
"But we're not public."
"You can come as my girlfriend or you can come as my friend, that's up to you. I don't care about any of that. All I care about is you being there with me. Please?"
Catherine couldn't say no to the face Jackie was making. She remembered how much it meant to her having Jackie at Stanford and knew she owed it to her to return the favour. She flashed her a bug smile before saying,
"Okay."
"You will?" Jackie's face lit up.
"Yes." Catherine laughed.
Jackie tackled her onto the floor, overcome with joy.
****
They spent the next couple of days, happy as ever, in the place they had fallen in love. Jackie handled all of the travel arrangements for Catherine to join her in New York, while Catherine received more good news. An interview at UCLA. She decided it best to continue to just be friends in the public eye until she accepted a job.
On the day of their flight, Catherine was feeling a little nervous about being thrown into the spotlight with Jackie. Once they were boarded on the plane, Jackie must have noticed her uneasiness because she took Catherine's hand.
"Everything's going to be okay."
"I'm fine with flying now. I've become quite the traveler lately." Catherine smiled.
"I don't mean the flight, I mean New York. I know this isn't easy for you, but I promise everything will be okay. We just need to make sure that we communicate and be honest all weekend."
Catherine knew this trip was going to be their first real test of how their life will be when they go public. However, after the last few days they had, she felt confident in the current state of their relationship. They spend the entire flight perfecting their stories of how they knew one another. When they landed, Rachel met them at the gate.
"Hey Rachel, this is my friend Catherine I was telling you about."
After introducing themselves, Rachel went over their itinerary for the weekend. When they go to the hotel, she led them to their rooms.
"I figured Catherine would want her own since you will be having hair and make up in and out of yours. So I booked one on the same floor."
"Is there not anything closer?" Asked Jackie
"None that were available."
"Who's in the adjoining room next to me?"
"Tommy."
Catherine felt a surge of anger run through her but tried not to let it show.
"Can't Catherine just take his?"
"Hello ladies." A voice behind them shouted.
"Speaking of the devil." Rachel said as she turned around.
"Talking about how attractive I am again, are we?"
"Hardly." Jackie blurt out. "Tommy can you switch rooms with my friend Catherine so we can have adjoining rooms?"
"Who, me and you?" He winked.
It was taking all Catherine had in her, not to punch this kid in the face.
"Funny. No, me and Catherine. She came to hang out with me so it would be nice to be close." Jackie said, starting to feel annoyed.
"Oh, hey Catherine. Nice to see you again. I'm glad someone else is here to handle Jackie's vomit." He laughed.
"Tommy!" Jackie interrupted. "Will you not?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. I see someone still has their panties in a twist."
Jackie grabbed the card out of his hand, not bothering to reply to his remarks. Both her and Catherine made their way into their rooms, as Rachel reminded her that hair and make up would be there in an hour.
Catherine rolled her eyes as soon as she closed her door. Dealing with Tommy was going to be a lot harder than she thought. After she had barely set her bags down on the bed, Jackie was already knocking at the adjoining door. She smiled as she opened it.
"Not bad, huh?"
"Not bad at all. I'm glad the room situation worked out though." Catherine smirked.
"Don't let him get to you, okay? I don't want him ruining this weekend." Jackie wrapped her arms around Catherine.
"I'll try not to, but he's not easy to like."
Changing the subject, Jackie asked "So how should we spend our last hour alone before we have to pretend to be friends all weekend?"
"I think we can think of something." Catherine smiled.
When the hour was almost over, Jackie sat up on Catherine's bed.
"Before things get really crazy in there, don't lose sight of the fact that this is all just a job to me and a show that I have to put on."
"I know." Catherine said, putting her hand up to Jackie's cheek. "We were pretty good actors in Bloomington. I think we can handle this."
Moments later, hair and make up were pounding on Jackie's door. Jackie kissed Catherine hard before slipping into her room.
"Here we go," Catherine whispered to herself.
A/n Thanks for reading my story. Please vote and drop a comment. Comments will help me a lot more than you might think. â¤ï¸