Subscriber Wars: An Enemies-to-Lovers-Romantic Comedy

by Kristy Marie

  His body is visibly shaking, so I pull the sheet off the bed and stand, but he stops me. “I don’t want your pity.”

  “It’s not pity,” I offer. “The contest isn’t over. We haven’t lost yet. All we need to do is post another video from this weekend.”

  Sebastian scoffs and shakes his head. “Watch the video, Vee. It’s over. I’m going to pack up. Be ready to go in thirty.”

  My partner-in-crime walks out of the guest bedroom and leaves me standing with only a sheet holding me together. Last night, the intimacy, the falling asleep in each other’s arms… It’s all over. I knew the contest was important to Sebastian, but I guess as it went on, it became more about fun and spending time with my old friend. I had forgotten why it was so important to Sebastian. He needed the money. He wants to pursue his dreams and I’m not part of those long-term plans.

  I grab my phone from the nightstand and sit on the edge of the bed. I pull up MyView and find Malcolm’s page. There, on the front page as click bait, is me staring up at Sebastian, my hand against his bare chest when he offered to be partners for the UniCamFlix contest.

  “No,” I say to myself as I watch the video, “He wouldn’t.” The footage that plays was only witnessed by three people: me, Sebastian, and Brick. “It can’t be him.”

  Why? Why would he do something like that?

  I mean, I don’t know Brick personally, but what I do know is that he’s a respected cameraman around campus. Why would he feed our footage to Malcolm? Unless… Could he be how Malcolm ripped off other filmmakers? If Brick has been stealing footage and ideas for Malcolm for over a year, it’s no wonder Brick wanted to work with Sebastian. I bet he planned all along to take Sebastian down, but then when we joined forces, we gave him more dirt than he ever dreamed. We gave him the power to destroy both of us.

  Our fans will never forgive us.

  Tears roll down my face as I watch the raw, unedited footage Brick shot of us that day play the entire scene where we negotiated our deal to be a fake couple. I can’t bear to watch anymore and turn it off.

  I climb out of bed and pull on my tank top and pajama shorts. I can only think of one person I want right now, and it isn’t the asshole in the kitchen.

  Me: You home from the beach?

  I get a response almost instantly.

  Aspen: No. We decided to stay through the week. Why? You need me? I can get Bennett to drive us home. We’re out for our run, but we can go back.

  I bet she’s kicking Bennett’s ass. If there’s one thing Aspen excels at, it’s running. Bennett might be a whole lot of muscle, but he never beats her.

  Me: That’s okay. I’m good. See you this weekend?

  For some reason, I really want her to say yes. I need my friend.

  Aspen: Of course. Are you okay?

  I look at the girl staring back at me in the bedroom mirror. Her makeup is smudged, and she looks like she’s been rocking in a corner. Her eyeliner would make her uncle Pe proud, though. Even through that sweaty, fantastic as shit sex, her eyeliner held up.

  I force a smile to the mirror and text her back.

  Me: I’m fine. Just miss your face.

  I pick up Sebastian’s phone from where he threw it and leave it on the bed, before hurrying to my room. I need to get the hell out of here. My heart is acting like it’s breaking, and my head is feeling guilty. How did I not know Brick was an assmonkey? I need—I need a damn hug and maybe a shower.

  Me: You promise you won’t be mad?

  Dad: I promise I won’t kill anyone. Will that work?

  I smile. My dad is ridiculous.

  Me: You promise not to tell Mom?

  Dad: You’re asking a lot of me, kiddo.

  Me: Please.

  I know he’ll agree eventually. He always does.

  Dad: Deal, but if she finds out, I will throw you under the bus.

  Me: Deal. Can you come pick me up?

  His response is almost instant.

  Dad: Where are you?

  Ugh. Why couldn’t Aspen and the guys have been home?

  Me: At the lake house.

  Dad: Alone?

  I bite my lip and say a little prayer. My dad is a calm man, but sometimes, he loses his shit. I can only hope this isn’t one of those times.

  Me: I am now.

  Dad: Thankfully, you have an hour and a half to pray I cool down before I get to you.

  Me: Maybe bring Uncle Mason as a witness?

  Uncle Mason won’t let my dad go all Hulk-like when he gets here and finds out I spent the weekend with a boy. I might be nineteen and a grown woman, but my dad gives zero shits about my age. To him, I will always be his little girl.

  Dad: Don’t you move until I get there.

  As scary as my Dad is when he’s mad, for some reason, it’s a lot better than riding home with Sebastian, who basically just told me it was all over and to pack my shit, so we can go home and go back to being enemies.

  No thank you. I’d rather my dad yell at me and then hug me before he feels bad and takes me out for tacos and ice cream. My mother broke him in well.

  “Vee! Let’s go!”

  At Sebastian’s angry roar, I come out of my room and hover in the doorway of the guest room. “I think I’m going to stay here for a while.”

  Sebastian’s hair is a mess, like he’s been raking his hands in it. “You want to stay?”

  I nod. “I think you might need time to cool off.”

  I think that may not have been what he wanted to hear since he shakes his head and huffs. “Fine. I’ll see you around.” He shoves the rest of his clothes in his bag and pushes past me.

  I try not to take it personally. Winning this competition was his way out. This was his fresh start away from his family, where he wasn’t the failed son and stem cell supplier. I don’t believe his family truly feels that way about him, but he does, and I know it’s harder to believe others when you don’t believe it yourself.

  The front door slams, and I know it’s the last time I’ll see my friend.

  The car ride was… awkward, but I did get my hug and really, that’s all that mattered.

  “Go ahead, Dr. Parker. Ask me all the embarrassing questions.”

  My dad smiles, when I mention his friend, Dr. Parker, who is, in fact, an audiologist who got my dad through some hard times in his life. Apparently, they became good friends and now my mom and Dr. Parker work together and run a community outreach program for the deaf in my hometown. But unlike the real Dr. Parker, my dad likes to play dirty.

  “How long are you going to hold my tacos hostage?” Yeah, the man pulled into my favorite restaurant, ordered my favorite combo and then refused to hand them over. He’s not even ashamed about it. What can I say? The man knows the way to my secrets.

  “Is this about that boy at school?” He motions to his phone in the cup holder. “The one you have those wars with?”

  I look at the man who let me put his hair in a bow and who swung me around like I was weightless more times than I can count. “How do you know about the wars? Please don’t tell me you and Mom have been watching them.” I’m not sure I want to know the answer. Some of those videos were pretty racy. My father may hug me, but my mom will kill me. She’s the real crazy in our house. We love her anyway, though.

  My dad grins. “Just because you aren’t down the hall anymore doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on with my daughter. It’s my job to protect you. My contract didn’t end when you turned eighteen.”

  I narrow my eyes. I smell a rat. “You paid Drew to spy on me, didn’t you?” That little shithead.

  He chuckles low in his throat, the same sound I remember when I would lay in the crook of his arm when he sang me to sleep. “Please, I didn’t have to bribe Drew. He watches you for free. In full disclosure, though, I know about the wars because your uncle Pe likes to overshare.” He shakes his head. “MyView, apparently, is one of his favorite sites. All I asked him is if you were behaving.”

  Eww. I hope
Uncle Pe wasn’t truthful.

  I wait for my dad to scold me, to give me that disappointed look. When he doesn’t, I offer the truth. “I’ve been behaving. I mostly do makeup tutorials but this war…” I swallow, thinking about how much I actually want to disclose. “The wars with Sebastian just happened and then,” I look down at my hands, knotting them together, “and then it just grew into something more. When the competition came along, I entered, but I wasn’t eligible. Joining forces with Sebastian was the only chance I had at winning and getting noticed by possible studios.”

  I don’t know why I feel like I’m justifying why I entered some silly contest. “It was stupid, I know. And now, here I am, having essentially lost, and wasted valuable time when I could have been doing more tutorials and getting noticed the right way.”

  My dad shifts in the seat and leans back, handing me one chip as a reward for playing nice. “And what would have been the right way?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. “Keeping my head down and in my studies?”

  He raises a brow. “Are you failing?”

  “No.”

  “Have you dropped any classes or fallen behind?”

  “No. Nothing like that.”

  He seems to relax, and I shove the whole chip in my mouth and try to look hungry. “Well, it seems like not only have you kept your head down and stayed up with school, but you’ve gained the attention of producers in the process. I don’t understand, Valentina. Why are you making it seem as if you’re a failure?”

  Because that’s how I feel.

  I feel the heat rush to my cheeks. “I don’t like failing.”

  “Is that what you think you’ve done?” His voice is soft and comforting as he hands me the bag of chips. He’s such a softy.

  “Yes? No. I don’t know. I just feel like I let Sebastian down by not winning and not picking up that Brick was reporting back to Malcolm.” I stare out the window, admiring others enjoying the best tacos ever.

  “What’s this really about, sweetheart? Because there is no way you could have known this Brick guy—Is his name really Brick?”

  I double over laughing. “Yeah, that’s his name.”

  My dad hands over my bag of three delicious tacos.

  “All I’m saying, Vee, is that I’ve never known you to be a quitter. Why would you let this guy win?”

  I shrug, taking a bite of my taco and moaning. “This is so worth enduring this session, Dr. Parker.” I wink, and my dad chuckles.

  “I’ll be sure to tell him you said hi.”

  We sit in silence for a few minutes and then I decide to be brave. I don’t ever want to think I’m not as valued as my brother, like Sebastian feels. “Are you disappointed in me for doing makeup tutorials and not going into music like you and Oliver?” I don’t add my mom, though she is a talented singer as well.

  “What?” His face falls. “Is that what you think? That because you didn’t do something in music that I’m somehow disappointed in you?”

  Okay, so it does sound a little silly when he says it like that. “I mean, no. I don’t know. I just see how proud you and Mom are of Oliver’s success and I don’t know. I guess, I feel like doing MyView videos seems a little less than impressive.”

  A small grin tugs on his face. “Less than impressive? When Oliver was in college, do you know how often he called me for money?”

  I feel myself smiling already as I shake my head. Oliver is such a loser. I say that in the sweetest, sisterly way.

  “That boy called me every week. He’d either forget to pay his rent or overspend on a new piece of equipment for his board. He was a dreamer with his head in the clouds. Sure, he spent twenty hours of each day playing music and immersing himself in his craft, but you know what he didn’t do?”

  I blink, knowing he doesn’t really need me to answer.

  “He wasn’t self-sufficient. He didn’t make his own money and pay his own rent. He didn’t make himself dinner. He didn’t do his own laundry. Your mother and I called him so much because we were afraid he wouldn’t eat or he’d fall asleep on the street or something.”

  He takes a breath and sits up, so he’s in my face. “Guess how often you have called me for money?”

  This answer I know. “Not very often.”

  He nods. “Three times.”

  Not too shabby. I really thought I called him more.

  “Valentina, my love. You’re just like your mother, fiercely independent, determined, and full of fire. You’ve never needed us. Since you were little, the youngest of the kids. You fought your way into the Von Bremen and Jameson’s lives. You wouldn’t let them ignore you or say you were too little to hang out with them. You showed them you were their equal. You, my girl, are a brilliant and beautiful light.”

  He takes a breath. “So no, I don’t ever feel any sort of disappointment when it comes to you. You are more than I could have ever asked for. I’d actually love for you to need me, but you don’t—” He smiles. “At least not that often.”

  I feel tears stinging the back of my eyes. “You mean that?”

  The same brown eyes as mine stare back at me. “With all my heart. You are never a disappointment, my angel.”

  At least not to him.

  “And you’re not a disappointment in this competition. Win or lose, I know you will have fought and scratched your way to the finish line. It doesn’t matter if you come in first, Valentina. All that matters is you finish the race.”

  My dad is right. Malcolm hasn’t won yet. And once I finish these tacos, I’ll prove it.

  “Are you sure you want to do this again?” Uncle Pe’s lipstick shimmers in his vanity lights as he pulls my hair back with a tie from his wrist. “Didn’t you tell me this was the worst mistake you had ever made and that I was to stop you from ever doing something so insane ever again?”

  He makes a point. I did say that.

  “Things are different now.” Doing this may not make things right, but what choice do I have? If I don’t, Sebastian won’t win the money. Malcolm knows our secret, thanks to shit-tastic Brick. Malcolm played my game, and he played it well. But what he doesn’t know is I’ve been the master of spying for longer than his butt hairs.

  I have one more card to play.

  Sebastian and I can still win this.

  We have a secret no one knows. One that I’ve kept under lock and key. It could ruin me for the next three years of my college career, long after Sebastian graduates, but I think at this point, it’ll be worth it. I’ll be five hundred thousand dollars richer, and Sebastian will fulfill his dream and move to California.

  My stomach clenches with the thought.

  Am I seriously thinking I am going to miss the demon next door?

  I nod in the mirror. I really am. I am going to miss his ass. How did this happen?

  I sigh. I lost him once; I can lose him again. “Do, it, bro.”

  University CamFlix Competition Submission

  Entry Number: 75

  Sebastian and Valentina

  Final Interview Continued, otherwise known as the day this shit finally ends

  “What?” Tom, the producer, doubles over in laughter. “Really?”

  Sebastian, having finally shown up an hour late, narrows his eyes at me as if to say, “Now look at what you’ve done.”

  All I can do is shrug. He should have been here earlier instead of brooding over potentially losing the competition.

  Tom’s laughter only amplifies as the video of our final submission plays in the background. “You mean to tell me—” His pig snort interrupts his ramblings. “—that you were—” Another snort. “—this whole time?”

  I nod, feeling my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “This is what you both never spoke about?”

  Clearly, we were correct in keeping it a secret, since Tom is struggling to breathe through his laughter.

  “Yes.” My answer is almost a sigh. “You don’t have to air the submission videos, right?”

  Tom leans
back in his chair, funneling his laughter into something more manageable. “Oh, no. This is better than the original show we had planned. This,” he taps the screen, just as I remove the wig on camera, “is gold.”

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  My hands go to my face on instinct, and Aspen slaps them down. “Your dad called me,” she says with a grin. “He wasn’t sure what was going down, but he thought you might need your crew.”

  My daddy, my hero.

  I can already feel my eyes stinging with gratitude as Aspen wraps me in her arms. “We always have your back, Vee. Forever.”

  I’m going to miss the shit out of this girl next year, which only brings on another bout of tears that I was attempting to hold back. “I love you, Asp.”

  “I love you too, Vee-Boo.” A heavy arm wraps around me and Aspen, shoving us against each other so hard I can barely breathe.

  “I love you too, Drusilla,” I squeak out.

  A groan interrupts our declarations of love with a quick hug to my shoulders. “You know I sometimes love you, too,” claims Fenn. “Even if I end up suspended from school after this shitshow.”

  Fenn’s words are sobering. I might be throwing myself to the rumor trolls with this stunt, but now, with my friends at my side, they will be at their mercy too.

  “Look, I really appreciate you guys coming with me, but this is my battle. There’s no reason for you to go down with me.”

  Bennett scoffs and unfolds his arms. “Your battles are our battles. If this is what you want to do, we’ll stand beside you.”