by India Lee
Gemma closed her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his body closer with her legs. Everything about him felt perfect, from his mouth on her neck to his hand under her thigh. By the end of it, she could hardly recall how they had wound up on his leather couch, but they did, panting and catching their breath together. He held her cheek and whispered in her ear, leaving kisses here and there. All Gemma could do was smile, even laugh to herself a bit. She couldn’t believe that they had waited so long for something so incredible.
FORMER ACTRESS THROWS HERSELF AT MY KING, REMAINS DESPERATE AND UNEMPLOYED
Celebstan
Posted by Justin, the Bee Chasing Alien who carries a Gunn
November 11
What a gracious Queen are blessed with.
As you may have heard by now, an awkward run-in occurred at the red carpet premier of Love Lost last night. The sticky situation involved two very flawless beings and one very spray-tanned try-hard. I’m of course talking about Queen Bee, Tyler Chase and Desiree Silver, whose brain has been tanning bed-fried to the point of delusion, for she thought it was appropriate to lay her filthy paws on something other than a bottle of SPF. And of all things to put her dirty mitts on, she chose the very taken Tyler Chase. Rude!
But even though that hot mess of irrelevance threw her uncontained chichis at Tyler, my flawless Bee was still gracious enough to shake hands and go through introductions. And afterwards, Her holy skin cleansed itself of Messiree’s harlot germs.
Messiree is just lucky that QB chose to spare her life last night, and thus, the entire tanning industry. But you can be sure that she won’t be so kind next time. She is, after all, an immortal goddess with the vengeful powers of Zeus. It honestly shocks me that bitches are still willing to risk their lives by hitting on her boo. Flirting with Tyler Chase is a more dangerous crime than ever these days, and if you’d like to educate yourself, here are the reasons why:
1. Tyler Chasers will Facebook stalk and verbally abuse you until you’re reduced to tears and stress farts
2. I will side-eye you, and my judgment eats through flesh like rabid zombie teeth
3. Tyler Chase will spurn your advances, causing your fatal embarrassment
4. Queen Bee’s unicorn posse will maim the promiscuity out of you
Sorry to repeat this for those of you who already knew, which I want to say is most of you. It’s just that some kids ruin it for the rest of the class and then I have to go through the lesson all over again.
- Chapter 4 -
QUEEN BEE SPOTTED WITH MYSTERY MAN AT YUTAKA
Pop Dinner
November 23
Is there already trouble in teen idol paradise?
Last night, Queen Bee was spotted dining with a handsome stranger at L.A. hotspot Yutaka. The two enjoyed their five-course meal at a private booth before taking it next door to the swanky Yutaka lounge. Onlookers reported that the two appeared to be very close and flirtatious as they spent the night in a private VIP booth.
Could the sexy songstress be two-timing her R&B beau Tyler Chase? While the pair appeared rather affectionate during their most recent public outing at the Love Lost premiere, sources report that Bee threw a tantrum when the sexy Desiree Silver flirted with ex-flame Chase during the after party.
Perhaps Bee’s night out at Yutaka was just the cause of a little jealousy.
“Sweetheart!” Mira exclaimed as she rushed through the doors of Gemma’s house. “Oh my God, I can’t even! Just come here and give me a kiss!” Gemma laughed and ran to her aunt, planting a big kiss on her perfectly smooth cheek.
“I missed you so much, Aunt Mira!”
“I’ve missed you more!” Mira said as she dropped her luggage to the side. “And look at this. I’m walking into your house. Your first home! Oh, this is so exciting! Do you finally understand how to work the keys of your front door?”
“Aunt Mira,” Gemma huffed. “I never liked that joke. But for the record, I’ve had no trouble with this lock at all.”
“That’s my girl!” Mira pulled Gemma into her arms again, laughing joyously. It had been ages since Gemma saw her this relaxed. She felt a little guilty for what a burden she must have been on Mira’s career as well as personal life, but she knew that Mira wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Gemma gestured for Mira to follow her to the back porch where she had proudly set a selection of salads, sandwiches and pastries from Joan’s on Third. Gemma watched happily as Mira marveled over the spread, praising Gemma for the beautiful job she had done. She knew Mira would likely not touch anything but the salad, but it made her happy to play the part of hostess and show her aunt that she knew how to buy her own food. When Mira wasn’t sending worried texts about the investigation behind the leaked photo, she would send worried texts seemingly questioning Gemma’s ability to properly feed herself.
“Well,” Mira beamed as she grabbed a container of the butter lettuce salad and plopped herself down on the cushioned wicker couch. “It seems you are doing just fine without me, huh? I’ll try not to cry.”
“Aw,” Gemma laughed. “No. I miss you and everyone so much, you don’t even know.”
“How’s Perrin? Do you like her?”
“Yes, she’s very… ‘on’ all the time. But it makes sense. She has a lot of ideas.”
“Like actually doing the charity event that Tyler fake-suggested when he was trying to get your attention last year?”
Gemma giggled. “Yes. That.”
“I saw your magazine spread with Damian,” Mira said, her eyes glittering mischievously. “Who would’ve thought.”
Gemma shook her head. “I still can’t believe that happened.”
“Did you tell him who you were?” Mira said, raising an eyebrow. Gemma sighed.
“I didn’t. But it didn’t take him long to figure it out. There was no denying it after that.” Gemma averted her gaze.
“Well,” Mira said. “I wish I were there to see his face.” Gemma cocked her head at her aunt.
“You’re not mad at me?”
“Well, it’s not like you called him up and announced it to him. And of course he’d figure it out, that kid was so in love with you.” Mira smiled, gazing out at the plush yard. “I would go so far to say that keeping your secret hardly mattered anymore, were it not for that damned psycho blogger.”
“Right,” Gemma said. She knew Mira’s visit wasn’t just to check in on her new life, but to protect the one she had worked hard at for the past couple of years. Gemma had been reluctant to discuss the photo leaked by the blog, “Her Royal Secrecy.” She had it constantly pushed to the back of her head so something constantly nagged at her, but vaguely enough that it didn’t hinder her everyday life. When she took the time out to think and talk about it, she remembered just how haunting it was to have someone that was so determined on outing her.
Mira heaved a big sigh. “I didn’t want to… but I actually read through her blog.”
Gemma’s jaw dropped, though she smiled with amusement. “You! You were the one who told me never to do that!” she exclaimed. “And I listened – I don’t read any of it.”
“Well, at some point you may have to. This Tara character is scary. She knows a lot of details about your life that she shouldn’t. I’m just frustrated because I don’t know if she’s following you or if she, God forbid, is working with someone from our team.” Mira threw her hands in the air. “Who knows if she’s even a she.”
“Do you really think someone we know could be involved?” Gemma furrowed her brow. “Is there anyone that you… suspect?”
“No. But my guard is up, and yours should be too. Just be cautious as always, and we’ll continue to keep you posted on any new developments. In the meantime, just… make sure to take note of things. Changes in routines, behaviors, people, anything. Understand?”
“Yeah,” Gemma said, though she wasn’t sure if she did. Mira’s advice sounded vague to her, but she didn’t want to ask for clarification because
she didn’t want to talk about the subject anymore. Her brain was still working through the idea that one of her friends or someone in her team could betray her. She had always suspected as such when she allowed herself a foray into paranoia, but hearing Mira say it brought it all back tenfold.
~
“I already called them and they’ve updated the story,” Perrin assured Gemma as she climbed into the back of the Bentley. “We’re ready. The Hoerner Group building,” she told the driver before plucking Gemma’s iPhone from her hands. “I’m X-ing out of this article, Bee. It’s taken care of, let’s just move on.”
“But it’s so ridiculous!” Gemma fumed, grabbing her phone back to stare at the absurd headline – “Queen Bee Spotted With Mystery Man At Yutaka.” It still managed to embarrass her despite being utterly false. “I wasn’t anywhere near that place last night. I’ve never been there in my life. That’s bad enough, but the fact that they made up that I was with some guy? Come on.”
“Listen, the GM of Yutaka just emailed me and he’s going to put out a statement that you weren’t there at all. People will forget about this by tomorrow, I promise you.”
Gemma tossed her phone into her tote with exasperation. The rest of the ride was silent as they headed over to Damian’s PR firm. She cracked the window open and gazed outside to relax. It was supposed to be a positive day. She and Tyler had chosen a children’s charity for the arts and were excited to start their media tour as soon as everything was finalized. They had added Zoe’s name to the charity, and the last step was to get Damian on the same page as them and then draft up a contract.
In her favorite Chanel shades, Gemma blew past the paparazzi on the sidewalk and rushed into the building with Perrin. Once the elevator doors opened to the pristine, white office, an assistant quickly greeted Gemma.
“Good morning, Miss Bee, Miss Davies,” she smiled politely. “Mr. Evans is waiting for you in Mr. Klein’s office. Please follow me.”
Gemma followed the woman down a long hallway leading to the office of Aiden Klein, known best for his PR work with musicians and athletes. He was highly regarded in the industry, and Gemma was proud of Damian for piquing his interest as a client. Whenever she took the time to think about, she realized just how surreal it was to have known Damian as a high school sweetheart in Beauford, now that he was a rising celebrity in Hollywood.
“Hey, Bee,” Damian grinned wide when he greeted Gemma. He bit a lip back to suppress his amusement in calling her “Bee.” It was the same novelty delight that Zoe found in calling her “Gemma.”
“Hey,” Gemma giggled as she went in for the hug. Only when she pulled away did she notice that aside from Damian’s agent, Nicki and a friend were present. “Oh, hi! How are you, Nicki?” Gemma reached out to hug her, but Nicki hastily offered a stiff hand to shake instead.
“Hi,” she said, her eyes still squinting at Damian’s suppressed smile.
“Oh!” He snapped out of his trance to gesture towards the girl beside Nicki. “Bee, you haven’t met Elizabeth yet.”
“No, I haven’t.” Gemma smiled, turning to girl. She looked about her age and wore a navy blazer with boot cut jeans and leather loafers. Her hazelnut hair was pulled into a neat bun at the top of her head with a headband completing the preppy look. The only inconsistency in her outfit was her white Oxford shirt, which had its first three buttons undone to boast a rather generous amount of cleavage.
“Hi!” She rose to her feet to extend her hand out to Gemma. “I can’t even tell you what an honor it is to meet you. I’ve been following your work ever since you came to the States.”
Gemma smiled. “Thank you! It’s very nice to meet you.”
After shaking hands with Gemma, Aiden Klein nodded towards Elizabeth. “Miss Clarke is actually in her first PR internship, but we had her sit in today because she had some very interesting suggestions for your charity, Bee.”
“Yes, I absolutely do!” Elizabeth immediately opened the binder in her lap and removed a few printouts. Gemma took a seat, impressed by the intern who seemed immediately at ease with her while Nicki seemed to get less and less comfortable. It probably didn’t help that instead of sitting beside Nicki, Aiden had Damian on the leather couch next to Gemma. “Well, first off,” Elizabeth started. “I loved your choice of the children’s charity for arts, I think that is so appropriate and sweet.”
“Thank you,” Gemma said warmly. She and Damian shared a grin as they continued listening. Elizabeth continued the proposal with confidence.
“But I think you should nix the idea.”
Gemma’s smile dropped. “What?” She blinked and looked over at Aiden, who nodded as if telling her to keep listening. “But why?”
“Because what’s popular now is the subject of bullying, and I really think you should capitalize on that.”
Gemma recoiled. “Capitalize on bullying?”
Elizabeth’s laugh was sharp and full of energy. “No, no! That sounds like I want you to exploit the victims of bullying. Not at all. I just think that having such influential teen stars like yourselves on the side of this cause would be a very powerful message – that no matter what it may look like, we’ve all been through this before. Maybe you could even share a personal story of being bullied.”
The memory of Madison’s high school cruelty suddenly flashed across Gemma’s mind. Despite that, she squinted at Elizabeth. “But what if I’ve had no experience with bullies? Would you want me to just make it up?” She could see Damian looking at her from the side of her eye. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her sudden umbrage or the fact that he knew she had been targeted in high school. He had been the one person on her side throughout all of it.
“Bee,” Aiden started. “As much as an arts charity is needed, it won’t sell as many tickets as the cause against bullying. What you want here is the best possible turnout. If you could think of any story to share in relation to the topic, it’d be fantastic.”
Gemma looked to Perrin, who nodded in agreement. “It’s about being relatable. And Elizabeth makes a good point – it’s what’s happening now.”
From the looks on everyone’s faces, it seemed clear that the decision had already been made before her arrival at the office. Elizabeth sat before her with such an unflappably perky smile that it made her blood boil. She looked for support in Damian, who sighed.
“I think there’s a good message there,” he said, trying to sound encouraging. “Are you okay with it?”
Gemma cleared her throat. “But Tyler – ”
“We already got the go-ahead from his team,” Aiden said quickly.
“Oh.” Gemma blinked. “Well it looks like everyone is on board,” she said. Aiden nodded.
“Be more excited, Bee!” Perrin exclaimed. “It’s a fantastic subject and it’s all for a good cause.”
The words rung in Gemma’s head even after the meeting ended. It was a good cause, but she still felt unnerved for some reason. She couldn’t figure out if it was the fact that her idea had been so quickly nixed, or the fact that even Damian was in agreement with the intern’s suggestion. She knew Tyler was busy all day, so she could only hope that he hadn’t known of the decision to approve another charity.
Seeming to sense her vexation, Damian caught up to Gemma as they exited the building with Nicki, Elizabeth and Perrin. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “You alright?”
Gemma looked up at him. His smile always made her smile. “I’m fine,” she laughed at herself. “Just… the same old stuff. The day started with kind of a tense meeting with Mira, and then some tabloid ran a story about me cheating on Tyler, so I guess I’ve been on edge since then.”
Once they got outside and drew the paparazzi, Damian let his hand drop off of her shoulder. “Damn. I’m sorry you have to deal with all that.”
“It’s fine, it’s part of the job,” Gemma said, trying to sound less fazed. “That tabloid’s just particularly annoying because I was literally nowhere close to the plac
e they said I was. Yutaka? I’ve never even been there in my life. I don’t get why people would make something up entirely.”
“Because your name sells,” Damian answered, shielding his eyes from the camera flashes. “People want anything that has to do with you.” He paused. “I mean, look at this – you turned me into something that people are interested in.”
Gemma looked at him guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not a bad thing.”
“You’re right, it’s not,” Gemma murmured, though as she felt the breath of strangers on her neck and their camera lenses just inches from her face, she realized just how little she believed herself.
- Chapter 5 -
“So, some intern just changed the whole thing on us?” Zoe exclaimed. “What the shit is that? How does she have the power?” Before Gemma could even answer, Zoe’s dark eyes narrowed mischievously. “Oh, I know how.” With a lewd gesture, even Gemma was forced to defend Elizabeth.
“Oh my God, stop. I’m sure she didn’t do that,” Gemma pulled Zoe’s hand away from her mouth. “Perv.”
“Sorry,” Zoe giggled. “But honestly, it could be true. How else could a random teenager get a job at The Hoerner Group? And her own apartment in West Hollywood?”
“Damian said her mom is in PR. And her dad owns some huge company, so he can obviously afford her place,” Gemma answered distractedly, holding two designs by Armand.
Since the meeting at the agency two weeks ago, several important interviews had been scheduled for Gemma, Tyler, Zoe and Damian. The four of them were rarely all free at the same time, so when such a day arose, a media circus followed. Lined up for them on that particular Sunday were three interviews in succession of each other.
