Best Friends Forever

“Fine,” she sighs. “Yes, I put the stuff in your bag to get her to leave you. I didn’t think she’s be stupid enough to go crawling back again. But an anonymous tip that got you arrested? I wonder if little Miss Perfect would stay by you after all that?”

“You tried to sabotage his career and get him imprisoned just to split us up?” Chelsea asks, incredulous. I guess I never told her about the time Kandy came on to me and I rejected her. I thought it had been amicable. I thought she was still capable of being a professional about it, but clearly my judgment still isn’t the greatest.

“I did it because I wanted him to suffer,” she screeches. “No one rejects me. No one. And if you think you can get away with it, I will bury you. I’ll make it so you never work in this industry again. No one will touch you with a ten-foot pole when I’m through with you, Ian Monroe. Mark my words.”

“I think that’s quite enough of that,” Merrill says, stepping in from behind us, his phone recording the whole thing. “I’m sure the authorities would like to have a listen to your attempts to frame my client. Not to mention your admission to possession yourself, Ms. Florin.”

“Think they’d like another angle of the action?” Serge asks, crawling out from behind a pile of luggage. “Man, I thought flying private would be way cushier,” he adds, tilting his neck to either side.

Kandy’s so red she looks like she might explode, but there’s nothing for her to do now. She’s been caught red-handed. She tries to plead her case, changing her tune, saying it was just a prank or she never meant anything to actually come of it, but the damage has been done. We all heard her plans to ruin me and my career.

Serge and Merrill force Kandy into a seat and guard her the whole rest of the flight, but the whole time Serge is waxing poetic about how great this plane is and how he might just need to get back in the biz. I know there’s nothing to it though. He loves working with those kids.

“You know you can hitch a ride with me whenever,” I say.

“As long as you two stay out of trouble,” Chelsea adds with a playful warning.

“Where would I even go?” Serge laughs. “This is nice for a return trip though. If I ever have to take a red-eye to bail a friend out of his stupidity again, I’ll be sure to keep this in mind.”

I just flip him off and he laughs at me, all while Kandy’s in the background glowering.

Merrill took her laptop before she could get back to it and found the newest article she’s been writing about me. About how I was caught with paraphernalia on the plane, arrested, and abandoned by everyone that ever had faith in me. It reads like a sick revenge fantasy or some weird fan fiction online. But I know how easy it would have been for things to turn out differently. I know how badly things could have gone if Chelsea didn’t take my side. If Serge wasn’t here to record everything. And I’m grateful. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such amazing loyal people at my side, but I’m so, so grateful.

Rosa wakes up from her nap confused at the extra person on the plane and the way we’re all glaring at Kandy.

“What did I miss?” she asks, groggy as the plane starts to land.

Chelsea fills her in on all the details of our deception and shows her the video, and by the end of it, I think Rosa might be the angriest of us all. The moment the pilot gives her the okay, she’s on her phone with the local police. When the plane touches down, they’re waiting for us on the tarmac, ready to take Kandy away.

She’s screaming and kicking the whole time, but Chelsea and I stay behind on the plane, sitting on the bed. I don’t know what’s going through her mind, but I know I’m relieved. I didn’t expect any of this to go this well, and now I feel like the whole mess is well and truly behind me.

“I can’t believe she was so petty,” Chelsea says, shaking her head. “She’s probably thrown her whole career away for this.”

I wrap my arm around her and pull her into my chest, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. “I definitely don’t think I’m worth it,” I laugh. “There are a million other rockstars she could be obsessed with.”

Chelsea turns to me, her eyes locked on mine. “I think you’re worth it. I almost feel sorry for her that she’ll never know how great it is to be with you.”

“Careful, you’re going to give me a big ego,” I tease.

She grins. “Can it really get bigger?”

“Is that a challenge?”

“God, no,” she groans, rolling her eyes with a grin.

We sit like that for a little while, cuddling on the bed on the plane, forgetting the rest of the world exists. But at some point, they’re going to want us to get off and I have something I need to say before that happens.

“Chelsea?”

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking… What if you came home with me?”

She shrugs. “Why not?”

I shake my head, realizing my mistake. “I mean… forever.”

She grins this teasing little grin that makes my stomach flip-flop. “In that big soulless mansion of yours?”