Flirting With Temptation

Jesse had leaned forward right next to my ear to say it. As his hot breath hit my ear it send a chill all the way down my spine. He was right. Niall didn't look any different than Jesse had been a couple years ago. The second my back was turned, and I was completely unsuspecting of him, there he was with another girl. I gritted my teeth as Niall's entire group grew silent, feeling the obvious tension throughout the room. Niall's mouth was slightly agape and I watched as Barbara stroked his cheek to try and regain his attention. When she realized it wasn't working she looked around before spotting me. And to my utter horror her face lit up the second she spotted me. In a shrill screaming voice she shouted throughout the arena, “Oh my God! Chelsea Maxwell! Ugh! I am such a huge fan!” Before anything could be done she'd launched herself out of Niall's arms and was halfway to me before I could make some elaborate excuse to leave. The second she was near me her perfume hit me like a freight train. I faked a smile as Jesse watched, although he should have been amused that Niall was no different he actually looked worried and even sorry for me.

Pity was not something I wanted though, and this fueled anger in me. She wrapped her arms tightly around me, as if we'd been friends for forever. When she was done strangling me with her tiny arms she pulled away and grinned. “It's amazing to be meeting you! Ni and I were just talking about how great it is he's touring with people like you! Great PR!” She giggled and I faked a laugh to go along with her. Niall was making his way over slowly with Harry and Louis right at his sides. By the time he'd made it to her side Barbara had been rambling on for a minute about how excited she was to meet me because she loved my music and was so inspired by my lyrics. I thanked her as I would have done with any fan but was shocked when she pulled out her phone. “Can I take a few pictures with you?! My friends will never believe I've met you!” I cleared my throat slightly, avoiding looking anywhere near Niall and then nodded at Barbara. “Of course.”

She got her camera ready on her phone and to my shock gave her phone directly to Niall. He tried to refuse at first but she gave him one look and it was over. He gave us a fake smile and took a couple of steps away. “Say cheese.” We both smiled as she threw her arms around me as if we were best friends and he snapped the picture. He tried to hand the phone back to her but she refused and said we needed to take a couple more. I had to endure five more pictures, of all kinds of poses. When she was done she hopped up and down and yanked the phone from his hand and instantly became engulfed in uploading the pictures of Twitter, Instagram, and then her Facebook page. It was completely awkward as Niall fidgeted and Louis and Harry tried to figure out what to say. I couldn't break the silence but I feared for the worst as the events of last night and then today began to play in my head and I felt a huge lump in my throat.

It was like an angel said my name when I looked up at him. “Chels?” When my eyes connected with Jesse's it only took him a moment to read my face. He was the only one in the group who would even see past the mask. “Remember you're supposed to help me pick songs for tonight?” I cleared my throat; although it did nothing for the lump and nodded. “Yeah! Right. I'll see you guys later!” I shoved past Niall and Harry and walked away quickly, Jesse quickly catching up to me. We walked through the hallways in complete silence as I willed the building tears in my eyes not to spill over until we were somewhere more private. I walked through the halls with Jesse in tow right behind me until the people began to thin out and we reached a part of the arena that wasn't being used by many. I tried a couple of doors until I found an unlocked dressing room and ducked in quickly, flicking on the lights. Jesse took the hint, shutting and locking the door before turning around. I walked over to the lit up vanity with the huge mirror and stared at my face. My cheeks were flushed with anger and embarrassment; and the tears had finally begun to spill over, staining my cheeks as they fell.

It was still quiet as I tried to comprehend the hurt my heart was feeling. There were so many questions bouncing around in my head that I jumped slightly when Jesse spoke, startling me out of my own thoughts. “Are you okay?” It was a simple question with such a complicated answer. And I wasn't sure Jesse was the person I should be talking to about the answer anyway. I turned around, giving him my best fake smile and a cynical laugh. “Fine.” He stared at me for a long moment, and that's all it took. I could feel the dissolve crumbling. The tears broke through, spilling over as my lip began to tremble and I crumbled. Jesse walked forward wordlessly and enveloped me into a hug. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and sobbed into his chest. I felt like a teenager again, being crushed by the guy who held your heart for the week. It wasn't just hurt, it was embarrassment as well. Everyone had seen us acting like a couple, and now his girlfriend was in town and I was left to be humiliated and answer all the questions. It took awhile but the text messages finally made sense.

Her arrival had probably had media coverage, and he probably assumed when I didn't answer him that I had seen it. I shuddered, and began to feel myself get too worked up. I gasped for air and hiccuped as Jesse rubbed my back. “Calm down. You gotta breathe or you're gonna make yourself sick.” I closed my eyes tightly, grabbing Jesse's t-shirt back and crumbling the material in my fist. It shouldn't hurt this much. I should have expected this, because hadn't Jesse seemed different from the other boys too. Look where that had ended up. I pulled away from Jess slightly, keeping myself wrapped in his arms. “I-I'm stupid. I really am.” He shook his head as his arms lifted up. His hands came to my cheeks and wiped away the tears. “No. You're trusting.....there's a difference. But sometimes we trust people we shouldn't, and it looks like that's what's happened here.” I stared into his eyes and he gave me a grim look. “Listen, I know I may not be the one to talk, but he's an idiot. If he wants to be with a stupid model over someone as brilliant as you then he's truly a moron.”

I gave a slight smile in which he returned. “You just have to hold your head up high, and not give him the satisfaction.” I reached up as he dropped his hands and wiped at my damp cheeks. I thought maybe Jesse would get upset, but he'd been nothing but a good friend. “You gonna be okay?” I bit on the corner of my lip and nodded slowly. It was hard to find my voice, and when I finally spoke my voice sounded broken and gravelly. This would probably pose a problem in rehearsals, but right now I wasn't too worried because my mind was basically only consumed with thoughts of Niall. The door opened behind us and Jesse quickly pulled away from me as we both turned to see who it was. Liz gave me a small smile, seeing we'd obviously been in the middle of something. “You're 10 minutes away from rehearsals.......” She quickly noticed my face and then cleared her throat. “Need make-up?” I nodded quickly and looked up at Jesse as Liz ducked back out talking to someone on her Walkie-Talkie. “I better go.....but thanks, Jess.”

He gave me a tiny smile and nodded. “What are friends for?” I gave a weak smile back before moving past him and back out the door where Liz waited patiently. I assumed we were going to my dressing room so I took off with her quickly taking my right side. “You want to talk about what's going on with everything?” I thought about it for a second before shaking my head and clearing my throat. “Nope. Just want to focus on rehearsals.” I glanced over at her but she understood, quickly nodded her head before opening my door for me. I walked in and quickly assumed my place in the chair in front of my own vanity before my make-up artist got to work. She worked wordlessly, her normal jokes and chides at my face were silenced by the fact that I had tear stains on my face. When she was done I quickly gotchanged. After that Liz came back into the room muttering something into her headset. “She's on her way.” I nodded to her and we began walking through the hallways and up onto the stage. Gwen and Todd were already waiting and I got the impression I was probably late, but it didn't matter.

Rehearsals turned out to be a complete disaster. We played the first song with a couple mistakes but by the time we got to the third song it was apparent we weren't going to get it right. And when I said we, I meant me. Everyone watching could see something was wrong, but no one knew exactly what. I was fucking up the lyrics, my guitar parts, and at one point had even forgotten a line. I growled as I pulled away from the microphone, and instantly Todd and Gwen stopped playing. I put my hands on my head and pulled at my hair. I hadn't screwed up this much since my very first rehearsal years ago. I shook my head and turned to look at Gwen who didn't look the least bit angry. She understood, and Todd didn't look mad either which meant she'd explained to him what was going on. “I'm sorry guys, I can't do this right now.” Gwen gave me a nod as I pulled out the mic in my ear and tossed it in the nearest seat before walking off the stage. Liz ran over quickly, scrambling to get closer as I moved quickly. “Where are you going?! You've still got like five minutes left of rehearsals.”

Groaning I whirled around quickly, leaving Liz to scramble to stop in time before running into me. “I need to get some air, Liz! I can't do this right now. I've got a lot going on!” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Barbara leaning close to Harry to talk while Niall was standing up and making his way over very slowly. Liz stared me in my eyes, seeing that something was wrong and let out a loud, dramatic sigh. “Fine. Be back by 6, show starts at 7.” I nodded and twirled around quickly, taking off before Niall could catch up. Once in the hallway I broke out into a sprint and headed straight for the exit. I burst through the doors and quickly scanned the area around me. A lot of crew members sat around lazily, smoking cigarettes and talking about the set-up for tonight's show. I spotted one of the cars they used to get us from the hotel to arena and quickly walked over to it. I opened the door and the guy in the front seat looked at me, surprised. “Something I can help you with, Ms. Maxwell?”

I gave him my best smile and nodded. “Yeah, you can let me get in the car and drive myself.” He stared at me for a moment, taking a second to understand that I meant leaving with the car alone. He seemed in debate about this but when I crossed my arms angrily he scrambled to get out. “Sure thing, Ms. Maxwell!” When he was out I quickly hopped in and fastening my seat belt. I noticed Niall by the doors, looking around as I closed the door. I started the car as he realized who was in the car and started to make his way over but I slammed the car into drive and took off. The guys at the gates rushed to open them as I sped up and made my way out. I was thankful the fans were being held back from the driveway or else they would have got a surprise. I sped through the streets, not really knowing where I was going but obviously not caring. I drove around aimlessly for a long time, trying to gather my thoughts and calm myself down.

Passing by a park I decided to stop and get out. I found a pair of the drivers dark sunglasses and put them on quickly along with an oversized hoodie that had been lying in the passenger seat. When I was outside of the car I threw the hood up and made sure my face was concealed before I began walking. The park was beautiful, and with so few people here it would be hard to get recognized. It was a bigger park, with sidewalks all through it. I walked around the park a couple of times, keeping to myself and watching everyone else enjoy their day. When my legs grew tired I bought a water from the hot dog vender on the corner of the busy street and then took a seat on an abandoned bench. I watched the woman in exercise clothes run while pushing her sleeping toddler in a stroller. I watched the young couple feed each other bits of pretzels and envied how easily in love they were. Exhaling deeply I sipped at my drink and stared at the descending sun and wondered what tomorrow would bring me. No doubt by now news had traveled that Barbara was in town, and there would be gossip about Niall and I. It made me cringe to think about so I began imagining tonight's show. I hoped that by then I'd be in a better mindset and able to focus; because if not, I was screwed.

Once my mind was on the show I realized it'd been awhile since I'd been in this park. I glanced around realizing that the sun was pretty low in the sky. The sunset was many colors mixed together, a light purple, a deep salmon pink, and then a vibrant orange on top. I blinked and reached in my pocket before realizing that I'd left my phone in the dressing room. “Shit.” I stood up quickly and slammed into someone walking past. It all happened so fast it was unavoidable. One second everything was fine, but right after I slammed into the mystery person my glasses got knocked from my face, and my smooth hair became exposed when the hood fell from my head. I was reaching for the glasses when I heard someone scream and then my name was called. I looked up in horror as a bunch of people turned their heads to confirm that it was in fact me, some even had their phones out already. I covered my face quickly, abandoning the sunglasses as I began running towards the car. I heard the sound of many sneakers on the concrete behind me and people began shouting my name excitedly throughout the park. It was a total disaster, and I couldn't make it to my car fast enough.

I reached for the door but got grabbed from behind and when I turned around there was a mob. People were shouting my name directly in my face; waving pieces of paper, hot dog wrappers, and pens in my face. Anything that I could sign. The flashes were blinding and there was so much going on it was hard for my mind to process. I signed quickly, and blinked against the harsh lights. Finally I had to apologize and yank the car door open. I slammed it quickly and locked it before starting the car but the entire car was surrounded by fans. I tried honking, but they only moved slightly. Finally I threw the car into neutral and revved the engine, people began to move so I pushed the gear shift into drive and took off slowly. When I hit the street I was finally able to breathe. That is, until I looked at the dashboard and saw the time. It was 7:20, and I was set to go on at 7:40.

My foot shoved the gas pedal almost to the floor and my body jerked backwards as the car sped off. I must have ran 2 stoplights, but I finally made it back to the arena with only five minutes to spare. I knew for an absolute fact that Liz was going to slaughter me, but I didn't have time to care right now. I jumped out of the car and was ushered quickly into the building by two security guards who had shouted into their walkies that they'd found me when I came into view. I was shoved down the hallways and dumped into my dressing room where a very red-faced Liz awaited me. “Where the HELL have you been?! We've looked everywhere! This is so irresponsible of you, Chelsea! There are thousands of fans waiting foryou out there, screaming for you, and you're off doing God knows what just to get away for awhile!” I opened my mouth to plead my case but she quickly shoved her hand in the air. “DON'T! Just, don't! We don't have time right now! We'll talk about this later, and believe me, we will be talking later!”

I felt like a scolded puppy as I hung my head and was shoved quickly into the chair. My hair was pulled, curled, and then teased to perfection. My make-up was touched up and made more dramatic and after that I was pulled up and my clothes were pushed in my face. I changed quickly but as soon as I'd shoved my foot into my heel I was pulled out of the room. After getting prepped with my in-mic and the wires being successfully hidden under my attire I was all but shoved on-stage. With all that was going on the show was actually pretty great. I think it was how sudden things felt but I didn’t screw up once. When it was all over Gwen gave me a huge hug and we laughed together at how we'd both feared the worst with this concert. We all made plans to head to the club after this to celebrate. Jesse came over and congratulated me and agreed to come as well. We were about to leave when someone grabbed my arm. When I turned around I was met with Niall's bright blue eyes that made my heart sting all over again. “I have some explaining to do.”

The rest of the group had moved on but Gwen and Jesse lingered by the door, anxiously watching and waiting. I scowled at him, and pulled my arm back quickly. His face showed hurt but he quickly shook it off. But his entire face fell as I shook my head adamantly. “No Niall, you have nothing to explain to me. I can see and hear just fine without your excuses and lies. I've gone through this too many times, and I'm not about to get out of a bad relationship to jump right back into another.” I let out a small laugh and shook my head again. “Hell, was that even a relationship? It sure didn't last very long if it was. It doesn't matter anyway, because youobviously have the girl you want.” I glanced behind him, noticing Barbara about 20 feet away just smiling at us. I took a step back and he tried to close the distance again. “Just don't okay. It's fine. At least it ended before either of us could get hurt.” I gave him a fake smile which he didn't return. He wasn't convince, but I'd had enough. I turned around quickly and ran to join my friends. Jesse wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You okay?” I nodded and sighed as I climbed into the car right next to Gwen. “Fine. I just need a drink.”

Notes

I really hope you guys enjoy! Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think! :) It really does help motivate me and give me ideas! -Caity