Diamond in the Rough (15 page)

Zoe and Harper screamed and cheered as Gemma shrugged and stood up, wriggling out of her bikini pieces before running naked into the ocean.  Once she felt the cool water on her bare skin, she closed her eyes and threw her hands towards the sky.

“
I’m free
!” she shouted exuberantly.  She burst into laughter, opening her eyes to see nothing but blue sky and water surrounding her.  Her laughter continued when she felt Zoe wrap her arms around her neck, planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Doesn’t it feel nice to be free?” she asked, cocking her head at Gemma.  “Are those tears, silly?”

Gemma turned to Zoe, still smiling broadly.  “I don’t know,” she said.  There was water in her eyes, but she figured it was the ocean.  “I’m just really happy right now.”

~

Following their skinny dip in the ocean, the girls used their rejuvenated energy to windsurf.  They followed that with racing on jet skis and by midnight, they were completely exhausted and ready for bed.  The constant buzz Gemma had maintained all day helped her fall asleep immediately.

However at three in the morning, Gemma found herself sitting up in bed sleeplessly.  She wasn’t even sure how long she had been awake for.  She threw her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, feeling just a slight dizziness as she got onto her feet. 

Through her open terrace doors, she could hear the squeaking of furniture coming from the next room.  Gemma poked her head out and looked to her left, where she saw Tyler on his own terrace, swinging in the hammock.  She didn’t make any noise, but he managed to notice her in the dark anyway.

“Did I wake you up?” He sat up. 

She shook her head.  “No.  I was up.”

To her surprise, he smiled.  “That’s weird, considering how hard you were out before.”

“How did you know?”

“I closed the door for you,” he laughed.  “All you cared about was getting into bed, I guess.”

Gemma frowned, realizing that she didn’t even remember falling asleep.  She looked down to see that she was still wearing her black bikini underneath her crocheted tunic.  “You didn’t put me in pajamas though,” Gemma said.  She looked up to see the smile fade from Tyler’s face.

“No, I didn’t,” he said simply before getting up from the hammock and starting back towards his bedroom.  Gemma blinked, staring at his empty terrace in the dark of the night and hoping that he would perhaps come knocking on her bedroom door.  He didn’t.  Gemma retreated to her bedroom and sat quietly on her bed.  Before she knew it, however, her feet were walking her to the door and out into the hallway.  With a few more paces, she stood outside Tyler’s room, her hand on the doorknob.  Without thinking, she opened it.

The lights were on in the bedroom.  Tyler didn’t seem too shocked when he glanced over his shoulder to see Gemma standing in his doorframe.  His posture was something of exasperation as he sat at the end of the bed.  He gazed at Gemma for a few moments before speaking.  “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, entering the room and closing the door behind her.  Only then did Tyler stand up. 

“You should try to go back to sleep,” he said.  When Gemma shook her head, he let out a breath of frustration.  “Please,” he said sternly.

“No.”  Gemma was defiant.  She stared at him.  He was shirtless and his hair was messy in a way that made her want to smile.  She had never seen him without any styling.  She considered for the first time that the vacation was his escape from management as well.

Tyler heaved a sigh as he stood before her.  “What do you want me to do?” he asked, his voice rising.  “You say I can’t kiss you, so fine, I can’t kiss you.  But then you kiss me, and when you do, you pretend it didn’t happen.  Now I’m trying to leave you alone, but you come running into my bedroom.”

“I’m sorry! I can barely explain any of it to myself,” Gemma said with shame.  Tyler’s anger was unrelenting despite it.

“I’ve never wanted anything more than I want you.  All I ever want to do is be with you, but you use that against me.  You
use
me.”  His shoulders sunk with exhaustion as he lowered his voice to a murmur again.  “There’s a wall you put up.  It’s like a game to you.”

Gemma stood still, surprised by his anger.  She watched him as he breathed deeply to calm himself, gazing out at the ocean through the terrace.

“I promise you, it’s not a game to me,” Gemma said, her voice cracking.  “I’ve had to think about a lot the past few days.  But I think I’ve made a decision.”

Tyler ignored her, though he eventually broke his own silence.  “You looked adorable today,” he said quietly, almost to himself.  He let himself smile.  “I saw you in the water.  With Zoe and Harper.”

Gemma’s eyes widened.  “You
what
?”  She blushed furiously.  Tyler Chase had seen her naked, and she hadn’t even known. 

“I was far away, at the top of the island,” he said.  “I was hiking.  But even from there, I could see how happy you were.”  His smile returned, and Gemma watched in awe as his hand touched her cheek.  She closed her eyes, suddenly swept with relief as she put her hand on top of his.  “You were adorable.  And beautiful,” he said.  “And no matter what I do, I can’t resist you.”

Gemma felt him close in on her.  As she felt his arms around her waist and his lips on her forehead, she silently made a resolution.  There was something she would have to do before letting herself be with him.  All she had to do was get it over with and stop giving herself excuses.  Tyler could know and understand her the same way that Lucas did if she would simply let him.

“I didn’t know I was putting up a wall,” Gemma said, her hands on his chest.  “But there won’t be one anymore.  Soon.  I promise.”

TEENS BEHAVING BADLY!

Queen Bee, Zoe Mercury and Tyler Chase caught drinking during tropical vacation

Celeb-o-Matic

August 31

While on vacation this weekend, pop icons Queen Bee, Zoe Mercury, and Tyler Chase were caught drinking on the beaches of Turks and Caicos.  Accompanied by socialite Harper Gunn, the young celebs were photographed laughing it up while holding beers and margaritas.  Though Mercury and Gunn, both 18, just meet the drinking age in Turks and Caicos, the wholesome Chase and Bee, both 17, are a year away from legal consumption in the Caribbean.

This incident comes as no surprise considering the same foursome were recently caught in a nightclub fiasco that resulted in a lawsuit by socialite Emilia Platt, who alleged that a drunken Bee assaulted her.  Though the case has been put on hold due to lack of evidence, no one can deny that the teenaged Bee has developed a taste for scandal.  The young singer has recently raised eyebrows by sneaking out of events and behaving unpredictably.  

Since the leak of the pictures, some angry fans have begun mourning their beloved Tyler Chase’s reputation.  Could it be that Bee is dragging down the squeaky clean Chase with her? For the sake of her career and safety, let’s hope that the answer is no.

THE FAB FOUR ARE AT IT AGAIN
!

8/31 1:43PM

Celebstan

Posted by Justin, the Bee Chasing Alien who carries a Gunn

Unless you are shamelessly uncultured and uneducated, you’ve noticed that Hollywood has recently spawned a new BFF foursome for us to internet-stalk!  I’m of course talking about the flawless Queen Bee, Zoe Mercury, Tyler Chase and Harper Gunn.  You may remember this fierce and fabulous foursome from the Green Room incident with the highly desperate Emilia Platt (summary: Emilia sucker punched my princess Harper, but eventually got chased out of the club like a little bitch.  Then she sued my Queen for assaulting her, but whoops! Lawsuits can be tricky when you A) are up against American royalty and B) are a complete liar). 

Well if you thought these sexy beasts were gonna cool it with the scandal for a little bit, you were dead wrong! The Fab Four were caught partying it up on a private island in Turks and Caicos this weekend, and you bet they were drinking their foxy little asses off! The ladies stuck to margaritas while Tyler drank a local beer like the flaw-free, when-in-Rome angel that he is.  If you look at the pictures, you’ll realize that you’ve actually never seen four individuals looking more flawless while completely shitfaced. 

But OMG, what about the underage drinking and all that!?!

Listen, these gorgeous and talented bitches deserve a drink way more than any of their useless teenaged counterparts who get drunk every school night anyway.  If you’re uneducated and need specific reasons why, they are listed below:

1.    
Tyler Chase
has the craziest fans on the face of the planet.  He is constantly flying people to big cities on his dime and giving them free concert tickets just because they cried hysterically about their love for him in a YouTube video.  Do you know how much stress that is for one 17-year-old boy to bear? He knows for a fact that he makes millions of girls weep on a nightly basis because he isn’t making out with them at that very moment.  If you carried that guilt, you’d need a brewski or two.

2.     I shouldn’t even have to explain this to anyone. 
Queen Bee
is in disguise pretty much all the time.  And she does it so you won’t murder her in her sleep.  Isn’t that sad? She’s so flawless that she can’t show her real face, or people will strangle her out of envy.  So don’t you dare tell her that she can’t drink her nightmares away every once in awhile.

3.     Poor
Zoe Mercury
had been oppressed by the machine that is D Network for long enough! I literally wept every day that Z was under D Network contract, because I knew she wasn’t living as freely as she should, being the reincarnate of an extremely sexy and voluptuous hummingbird.  Her body requires flying from flower to flower (by flower I mean older man) and getting her fill of sweet nectar (I’m not going to explain that one if you don’t get it).  Zoe drinks to stick it to the man, and to be honest, you should be proud of her.

4.     And
Harper Gunn
… yeah Harper should probably stop drinking soon.  Girl needs AA and Jesus on her side. (luv u tho Harpie!)

- Chapter 9 -

The certainty in Gemma’s heart after returning from Turks and Caicos was liberating. 

After enjoying her last few hours on the island, she made a confident decision on the jet to just let herself go and fully enjoy her life of fame.  That, however, meant breaking up with Lucas in order to be with Tyler.  It had been a tough decision to accept, but she eventually did and even felt a peaceful calm about it.

That calm, however, was short-lived.  Upon stepping foot in her house, Gemma saw Mira standing in front of the doorway, her arms crossed.

“Hi?” she frowned.

“We need to talk, Gemma.  About several things.”  Mira’s voice was devoid of any playfulness as she gestured towards the couches.  Gemma felt a quick pang of dread.  She had broken far too many of their rules in the past few days to even suspect what Mira might know of and want to talk about.  Her heart pounded as she took a seat.

“What is it?”

Mira ignored Gemma as she retrieved her iPad from the foyer and began typing as she sat down.  Her silence made Gemma all the more anxious. 

“Aunt Mira, can you just tell me what you’re –”

“This.”  She turned her screen around to face Gemma.  “This is
one
of the things I’m talking about.”

Gemma’s heart sank at the paparazzi photos she saw.  She didn’t have to look at it for very long, because she had seen it as early as that morning.  Or rather,
lived
it.

“I’m not an idiot,” Mira said.  “I knew you would be drinking a little.  But after seeing these pictures, I suspect that that was probably
all
you did in the past three days.  I don’t even know what other poor decisions accompanied that.  All I can hope is that there were no suspicious boats or helicopters lingering around when you were making them, since you were probably too drunk to notice.”

Gemma clutched her stomach, feeling as if Mira’s words had knocked the wind out of her.

“I would probably know better how to deal with that situation if it weren’t accompanied by this one,” Mira said, tapping away on the screen again.  The sound of her nails on the glass was beginning to gnaw at Gemma.  “I got an email from Fleur Magazine this morning.”

Gemma looked up.  She wasn’t expecting the second issue to be about her magazine shoot.  She didn’t remember doing anything wrong that day.

“What did they say?”

“They sent me a preview of the cover,” Mira said.  When she turned the screen around, Gemma’s jaw dropped. 

“
What
?” She grabbed the iPad from Mira’s hands, staring into the image in disbelief.  There she was, on the cover of Fleur, opening her blazer to show off the black satin and crème lace bra underneath.  The diamond straps weren’t even visible.  Rather shamelessly, the focus of the cover were her barely covered breasts.  Gemma burst into tears.  “I didn’t do this for the cover!” she protested.

“You did it, and that’s all that matters,” Mira said, taking no sympathy in her crying.  “Are you going to tell me that you didn’t say this either?” Mira took the iPad back and began reading the preview article.  “‘Bee laughs, blasé as she tells me about a close male school friend whom she shares a mutual attraction with.  ‘Pretty sure he has a girlfriend,’ she says indifferently, rolling her eyes.  It has become obvious that Bee’s professional tenacity has bled into her high school happenings.  Any teenaged suburbanite with a boyfriend should keep a watchful eye out, considering the irresistibly charismatic Bee could be roaming any of their school hallways.’”