Chapter 105 - Exactly What I Wanted
"I don't call people who pay me friends." Stephen didn't even look offended at the term. It was really amusing seeing the two of them talk to one another.
"I'll leave, but if you do anything inappropriate… you're getting your ass handed to you."
"Get out now," she commanded and took steps towards him to usher him out.
"I'll go out and grab some food for us. You haven't eaten a proper meal since yesterday." Cage nodded and watched as his manager sauntered out, putting on a show for the woman he had taken a fancy to. But the woman seemed oblivious to Stephen's charms. Cage was happy inside that there came a day where a woman was immune to his manager's charms.
"You must really like Katherine," she observed once everything was silent.
"Pardon?" Cage asked, flustered. He really did like her but he didn't want to commit to his feelings unless he was sure that he was getting what he had signed up for.
"You wouldn't have come here if you didn't like her." Angelina shrugged.
"I like the girl who I thought I knew. I really don't know if she represented herself as she is, or if she made herself out to be someone else. I need to find out before I leave." His shoulders hunched in defeat. What if she was nothing like what he expected? What would that make of him, a superstar… who had been catfished… but could this be considered catfishing?
"I realize that it takes time to know if they are the one and talking through a screen can be so deceptive." She looked up to the ceiling and thought for a moment.
"I don't know if that is true. I really felt it. I'm really messed up but I know I missed her when she was not there."
He had fought himself so hard to keep himself from calling her and begging for her to understand, but his pride had gotten in its way.
"I miss talking to him, too." She had a yearning in her voice.
"You liked this kid?" he asked, cocking his head to one side and taking a long glance at Angelina, who was now sitting across from him.
"No. I can't say I liked him. I liked the idea of him. I thought he was my soul mate, and it really hurts to see how I had deceived myself into liking someone half my age." Cage felt a tinge of fear in his heart. What if his ending was the same?
"Well, you can choose to see if you have lost something truly precious or you just think it was precious because it took up so much of your time." Cage contemplated to himself.
"Are you here because you spent time on her?" Angela snapped back, but she instantly muttered a sorry, eliciting an apathetic smile from the superstar.
"Despite everything that has happened, I don't think it was time wasted. I really like your friend and I want to see if she is real."
"Well, I know it makes you uncomfortable but I only tried to find you because you are practically sex on legs." He winced.
"Does Katherine think of me the same way?" She shook her head.
"Katherine is one of those people who see the potential in people and while she knows you are hot, she finds your personality even more enticing. I think she fell in love with you twice because you were just her type and not because she liked some grand idea like me." That was where her friend was straightforward.
"You're being awfully nice to me even though you have every right to be mad at us." Cage was curious as to what her answer will be.
"I may hate on her on most days, but she is my best friend. We just act differently. Sometimes we hurt each other, but it's okay. At the end of the day, I wouldn't want to not have her in my life."
"And me?" he asked.
"I don't know you and you are hot enough to make me forget about whatever you have done. Not to Katherine though. I won't forgive that." She began to sniffle, breaking through Cage's composure. "You devastated her."
The thought of doing something that brought Katherine so much pain tore at him. "I was actually planning on surprising her the day we met. But it was all ruined." He laughed sarcastically. "I made some mistakes and things just blew up!" He palmed his face to wipe away the exhaustion written all over it.
"So that's why she went out with Barry…" she mulled. Barry? What kind of a name was that? He sounded like an old man with a fetish with stockings.
"Oh, don't make that face. I have heard of the guy. He is nice." She gave him a look which said, 'you may lose her, buddy. Buckle up.' "But you don't need to worry. She didn't want to go on the date. If not for what happened between the two of you, she wouldn't have called up the guy."
"How do you know?" he asked petulantly. 'Stop being such a baby, Cavanaugh,' he found himself thinking. Now was not the time to question everything they had done together.
"We may not be talking, but I have known the girl for a long time. When she got her heart broken by Jonathan, she didn't resurface for months. She shut herself out. She isn't the kind of girl who believes in rebounds."
"He was real? He really came onto her when they met last time?"
"Of course he did!" Now she looked angry. "If I get my hands on him. I swear, I will make sure he can never reproduce." She sneered.
And he had been so harsh on her, accusing her of pretending to be someone else, when he was the one guilty of doing that.
"I sort of felt like she was lying. Here she was, a woman who liked me for me and not for being an actor. And now, I am here unsure if she liked me or not. I am wondering if she was that big of a fan that she knew who I was and figured out my screen name. I am wondering if she figured out exactly what I wanted."