Breaking Stars

Qui

“I’ll see what Corryn and Jayson think I should do,” I said, so used to depending on them for every little detail of my professional life.

“Oh, screw both of them! They don’t care about you. And if you don’t know that by now, then maybe you should check into an institution.”

I pushed back into the couch, wishing that it would swallow me whole as the weight of her words hit me like a baseball bat to the chest.

“Did you learn nothing by being away?” Qui

I flinched. “Don’t yell at me.” If Qui

“I’m sorry, but come on. You were a changed person while you were gone. You were stronger and free and brave. I need you to be that person here. You need you to be fearless here too, Paige, or you’ll never survive this.”

Qui

“I hate when you’re right,” I said with a sigh.

Holding back a smile, she said, “You must hate me a lot then.”

“You know what sucks the most?”

“What?”

“It’s that I felt the difference while I was gone. Lighter, you know? Less burdened. But the second I got back here I could literally sense that feeling leaving my body. The heaviness returned with every breath I took and settled on my shoulders, pressing me down. It was the most depressing feeling,” I said with a shudder.

“Shit, Paige, I’m sorry. I know I’m too hard on you sometimes, it’s just that I hate the people you have working for you. They aren’t on your side at all.” She set her water glass on the coffee table, then spun back to face me. “Tell you what. Call them right now. See what they say. Give them a chance to prove me wrong.”

Qui

I reached for my phone and dialed Corryn’s number first. She was my publicist, after all, and this was her department.

When the call co

“Hi, Corryn. I just wanted to check in and find out how you think I should handle this mess.” I eyed Qui

“Now that you’re back in town, the rumor mill will most likely die down. I mean, at some point it will. It will probably get worse before it gets better. But you should use this to your advantage. Strike while the iron’s hot, and people will talk about you in ways they never have before. You know what we always say, bad publicity is still publicity.”

I hated when she said that; it didn’t make any sense. What the hell was she even talking about?

I growled with frustration, feeling myself coming unglued. “Don’t say that! I hate when you and Jayson say that about bad publicity. This is my life, my career. I’ve worked hard to not have any bad publicity—ever—and I’m not going to start now. Figure out how I can fix this, Corryn. That’s what I pay you for!” I pressed the End button and slammed down my phone, releasing a quick huff of indignation.

“My hero.” Qui

“Holy cow, that was terrifying and exhilarating,” I admitted with a small smile. “I’m not sure she deserved that.”

“Oh, she deserved that, all right. It’s been a long time coming.”

“Now what?” I asked my best friend, hoping her advice would be worth taking.

Qui

“But this is a direct attack on your character and on you. So I think staying quiet is a mistake. If it were me, I’d want to defend myself. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking those things about me, especially when they aren’t anywhere close to the truth. I think you need to figure out what you want to say, but you should absolutely talk about this. But do it how you want. Post a blog on your website, an open letter to your fans, a post on social media, something.”

The more she talked, the more animated she became. Her eyes lit up as she said, “Yeah, you be the one in complete control. You tell the public what you want to, how you want to, and only what you want to share in your words. We can guess at what everyone’s questions will be, and we can figure out how to answer them without spilling any secrets about Tatum or Hanford. You can do this,” she insisted, then added, “and I’ll help you.”

Qui

“You need a new agent, Paige,” Qui

Nodding, I added her suggestion to the growing mental list of things I needed to accomplish since getting back. “I know.”

“And a new publicist as well.”

“Probably.”

“And please tell me you’ll put Colin in his place. Or let me do it. Violently,” she said darkly as she cracked her knuckles.

Laughing, I said, “I’ll do my best.”

“One thing at a time, I guess.”

Qui

“There is something I’m sort of dying to do right now. And it’s a bit crazy, but—”

“I’m in,” Qui

“I want to cut my hair.”

Her head tilted to the side as she assessed my current style. “Are we talking like new long layers, or chop it all?”

I gri

“Like a pixie cut?” Her eyes widened in horror, and I cringed.

“Not that short, no. I’m thinking maybe shoulder length with layers.”

Qui

It might seem stupid to someone not in the entertainment industry, but when so many things in your life felt like they weren’t within your control, you fought to change the things that were. I’d wanted to cut my hair for years, but the long length was always tied into studio contracts and movie roles I’d signed on to play, even though it never made any sense to me with the invention of hair extensions and clip-ins.

I wasn’t currently committed to a project, so I was free to do whatever I wanted with my own hair. And I wanted something new, something daring, something bold. Honestly, losing any inches off my long locks was a pretty bold move for me.

And I couldn’t wait.