Kylie Cantrall's Arc

Chapter 15 of 78

They lay across the red heart-shaped bed with the lights low. Arianna's puppy had climbed up and settled between their feet. Kylie should have been happy. She was. But a cold thought had been circling since Arianna said yes, and it would not leave. Arianna didn't know about Malia. Not the real story. Not the part where Kylie's best friend had slept with her boyfriend and lied about it for months. Arianna had read the songs on the EP. She had guessed pieces. But Kylie had never told her the whole thing out loud. Tomorrow her mother arrived. After that, the label. Reporters would circle Arianna the minute her name leaked. Someone would hand her the story with a smile on their face. If Arianna heard it from a stranger first, she would wonder what else Kylie had kept from her. "I have to tell you something," Kylie said. She sat up against the padded headboard. "Before you go home. Before my mom gets here." Arianna sat up too. "Okay." "You know the songs on Valley Girl Problems. You know they were about my old best friend and my ex." "Malia. And Malachi." "Right." Kylie pressed her palms flat on her knees. "What I never said in the songs is how long it went on. She was on the phone with me telling me he was cheating. She was the girl he was cheating with. Six months. She sat in my kitchen and cried with me about him." Arianna didn't move. "I'm telling you now because if I don't, someone else will," Kylie said. "A reporter. A fan account. My assistant, maybe. I don't want you to find out on a plane." "Why didn't you tell me in the letters?" "Because I didn't want you to think I was broken before you met me." Arianna looked at her for a long moment. Then she reached over and took Kylie's hand. "I already knew most of it," she said. "I read the interviews. I read between the songs. I wrote you anyway." "You're not upset I waited?" "I'm upset she did that to you." Arianna squeezed her hand. "Not that you told me tonight." Kylie let out a breath she had been holding for a year. The puppy shifted at their feet. "There's one more thing," Kylie said. "When my mom comes tomorrow, she's going to ask what the label knows. They don't know your name yet. Once they do, they'll try to manage you. Manage us." "Then we should decide what we say before she gets here." Kylie nodded. She pulled a notepad off the nightstand. The heart-shaped bed was ridiculous under a serious conversation, and she didn't care. The secret was out of her chest. The next fight was already at the door.