The Artist - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧

𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

"I think Hero is cheating on me." The words come out my mouth after the last costumer left the studio. The whole day I tried to keep my suspicions in and I even was normal towards Hero this morning. He left pretty early because he had to be on set. The words finally leaving my mouth gives me a bit of relief but at the same time it makes the whole situation much more real. Joaquin turns from his sketches to me giving me a confused look. I try to explain my worries.
"You know when Khadijha came earlier from set?" He nods at my question. "She said there was some tension or stress on set. When Hero came back from Arizona he was pretty normal but every time we touched the subject of the trip he was pretty silent not telling us much."
"April this means nothing I think your just a bit stressed. Hero is back you need to get used to each other again." I shake my head at his words standing up my hands shaking. He stands up as well and walks over to me taking my hands in his. "Believe me when I tell you that Hero would never cheat on you. He loves you like a mad man and everyone sees it but you." His words are like a warm hug around my heart but it gets quickly squeezed tight when I think of the messages. "Last night he fell asleep." I whisper tears brimming in my eyes.
"I found..messages from a Jo I don't know if it's a girl or boy but the messages were pretty obvious Joaquin." I look up at him and bite my lip so he won't see it tremble. Saying it out loud was a much more bigger story than just reading the texts alone in the darkness. Joaquins eyebrows furrow at my words. "Honestly I think it's a misunderstanding. As far as I know Hero and Jo his costar did get into a fight on set which messed up the whole working climate. So you don't have to worry." He says tapping my nose. I let out a relieved laugh sobbing afterwards. He pushes me against his chest and I cry quietly because I'm so relieved that I just misunderstood the messages.
I try to push the little doubt that stays in mind as far as possible and focus on the trust I have in Hero. "Hey should we take a little break and head over into the café? We could get your favorite pie." My eyes light up at the thought of hot chocolate and pie. I nod and wipe my eyes trying to not smudge my mascara. I quickly grab  my purse and a tissue to dry my face. Joaquin puts an arm around my shoulder squeezing it. "I promise you if someone ever hurts you I'm going to beat their face up and I've never done that for a girl." I chuckle at his sentence standing on my tippy toes and kissing his cheek. "You are my knight in shining armor J." He looks down at me more serious now.
"But for real Hero isn't the type of guy to cheat on you April. Every time he's with you he wants to talk about you and every time he's with me or someone else he talks about you. He's closed off and you opened him so I don't think he's dumb enough to waste his chance with such a beautiful and lovely woman like you." My heart jumps at his words and I lay my head against his chest while we walk. What have I done that I deserve someone like Joaquin?

The bell above the door rings as we step into the café and we make our way towards the counter. Madison pushes the man behind it away who wants to serve us and I smile at her behavior. "Hey guys!" She gives each of us a quick hug an excited smile on her face. "Hey Maddy hows it going?" I ask her. Meanwhile Joaquin starts to flirt with the guy Madison pushed away and takes our orders. "It's better than ever I have a week off."
"That's great I'm so happy for you." I tell her my grin going from one ear to the other. "You didn't tell me how the show is called? Is the set just in LA?"
"It's going to be filmed in South Carolina and it's called 'outer banks', You met a few of the cast last time." She tells me excitedly. I nod because her cast seemed really friendly it's always so risky to work in the filming industry because you don't know if you're having the same vibe as your co workers but she was lucky they seemed all cool especially Rudy. Her eyes widen as if she remembered something. "Hero is in the back with another guy in a suit pretty serious looking." She tells me and I nod not really wanting to meet his manager again. I look to Joaquin who has our food already. "Hero is in the back care if we say a quick hello he's with his manager don't wanna stay long." I tell him and he nods taking the tray. "Wasn't the waiter cute he had a lip ring." Joaquin has a dreamy look in his eyes while I search the back for Hero. "What happened with Liam?"
"He was so clingy he stayed almost every night."
"Yeah but that's the thing if you have a relationship." "But we didn't have one." He says and I chuckle shaking my head. We turn the corner and my lips from into a smile when I see Hero's back. His manager is sitting in a booth tapping away on his phone while Hero is standing. Weird why is he not sitting down ?
He moves a bit to the side and another person is revealed. The tray of Joaquin hits the floor when his eyes follow mine. The hot chocolate spills all over the floor and over our shoes which would've made me mad if there wasn't a girls lips attached to Hero's at the moment. Her long caramel hair falls in waves over her shoulder while she stands on her tippy toes her lips against his. "What.the.fuck." Are the first words that come out of my mouth. Hero turns around a shocked look on his face. He steps forward instantly his hands held out in surrender. "This is not what it looks like I swear." Realization makes itself clear after I hear his voice. He opens his mouth again and takes a step forward but I take one back feeling the sharp edges of the cups under my shoes. The shards lay all over the floor and I don't know if my heart does to because it doesn't feel like it's beating anymore. Joaquin suddenly moves beside me taking a quick step forward and I didn't even see his hand flying but I hear the crack of Hero's jaw when it comes into contact with Joaquins fist. The girl behind him gasps and takes a step towards him to see if he's okay. "Not the right moment Jo." He tells her while holding his jaw. Jo. So I wasn't paranoid at all. I take a slow step back just wanting to escape this horrible situation and forget about it, forget about Hero. I turn around quickly and dash out of the café not stopping when I hear his voice or Joaquin yelling after me. Tears finally brim my eyes and the cars on the streets are blurry before me. That's why I don't fucking have relationships but I should've known it from the beginning, we're to different. The fact doesn't make the stabbing pain at my heart or the fact that every breath I take makes my lungs burn, any less. It feels like someone has his hand around my heart squeezing so damn heart that it feels like it's going to break but enough for me to escape the death. I stumble over my own fucking feet and land on my knees. Strong arms wrap around me and when I smell the comforting scent of citrus I turn around and press my face into Joaquins shirt sobbing. I fist his shirt needing some kind of grounding that's holding me from all the pain. I should've known better.