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I could barley believe my eyes as I skimmed the three sheets of paper that Cassandra had just placed in front of me. There was no way that she could be serious! This would destroy my career. Hell, it would probably destroy Ground(ctrl) as a whole. What was she thinking? I tried to catch Brian’s eye across the table, but he was engrossed in his own copy.

“I’m not saying this.” Nick stated. He threw his copy of the press release down on the table and frowned at Cassandra. “You’ve been dragging your feet for the past two days and this is the best you’ve come up with?”

Anger flashed in Cassandra’s eyes as she shoved the papers back at Nick. “You’ll say what I’ve written. That’s why you pay me ... to tell you what to say.”

“Well than I guess I better stop paying you.” Nick shot back. “This is a load of shit and I want no part of it.”

“Nick, let’s not be unreasonable.” Kevin sighed. “It just needs a little tweaking.”

“Tweaking?” Nick huffed. “I would rather just say the truth: Amy’s account was hacked, she had nothing to do with the video, it was supposed to be a private conversation, we’ve gotten over our little disagreement, and Brian waited until he had blondie served with divorce papers before he moved on to Amy. That’s it. We’re done with it.”

“It’s not that simple.” Cassandra fumed. “The truth looks bad. Really bad!”

“So? This isn’t the first time that I’ve looked bad on the Internet. It isn’t the first time that people have talked shit about me on Twitter. It definitely isn’t the first time that my face has been plastered across a magazine with a horrific headline, and it probably won’t be the last.” Nick fought back.

“Agreed.” AJ said. “I think that Nick has a point. The more we digress from the truth, the worse it’s gonna become. Let’s just state the facts and move on. The press will get bored of the whole thing once something bigger involving someone more famous happens anyways.”

“You guys are missing the point.” Cassandra hissed. “Think about Brian! He’s about to be involved in a divorce settlement. Are you guys sure that you want to come out and confirm that he’s been banging a staff member?”

“Brian can bang ... I mean date whoever he likes.” Howie shot me an apologetic glance as he made his point.

I shrugged, effectively brushing off his slip of the tongue. I was getting pretty used to people making derogatory comments.

“Brian, what do you think?” Cassandra asked. “It’s you who’s going to be taking the brunt of it.”

“I think that I’m done with this whole thing.” Brian muttered. He tossed his copy of the proposed press release on top of Nick’s and turned to face Cassandra. “I’m not lying. The next person who dares to ask me about those stupid sex pictures or about my personal life is gonna get the truth. I’m going to tell them that Leighanne is the one who modified and released those photos, and I’m going to tell them that I am, in fact, dating Amy. What they choose to do with the information is their business.”

“It would be so much easier to just deny it!” Cassandra moaned. “Think about it. You paint Amy as the bad guy just for now. Once everything is settled with your divorce, you guys can reconnect and live happily ever after.”

“Is that so?” I snapped. “Do you honestly think that I’m going to just sit back and let them tell the world that I posted that video for my own selfish gains? I can’t portray Ground(ctrl) and Eddie that way. I’ll lose everything; my job, my friends, everything!”

“Do you really think anyone cares!?” Cassandra cried. Her eyes were icy cold as she leaned over the table to stare at me. “You don’t get a vote.”

“Yeah, but I do get a vote.” Brian hissed. “I vote that we tell the truth.” He retrieved his copy of the press release from the table and ripped it in half as he spoke

“You’re unbelievable!” Cassandra shouted. “What about the rest of you?”

“You already know what I think.” Nick said as he tore his own copy in half.

“Ditto.” Howie replied, ripping his pages in half and tossing them into the growing pile.

“I’m with the fellas.” AJ agreed as he tore his pages, not once, but twice and tossed the pieces into the middle of the table.

“Kevin?” Cassandra asked, glancing at the oldest member of the group. “What do you say? You come across as a huge dick in that video. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to blame? To deflect some of the negative attention?”

Kevin paused and looked carefully at the rest of us. I could practically see him weighing the options in his head as he took us in.

“I look like an ass in that video because I behaved like one.” Kevin stated. “I’ve been acting like a holier-than-now jackass for the past couple of days. I got so caught up in my own ideals about marriage and divorce that I failed to see that I was actually making the situation worse. I have nobody to blame but myself. I say that we tell the truth.”

Cassandra’s eyes flashed with anger as she watched Kevin tear up his papers and add them to the pile. Without a word, she stood up from the table and headed for the exit. The reverberations echoed through the conference room long after she had slammed the door and stalked off towards the elevators.

“Thanks, Kev.” Brian grinned. “I hate being at odds with you.”

“Yeah, well, I hate fighting with you too, cuz.” Kevin shrugged. “AJ, Nick, I also need to apologize for what I said to you guys. It wasn’t fair ...”

“We’re cool.” AJ assured him. “I’ve said way shittier things to you.”

“I’ve definitely told you worse.” Nick laughed. “I’m over it.”

“Amy, I shouldn’t have ...” Kevin started, but I held up my hand to silence him.

“Consider us back to normal.” I said. “It’s nice that you stood up for me.”

“Guys, while I’m loving all of this lovey-dovey crap, I think it’s safe to say that we just lost the head of our PR team.” Howie interrupted. “And we still have no idea who posted the video.”