Pearl, Chapter 1

"You don't need to have all those people fawning over you. And besides, you would just eventually embarrass yourself on stage anyway."

"Being a model makes you look like a whore."

"I don't want you staying out so late."

"This dog...has to go."

"What are you, a cow? Jeez, lay off the pizza!"

"God damn it, fucking listen to me!"


Jayden knew Adrian couldn't be happy with that guy. He shouldn't be, anyway. He deserved better.

He hated watching them together. Adrian hardly ever spoke unless someone asked him a question. And when he and Jayden were alone, he'd sometimes tell him things about what was going on but act like there was nothing wrong with any of it. But Adrian was an actor. And Jayden knew it.

Adrian's main passion resided on the stage. He loved to act, sing, and dance. Jayden would normally say that was lame, but Adrian was damn good at all of it. He was on Broadway. But...At this point, 'was' was the keyword. Matt had made Adrian quit acting altogether, saying it was too showy, too public...And then he got it into Adrian's head that he wasn't Broadway material.

Jayden knew better when Adrian had shrugged it off, saying, "I'm not really good enough anyway."

"Sure you are," Jayden had replied.

Adrian blinked and looked at his hands.

"You should go back there."

". . . I-I can't...Auditions are over, and Matt doesn't want me to anyway..."

Jayden couldn't stand hearing Adrian talk like that. Adrian used to be loud. Loud and proud. And that's how it should have been, but that creep just couldn't let him be all he could be, knowing too well that Adrian was really too good for him.