Page 111 of Collide

I hurl a pillow at her face.

Riley is still cackling as she dodges it, but before she can fire back, my phone buzzes loudly on the coffee table, the screen lighting up withKylie.

I frown.

“Oof.” Riley winces. “That can’t be good.”

I sigh, swiping to answer and putting her on speaker as I lean back against the couch. “Hey, Kylie, what’s up?”

“What’s up?” Her voice is exasperated, her signature no-nonsense tone kicking in immediately. “Oh, nothing much, just the entire internet losing its mind over you and Alexander Westerberg!”

“What?”

“I’m sending you the link now, but long story short, there’s a piece about you and him from Geek-Fest, and it’s making waves. And to make things even more interesting…” She pauses, like she’s bracing herself. “A new photo of the two of you on a date in Brooklyn just surfaced.”

Riley and I exchange a wide-eyed look.

“Wait, what photo?” I ask quickly.

“You know better than to ask me that,” Kylie huffs. “The internet sees all. You’re in Brooklyn, at some little hole-in-the-wall place, sitting next to Alex, and it looks…” She hesitates.

“It looks like what?” I press.

“Like a date. A real one. Not some staged, publicity stunt date, an actual date.”

Fuck, that was us at The Drip on our first date! Such an invasion of our privacy.

Kylie continues, undeterred, “It’s already picking up traction. The tabloids are running headlines like‘Alexander Westerberg’s New Mystery Woman’and‘Could This Be His Next Big Love Story?’So far, it’s speculative, but Elena…” Her voice softens slightly. “This is going to blow up. We need to be strategic.”

I exhale sharply, pressing my fingers to my temple. “So, what do we do?”

“Well, first, do I need to prepare a statement?” Kylie asks. “Are we confirming? Denying? Staying silent?”

Riley wiggles her eyebrows at me, silently mouthingconfirm itlike an absolute menace.

I shoot her another glare before focusing back on the phone. “I-I don’t know.” I hesitate, my pulse thrumming. “Alex and I haven’t even talked about this.”

“Well, you better talk to him soon, because if you don’t control the narrative, someone else will.”

My voice sticks in my throat. This is all happening so fast.

“Kylie, I don’t want to be known for who I’m dating. I don’t want this to overshadow my album launch. What should we do?” My voice is edged with concern because this is all new to me. I never expected to get involved with someone whose fame was of this magnitude.

Kylie exhales, the sound clipped with the kind of exhaustion only PR teams experience when dealing with celebrities who hate being celebrities.

“First, we take a firm stand: no comments on your personal life. Let everyone speculate all they want, but we do not feed into it.”

I nod, even though she can’t see me. “Okay. That makes sense.”

“Second, public appearances need to be planned from now on. No more spontaneous dates that can be misinterpreted or used against you. If you’re seen together, it needs to be intentional. We get ahead of the story, not behind it. Alex’s people have already been in contact with me.”

I shift uncomfortably, the weight of her words pressing in. “That sounds…controlled.”

“It’s PR. Controlled is the whole game.” Kylie’s voice isn’t unkind. Then she hesitates, like she’s about to drop the real bomb. “You also need to talk to Alex about whether you’re planning to take this relationship red-carpet.”

I falter, eyes wide. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Kylie sighs, her voice calm but direct, “do you want to be photographed together at events? That’s essentiallya hard launch of you as a couple. You don’t confirm anything, but you also don’t deny it. You show up together. Let people speculate. If asked, you give neutral responses: ‘He’s great,’ ‘I’m proud of his work.’ Simple. Elegant. Non-committal.”