Ripple Effect
1764 Words
Pierce Richmond walks up to the podium and fixes his suit and tie as he settles in front of the large conference hall. The room is totally full of people interested in why he’s called them over impromptu, and concerning the surrounding scandal lately, of course, they are interested in what he has to say.
The lights overhead are blinding, and a ton of cameras are clicking, making this loud, fast and clicking noise as they take pictures away. He feels great, he’s going to win, and he’s going to be the one everyone talks about when all of this is over.
Ray is right next to him. She’s perfect, smiling big. Her hair is super blonde, she’s wearing a white dress that makes her look like a saint, which she absolutely, is not. They look like a couple who beat the odds to find true love. At least, that’s the very seemingly convincing story they’ve practiced now that they are finally open and free to make their commitment to one another, outside the occasional secret f*****g they’d only ever done.
“Thanks for coming,” Pierce says, grabbing the sides of the podium as he looks around the hall at the reporters hanging on his every word. His voice is deep and sounds super confident. “We really appreciate you all being here for this very special moment of ours.” He looks to his side where Ray nods as well, agreeing and shuffling closer to him like the woman looking perfectly in love.
Ray grabs his arm and squeezes it affectionately. “It’s a really, really happy day for us, and we are happy to have you all share it with us.”
Pierce leans in, his smile tight but good for the cameras. “Like many of you know, my last relationship… well, it ended badly and everyone saw it, unfortunately.” He looks at Ray. “But when one door closes, another one opens, right? And this woman,” he waves his hand at Ray, “...she has been everything for me since I’d felt betrayed at the false accusations, she’s kept me sane even though her name was soiled in the mud as much as mine was.”
A reporter yells from the crowd, “What about the rumors that you really cheated on Isla Hall-Vale, Pierce? Was it a lie?”
Pierce holds his hand up, waving them down. “I’m here to talk about the future. The past is done. I truly wish Isla a good life and all of that, but Ray and I are moving on from all of that. Together, we have agreed and are both ready to build a life.”
He looks at Ray. They share the look they rehearsed, serious, loving, and focused only on one another. This is the moment and time for the bomb that the entire conference has been convened for.
“So, everyone,” Pierce says, puffing out his chest a little, “I am thrilled to announce that Ray and me…”
Then, things begin to change immediately in the hall.
No one is listening intently anymore, no one is asking another question, they are all distracted by something on their phones. One of them is even spotted by Pierce whispering into his phone, a call most likely.
A female reporter from a big news production house, sitting right in front, curses quietly as she sets down her phone. She grabs her camera, pulls the card out, and starts folding up her tripod fast, muttering excitedly under her breath as she scampers for the exit.
Pierce stops talking, he just stares as she leaves. “…that Ray and I are going to…”
“Hey, Lance,” a guy in the back yells. He’s not talking to Pierce, but he looks anyway as if he’s talking to his friend. “Did you see the picture? You’ve got to see this.”
Right after seeing whatever it is that his guy shoes him, “Get my gear, Mike!” the friend whispers back, already walking toward the door together with his friend as they also leave while whispering with a glint in their eyes.
One more person follows, then another, then three more people. They all start moving, they don’t even look at Pierce or Ray, who’s staring at them, dumbfounded. They look at their phones, their eyes wide, whisper, then they start shoving equipment into their bags.
Pierce frowns, he just stands there, he recovers within a few minutes. “Wait a minute. Everyone, we’re making a huge announcement here.”
A young guy with a camera walks right past the stage, his face is glued to his phone screen.
“Hey!” Pierce yells. He is angry now. “Where are you going?”
The young man finally looks up. He looks bored. “Sorry, Mr. Richmond, I have to go, it’s my supervisor’s orders. Huge exclusive just dropped, bigger news than this, I guess.” He shrugs and walks right out.
Bigger news? What could be bigger than his wedding announcement? He’s Pierce Richmond, one of the richest, finest and most eligible bachelors in the whole state. Then the recent scandal should have doubled their interest in whatever he has to say.
Pierce turns to Ray, but his words catch in his throat. Her perfect smile is totally gone, while her eyes are darting all over the room.
“Keep smiling, Ray,” Pierce whispers through his teeth. “They’ll stop and come back eventually, it’s some kind of joke.”
But they don’t stop, they hurry even more.
At the start of the entire affair, there had been like a hundred reporters in the whole place, even bordering on cramped in the hall, but now there are maybe fifteen left, they look like people running from a fire, and most of these fifteen are people whose partners had left behind to cover the ‘lesser’ news while they went ahead to where everyone else had gone.
A woman with a microphone is standing near the exit, talking fast and loudly into her phone. Pierce could hear the panic in her voice.
He grabs the podium angrily, resisting the urge to hit something, his knuckles turn a pale white. “Ray, what are they talking about?”
Ray shakes her head, having no idea of what just happened either. She pulls out her own phone and scrolls quickly, and as she scrolls and stops, her face loses all its color.
“Ray, tell me!” Pierce snaps.
She gasps, holding the phone away from her face. “Pierce, you have to look at this.”
He snatches the phone. The screen is showing a popular gossip website.
The headline is massive and red from a post uploaded just two minutes before. “IT'S OFFICIAL: ISLA HALL-VALE AND ELIJAH RICHMOND ARE PUBLIC.”
‘Under the headline is a picture. It’s super clear. It’s Isla Hall-Vale and Elijah Richmond. They are walking out of some fancy restaurant, they are holding hands. Isla is laughing, really loud, looking happy and free. Elijah has his arm around her. He is looking right at the camera, but you can’t tell what he’s thinking. They look like the most important new power couple.
This news drops just as Pierce Richmond, Elijah’s cousin, holds a press conference with his partner in the cheating scandal and possible new conquest, Ray, a conference that is actively being abandoned by all major media outlets.’
Pierce drops Ray’s phone loudly as it hits the podium with a loud thud, teetering on the edge before falling to the ground, save for Ray’s fast reflexes in catching it. The sound is loud in the now mostly empty room, only four or five reporters are left, they look really awkward, glancing at one another, and back at the duo on the stage.
Pierce is breathing hard, he can feel his face burning red-hot. It’s not just anger, it’s shame.
Huge, public shame.
“Those two timing pieces of trash,” Pierce spits out the words. “They obviously planned this, they timed it perfectly to coincide with our own conference and steal our thunder. How cheap!”
Ray finally comes closer. She looks terrified, glancing at the watching reporters, some of them with recording devices. “We have to say something, Pierce, we have to change the story, we can’t let them win.” She whispers frantically, trying, and failing to muster a smile.
Pierce doesn't hear her. He’s staring at the few people left. They are whispering, clearly deciding if they should just cut and run now.
“You know what? Fine!” Pierce yells into the microphone. “Go! All of you! Get the f**k out of here!”
He slams his hand on the podium again and the microphone lets out a terrible high-pitched noise.
“This is over!” he screams, his voice cracking angrily, his hands fisted by his sides.
Ray tries to touch his arm. “Pierce, stop! You look crazy! Just calm the hell down, yelling at them will not help us in any way.”
He pulls his arm away, fast.
He is shaking with pure fury.
How dare they make him look bad? How dare Elijah steal his moment? Steal his woman and now his publicity?
“Crazy? We are crazy, Ray!” he yelled at her. “Look around! We are sitting in an empty room, announcing a wedding that nobody cares about because my psycho ex is dating my cousin!”
He doesn't wait for her to answer. He shoves her away from him harshly, not noticing how she almost loses her balance, but winces in pain, pushes past the podium, grabbing his car keys from the side table where they’d left their personal effects earlier.
He has to leave this place, he has that climbing urge that tells him he needs to move, just to do anything.
Any f*****g thing at all will be better than staying in this empty space.
“Pierce, where are you going?” Ray calls out after him, her voice sounding small.
“Somewhere else!” he yells back at her without turning around, he doubles to the double doors. He is so focused on how mad he is that he forgets about Ray, the woman he’s supposed to be marrying as she stares at his retreating back until the doors close behind him.
He’d left her behind, her ankle swollen from when he’d shoved her and she’d sprained it.
- Writer
