Private Yellow Journalism

[Holly Starstorm]

The café tucked along one of Theed's quieter streets was busier than Holly Starstorm would have preferred.

Not unbearably so, but enough that the line stretched nearly to the door and every table seemed occupied by someone nursing a cup of caf while pretending not to listen to the conversations around them. Holly stood at the very end of the line, datapad tucked against her side, only half paying attention as the customers ahead of her slowly shuffled toward the counter.

Her thoughts were elsewhere.

There was something missing from the story she had been working on. She could feel it.

The facts were there. The interviews were solid. She had gone over the notes enough times that she could practically recite them from memory, but there was still some thread she hadn't managed to pull loose. Some question she hadn't thought to ask yet.

Holly frowned faintly to herself, staring at nothing in particular as she mentally rearranged the pieces for what had to be the hundredth time.

Then the door chimed.

She barely registered it at first.

Out of habit, Holly glanced over her shoulder.

Her expression immediately fell.

Teddy Zane had just walked through the door.

Of all the cafés in Theed.

Holly turned forward again with a quiet groan, rolling her eyes as though the ceiling might offer some explanation for why the universe had decided to punish her today.

Teddy Zane was a journalist, technically. Holly preferred the term tabloid parasite. He had a reputation for chasing scandal, stretching half-truths until they became headlines, and asking exactly the sort of questions designed to turn someone's worst day into tomorrow morning's entertainment. Worse, he seemed to carry himself with the absolute confidence of a man convinced he was performing some noble public service while doing it.

Holly had never been particularly good at hiding what she thought of him.

She heard footsteps behind her.

Of course.

Out of the entire café, Teddy took his place directly behind her in line.

Holly closed her eyes for half a second, knowing that professional courtesy dictated she say hello.

"Good morning Mr. Zane. Ruin any lives today?"

​

Well, that was professional courtesy with a little bit of Holly attitude.

Teddy Zane

 

[Teddy Zane]

Holly Starstorm​

Teddy Zane had been inside the café for all of six seconds before deciding the universe was exceptionally fond of him.

There were days when a man had to work for a story. He had to chase leads, cultivate sources, endure tedious press conferences, and pretend politicians were answering the questions they had actually been asked. Then there were days when Holly Starstorm simply appeared in front of him while he was trying to buy caf.

Teddy slowed as recognition settled in.

Well.

That changed things.

He adjusted the collar of his jacket and took his place behind her with the easy satisfaction of someone who had just discovered his morning was about to become significantly more entertaining. Holly had already noticed him. Teddy knew because she had performed that very particular maneuver where someone looked directly at you, immediately looked away, and then attempted to convince the entire room that nothing noteworthy had happened.

He considered saying nothing.

For nearly three seconds.

"Good morning Mr. Zane. Ruin any lives today?"

A grin spread across Teddy's face.

"Not yet."

He glanced toward the menu above the counter as though giving the question serious consideration.

"Still early, though."

The line shuffled forward. Teddy moved with it, hands slipping casually into his pockets. There were probably a dozen responses available to him, ranging from charming to deeply irritating. Experience suggested Holly would consider most of them deeply irritating regardless.

Then something occurred to him.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Wait."

Teddy looked at her with sudden, genuine interest.

"How would you know?"

The grin returned.

"Starstorm, have you been reading The Core Examiner?"

There it was.

Teddy looked positively delighted by the possibility.

"You have, haven't you?"

Someone farther ahead glanced back at them. Teddy ignored them entirely.

"I knew it. All this time pretending you're above it, and somewhere you've got a subscription tucked away under a fake name." He nodded slowly, as though an investigation months in the making had finally reached its conclusion. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

That was obviously a lie.

Teddy leaned slightly to one side, trying to catch sight of the datapad tucked against Holly's side. He could not see enough of the screen to make anything out, but the presence of it alone was enough to make him curious.

Holly Starstorm standing in a café with that expression usually meant Holly Starstorm was working.

Which meant there was a story.

Teddy's grin softened into something considerably more dangerous.

"So."

His attention returned to her.

"What are we investigating?"

 

[Holly Starstorm]

Holly scoffed at his comment. “Please! I wouldn’t even use that rag as toilet paper. Your reputation is well known in this industry.”

She turned her nose up in a way that was meant to be haughty but just looked adorable instead. The truth was she hadn’t read his publication, but that didn’t mean her eyes weren’t drawn to it when she saw it out and about. Despite his many flaws Teddy was a good looking man and tended to draw her eye. That fact made her sick to her stomach but it was undeniable.

She caught him looking at her datapad and pushed it into her purse, glaring at him. “If you must know, I am here covering the opening of the new orphanage on stallion street. No reputations to ruin so I doubt you’d be interested.”

She turned her back on him, irritated and bristling, the effect of which was more comical than intimidating.

“What are you investigating? Someone at this cafe turn you down for a date and now you need gossip from her coworkers to get even?”

Teddy Zane

 

[Teddy Zane]

TAG: Holly Starstorm​

Teddy placed a hand over his heart. "Not even as toilet paper? That's vicious, Starstorm. There are people who work very hard on that rag."

Mostly Teddy, admittedly, but Holly didn't need the satisfaction of knowing that.

His grin only widened when she lifted her nose at him. Holly clearly intended the gesture to communicate disdain, superiority, perhaps the complete dismissal of his existence. Unfortunately for her, it mostly made her look adorable.

Teddy caught himself staring.

Well, that was irritating.

He had always known Holly Starstorm was attractive. Anyone with functioning eyes and a passing familiarity with the Holo News Network knew Holly Starstorm was attractive. Teddy had simply preferred appreciating that fact from a professional distance, preferably while she was somewhere else being judgmental.

Then she shoved the datapad into her purse.

Teddy's eyes followed it.

"The orphanage on Stallion Street?" He knew about the opening. It was exactly the sort of story Holly would cover, something respectable and earnest with smiling children, generous donors, and absolutely no chance of anyone waking up tomorrow to discover their mistress had given an exclusive interview.

"You're right. Not interested."

The answer came easily, but there was no joke attached to it. Teddy might happily ruin the morning of a senator caught crawling out the wrong bedroom window, but he wasn't going to manufacture scandal around a building full of children who had already been handed enough trouble by the galaxy.

Then Holly asked whether someone at the café had turned him down for a date.

Teddy went still.

His eyes settled on her.

The smile that followed was slower than the others.

"Oh, that's interesting."

The line moved. Holly stepped forward and Teddy followed, reclaiming the distance between them without hesitation. "I came here for caf, Starstorm. I wasn't investigating anything." His gaze dipped briefly toward her purse before returning to her face. "Then I found a rival journalist hiding her datapad from me and asking about my dating life."

He leaned just close enough to make lowering his voice worthwhile.

"Now I have questions."

Teddy straightened before she could decide whether to move away from him. "For example, why was that the first place your mind went? You could've accused me of blackmail, extortion, bribery, stalking politicians, inventing anonymous sources, or any of the other things I'm sure they warn young journalists about before handing them a press badge."

His grin returned.

"But no. You went with a woman turning me down."

Teddy studied her expression with all the exaggerated concentration of a journalist who had just stumbled across the missing piece of an investigation.

"Almost sounds like you've thought about it."

There it was. He could practically see tomorrow's cover already.

HOLLY STARSTORM OBSESSED WITH TEDDY ZANE'S LOVE LIFE?

The subtitle would need work.

The customer ahead of Holly moved away from the counter. Teddy glanced toward the newly opened space and then back at her.

"Careful, Starstorm. Keep asking questions like that and people are going to start talking."

He paused, eyes flicking over her once before meeting hers again.

"And you know what I'm like when people start talking."

 

[Holly Starstorm]

​

"Not even as toilet paper? That's vicious, Starstorm. There are people who work very hard on that rag."​

Holly rolled her eyes. "Those people should consider working as real journalists, not tabloid pushers." Holly knew people had to work for a living but some of the recent stories coming out of his publication were pure speculation and rumor. She believed the galaxy deserved to know the truth.

His next rant made her blush, but she snubbed her nose up at him and tried to hide it. "You wish. I just assumed any woman in her right mind would dump you. I imagine you'd post the pillow talk in your next article."

She started playing with her hair without even realizing she was doing it. "You know if you wanted to cover a real story HNN would be happy to help that."

Teddy Zane

 

[Teddy Zane]

TAG: Holly Starstorm​

Teddy noticed the blush. Of course he noticed the blush. A lesser man might have been gracious enough to pretend otherwise. Teddy Zane had never suffered from an excess of grace.

His eyes remained on Holly while she lifted her nose again, trying to bury the evidence beneath another layer of disdain. It almost worked. Then her fingers found her hair, idly playing with a strand while she explained exactly why any woman in her right mind would apparently dump him.

Interesting.

“That’s quite the imagination you’ve got there, Starstorm.”

Teddy let his gaze linger on the fingers twisting through her hair before meeting her eyes again. He could have pointed it out. The blush too. He could already imagine how quickly she would yank her hand away and insist she had been doing absolutely nothing.

Better to save that ammunition.

“And for the record, pillow talk is off limits. I’m a professional.” Teddy managed to hold a perfectly serious expression for perhaps two seconds. “Unless she says something really interesting.”

The grin ruined whatever credibility the claim might have possessed.

Then Holly offered him a real story.

That changed something.

The amusement did not disappear from Teddy’s face, but some of the playfulness behind it did. He glanced toward the counter as the line moved again before stepping forward with her.

“There’s that word again. Real.”

Teddy slipped his hands into his pockets. “You know what I like about HNN? You people figured out that if you put someone behind a desk, give them good lighting, and have them say something solemnly enough, everyone assumes they’re telling the truth.”

There was still a smile on his face, but Holly had finally managed to find the edge beneath it.

“The Core Examiner tells people exactly what it is. We ask the questions everyone else is too polite, too connected, or too worried about access to ask. Sometimes we’re wrong. Sometimes we push too far. Sometimes I put something on the front page because I know it’ll sell ten million copies.”

Teddy shrugged without apology.

“But I don’t pretend powerful people suddenly become honest because an HNN microphone is pointed at them.”

He let that sit between them for a moment before the familiar mischief crept back into his expression. His eyes dropped briefly toward her hand, still occupied with her hair, and then returned to her face.

“Still, I’m touched by the offer. Really.” Teddy leaned a little closer. “First you’re thinking about women dumping me, now you’re trying to get me a job so we can work together.”

His grin sharpened.

“People are definitely going to start talking, Holly.”

Teddy finally stepped toward the counter, but stopped beside her rather than passing her.

“Although if HNN really wants me, you can make the pitch over dinner.”

He looked at her as though the suggestion were entirely reasonable.

“Strictly professional, obviously. I’d hate for you to get the wrong idea.”

He winked.

 

[Holly Starstorm]

"And for the record, pillow talk is off limits. I'm a professional."

Teddy managed to hold a perfectly serious expression for all of two seconds.

"Unless she says something really interesting."

"You are such a pig." Holly wrinkled her nose at him, making no effort to hide her disgust.

But as he launched into his little speech about truth and journalism, her expression gradually changed without her even realizing it. The disdain softened, slipping into something dangerously close to admiration.

Despite everything, Holly was a journalist. She understood that kind of passion, the stubborn need to dig beneath the story being handed to you and find whatever someone hoped would stay buried. Seeing that same fire in Teddy was... well, she wasn't about to admit she liked it.

"But I don't pretend powerful people suddenly become honest because an HNN microphone is pointed at them."

"You know, Teddy..." She tried her best to sound disdainful, but her voice betrayed her, coming out softer than she'd intended. "I can do my job. I'm an investigative journalist. I do investigate. That's generally how I find the truth."

Then came his comment about dinner.

And the wink.

Heat rushed straight into Holly's cheeks, turning them scarlet before she had any hope of stopping it. She could feel the warmth spreading across her face, which only made her hate him a little more for causing it.

She hissed through her teeth, nostrils flaring. "Oh, I've got exactly the right idea about you, Zane. And I would prefer not to become the flavor of the week, thank you very much."

With that, she lifted her chin rather loftily and turned her attention back to the line as it shuffled forward once again, as though she hadn't just turned bright red at the mere suggestion of having dinner with him.

Teddy Zane

 

[Teddy Zane]

TAG: Holly Starstorm​

"Such a pig," Teddy repeated, entirely too pleased with the accusation. "You keep saying things like that, Starstorm, and I'm going to start thinking you've developed an opinion of me."

He had been ready with another smart remark about investigative journalism when her tone changed.

It was subtle, but Teddy caught it. The sharpness was still there because Holly Starstorm would probably rather swallow her press badge than willingly concede a point to him, but something had shifted underneath it. For a moment, she was not talking to the tabloid parasite she had decided Teddy Zane was supposed to be. She was talking to another journalist.

Teddy liked that more than he expected.

"I know you can do your job."

There was no joke attached to the admission. Teddy looked at her directly, letting the words stand without rescuing himself behind a grin.

"I wouldn't bother arguing with you if I thought you couldn't. Bad journalists are boring. They don't get angry when you challenge them because they don't care enough to defend what they do."

His mouth curved again, though the expression carried a little more bite now. "You, on the other hand, look like you're about three insults away from challenging me to a duel over editorial standards."

Then the dinner suggestion landed exactly where Teddy had intended it to.

The scarlet that rushed into Holly's cheeks was spectacular.

Teddy's eyebrows rose, and for once he did not immediately say anything. He simply watched her turn bright red while insisting that she had exactly the right idea about him. By the time she reached flavor of the week, however, some of the amusement had slipped from his expression.

"Flavor of the week?"

Teddy tilted his head. "That's what you've decided I do?"

There was still enough humor in his voice to keep the question from becoming defensive, but the edge underneath it was real. Holly had managed to find something beneath the armor, whether she realized it or not.

"I print rumors about senators sleeping with their aides. That doesn't mean I'm sleeping with mine." His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Actually, I don't have an aide. Probably safer for everyone."

The grin came back, but it did not completely erase the previous moment. Teddy stepped forward with the line until he was beside Holly rather than directly behind her.

"And you wouldn't be the flavor of the week anyway."

He let that one sit just long enough to become dangerous.

Teddy looked her over with the infuriating confidence of a man who knew exactly what he had just done, then casually turned his attention toward the menu.

"You'd get at least two."

He waited perhaps half a heartbeat before looking back at her.

"But now I'm curious. You've apparently constructed an entire private life for me based on my publication." His expression sharpened with sudden journalistic interest. "Women dumping me, pillow talk, flavors of the week. That's a surprising amount of research for someone who wouldn't wipe her ass with The Core Examiner."

Teddy's gaze dropped toward the hand that had been playing with her hair earlier before returning to her still-reddened face.

"Should I be flattered, Holly, or concerned?"

The person ahead of them collected their caf and left, finally putting Holly at the counter. Teddy gestured toward it with exaggerated courtesy.

"Go ahead. Order."

His grin turned wicked again.

"I need a minute to process the revelation that Holly Starstorm has been thinking about me in bed."