I’ve been on damagecontrol since midnight when the article dropped and Tate burst through my door.
“I told you she was bad for your image,” he’d said to me as he paced my bedroom floor. “I told you to focus on your fucking career,” he seethed as he typed frantically on his phone. “I told you that Mara would be better for you.” He shook his head in disbelief. All while I blocked out the noise and tried my hardest to get in touch with Jenna.
I just needed to see if she was OK.
His words flew straight over my head, while each attempted call I made went straight to voicemail.
The article itself wasn’tbad,per se. But it wasn’t exactly kind, either. And after the day she’d had, the last thing she needed was her face splashed all over every news outlet, and her body talked about—like being curvy was a bad thing—especially when none of it was true.
She’s no home wrecker; Mara and I aren’t anything other than cast mates. And Jenna and I are…I don’t even know anymore.
I just wanted her toconsiderme.
Considerus.
But I saw the panic flood through her once ice-blue eyes, turning them into the darkest ocean blue themomentI asked her to think about what we could be.
I didn’t regret it then, and I don’t regret it now.
There was one photo that stuck out to me.
She and I holding hands as we walked down Main Street after I’d just stood up for her in front of her mom.
Her smile was wide, and if you looked close enough, you could see that her eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying.
But she looks happy.Welook happy. We look comfortable. We look as though each other is all we know, and no one else exists in our world.
But most of all, we lookedreal.
That’s exactly how I felt at that moment. I didn’t care that we had an end date in place, or that this wouldn’t go anywhere because she deemed it couldn’t.
I just wished she knew how wrong she was.
***
The first thing I notice when I get to set is the eerie silence and discomfort from everyone around me. Mara sits in her chair, eyes full of fire as she shoots daggers at Jenna, who is trying her hardest to focus on her job—the most important thing to her.
I should’ve known she would be OK, or at least that she would put on a front to make herself seem that way.
Mara looks up at me, and a sob escapes her lips as if seeing me broke her heart all over again. The performance she’s putting onis exactly the reason she’s Hollywood’s most sought-out actress, because it’s fuckingbelievable.
Hell, even I’m digging through my memories for any time I could’ve possibly led her on, but I come up short.
Her wails echo through the room, and Jenna’s eyes flick to mine, a knowing grin spreading across her lips,almostreaching her eyes. I let out a deep sigh of relief, because I worried about her for no reason.
Of course I did.
She can handle herself.
One thing I’m realizing about Jenna Rogers, is that she always has her own back, no matter what. And yesterday, I saw firsthand why she is the way that she is. I saw the person at fault for making her feel like she constantly needs to be on guard, and my heart aches for her, knowing that the person behind it all is her mom.
The cause, but hopefully no longer the cure.
The morning flies by quickly. I’m in and out of Jenna’s chair in no time, and because all eyes are on us, we barely say a word to each other. I did, however, notice how her body pressed up against mine for longer than usual.
My hand automatically gravitated toward her legs. I noticed how she’d shudder at my touch and nibble on her bottom lip when our faces were mere inches apart.
We’ve grown comfortable being around each other like this, and that article shouldn’t threaten to change a damn thing.
