The Star (Leila Ouahabi)

She Can't Know

"It's nice to finally meet you." I said. "Leila talks about you a lot." I said. "It's adorable and disgusting at the same time." 

"Disgusting?" 

"Because I'm so alone." And because I should be with her. "But you two are cute." I crossed my arms. "As long as Leila keeps smiling, all is right in the world."

"Yeah. Her smile is something isn't it." She stared at me.

"Ok!" Leila clapped. "Let's get going. Virginia texted that everyone's waiting."

"Virginia?" I looked.

"Yeah. She is a friend of mine."

"Right." I got in the backseat. 

We drove in silence to meet everyone else. 

"Tatiana this is Mapi." 

"Hey." She said. "Nice to meet you."

"You're the one who forced Leila to come see me in Miami?"

"That's me."

"I should be thanking you then. I got my friend back." 

"She was miserable that whole time." She said. I looked over at Mariona. "Not even Mariona put a smile on her face. Not a real one." She said quietly. "You didn't hear that from me though."

I looked back at Mapi. "What do you mean?"

"And this!" Leila dragged me away. "Is Jenni."

"I remember from last time. Good to see you again, Jenni."

"Yeah you too. When is your movie coming out?" Alexia hit her. "What!" 

"Alexia." I smiled. "Always a pleasure." 

She smiled. "Nice to have you back." I nodded. 

"Over here is Virginia."

"I know Tatiana." She smirked. "Nice to meet you in person."

"You too." I put my hands in my pockets. 

"Leila!" Mariona said.

"I'll be over there." Leila ran off. 

"Sucks doesn't it." Virginia said. 

"Excuse me?"

"Seeing the woman you love, love someone else." She tilted her head. "Just kills you."

"Does she know?"

"Know what?"

"You know what." I scoffed.

"I want you to say it." She looked at me. 

I sighed. "Does she know that you came to Miami?"

"No." Virginia said. "She doesn't know anything."

"She can't." I shook my head. "She can never know."

Leila's POV:

"How was the drive?" Mapi smirked.

"You mean Mariona and Tatiana's staring match? Oh it was great."

"No way." She laughed. "What happened?" I filled her in. "Mariona is jealous of the friendship, Tatiana is jealous of the relationship," She looked over at Tatiana. "and Virginia clearly wants to sleep with Tatiana." 

"What?" I looked. 

"Virginia hasn't left her side. And I know that look. Virginia uses that look either of these two situations. One I want to sleep with this girl. Or two, I already did but I want to do it again."

"She better not." I mumbled. 

"Why? Tatiana is single."

I looked at Mapi. "Tatiana deserves better."

"She does." Mapi agreed. "Than you playing with her. Tatiana is in love with you, Leila. Seeing you with Mariona is clearly killing her, but she's doing it FOR you. To make you happy. You're happy with Mariona, but not as happy as you are with Tatiana. You need to stop playing with both of them. Before you lose them both." She walked away. 

March 2018

Tatiana's POV:

"This looks perfect." I smiled. "Are we ready?" 

"Everything is ready for distribution." My producer said. "Just gotta finalize that this is the poster you want to go with."

I looked. "Yeah. This is it." I nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

Leila's POV:

I scrolled through Instagram. 

The trailer for my debut feature is out THIS Friday! I'll be debuting it on The Tonight Show along with the poster, title and release date! See you all there!

I smiled and liked the post. I went to comment and saw Virginia's.

virginiatr6: Happy for you! Can't wait to watch it 80 times

I locked my phone and put it down. 

"I know that look. Virginia uses that look either of these two situations. One I want to sleep with this girl. Or two, I already did but I want to do it again."

I grabbed my keys and got in my car.

Tatiana's POV:

"I'm so proud of you." My dad hugged me. "Your mother would be too."

I smiled. "I know. Thank you for supporting me through all of this." I said. "I know it was tough on us, but I couldn't have done this without you, dad."

"I better be in the credits." He said.

"You're the first name." I said. "I made sure of it."

"And your speech for the winning of awards?"

"You're in it." I laughed. "Dad, you are the reason I'm where I am. The reason I was able to keep going after mom died." He nodded. "You're my hero."

"And you're mine." He said. 

My phone rang.

Leila

"I gotta get this." I smiled and walked away. "Hey Leila." I laughed.

"Yeah not Leila."

"Mapi?" I said. "What happened where's Leila?"

"Um."

"DID YOU SLEEP WITH HER!" I heard Leila yell.

"She's kind of trying to fight Virginia."