Too Close

Chapter Thirty Seven

She also noticed the changes. Instead of pushing his family away like Miles did, Jason leaned on them. He moved back home to Greensboro, North Carolina, which was "coincidentally" close to Winston-Salem where Gianna grew up, and began to rebuild his life there. It was kind of like a game to her, picking out the similarities and differences between the book and real life.

Until she remembered that what was in her hands was just a copy, and millions of strangers were going to be reading about her life.

She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it yet, but she definitely wasn't jumping up and down for joy.

When they were let off of the plane, Gianna immediately went to the in-house Solar Bean. She needed her iced matcha latte order to get her through the day since the midday convention was starting soon.

The authors and staff only had two hours to prepare for the annual big deal, and the type of nap Gianna was trying to take would have her snoozing until the event was over. Sleeping on the plane was the ideal thing to do but once she read the first line of Miles' synopsis, she had to read the book further. 

Once she got her liquid energy and made it to their hotel that sat on the beach's sands, Gianna freshened up, changed clothes, and became flawlessly perfect for pictures since she'd been taking more and more every day. She got ready at two times speed as the time flew past her, and was now sitting in her spot doing her lip combo in her phone's camera.

Miles and his punctuality had been down there, but this was their first time seeing each other today.

"Wassup Gia." Miles sat in his seat, his eyes soaking her in. She looked beautiful.

"Hey." Gianna dryly responded as she seemed to be so focused on outlining her lips with lip liner. Miles noticed the dip in her usually jolly attitude but didn't question her.

"I know this day is going to be a little hectic and might run late, but if you're still up for it, I still want to take you out later." She finally looked over and up at him with an unreadable expression, making his nerves begin to unsettle. He knew he couldn't have messed up in the span of not even twenty-four hours.

"Good afternoon, you two." Dessi walked up to them, her eyes on the stack of papers she was flipping through. "Today, Gianna, you have a solo interview with Essence after you sit out here for some time. Then, you guys are going to do a rerun of your joint interview, a few different questions this time though." She placed the sheet with their talking points on the table for them to look over.

"Joint interview?" Miles asked, picking up the paper. "Shouldn't we have separate ones? I think Gianna should have all of the attention on her, not sharing it with other people."

"I understand your concern, Miles but as you know, Gianna is new in the industry and we're still trying to build her fanbase and put eyes on her. Though yesterday was impromptu, it showed us and the audience how well you two work as a duo, and Lance agrees that if you two continue to capture readers' hearts with your chemistry, this will bring the spotlight in both of your directions." Dessi smiled, holding her clipboard close to her side.

"That's alright with you?" He looked to her for an answer. The very last thing Miles wanted to do was be the light that cast a shadow on her. He only wanted to help in ways that wouldn't bring attention to him.

"That's fine. Thank you for asking." She emphasized the last word since people around her apparently had a hard time asking for her permission. Dessi didn't stay any longer after that, having other business to attend to.

But Miles couldn't let go that easily. He turned to her so he could speak in a low tone. "Gianna, we're not doing things the same as last time, alright? Playing 'Guess The Emotion' isn't going to solve anything. If something is bothering you, let me know what it is so we can fix it together."