starving [hailee steinfeld one-shots]

the sweetest torture one could bear [H.Steinfeld]

"They actually know how to do their job, unlike some people." Her verbal jab isn't lost on you and it quickly silences the small voice in your head that was urging you to try and get along with her.

"And what's my job? Pretending you're the center of the universe?"

"It'd be a nice start."

"Too bad I'm not the academy-award nominated actress here." Out of anyone else's mouth, it would be a compliment but you both know that's not the way you meant those words.

Hailee doesn't say anything in response. She just glares at you as if that'll make you disappear.

Unfortunately, it doesn't, which means you're still stuck in this same situation with the same pair of eyes that wish they could send you six feet underground...or, at the very least, six rooms away from her.

That glare is more than enough to draw the conversation to a close for the moment. The awkward silence that sticks around instead is just as bad though and you're actually glad when Hailee's phone goes off.

You watch, with a slightly amused smile, as the actress argues with one of the many poor souls from her PR team.

She's clearly not as amused as you are considering the string of curse words that reverberate around the small room. You pick up enough information to know there's already a plan and a schedule for the pap shots so the two of you have to be on top of your game sooner rather than later.

There's a split second during the phone call where your eyes meet hers and everything else seems to fade away for those few moments.

There's no badly suppressed annoyance in her eyes, no vacant look that represents the hundreds of walls she's put up to keep you locked out of her mind and heart. For the briefest of seconds, she seems...real. It's as if the mask she so easily wears to hide who she is slips and leaves behind the uncertainty she seems to detest so much.

Ironically, that uncertainty would make her a lot more bearable in your opinion.

The moment ends as quickly as it started and in no time at all, you're back to being passive-aggressive while pretending to like each other.

"So, what's the plan here?" You hate how much you care about not further ruining her life by messing up the pap shots. "Last time I checked, you weren't out of your glass closet yet."

"Are you saying you check up on me often?" She replies as she gets into the private pool next to you.

For some reason, her team had decided the two of you should kick things off with some pool pictures before going out to dinner tomorrow night. It's a pretty ridiculous idea but nothing screams summer romance like paparazzi pictures at the pool and/or the beach.

"Yeah, it's like watching a trainwreck. I can't look away no matter how hard I try."

"Funny."

She sits across from you and you do all you can to stop your eyes from wandering across her face. It's impossible to deny how attractive she is, no matter how long her list of contradicting personality traits is.

You assume she's forgotten about your question until she speaks up a few moments later. "There's no real plan. We don't have to actually kiss for people to think there's something going on."

"What a relief."

The brunette rolls her eyes at you but no snarky comeback escapes her lips. It might be too insignificant to call it progress but at least you're having a conversation that doesn't turn into an argument.

Nothing significant happens after that besides Hailee spotting the paparazzi and both of you pulling the most authentic smiles you can muster onto your faces. Turns out, the fake smiling is the easy part, finding something to talk about is the hard part.