Strings (Ryan Gosling × Reader)

Chapter 26 - Premiere

As we stand in line for the red carpet, my eyes are wide as they look around, seeing people I admire since forever everywhere, my heart thundering inside my chest. Ahead of me I see a peek of the red carpet, and actors dressed beautifully walking onto it, a million flashes surrounding them, and voices of people beckoning them, hailing them, instructing them to pose a certain way for the pictures. 

"Wow..." I mumble out loud, as my hair tosses from side to side, following my abrubt turns to look everywhere.

"What is it?" I hear Ryan talk to me.

When I look up at him, I face his lovely smile and sweet gaze direct itself at me, despite all the amazing people around us.

"This is.. incredible!" I smile, my eyes exploring once more, my neck stretching to see who else arrives "All these people! In the same place!"

He chuckles a bit and averts his gaze to look around, understanding what I was refering to.

"Yeah... Right, it's your first time at a movie premiere."

"It's my first time at an event like this in general..." I chuckled "You know, I answered the job ad for fun."

"Fun?" He laughed.

"Yeah! I was certain I wouldn't get the job."

"And I was certain you were the one I wanted to hire."

His eyes pierce into mine as a beat remains silent between us, my smile turning more intimate.

"Really turned my life around, huh?" I nudged him playfully.

"I guess it did."

"I mean, I'm about to step into a red carpet!" realizations washes over me, making my eyes widen "Holy shit. People are gonna take pictures of me."

"Yeah they are."

"They're not gonna interview me, right? I have literally nothing to say, it would be so awkward."

"Probably not, relax." He snickered "You're with me, I'll take care of everything. No one's expecting anything from you, just have fun, alright?"

"Won't it be problematic having pictures of us together in the red carpet? Since, you know... I'm your assistant and all..."

"Hey." He put his hand on my shoulder "I said I'll take care of everything."

His reassurance calms me down immediately.

"Alright.. okay. That's usually my job, you know."

He chuckled and shook his head, signaling ahead by lifting his chin.

"Look, it's almost out turn." He stepped forward with me again in the waiting line "Also, some photographers are really rude sometimes, just ignore them, okay? They're rude to everybody. They're not the main event here tonight, so don't pay attention."

"Right..."

"Just relax... They just want good pictures. That's not hard with you."

My heart flutters and my breath hitches, a shy smile invading my lips at his compliment.

"O... okay."

Girls on Film - Duran Duran

Once we stepped on the red carpet, flashes were directed to us instantly. I stood next to him awkwardly, not knowing what camera to focus on, and what instruction to follow. I glance at Ryan to see how he's doing, and he's seemingly so calm and at ease, hands in his pockets and a slight smile on his lips as he looks from camera to camera. The people's shouts are a blur as they overlap and I can't understand a thing, but everyone else standing on this carpet seems so relaxed. 

I don't have much time to get nervous, because it's cut short by a warm sensation moving across my lower back.

I peer down and see Ryan's fingertips peeking from behind me, his arm slitherting around my waist and his hand pulling me closer to him, my shoulder pressing against the side of his chest. My entire skin prickles at the sensation, and I gaze up at him, having him retribute the look with his soft smile. I smile back, now finally relaxed and grounded, enveloped by his warm presence. We both direct our gazes at the cameras and flashes, and I can finally take a deep breath.

While Ryan is stopped and interviewed, I'm free to wander, and some people even come up to me to greet me, his co-stars and other present actors. I expected some people would wonder who I was, I just didn't know they'd ask me so invested and excited. I stumble all over my words sometimes, but it's no wonder, because I'm having conversations with people I would only daydream of speaking to. And now I'm laughing with them too. 

We settle down in the seats in the movie theatre where we'll watch the finished movie. 

"I haven't seen the movie yet." Ryan mutters to me as we sit beside each other.

"You haven't?" I mutter back, leaning closer to him.

"No, I remember most of what happens, but you know, we never shoot it cronologically, so I have no idea how it's arranged."

"Ah, right." I nod.

"I'm gonna have to buckle up though."

"For what?"

"For you." He gives me a playful glare.

"Me??" I giggle "Why?"

"I'm gonna take a lot of shit from you."

"Ryan, what on earth would I give you shit for?"

"I have some real asshole scenes on this movie."

"Aahhh." I lean back in my scene, snickering.

"So try your best to draw the line between Ryan and character, alright? Don't start hating my face because of this."

"Oh, I could never."

We smile at each other for a moment before the lights dim and the movie starts.

As the movie plays, we laugh and I tease him when his character acts like a jerk, and whenever I laughed at a funny thing he did on screen, I felt his gaze on me. When a scene with him and his co-star showed up, everything was quiet. A hint of jealousy sparks in me when they get closer together and share a sultry kiss. but as I keep looking, I admire how gently his hands touch, how slowly and deliberately his lips move, and how his kisses look like they'd take you to paradise. I'm clutching the armrests as I stare intently, and make the risky decision to glance at Ryan during such a passionate scene. 

Once I turn to look, my eyes lock onto his, which were already on me. It seems like none of us was able to pull away our gazes from each other. I looked up at him, he looked down at me, like we're lost in a trance we casted on the other unnintentionally, now we're both stuck. What finally wavers off our gazes are the voices coming from the movie, making us look ahead again, composing ourselves. 

As I shift in my seat, I look down a couple rows and find a pair of eyes looking up at us, which I recognize as his co-star's, and I can tell she's smiling as she turns away, as if she was pleased with what she saw. 

From what I gathered while speaking with her on the red carpet, she seemed pretty excited about me and Ryan, asking me questions about us and what was going on between us.

Everything she wanted to hear... were things I desperately wanted to say. 

I shake away the thought as I pay attention to the next scene on screen.