Famous: A Malec AU Fanfiction

Chapter 27

He was pulled out of the sudden flashback by his agent's loud voice, cutting through like a blade.

"You have an interview coming up quick with The Seelie Court soon, you should be getting ready," she told him seriously, "I have absolutely no idea what sorts of questions Ms. Queen might be asking you, but just make sure you remain calm and relaxed. That's the best thing to do at these interviews, or at least fake it until they make it, as they always say."

Alec had done interviews before, but he had always been the ones asking the questions. Now, he was the one who needed to provide the answers, and there was no way to prepare for that. He felt nervous sweat start to form on his bare skin, and his hands twitched nervously. He didn't understand why people loved fame. Catarina Loss seemed to notice his nervousness, and for a moment, her steely eyes softened.

"Just try to be yourself, boy," she told him, her voice calm like gentle waves, "you'll be fine out there."

Waiting backstage was a horrible thing to force people to do, Alec was now realizing.

While he waited to go up there, in front of the camera and the gathered audience, it seemed that being alone with his anxiety just made everything worse. All he could see was himself, up there, stumbling over his words as he always did when he was nervous, as he always did when he really didn't have anything to say. Alec didn't know how to be interesting like everyone else, he didn't know how to hold the audience's attention when he wasn't acting. Being himself was suddenly the scariest thing possible for him.

Alec was completely unprepared for the interview. He didn't know what questions would be asked, so he couldn't prepare any answers as if he was remembering lines for a part. His mind felt as if it was going blank, and it suddenly seemed like Alec's own name was very hard to remember. With nothing else to do, he twiddled with his hands, hoping that they weren't shaking as much visibly as he felt as if they were shaking. Would they still be shaking once he got up there, in front of so many people to see?

Again, he was stuck, he was trying to be what everyone expected him to be. But, what they wanted as the perfect Alec who acted in movies, not this one, not the real one who wasn't even sure of his own love anymore. He couldn't stay calm, no matter what he was trying. He had tried breathing in and out, something that Magnus had suggested to him a long time ago.

Right now was not a good time to be thinking about Magnus, and what had happened in between the two of them.

Alec put his face in his hands, his shoulders slumping.

"Hey," came a sudden, oddly familiar voice. He raised his head from his hands, turning around to see who had addressed him. With startled realization, Alec was looking at Maia, his old barista when he had been at the cafe. She smiled at him, her eyes glittering in an amused light when she saw his look of surprise. Her thick, gleaming coils of hair had bene pulled back from her face in a neat ponytail, though it couldn't tame all of her wild locks. A couple stuck out around her ears and by the back of her neck.

"Maia," he couldn't help but feel a bit of relief in him, she was so relaxing for some reason, "What are you doing here?"

She seemed surprised, her large eyes widening even more before she spoke again. Her tone was lighter.

"I didn't think that you'd remember me, or my name for that matter," she told him.

"I have you to thank for an awfully good Frappuccino," he told her, his words didn't feel so stuck at the back of his throat anymore. Maia had a warm presence about her that just seemed to uncoil people, no matter how tightly they might've been wound.

There was a light smile on her face now, and she looked impressed that he had remembered.

"To answer your question of why I'm here," she told him, "I work behind the scenes a bit with The Seelie Court. I might be a barista, but that's only one of my part-time jobs, you know. Besides barista and assistant, I'm a student aid for a school as well."

"It's really nice to see you again," Alec told her sincerely. He really did mean it. At least there was a familiar, friendly face around him now. Maia nodded slightly, then gestured a bit to the lights beyond the stage.

"Well, from the last time I saw you, it really looks like you blew up into a shining star, huh?"

Alec groaned a little, passing the back of his hand over his face tiredly, "Don't remind me, I'm about to go out for my interview, and I know for a fact that I'm going to screw up. Then I know for a fact that everyone's going to be disappointed in me because I'm not what they expected at all."

"And I know for a fact that you're a great guy," Maia replied without missing a beat, her voice strong without a hint of doubt, "Not many celebrities, even if they were rising celebrities, ever remember ordinary people like me, you know. The fact that you do shows a bit about your personality right there. And that's only one part of how good of a person you are."

"You really think so?" Alec asked, suddenly shy. He felt as if a heavy burden in his chest had suddenly turned much lighter, though.

Maia nodded at him encouragingly, "Just go out there and act like yourself. The reason people are tuning in to this interview is because they want to see you. Not someone you can act perfectly as, but they want to know the real Alec Lightwood."

The real him, the words seemed to echo on endlessly inside his head.

Alec opened his mouth to talk again, to say something back to her, to show Maia how much he really did appreciate the words of encouragement. Suddenly, there was a loud voice, only slightly muffled by distance that separated Alec and the speaker. It was graceful, bright and cheery.

"And now, let's welcome one of Hollywood's quickly rising, most handsome actors, Alexander Gideon Lightwood!"

Alec turned to Maia again, and she looked amused. Her thin hand gave him a friendly, supportive push towards the stage.

"And that's your cue to go," she told him, "just be Alec Lightwood, that shouldn't be too hard for you."

Just to be himself, that was what everyone kept on telling him. Alec felt as if it was just now that he was really starting to take the words pass his ears and into his heart.

Maybe things wouldn't go so horribly wrong after all.