Spotlight (Yuri Plisetsky x Reader) ✔

2. Hope

The cameras flashed in my face, causing me to blink furiously and cover my eyes.

"Miss  [L/N], what's in stall for you Now? Any future plans?" One interviewer asked loudly.

"Umm, I..."

"Any gossip we should know about? You were getting pretty close with that actor before..."

"No, what? I'm not..."

I've always hated press conferences. I'm stuck behind a desk on a little podium with the series director and producer, while everybody tries to ask a question for each of their stupid tabloids. Every time this happens, after every single interviewer pushes a recording device of some sort into my face, I end up feeling embarrassed and stupid, rather than confident and proud.

I tried answering all the questions, but everyone was so desperate to ask something, each seemed oblivious to the others around them.

Thankfully, as what always happens, the bodyguards came to my rescue. "Hey! Hey! One at a time!" One big man, who I believed to be called Jim, yelled. "How is she supposed to answer all of your questions if they're  all yelled out at the same time?!"

The crowd went quiet. Then, still selfishly desperate, it was a fight to see which hand I would pick first.

My manager nodded at me to go ahead and pick amongst the hands. "Umm, yes, you in the red jumper?" I asked an interviewer in the front. He smiled, and took out his notebook.

"Miss  [L/N], I hear you're going to Russia soon to film your new movie. How do feel about the movie and its location?"

I nodded, calming down slightly. "Yeah, I'm very excited about that. I've never been to St Petersburg before, so I'm hoping it's as good as I have been told. As far as the movie is concerned, I haven't really heard a lot about it other than it's a drama. I suppose I'll have to see the script. But they've said that I'll have to learn to ice skate, which will be great, I hope."

A slight murmur and some laughs from the otherwise bleak audience. More hands. I looked around, biting my lip slightly.

"Umm, yeah? In the green dress?" I asked, pointing at a bored looking, thin woman.

"Hello. You seem to be doing quite well for yourself these days. Do you miss home at all? Your friends? Family?"

A louder murmur from the crowd. They were all obviously keen to know, this woman was just leading the pack.

I was clever not to mention my complete lack of any friends.

"Umm, well, yeah, I guess I miss my family quite a bit, esespecially around the holidays, because I really want to be with them, but I can't."

"And what about your friends? My daughter, she really wants to go down the same route as you and take drama, but that would mean leaving her many friends. Any advice?"

My manager walked up to me and muttered into the microphone. "Only one question please. We're very busy..."

"No, no, I'll answer it. It's okay," I said. The woman smiled gratefully. I nodded to my manager, who gave in and walked back over to his seat. I tapped on the microphone and took a deep breath.

"Well, Umm, really, I'm not the best person to ask," I started. I closed my eyes and let the murmurs pass. "Because, well, I started acting at thirteen, so I never really had a lot of experience making friends. Umm, I was bullied a lot before I left for acting school. So I'm sorry, but it was easy for me to leave to do my job. I wouldn't know how to answer that."

I didn't realise that I had my eyes closed until I opened them and saw that the whole crowd had gone silent. They were staring in disbelief. The woman in the green dress looked completely embarrassed at asking the question, and looked away.

"Umm, any more questions?" I asked.

Slowly, the hands raised again. I gulped before asking somebody else.

After what felt like an eternity, we finished with claps from the audience as we left the room. As I walked down the corridor, my manager threw his arms around my shoulder and ruffled my hair.

"I'm sorry about that, kid. But it couldn't be avoided, you know?"

"No, it's okay." I looked away, out of the window that looked out over the busy streets.

My manager cleared his throat and smiled. "I have some good news for you."

I turned to him. "Yeah?"

"We thought you deserved a break, so we're flying out to Russia a week early so that you can sightsee, while I sort out most of the paperwork and stuff.

My eyes went wide and I grinned. "No way! Really?! That's amazing! Thank you!"

"Don't mention it."

Once we reached outside my room, he leaned against the walk, and looked at his phone. "Okay, so, you have an interview with the Russian magazine tomorrow. First impressions and all that. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you'll be on the front cover! So there'll be a photo shoot for that as wel tomorrow. They'll send the photos and the magazine will be out before we arrive in St Petersburg."

"Oh, cool! Okay. So, all day tomorrow?"

"That's right. The interviewer is coming here, then after the interview we'll take you to the photographer here."

"Okay. Is that all?"

"Just remember to smile. I'm flying out to Vegas tomorrow morning, early, so I won't see you till Monday. Good luck, and enjoy."

And with that, he rushed down the corridor, with his phone to his ear.

I sighed, then opened the door inside.

I passed out on to the bed as soon as I saw it, and thought of Russia and film crews and learning how to ice skate.