FALLING AROUND YOU ➵ DANIEL SEAVEY ➵ SEQUEL

31 ➵ Truth Be Told

My hand lingered to her cheek, brushing my thumb over it slightly. Valerie hid her emotions too well. Sometimes, I believed that she's a more experienced actress than I am. Too many things have changed in her life in the last few months, making her anxiety attacks more and more frequent. I dare say it scared me leaving her at the apartment alone, frightened that one will occur when I'm not near her to help.

She pulled her hand over mine. "I'll be fine, I promise."

Hesitant, I nodded, grabbing my small purse off my bed. Valerie sat the edge of it, watching me grab the last few details of my attire. My dress was satin and long, the navy blue complimenting the silver earrings I picked out. I looked in the mirror one last time, playings with a few strands from my updo to frame my face. My hands gripped over my body, inspecting the dress.

I judged myself too much that night, only because I knew I would see him. It's been weeks since our last encounter. Really, I didn't know what I expected from him, but I knew my feelings were clear.

I loved Daniel Seavey.

There wasn't really a specific moment I knew. I just know when he was gone, I longed for him. When he was here, I still longed for him, because even when he was with me, he wasn't. There but not there. There were moments where his body and soul weren't connected, his mind drifting off, and I only hoped I would be the place he wandered.

Although few of our outings have been forced, I never felt like a moment with him was ordained. I knew why management decided to pair us together. My acting career needed a boost, away from my modeling one, and Daniel needed an alibi always from his previous love stories to the media. It was a solid arrangement.

I just didn't expect myself to really fall for him, even though you never really expect those things in the first place.

It wasn't pretend for me anymore. It was all real to me.

Our fires kiss was during an award show, one that I couldn't quite remember anymore. We were both on the red carpet, hand in hand, when he kissed me in front of the cameras. Management told us to sell our relationship to the audience, make them pay for another action shot. Daniel was just doing his job. This was when we just started the arrangement, just started pretending, but I also think that's when I stopped pretending, when things stopped feeling forced.

"Are you going to see him tonight?" Valerie stood next to me in the mirror, both looking at ourselves now.

I sighed, "I'm not sure."

She gave me a grimace. "He hasn't called, has he?"

"Not once."

The last time Daniel and I spoke was the day of the masquerade ball. He told me that he had unfinished business, someone still constantly on his mind, and it wouldn't be fair to me to string me along. It was a wake up call that he knew my feelings for him, but didn't reciprocate them. I was told that we could still be friends, go to the ball together as originally planned, as friends, but I didn't want to anymore.

I gave my ticket and a lame excuse to Valerie, her going in my place.

Still, there was always a little part of me that thought we were more, thought that we could have been more. It didn't hurt me that he left, but it hurt knowing what we could have built if he stayed.

My expectations for him hurt me more than he did.

I soon grabbed my purse, hugging Valerie goodbye. She would probably retire to her old routine of watching a romantic comedy or read another book with a pint of mint ice cream. It was slowly becoming summer break for her, so she didn't have too much homework online to still do.