"Why did you let me eat 2 desserts?" I groan to Danny. It feels like my stomach is about to explode. "I'm not a massive chocolate fan, and you love it, it made perfect sense." He chuckles back.
"Be thankful that you have a partner who's willing to give up their dessert for you, I only ever get 1 dessert, Robbie says he has a separate stomach that's sole use is for desserts and sweet things." Lizzie grumbles at me.
"How's the food baby coming along?" She adds, watching as I lean back in my chair and hold my belly like I was 6 months pregnant. "I feel ready to pop" I moan again, "although I agree with the second stomach purely for desserts, no matter how full I am, I can always find room for dessert." I say with a wink.
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We moved back into the original room a while ago, i wasn't happy with the whole having to move after so much food thing, and complained the whole time. Fortunately Danny is used to whinging, and provided me with a tummy settling jager.
We've spent the last couple of hours mingling, me following Danny round like a lost sick puppy, repeating the same phrase over and over when being introduced to new people. "Hi (insert person's name here), it's a pleasure to meet you, I hope you're having as good of an evening as we are". Then I pretend to listen as they talk about filming. Occasionally joining in when the conversation moves on.
Right now however, we're standing in a small group, a couple of different conversations going on around us.
"Mind if we steal your girlfriend for a bit." Lizzie asks Danny. He turns to look at me, smirking as he does so. It takes me a hot minute to tear my eyes from the dazzling emeralds that belong to the stunning blonde that stands besides Lizzie.
"Sure" He says "Just make sure to not kill her yeah? Her sister would actually kill me." I scoff but follow the two ladies in front of me.
"You looked like you needed saving back there, we thought maybe you'd like to join us. We've had enough of talking, and have decided it's dancing time." Scarlett says. A real smile graces my lips for the first time in the last 2 hours, I have been waiting for us to be done with the mingling so I could get to the dancing! "Oh thank god" I exclaim "I'm not sure how many more filming stories I could listen to. Why does everyone only want to talk about work?" I ask no one in particular.
We've been dancing in a small group for around 45 minutes when Danny finally joins us. "So this is where you ran off to then". I laugh at his comment, as if he didn't agree to let them 'steal me' for a bit. "I mean, yeah. You we're doing boring work mingling and I was doing the fun dancing stuff" I exclaim "although I really could use a drink now" I say with a pout. "Fine, come with me to the bar and I'll get you a drink". I do an almost happy dance as we tell the group we're going off to the bar.
"So, I sense tension between you and a certain green eyed lady" He teases me as we wait at the bar. "Oh no, you don't get to comment on that. I can't believe you didn't tell me she would be here! You knew I fancied her, how many times have we gone over our top 3 famous people. . . Pretty sure you're never supposed to meet them though." I say the last bit in a whisper, scratching my own head a bit.
"Look, I knew you'd freak out if I mentioned it. Besides, you've done so well! Not an awkward comment in sight so far!" He says nudging my shoulder.
"Yeah, that's very unlike me! Although if you could hear my inner monologue you'd definitely think differently." I admit. "But, it doesn't matter either way. I'm your pretend girlfriend at the moment, and she's a married woman who's straight. We'll get through tonight, then I can go back to pretending that if we ever met, she'd find me irresistibly charming and fall madly in love with me." I joke, smirking up at him.
"What I really want to know is who's Sarah?" He just looks at me. "She's just a friend, she's a makeup artist, we get on well on set. She's really sweet actually . . ." He says, trailing off at the end. "You like her" I say as a matter of fact. "What? No, no I don't." I simply smile ahead, raising 1 eyebrow. He huffs "OK, yeah, maybe I do. But I have a girlfriend, don't forget, so nothing will happen there. That's if she even likes me."
"Hey, get to know her more, be a friend and decide if you like her like that or not. I'm only your fake girlfriend for tonight, you can always have a fake break up at any point. You know what the best thing about a fake breakup is?" I ask. He shakes his head. "You can have any break up you want. You can come out as the good guy, and your fake girlfriend can attest to it too." I say gently punching his arm.
"Did I ever tell you how much I love you're stupid face?" Danny asks me, pulling me closer and pinching my cheeks. I hate that! And he knows it, that's why he does it. It reminds me of being a kid when all my aunts and parents' friends would pinch my cheeks too hard. . . . That shit hurts!
"I swear to god Danny, we're about to have a fake breakup right now if you don't cut it out." I say pushing him away from me. "Bloody big goof" I throw in as an afterthought.
We spent the rest of the night dancing, laughing and drinking. Although I switched to water part way through, I didn't want to get too drunk. Eventually we make our way back to the hotel, as the amazingly kind best friend that I am, I allow Danny to share the bed with me. Not that I had much choice, he basically passed out on it as soon as he got In the room.
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Danny snores 10x worse when he's been drinking. I know this, I've known this for a long time, but i still forgot to bring my ear plugs to block him out. It's like a tractor engine sleeping next to me.
I rub my hands over my face in frustration, pushing my arms and legs into the bed as I groan. Looking over at the clock I can see it's 5:30am, we got back at 3am, I've been trying to sleep for a while. I decided to give up and get up and grab a shower. Throwing on some sweats I decide to go and try to find a coffee shop that's open.
I've been walking for around 30 minutes when I stumble across a cute little coffee shop. There's no one else In there, but I need coffee so I decided to chance it.
I've been sitting for about 20 minutes, reflecting on the night before, running through all the cringe things I said and did. . . The hangxiety is real, i no longer fear hangovers, i fear the anxiety of the morning after. I hear someone clear their throat and look up to see Scarlett looking down at me, head tilted and single eyebrow raised. . . .she's been standing there for a bit hasn't she? I'm such an idiot.
"So, do you mind if I sit?" She asks.
"Oh, uh, what?" I laugh awkwardly. "Sorry, um, in a world of my own." I say, looking back down at the table.
She chuckles, the smile on her face growing as she looks at the free chair across from me, then back at me. "I don't think I've ever had to ask someone 3 times if they minded if I sat with them". What. . . . Ohhhhh, I never actually answered her question, stupid Harley, stupid. I admonish myself.
I look up at her flashing my signature cheeky smile "it'll cost ya, that pastry looks pretty tasty". She laughs at that as she takes the seat and slides a small paper bag over to me "good thing I bought 2 then" She winks.
I pull the bag over and peek inside, clutching my hand to my chest as I dramatically sigh out and exclaim "a girl after my own heart".
She gives me the old side eye, confused at my lame attempt at flirting. I realise I probably shouldn't have said that, but I just can't help myself, I really don't know how to engage my brain before speaking sometimes.
Instead of saying anything else, I decided to embrace the silence, so I divert my eyes away from her and busy myself with stuffing my face with the pastry.
After some small talk, i decide I should probably head back, so I finish the last of my pastry ready to go.
"Oh, um,you've got a little. . ." Scarlett says whilst pointing to her own mouth. "Oh, how embarrassing" I mumble whilst wiping my mouth, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. "Not quite got it" She laughs "here, let me" she says, getting up to lean over the table. I freeze like a deer in headlights as I sense the atmosphere between us changing, the playful smile at her lips slowly disappearing as she gently places her hand under my chin, using her thumb to softly brush over my bottom lip. "There you go, all gone" she almost whispers, her eyes never leaving my lips as she stands there still holding my chin.
Is it just me or is it hot in here? I'm pretty sure my face is hotter than the sun, as for my heart? I can feel it hammering in my chest, I'm genuinely concerned that I'm about to have a heart attack, I mean, it's not unheard of, right?
Wait what, was she that close a second ago? I swear she's gotten closer in the last few seconds, confusion floods my face as I try to work out if I had in fact moved forward. But now I think about it, I have the urge to close the gap, it's like a magnetic pull as my face slowly inches towards hers, I'm sure hers is moving towards mine too?
Suddenly, her eyes widen and she awkwardly clears her throat, moving back whilst pulling her hand from my face at lightning speed as if I burnt her. Huh, maybe my face really is hotter than the sun? That's plausible, right?
"Thanks" I say awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. I clear my own throat a little, and croak out "I should be getting back now" my eyes never leaving hers. "I'm probably going to get another coffee, long day" She replies, she refuses to meet my eyes. This is so weird. I feel embarrassed, confused and annoyed all at the same time, embarrassed that I actually leaned in to her. What the actual fuck was I thinking? And then confused and annoyed, because I'm sure she was leaning in too, did I imagine that? She did lean in, and she was staring at my lips too, definitely staring at my lips. . . But she WAS getting food off of my mouth so she had to look at my mouth for that. Oh god, it was all me wasn't it? Of course it was, the fear on her face when she realised I was leaning in, and the lightning fast movements to put space between us. Oh god. . . OK, yup, I gotta get out of here before I die of embarrassment.
With that, I basically nod in acknowledgement, practically tripping over myself to get out of there as fast as I can. I can feel the heat running through my body, feeling my heart thump in my chest, although for a different reason than it was thumping 2 minutes ago for. I just need to put some space between me and the coffee shop, and then stop to catch my breath.