"Good, good. Hold that pose, I love that pose."
Kerri remained in her pose while the photographer clicked away. Then she tucked her chin in and pushed one of her shoulders forward. She remained in that position for a few seconds before moving on to another pose.
"Perfect. Let's get you into another outfit."
She changed out of her current off-shoulder peach-colored dress and white mary-jane shoes and into a pair of skinny jeans and a sleeveless pastel yellow top. She walked barefooted to the makeup chair and settled in while a makeup artist worked on her face and another dusted powder on her arms.
Then she felt her hair getting tugged at, probably by the hairstylist to create another look for this outfit.
The second round of makeup was much faster.
"Done."
Kerri put on her heels and strode over to the white backdrop. There was now a light gray couch in the middle of the set, and she took a seat while the photographer's assistant adjusted the lighting and reflector until the photographer nodded and waved him off.
Another round of endless posing continued while the photographer clicked away, sometimes giving her instructions on where he wanted her limbs.
"How much longer will you take?" a woman in a black sleeveless dress asked. The woman's long mocha-brown hair was swept over to rest on one side of her shoulders, the frame of her matte black glasses holding her bangs by the side of her face.
In one of her hands was an iPad in a brown leather case. Kerri supposed that was her interviewer for the magazine feature.
The photographer took a few more shots before turning to the woman. "She's all yours."
Kerri stood and took the woman's outstretched hands.
"Hi, Kerri, I'm Kimberly. We have a conference room prepared for you."
"Let me remove my makeup first."
"Of course. Your assistant already knows where to go. She'll take you there when you're ready."
"Okay. Great."
"Is there anything I can get you? Coffee? Smoothie?"
"Water is enough." She returned to the seat that she had spent hours on. She wished she could wash her hair as well, but that would have to wait.
After she changed her clothes, she put on her sunglasses and followed Dana down for her interview.
"Hi, Kerri." Kimberly fiddled with her iPad. "Do you need anything?"
"I'm fine." She took a gulp of water. "We can begin."
Kimberly started with the usual questions regarding Kerri's latest movie and went on to ask about her new role in the movie. "Everyone's surprised that you were chosen for the role. There will be quite a few action scenes, right?"
She nodded. "I think I got it because of those scenes."
Kimberly arched her brow.
"At the audition, they were making everyone watch a scene and try their best to repeat it on the spot. It wasn't easy and most people were rather clueless."
"And you were able to do that?"
Kerri smiled. "I was just watching. After all, I was there for another role." The sweet girl-next-door role that she'd always played in. "But I thought it would be fun to give it a try."
"I heard you nailed it."
"It really was like learning a new dance."
"Ah ... your competitive dancing days really helped then."
Cringing ever so slightly at the reminder of those days, she covered her face with her hand.
"I was heartbroken when you decided to give up dancing. I watched every single episode."
The reality show recording her competitive dancing days was her mother's doing, and Kerri had hated it. She'd picked up dancing because when she was at the studio, she was a dancer. She wasn't John and Claudia Adams's daughter; she didn't have paparazzi trying to get photos of her.
But the moment she started getting trophies, her mother began negotiations with the TV station. Kerri endured it for nearly four years, then she was done. Besides, by then, she had two regular shows. "My schedule for filming had started clashing with my training. I couldn't handle both at the same time."
"But it helped in your audition."
"I think I was the only one who was able to get most of the moves after one demonstration, but I need to work on looking stronger, tougher. That will make the moves more realistic."
"I can't wait to see the results." Then, of course, the questions moved on to her love life. "I had actually prepared some questions regarding you and Taylor, but I noticed an interesting tweet that went viral yesterday."
"Did you?" Kerri said and laughed.
"So, are you and Nick back together? There are a lot of fans hoping for that."
"It's been nice seeing him again, and I'm really excited about his album."
"So you've heard it."
She nodded. "A couple of songs are about me, so he thought it would be polite to give me a heads-up."
"Do you like the songs?"
"Yes, even the one that talks about how fickle-minded I am." She laughed.
"Did you guys have a long talk after the interview?"
"Not really, not immediately after."
"He was quite protective of you."
"He always has been. Looking back, most of the time we quarreled was because of concern and the fierce sense of protectiveness we had toward each other."
"I noticed you haven't answered my question. Are you two back together?"
She smiled. "No, we're not."
"Do you think you'll ever get back with him? After what he did."
"I can't predict the future. I don't know what will happen a week, month, or year from now. But I've forgiven him for cheating. We were both young and stupid."
"Did you cheat on him?"
"No."
"So you weren't as stupid as he was."
Kerri pursed her lips, but allowed the corner of her lips to curl. "In that aspect—perhaps. Regardless, it was all in the past."
"So you've forgiven him."
"Completely."
"But you're still heartbroken."
"No," she said with absolute certainty. Any hint of sadness would only result in more hatred against Nick.
"But on the interview you did with him, you started crying when that topic came up."
She pinched her lips and thought about what Kimberly had said. She formulated the answer in her head before voicing it. "We broke up around a week after I found out he'd cheated. I ignored him for most of that week, so we didn't really get to talk much about that," she said. "I mean he apologized—profusely. But I'd never sat down and talked to him about it."
"The questions must have brought up a lot of memories."
She drew a deep breath through her nose as she nodded. Truth was, the good memories brought more ache then the bad.
"Do you still love him?"
Kerri laughed and shook her head. "You know he's attached now."
"So you do love him, but you can't say yes because he's attached."
She didn't want things to get murkier. "I was with him for five years, and we were great friends before we were a couple. So in some ways, I'll always love him."
"I know you've said before that you're not really into social media, but I was wondering if you saw what Hannah posted after you posted your statement."
She shook her head. But I can guess.
Kimberly tapped on her iPad and moved it toward her.
A photo of Hannah and Nick kissing was on the screen. She had expected it, but it still took effort to maintain the casualness of the atmosphere. She laughed softly. "Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the part about how I'll always love him."
Kimberly laughed. "Can we expect to see more of you two together?"
"Maybe. We do go to the same church."
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