ummmmmm......^^^
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Ella stared at herself in the mirror. Ironing her dress with her hands, she tried to smile as best she could. It was one of those creepy moments where she was practicing smiling to see if she could do it for real.
There were too many people in her life to think about, alone time was all she wanted recently. Even though Timothée followed her everywhere, she begged him to stay in the other room while she dressed for her night.
In the other room: Lexie, Mia, Tara, Matt and Timothée all waited for her. Mia's legs were shaking with nerves. None of them knew what to expect from the following evening, no one had any idea what she was going to say.
Ella opened the door a fraction and peered at all her friends who were a shaky mess. She opened it a bit more and watched Timothée's head snap up. She motioned for him to come in so he scrambled to his feet and jogged towards her.
"Ella...wow." He stopped in his tracks when he saw her but she did the same. He was wearing a light blue suit with pink roses embroidered over it.
"T, you're gonna show me up looking like that." She let out a loose smile as he walked towards her, completely ignoring her compliment and focusing on constructing his own.
"You're so beautiful." He gasped, holding out his hands and staring at her whole image. She hated his eyes on her so she took his hands and pulled him close to her so his eyes were on her face and not her body.
"So I look okay then?" She placed a cold hand on his cheek which sent shivers all over over him, raising every hair he had.
"You look more than okay." It took all his power not to scoop her up and kiss her hard but he knew she didn't want that. Little did he know that she was wondering at the very same moment whether she could kiss him without bursting into tears all over again. She couldn't take the risk, having just done her make up. "Come on then." He sliced the tension right up and stepped back from her. Ella closed her eyes for a second.
"Let's go." She said when she opened them, he intertwined their hands and led her out of the room.
Everyone stood up when she entered, all their breaths being taken away. She didn't look anyone in the eye, just gathered everything she had and walked towards the door.
She could feel everyone's eyes on her, even when they had small talk she knew there was an infinitesimal part of their minds thinking about it. Not Timmy though, his eyes were on everyone but her. He was looking at everyone looking at her.
They arrived at the hotel not long after they left, Mia and Tara on each of Ella's arms. Timothy following behind with Lexie and Matt.
They escorted her directly into the hotel where she would be giving her press conference. Ella started to hyperventilate when all the flashing lights went off and she fast walked up the stairs and into the lobby.
Timothée pushed past the crowd inside, fighting all the guests to try and get to her but she was inaccessible. Mia and Tara escorted her into the back room that gave her access to the stage while Timothée's manager grabbed him to take photos.
Ella sat politely on a single dinner chair in the room while everyone hustled around her. Everything was going wrong, she could tell, but no one was saying anything to her.
It had been a good ten minutes before she realised that Timmy was not among the people who were stressing around her.
"Ella." Mia's voice startled her. "It's time." She confessed.
"Where's Timmy?" She asked immediately. Mia looked around and then seemed to become even more stressed.
"I don't know, I'm sure he'll come in soon." She reassured her. Ella shook her head.
"I'm not going on unless I know he's standing next to me." She demanded, the stress starting to reach her. Mia didn't need this, everything was going tits up and the last thing she needed was Ella to not co operate.
Timmy pushed his way towards the door he saw Ella go through, as soon as he got there he saw Mia burst out of it. She grabbed him and pulled him through the door, his whole management team following after.
Timmy jogged to Ella who was now pacing. When she noticed him she hit him in the chest. He let out a short laugh.
"Where were you?" She asked, "I thought you were going to be at my side?" She followed, feeling extremely insecure about the situation.
"I'm right here, go you're late." He raised his eyebrows, feeling nothing but pride. He knew what she was about to do was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done. Ella stared at the door she was about to walk through and shook her head.
"Ella Lawrence!" She heard Mia call through the door. She looked up at Timmy who was just nodding to her. She rolled her eyes and walked up the steps to the stage where she saw a ton of people staring at her.
In front was a long table with a podium sat right next to it. Ella's humour and happiness just dropped as soon as she saw all the judging faces. She stopped at the podium and stared out at the crowd.
"Thank you, for joining me and my team today." Her voice shook as she spoke. She looked to her right to see her team sat staring at her and then to her left she saw Timmy sat side stage staring at her. "First, I am just going to explain why we are here today and then we will take questions." She looked down at the paper with her notes and tried to focus on not shaking.
"A week ago, my life was okay. I had a boyfriend, career opportunities, security and undisturbed nights. Now, I feel betrayed, unsafe and scared to close my eyes for too long."
She paused and let out a sigh.
"I shouldn't feel awkward and scared talking about this. I shouldn't have to talk about this to such a large group of people who are going to tell more people until the whole world knows but that is the life I live in." She said frustrated. Timmy knew she had gone off book and immediately became worried.
"I was assaulted; sexually by a man who I looked up to and I know many others do to." She confessed, the whole room started buzzing and hung onto every word. However, Ella had never said it out loud before and had to take a moment to get over it and focus on not crying.
"I know that doesn't explain the photos you have all seen and the drama that has been caused by it but that is the underlying issue at hand here. Men or women using their power to abuse others emotionally or physically should not be seen as okay and has been going on for too long.
"By your reaction, I assume you all have morals which was something the people involved certainly lacked."
"Suffice to say that night was not my favourite in the industry and while I love my job so very much, I will be taking a break to regain my trust in it." Her eyes watered as she spoke, as she realised what she was saying. "It breaks my heart that I can't do what I love because my mind and body won't physically allow me to. It's stopped my trust in relationships as well as this industry and even though most of the time I feel as if I have nothing left for me, I am devoting all my time to the me too organisation." She finished but before she stepped away she leant towards the microphone.
"That night does not define me but it does define the cracks in this industry and I am going to fight to fix them even if I have to go around and fill them all myself." She let out a breath and stepped back. She heard someone clap from the side of the stage until suddenly the whole room was clapping.
Her legs were frozen on the spot as she accepted the claps and whistles that were coming from everyone in front of her. It took everything in her not to cry as she realised how many people supported her. She flicked her head sideways to Timmy, Lexie and Matt who were all on their feet clapping.
She moved to the table, trying not to shake as she walked to her seat. Mia, Tara, Robbie and even Faye were sat among her management.
"Okay, now we will take questions." Robbie said into his microphone. Ella took a deep breath and waited for the interrogation to begin.
"Hello Miss Lawrence, Arthur Miles for the Sun here." Ella felt the need to roll her eyes, knowing they didn't give a shit about her plans, only her personal relationship. "You were seen with Timothée Chalamet outside of that hotel that night and I'm sure everyone has noticed that he is here tonight. Are you two back together?" He asked with no shame.
"Jesus Christ" Mia muttered away from the microphone. Ella just gave a small smile and looked down for a moment.
"I owe my life, maybe my sanity to Timothée. To explain everything that happened that night, I would need to write a series of books but long story short; Timothée and I are not back together but he is one of the few people I trust at the moment so I need him." She looked to her left where he had his arms crossed but the biggest smile on his face.
"Thank you." He said and sat down again.
"Hello Ella, New York Times here." A woman stood up, Ella smiled and nodded.
"Hello." She replied.
"I admire your courage to come on this stage today and tell your story but I can't help but wonder if blaming the whole industry is a bit strong and perhaps damaging to your career." Ella looked at the table and sighed.
"You're assuming I happened to run into the only man in Hollywood to take advantage of young actresses. If you were right, I would pipe down but you're not so in response that I would say: if there is a whole organisation devoted to raising awareness for this then that goes to show it's not just one man; it's been going on for decades and it's disgusting."
"Ella." Mia muttered to try and calm her down but Ella just ignored her.
"And as for 'damaging to my career', if no director wants to work with me ever again then let it be, I'll focus my time on making sure this never happens." She finished.
Ella answered a few more questions that weren't as irrelevant or cruel before leaving the stage. She walked straight past Timothée, Matt and Lexie and into the bathroom to throw up.
When she emerged, Lexie passed her a piece of gum and a glass of rosé. She sipped the wine and chewed the gum. Timothée was talking to someone while she basically down the wine. Lexie wrapped an arm around her and kissed her head.
"You were so good babe. I'm so proud." She whispered, Ella just nodded and continued to sip her wine.
"Hey." Timmy didn't stop, he just walked straight into her and picked her up. Lexie took the wine from her while Timmy hugged her tightly.
"I'm so proud Elle" he whispered as he squeezed her. Ella started to cry as she held on to him for dear life.