Beth
"No, I am not wearing that," I said looking at the outfit Claire's stylist held up.
"And why the hell not?" He snapped.
"Because it looks like something I'd wear to my funeral," I snapped back.
Marquise scoffed, "do you have any idea who designed this?"
I rolled my eyes, "Beyonce could've crapped that out for all I care and I still wouldn't wear it." which was a lie because if Beyonce did crap it out I'd at least consider it because...duh it's the Queen Bee.
Marquise was livid, literally shaking but I didn't care.
"Why can't I go like this?" I gestured to my current outfit. I had black skinny jeans with a cropped band tee and my low cut converse on my feet.
"Because you look like an angsty teenager, who has no business being with an actress like Claire," he threw the outfit at me which I caught. "Now put this on."
I was about to cuss him out when Claire came out of the makeshift changeroom in the living room wearing a white dress that came up just above the knee and nude heels.
"What's all the commotion about? It sounded like world war 3 was about to start."
I couldn't lie, she looked pretty but then again, she always looked pretty, which would be really annoying if Claire wasn't so nice all the time.
"Why does she get to wear that, while I'm stuck with this...mess?" I held the outfit up to my body and cringed in the mirror.
I heard Claire laugh as she looked through the rack of clothes against the wall.
"Because I trust her with her fashion choices," he waved a sassy finger at me, "you, not so much."
Before I had a chance to retaliate, a hanger was thrust into my hands, replacing the one Marquise gave me.
"Try this one, I think it would suit you better," Claire said.
I let out a frustrated sigh as I slipped into the change room.
"Claire, honey. I love you and I said that I trust your fashion choices, but your choice in women is questionable. At least her fashion choices are," I heard him say.
Claire giggled, "she keeps me on my toes."
"I'm sure she does," he replied unamused.
I finished putting on the outfit and stepped out.
Claire's eyes landed on me and her eyes lit up, "you look great!" She beamed.
I looked in the mirror and I had to admit, I didn't look too bad. Gone was the cropped top, skinny jeans, and chucks. In its place was a striped navy blue and white top, a fitted navy blue blazer, white shorts, and white heels. It wouldn't be my go-to outfit but I was seriously considering changing up my style now that I knew I looked good in something other than skinny jeans.
Marquise grunted as he started putting outfits back into garment bags. I strode over to Claire and leaned in, "Claire, I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but I think you should fire bozo over there." Claire laughed out loud.
Marquise's head snapped to us and it honestly scared the crap out of me. This guy had to be part owl or something. "I heard that!"
"Good! You were supposed to," I stuck my tongue out at him.
Marquise narrowed his eyes at me while Claire continued laughing quietly. "Thank you for saving me from wearing that awful outfit," I whispered.
"You're welcome."
She smiled but then it faded a little, "shoot I forgot my earrings in my room," she walked to her room taking small fast steps.
"You know, believe it or not, I like you," Marquise said as he zipped up the last bag.
I eyed him. Well, this was awkward because I'm pretty sure he was gay. I cleared my throat, "sorry I'm taken."
He rolled his eyes, "not like that," he looked me up and down, "you're gorgeous but you're lacking a specific male part I'm attracted to."
I shuddered as he laughed. "But you have some sass in you which I love," he smiled. "God knows Claire needs someone like you in her life."
I was about to ask what he meant when Claire came into the room, putting her earrings on, "are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's do this," I exhaled.
Claire
Beth sat in the chair next to me while Natalie and Sara worked on her.
I stared at the questions that were going to be asked in my lap, practicing my answers in my head. Satisfied with my answer, I looked down at the next question and gulped.
How did you and your girlfriend meet?
Well, we couldn't tell them the truth, so it looks like we had to come up with a lie. I looked up to see if Beth was done and my heart skipped a beat.
Why? I don't know, maybe it was something I ate.
Beth was easy on the eyes, she didn't need to do her hair or makeup for people to notice her, but my goodness, seeing her dolled up made me feel like a potato next to her.
"Elizabeth is it?" Natalie asked.
Beth nodded her head.
"Have you ever thought of becoming an actress? I'm almost 100% sure your looks could rival even some of the actresses in the industry now."
Beth blushed, "thank you, but my girl will always be at the top, right Claire?" She looked at me in the mirror.
It was my turn to blush and my mouth apparently couldn't form any words so I just nodded my head.
Sara gasped, "ohmygosh are you guys dating?"
Beth nodded with a smile.
"That is so cute!"
"Trust me, I can't believe it either," I said quietly.
I saw Beth raise an eyebrow at me before Natalie announced that she was done.
Beth stared at herself in the mirror and smiled at both Natalie and Sara, "wow, you guys are miracle workers."
Natalie made a face, "hardly. We barely did anything."
They both moved to leave our dressing room but Sara stuck her head back in, "I'm so happy for you guys," she winked.
Then it was just Beth and me in the room alone. Ever since she moved in, we've never been alone and it was a little awkward.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable with that comment," she apologized. "Emily told me to lay it on thick today."
I cleared my throat," no, you did the right thing. Sorry, I'm still trying to get comfortable with it." I handed her the paper, "I think we should get our stories straight about how we met."
I watched as she read the questions, "we can say we met at the bar. It's not really a lie," she said her eyes still on the paper.
"But it's not the whole truth," I finished for her. "I like it."
She smiled before turning her attention back to the paper.
Beth
There was a knock at the door and one of the writers of the talk show asked Claire to get ready.
I got up from my seat and put an awkward hand on Claire's forearm, "knock em dead...honey." I saw her face tense up for a second before she put on a smile.
"Claire will do her interview for the movie, but how would you like to be interviewed as well?" The writer turned to me.
I could feel the color drain from my face. This wasn't part of the plan. I was just supposed to show up, get participation points, not actually have to go out there.
I looked to Claire for help but she looked just as shocked as I was.
"S-sure," I smiled weakly.
"Great!! I'll get someone in here to mic you up in a couple minutes," she said.
Claire opened her mouth but she didn't get a chance to say anything because she was ushered out. She turned her head around and gave me a concerned look before she turned a corner.
The door closed and that meant I only have a few minutes to myself. The only thing heard in the dressing room was the sound of my labored breathing, why was there no air in here?
I pulled out my phone quickly and dialed my mom's number. She picked up on the second ring.
"Hi, honey."
"Mom," I breathed out.
"What's wrong Elizabeth?"
I smiled into the phone, my mom didn't even need to see to know something was up.
"Mom, I'm going to be on the news tonight."
I heard her breathe heavily into the phone, "did you put another person in an arm lock?"
I rolled my eyes, "this isn't about that. Listen, mom, I'm about to do an interview but I wanted you to hear it from me first instead of somewhere else."
She waited for me to continue.
"Mom, I'm in a relationship with Claire Edwards."
There was silence on the other side for a couple seconds, "You're what? I didn't even know you were attracted to women, Beth."
I couldn't say anything, mostly because I didn't want to lie anymore to mom more than I had to.
She must've taken my silence as shame because her voice softened, "honey, whether you brought home and boy or a girl I would've loved you just the same."
I winced at the hurt in her voice, "I don't know if I'm attracted to all women mom. But I do like Claire. This is all kind of confusing and overwhelming right now." I sighed into the phone, "it's a really new relationship, but I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
She chuckled, "Oh honey don't worry about that. When can we meet her? Charlie misses you a lot, she asks about you almost every day."
I smiled at the comment. Charlie was my 10-year-old sister who looked up to me even though I told her a was a bad role model.
There was a knock at the door and a head poked in with a mic pack. "Soon mom I promise I'll visit soon. I have to go now, give Charlie a hug for me," I hung up the phone giving the stage crew a smile, "sorry about that, you know how moms can be."
She smiled back, "no worries," she held up the battery pack and mic, "I just need to clip this into your shirt and bottoms." She walked towards me, clipping it on the lapel of my blazer. "If you want to follow me, you can wait backstage until I give you the green light."
I nodded nervously, "yeah, sure."
She led me into different hallways, past people with headphones and mics, and through a curtain. She signaled me to stop, "just wait right here until Jane calls your name," she whispered, I nodded absentmindedly staring at the monitor in front of me.
Claire sat cross-legged laughing politely at what Jane said. Beth studied Claire on the screen, she always looked so poised and sophisticated. She had no idea why Nathan Carter would want to hide their relationship because Claire Edwards was like the top 1% in Hollywood. She shrugged, it wasn't her business and she was getting paid to basically be around Claire.
"So Claire, you've been making headlines these days with your new movie." Jane waited a beat until she gave Claire a sly grin, "and the for your love life."
I heard the audience cheer as they encouraged Claire to clarify.
I watched Claire nod, "yes, I've seen quite a few magazines with the same pictures," she laughed, "but she is someone who's really important to me."
I was surprised, I've never seen Claire's movies so I wasn't familiar with her acting skills, but I thought Claire was really good. Even I believed everything Claire said and I knew about the whole scam.
Jane smiled, "can I ask if you two are seeing each other?"
Claire smiled and everyone in the audience held their breath, "we are." There was a collection of groans from the men and mostly applause from everyone else.
Jane's eyes twinkled, "that's so good to hear, is it alright if you tell us something about her?"
Claire giggled, "I think she could probably do a better job than I could."
"Everyone please welcome Elizabeth James," Jane clapped standing up.
I was pushed gently from behind, my legs started moving like they had a mind of its own, and my mouth was suddenly very dry. Why did I think I can do this?
Claire
I turned around in my chair with a smile to greet Beth but was met with a stone face. I watched her scan the crowd quickly with an uneasy smile and fear in her eyes.
She kept the smile on her face as came closer, giving Jane a hug first, then she turned to me. I pulled her into my arms, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "breathe," I whispered in her ear, "I'm here."
I watched her take an audible breathe giving me a smile before she turned to the audience giving a small wave.
The applause finally calmed and we all took a seat.
"Elizabeth, it's nice to meet you," Jane smiled.
"The pleasure's all mine," Beth smiled or tried to. I reached over the armrest of my chair and took her hand, trying to comfort her in some way. Her hand tensed under mine for a second, but then she visibly relaxed.
Jane looked like she was going to go crazy, "I can't lie, you two look so adorable together."
I urged Beth to answer with my hand. "Thank you," she laughed restlessly, "I'm sorry, I'm just really nervous." She turned to me, "but Claire somehow manages to calm me down," She offered me a grateful smile and for a minute we just stared into each other's eyes. Something about the way she stared at me was so intimate that it made my heart beat fast.
I averted my eyes suddenly feeling shy and I looked out at the audience and they all had smiles on their faces, giddy at our moment.
"So, how did you two meet? what's the story?" Jane asked as she leaned forward, anticipating the answer.
Oh my God, the story. Beth and I didn't come up with a story. My mind was racing a mile a minute trying to formulate a story in my head. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Beth's voice.
"I saw her outside the bar I work at and when I first saw her," she put her hands up in front of her, "I swear, I couldn't breathe. As corny as it is to say, she literally took my breath away. I knew I just had to talk to her." She turned to me, "and to my surprise, she seems to like my company."
Wow. She's good, I almost believed her.
Beth leaned in close to Jane as if she was telling a secret, "she still doesn't know how bad I tricked her into dating me."
The audience chuckled at her joke.
I swatted her arm in a joking way, "can you blame me?" I jerked a thumb in her direction, talking to Jane, "she's just so darn adorable. This one is such a charmer."
There was a collective "awww" from the audience and from Jane.
"Well I'm rooting for this relationship and I'm sure the audience is too right?" She asked the crowd and they responded with loud cheering. "Thank you so much for coming, Claire and Elizabeth. Don't forget to check out Claire's movie 'Diamonds' it comes out November 30th!"
"And, we're on break!"
Two producers came up to Beth and I, taking off our mics. Jane twisted her body as a makeup artist did a touch-up, "I'm not going to lie when I first saw headlines about your relationship I didn't really believe it. But after seeing you two together," she smiled at them, "the chemistry is definitely there."
"Thank you, we were a little worried about doing the interview so we're so glad that the news was well received," I answered. I stood up and gave Jane a hug, "thank you for being a great interviewer."
"Not at all, thank you for agreeing to do the interview." Jane smiled at Beth and shook her hand, "it was nice meeting you Elizabeth."
"The pleasure's all mine, I watch your show religiously."
Jane's face brightened but before she could say another word, the producers yelled out, "1 minute, everyone!"
"And that's our cue to leave," I laughed. I walked with Beth back towards our dressing room when I felt a delicate hand on the small of my back. I instantly felt electricity run up and down my body.
"it's just for show," I felt her hot breath on my neck and almost shivered.
When we were in the clear, her hand left my body and I missed it. Why? I couldn't tell you but it was kind of weird.
[A/N]: that really awkward moment when I was supposed to update last night but I fell asleep lol my bad...see you next week :)