Page 44 of You. Me. Us.

“There’s no need to run far, your stunt double will take over seconds after you leave the room, let’s pick up at the chamber door.” Vera nodded, her arms crossed but no tension in her expression.

Hillary nodded, and then stumbled over her line, her cheeks flushing as she tried again. The words seemed to tangle on her tongue, and Julius could see the frustration building in her eyes.

It hurt him to see the confidence she’d shown at the table read slipping away with each misstep. He wanted nothing more than to rush to her side, to whisper words of encouragement and reassurance. But he knew better than to interrupt, knew that she needed to find her own way through this.

As the scene went on, Hillary’s nerves seemed to get the better of her. She missed a cue, then another, her eyes darting to the director with growing anxiety. Julius clenched his fists,fighting the urge to speak up, to defend her. She was trying so hard, and it killed him to see her floundering.

“Let’s pick this up tomorrow,” Vera called out.

Hillary practically fled the second the words were out. Julius started to go after her, his heart in his throat, but before he could take more than a step, the assistant director called his name.

“Julius, while you’re here, let’s run through the chase out of the chamber. Just you, I want to make certain you don’t embody a certain elf when you run as a badass bounty hunter.”

He hesitated, torn between his duty to his job and his desire to comfort Hillary. But he knew he couldn’t leave the crew waiting. With a sigh, he turned away, his thoughts still swirling with worry.

As he took his place on set, Julius tried to push aside his concerns and focus on his own performance. But even as he delivered his lines, a part of him remained attuned to Hillary, wondering if she was okay, if she’d managed to shake off the nerves that had gripped her so tightly.

He could only hope to connect with her later and do anything to take her mind off what happened. She had this, he wasn’t wrong about her.

nineteen

. . .

Hillary’s handstrembled as she gripped them together, her knuckles turning white. Thankfully, the driver didn’t seem to notice the tension swirling through her as he drove silently. The car turned with ease and didn’t race, a complete difference to the chaos inside her head.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered to herself, her voice cracking. “I’m going to ruin everything. The movie, the article for Muse, my entire career.” Hillary tried to force herself to breathe out and in, but the action just wouldn’t come easily.

The weight of her doubts pressed down on Hillary, suffocating her with every passing mile toward the hotel. The road seemed to stretch endlessly before her, mirroring the stretch of uncertainty that lay ahead. She couldn’t shake the feeling of impending failure, the fear that she would falter at this critical moment in her life.

As the car wound through the city streets, Hillary’s mind wandered to all the ways she could stumble and fall. What if she froze in front of the camera, forgetting her lines and betraying her lack of acting experience? What if her awkwardness overshadowed Julius’ effortless performance, exposing herinadequacy in stark contrast? The scenarios played out like a cruel montage in her mind, each scene more damning than the last.

The pressure to succeed bore down on her like a relentless storm, threatening to wash away everything she had worked so hard to build. The thought of disappointing Olivia, of proving all her self-doubts right, made her heart ache with a depth she hadn’t known before. How could she face herself in the mirror if she failed so spectacularly on this grand stage?

Hillary’s breaths came in shallow gasps now, each one a struggle against the rising tide of panic within her. She felt like a tiny boat adrift in a tempestuous sea, at the mercy of forces beyond her control. The film set loomed closer with every passing second, a stark reminder of the challenges awaiting her on the other side.

“Miss? Are you alright back there?” Dark brown eyes looked at her through the rear-view mirror, concern shining at her.

“Yes,” she tried to force the calm she didn’t feel. “Just tired. Ready to get back.”

He nodded, content with her answer and then his gaze shifted out of the mirror.

Despite her best efforts to steady herself, Hillary couldn’t escape the gnawing sense of dread that coiled tight around her heart. The prospect of stepping into this new role, both on and off-screen, felt like an insurmountable mountain looming over her fragile form. She was teetering on the edge of a precipice, unsure if she had the strength to leap or if she would be swallowed whole by the abyss below.

Julius’s encouraging words echoed in her mind. The way he looked at her with those captivating blue eyes, making her feel like she could conquer the world. Like she was meant for something greater than hiding behind her notebook and pen.

Each word he had spoken felt like a lifeline thrown to her from a world she had only dreamt of.

Hillary shook her head, trying to dispel everything he’d made her believe because he’d absolutely lost his mind. Just like she had. What was she thinking, letting him convince her she could be an actress? She was a journalist, not a movie star. This whole thing was a huge mistake.

“I have to get out of here,” she muttered, running a hand through her chestnut hair. “I need to go back to New York, back to my desk at Muse. Where I belong.”

But even as the words left her lips, a small part of her hesitated. The part that had come alive under Julius’s gaze, that had felt the thrill of stepping out of her comfort zone.

The hotel loomed ahead, its bright lights a beacon in the night. Hillary’s heart raced as she walked, the building growing closer and closer.

The car finally came to a stop, jolting Hillary back to reality with a brutal force. She sat there for a moment, eyes fixed on the glass hotel doors, somehow a beacon of dread that called her forward.

“Thank you,” she rushed the words out, never more grateful than this moment that it was a paid driver and not an Uber or taxi driver she would have to pause to pay.

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