Page 62 of The Spotlight Effect

“And you look pretty,” Grayson replies. Butterflies fill my stomach at those words and see the fact as we are wearing matching outfits. It feels very couple-like, and strangely, I like it.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Shall we go out there together?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I answer and hold out my hand for him to take.

“Noah will get introduced before us,” he tells me. We get more time to hold hands which I’m actually kind of happy about. His hand basically engulfs mine and it’s warmer than I thought it would be. The warmth is basically courses though my body from him and I love it.

Before we go on, I start to get a little nervous, this will be seen by millions of people and so will the TV show. I don’t even know how to answer these questions and that thirty-minute session with Emerson seems like not enough right now. “You can do this,” Gray whispers, squeezing my hand before he’s pulling me out to the set we have for this interview. I walk out smiling with him and take the seat between him and Noah.

“You all look so stunning,” Serria, the host, says. “So, Alexia, how are you feeling?” Sierra changes the subject quickly.

“I feel over the moon,” I answer, smiling, letting out some air at the end.

“And how do you two feel about her being the real winner of the sweepstakes after the plagiarism that came out?” she asks.

“It was definitely very shocking at first, but this gave us a very talented actress and singer,” Noah answers.

“Yeah, no more tantrums or stalling because she’s not ready,” Grayson says, causing him and Noah to laugh.

The interview goes on with more questions about my personal life which I steer from answering and I answer the ones not so revealing.

“Grayson, Alexia, I think everyone is wondering–are you two dating?” Sierra asks with a smirk. Of course they would ask this, it’s what all the Hollywood news sites are thinking.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Grayson answers for us. This answer seems to please Sierra because she wraps everything up then we take some pictures with her before changing into our costumes to start filming for the day.

I’m only in about two scenes and I have no words. They are flashback scenes about my character and Grayson’s character relationship before my character went missing.

Filming has become my favorite and least favorite part of my days. It’s so much fun but it’s also exhausting. We are about to shoot the last scene of the day, which doesn’t include me, so I’m taking off my makeup and brushing out my hair while I wait for them to finish. I put my hair back in its original hairstyle I came with and apply some mascara and lip gloss.

“Hey, you wanna go somewhere?” Grayson asks from the door of my dressing room.

“It’s seven p.m.,” I say.

“What better time to have an adventure,'' Grayson says.

“You’re so spontaneous,” I say, getting up out of the vanity chair.

“Of course, life is no fun when it’s planned,'' he says. “See you in ten minutes.”

I change into the outfit I came in and freshen up before cleaning up my dressing room.

Walking to Grayson's car, I find him leaning on the passenger door. He opens the door for me, “You’re not gonna take me straight home, are you?” I ask.

“Nope, but you’ll love the adventure, Grumpy. Get in,” he replies. I’m a bit skeptical but I get inside the car and wait for him to get in as well. I have a strong feeling this will be a long night. Grayson gets into the car and starts to back out.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“Are you hungry?” he replies with the question.

“Not right now, I had a snack like thirty minutes ago,” I answer.

“Okay then, to the place I want to show you.”

“Which is?”

“Wait and see.” That answer scares me.

---