Be Brave With Me

Chapter Sixteen

"Mesdames and Messieurs. Today is the day. We're so glad you joined us for today's early broadcast of the Cannes Festival. Or Festival de Cannes as the French would say. Ha!"

"Your French is getting better, Tom! Shall we talk about who we're going to see on tonight's red carpet? It's an exciting one, for sure! The Carmichaels, people. We'll get to see The Carmichaels!"

***

Aura tripped for the fifth time on the cobble stones of the boulevard. She balled her fists at her sides, shaking with pent-up nerves, and stomped one foot. Those fuc- frigging heels!

"Woah, woah, woah. Breathe for me, babe." Jess reached out with both hands to steady her, clasping her elbows. "You've got to relax, Aurelia. Do you hear me? We're a few minutes away from the biggest red carpet appearance of your entire career, and you're all wound up. That's not gonna work tonight."

You don't say?

Not about to snap at the one person who had made all of this possible, she closed her eyes and took in a labored breath. Trying her best to stop the shaking and to calm down her nervous energy.

Jess pretended to adjust something on her dress, giving her time to collect herself and space from the rest of the crew. "It might be your biggest red carpet as of yet, but you've done this before, babe. You'll be fine. Trust me."

Aura kept her eyes shut, shutting out the world around her for one last moment, stretched her neck from side to side, shifted the weight on her already aching feet, let her shoulders slump. One last moment without adhering to Jess' favorite word of all time - poise.

She tried to relax as best as she could, but forcing it only made it worse.

Was it just a few hours ago that she had been at ease enough to take a nap in the middle of the most important day of life? She tried to remember what had-

Right. Theo.

Wrapped up in his arms and in his scent, she had been able to breathe and find a moment of calm in the eye of a hurricane that had been tossing and twirling her into perfection. She didn't know if she would have made it all the way here - all dolled up, about to face her parents and the world - without that nap in the library.

Without Theo by her side.

He had been her springboard today, helping her to gather every measly pinch of courage she could find in herself to jump off.

She already had jumped off, she reminded herself. Walking across that narrow plank in these heels had been no joke. Now, all that was left was the perfect execution.

Poise. No big splashes. Ten points all around.

She would be fine.

No, screw that. Her stomach was executing perfect twist dives. She was going to be sick any second. She wasn't fine.

Her nails buried into Jess' skin. "Can you walk me through tonight's plan one more time? Just to make sure?"

Jess patted her hand and pulled her along. "Come on. We've planned everything down to a T. Nothing will go wrong, you'll see."

"And that means...? You were always kinda hazy on the details, Jess."

"That means I've taken care of everything. Don't worry."

Aura dug in her heels and leaned back - as much as she could pull off without losing her balance again. "Jess... don't you think it's time for some details? What did my parents say? Where do we meet up? Do we head out onto the carpet together? Do I join them when they've already walked onto it?"