𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 | sebastian stan

part eighteen.

Melanie woke up like always.  Put her hair up like always. Took a shower.  Got dressed.

After putting clothes on, she took a break to have breakfast and look at her phone.  She saw the notification badge on the email app and opened it.   Seeing the blue "unread" dot by an email from celebnews.com, she was drawn to open it.  

She read the tabloid, wide-eyed all the way through.  

She had to go see him.  Now.  It couldn't wait. 

-- 

She got in her car frantically and drove to his hotel — a bigger one a couple streets away called The Centennial.

She knew his room number, as he was talking to her about the place last night.  She went up in the elevator, and knocked three times, quickly.  When she didn't get an answer within two seconds, she did it again.

"Who is it?" called Seb's voice.

"It's Melanie," she replied immediately.

"Melanie?" said Sebastian.  He opened the door, and she immediately walked in and started ranting.

"Oh, Seb, I never should have posted that picture.  I should have paid attention to what I was doing, especially after that first article came out, and now I don't know what to do, because even if I delete it, they still saw it, and now they know who I am and I can't even —"

She stopped short, as she looked at Sebastian for the first time since she had practically barged in.  He was wearing pants, and his hair was wet.  No shirt.

"Oh," she said, looking him up and down.  "Um, sorry."

"That's okay," he said.  "Now, what happened?"

"There's another article," she told him.  "It has my name in it."

She sat down on the bed, where a gray t-shirt was lying.  She didn't pass it to him.

"Do you have it?" he asked.  Melanie nodded, and handed him her phone.  He read it.

"That's us," he said, pointing to it.  "It does have your name in it."

"Clearly.  And I don't know what to do now, because it's already been published, everyone's already seen it, and oh no — what if the producer sees it, they know I'm working on the movie, they don't want people to know you're in it yet, and you know what, maybe we shouldn't do this anymore, even though I really, really want to, because I'm scared that they'll say something, and then you could get in trouble, and —"

"Whoa.  Backtrack. Melanie, this isnt your fault."

"But it is, I —"

"It's theirs.  For going in and poking into my life.  Our lives."

"I know, but —"

She was going to say something else... but she got distracted.

Sebastian raised his brows and smiled.

"You want me to put the shirt on?"

"I mean... I don't want you to."

"Uh-huh," he said, taking the gray tee from the bed and putting it on.  "You were saying?"

"I — I mean, I don't want to stop this, and I guess it isn't my fault, but if this keeps happening... if people keep snapping these pictures and following you — us — around..."

"Melanie, I understand.  But soon enough we won't have to worry about it anymore.  The production's moving to California next month."

"Aren't there more paparazzi in California?"

Sebastian paused for a moment, about to speak. 

"Ah —" He shook his head.  "Well, we'll just have to do everything privately, then.  Until production is over and they stop trailing me all over the place."

"Privately?"

"I don't know, as in hotel lobby restaurants and/ or takeout in hotel rooms."

"Sounds like a plan," she said.

"And you're okay?" he checked.  

She nodded, looking into his eyes.  "I'm okay.  Thank you. Just... got flustered."

They were having a moment.  It seemed only reasonable to have a long kiss accompany it, right?  He almost forced her backward onto the bed, but she put her hand on his chest and pushed away, still smiling.

"Hey, we have to go to work, remember?" she said.  "Maybe another time."

Sebastian stood back up.  "Sorry," he said.

"That's okay," smiled Mel.  "Come on, I can drive you. We can pick up takeout on the way back."

a.n.:

two chapters?  molly? is she okay?

yes, actually, she's so okay she's publishing FOUND and ANTICIPATION today.  yay!

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molly :)