one of them - j.flatters

iv. capturing her beauty

NOVEMBER 2022 - FLORIDA
"Now, before I let you explore the rest of the park, what can you say to the people and fans before they watch the movie?" The interviewer asked to the cast, all smiling big for the cameras as Bailey was, once again, the first one to spoke her answer like the confident leader she was.

"Enjoy the experience because it's one of a kind." Bailey exclaimed as the rest of them nodded, agreeing with her words.

"Thank you. Our cameraman will now follow you guys around the park, enjoy the rides."

The cast stood up from their chair, Eliana stretching her legs as they had been crossed for the past half hour, trying to be statue like and her most elegant self like her mother had taught her way before her press days. Now an adult, Eliana didn't need a chaperone and was more than happy to travel alone, in peace. So when the production team announced the girl she would take part of the month long press tour, she didn't mention it to her parents until last minute, scared that Annie would offer, or maybe even force her to join. As the sound man adjusted all of their microphones, the interviewer got up from her chair and shook their hands one by one before stopping in front of Eliana.

"I must say, I was very much blown away by your performance. You've got a great future ahead of you."

"Uh, thank you." The girl simply responded, stuttering the two words that hardly wanted to escape her lips, shaking the interviewer's hand for far too long before letting go. The comment had caught her off guard, it had been a very long time since someone had seen her acting, as the sequel of Avatar was her debut role and it had taken five years for it to come out. The Martin girl was not used to it but it didn't mean she didn't like it, actually the words of this complete stranger gave her the recognition she didn't know she had craved, causing her to miss the industry she had disappeared from. "Thank you." She repeated in a more confident voice before focusing her attention elsewhere, sensing movements at her side. She turned her head to see Jamie, crouched, showing his back to a possible audience as he picked up something from the ground. While turning around, Jamie bumped into Eliana's curious figure, catching glimpses of her bright blue eyes before she dropped them to what he was holding, a smile cranking on her lips.

"You're still carrying that thing around?" Her tone laced with statement rather than questioning, her eyes widening to the fact that Jamie hadn't lost his habit of filming everything and everyone. "How's the documentary?"

"Well, you know, we're near the end so it's almost ready." Jamie shyly answered, his cheeks flustered by Eliana's proximity, remembering all of the time he had taken out that same camera to simply captured a moment with her, a nostalgic feeling weighting on his chest but also a devastating one when he recalled their last encounter.

"When can we see it?" For the first time, the girl met his eyes, locking her gaze with his for far more than five seconds, her eyebrows scrunched together as she desperately try to red the boy before her. It used to be so simple for her to know exactly what he was thinking but over the years, Jamie had built himself some pretty solid walls, shutting almost everyone out. For the people around, their interaction seemed mundane but if you looked closer, you could clearly see that these two were having a painful yet long overdue reunion, coming together for the first time after years of being apart. Jamie was the first to break contact, his head quickly dropping as he let out a slight sigh, pursing his lips together as he shook away the memories.

"I have years worth of footage so it's going to take me some time to sort and edit it all but I hope soon." He said, bringing the camera's eyecup closer to his face and pointing it toward the girl. Eliana nervously chuckled, automatically lifting her hands to avoid the lens of capturing her image, insecure of the makeup she had removed, the hair she had fixed and the blouse that was too loose. The boy childishly smiling when he caught glimpses of her in the viewer. "Come on." He chuckled, moving the camera through her arms, persistent. "Come on, Lia."

Eliana's laugh faded away as soon she heard the childhood nickname that Jamie had given her all of those years ago, a shorten version of her name that nobody used except for the boy. Jamie red the expression on his friend's face, he knew her far too well, and she was the kind of person to wear her thoughts on her face. You could easily saw each thoughts that passed on her face. The boy pressed the button to stop recording, lowering the camera to his hips while he hooked the neck strap back, passing it through his head to safely secured it. While calling out their names, Jack waved at the duo, instructing them that the tour was about to start. Before catching up behind the rest of her castmates who had already started walking into the park, Eliana flashed a quick smile to Jamie, ignoring all of the feelings that had came flooding back from the past, the pair quickly joining their friends. With only her smile, Eliana befriended once again Jamie, telling him that things could almost be the same as it was before. Eliana's arm hooking with Bailey's the same way they used to do when walking on set. "How do you do it?" Bailey frowned to her friend's question, not understanding what she meant by it. "The interview. How can you be so natural and have all those perfect answers."

"My agent prepped me." She laughed, her tone laced with obviousness which made Eliana realize how out of touch she had been with the industry, understanding that her friend had continued to grow her career as she purposely hadn't, almost regretting it. "But let's settle it and say I just have that natural flow and charisma."

"Totally." Eliana snickered, playfully agreeing the compliments the curly haired girl had thrown to herself as her gaze flickered from Bailey to the three walking before them. Jamie and Jack messing around with Trinity, pushing her so her body collided back and forth between the two boys. Trinity could be all grown up but she was still the youngest, the baby of them all and Eliana, being protective, couldn't help herself but to treat her as so. "Hey, careful with her!" Eliana warned the boys, as her and Bailey caught up with the rest. "She isn't some toy you can throw around."

"I had forgotten how much you've always been such a party pooper." Jack chuckled, throwing his arm around the girl's neck and bringing her closer.

"That's not fair. I'm always the one cleaning up after your bullshit." She protested, pushing the boy away, exaggerating her reaction to provoke him into feeling bad. But he didn't nor did Jamie as he knew he had also been the culprit of some of the bullshit Eliana had to clean up a few times. "You too." She twirled on her feet and pointed at the boy, causing him to surprisingly raise his eyebrows at her sudden comment, sights of their time in 2017 flashing before his eyes. Back in their friendship's early days where there were no awkward tension between the two. Jamie couldn't help but playfully smirk at the Martin girl when he realized that even if they had grown apart, continued their life without one another in it, somehow Eliana still felt very familiar to the boy.

"Momma's mad." Jamie shifted his gaze above Eliana's head, a sour face plastered on his face that both he and Jack shared, provoking the girl even more as she rolled her eyes at the boys while Bailey and Trinity watched with amused expressions.

"Ah," Bailey deeply sighed, the smile on her face pronouncing her dimples' holes even more. "feels like we're right back in the tank."