Press tours were the bane of Y/Ns existence. Normally, she managed to push herself through the hours of strenuous questions about her love life or her fitness regime, those questions appeared in every interview for online gossip sites and magezines and she found herself repeating the same answers, the only difference being the identity of the journalist sat in front of her, who only cared about receiving something juicy that would sell their articles. Y/N and her co-stars often found amusement in making the interview awkward when they were faced with a particularly personal and probing question. Once in a while, the interviewer was a film fanatic themselves and they were the interviews Y/N looked forward to most. Press tours were worth it for those few chances she got to completely geek out and express what she loved most about acting, while throwing in a few anecdotes that always managed to end up on Youtube and attract thousands of views.
She didn't have many complaints about what she did for a living, she loved her job and everyone could see that. However, the one thing that really got under her skin was fake news. Fake news about herself in particular.
Rising to fame at a young age comes with its difficulties. Y/N's every move had been observed since the age of 11. Tabloids and media outlets try their hardest to bring down anyone with an ounce of talent and success, it had happened for years and it wasn't going to stop any time soon. The acting world was ruthless. One wrong move and you were yesterdays news, someone new would replace you almost instantly. Y/N was all too familiar with this, having seen first hand many co-stars and peers fall at this hurdle.
She was a professional. It was a rare occurrence for her to forget a line or miss a cue, it was even rarer for her to be caught in a scandal, so no one could blame her for feeling utterly shocked when she saw her name plastered across tabloids and trending on every social media platform.
The photos that were causing outrage amongst the public were taken during a brief break on the final day of this particular press junket. She didn't have to think twice when the opportunity arose to escape from the cramped room in which she had been asked hundreds of questions and she had made the choice to venture into the city to catch some fresh air. Y/N hadn't been alone in her desire to leave that room, her co-star Josh had jumped at the opportunity and the pair strolled hurriedly through the swamped streets of New York City.
Y/N recognised the photos that were spreading like wildfire. The location in which those photos were taken was only a short distance from where she had spent majority of her day. They had settled at a table outside of a coffee shop on the high street, Josh had carried their drinks to their table after paying for them, despite Y/N's protests. The area was loud, too loud. When conversing, both Y/N and Josh resorted to raising their voices in the hope that the other would be able to distinguish their words from the collection of other conversations that surrounded them. It had reached the point where shouting wasn't enough and the conversation was unable to flow as each remark made by one of them was followed up with a "Huh what?" In response. The tactic that seemed most appropriate to Y/N was to lean forward and shout, she was invading Josh's personal space and the distance between them resembled many scenes that they had shot in their soon to be released film but Josh seemed to reciprocate the girls' actions without any complaint.
She had a tendency of speaking with such dedication and passion which definitely made it difficult to observe any going-ons in the surrounding environment. Having a conversation with someone was a task in itself and if you weren't going to direct your undivided attention to it, what was even the point? At least, that's what Y/N thought. This gave rise to why she hadn't so much as noticed the paparazzi, who were situated across the street, aiming their cameras in the direction of the table at which she was sat.
The arms of the clock seemed to tick by far too quickly for Y/Ns liking and as the small hand reached 3, a hoard of office workers with dark bags piled under their weary eyes and ties that had loosened little by little over the course of the day approached the coffee shop. Their monotone voices were pooling into one, and what Y/N believed was already a crowded street felt as if it was going to burst with the amount of people meandering along it. She leaned forward, crossing one leg over the other and cupped a perfectly manicured hand around Josh's rosy cheek. She grinned before responding to his query of if she wanted to return to the press tour with a jokey "no". The gap between their faces was decreasing as the seconds passed. Josh chuckled at her remark, knowing there was some truth behind her desire to not return to the small, over heated room and in almost an instant, the sound of camera clicks and the harsh glare of lights flashing drew both Y/N and Josh out of their trance. Her head swung to find the culprit but her eyes were instead met with a mob of middle-aged men dressed in black shirts, sunglasses and caps, looking far too pleased with what they had just captured.
