MOON

11

Renee's POV~

"Are you both insane or just incredibly stupid." Julia pours herself a glass of red wine as she leans against the kitchen counter. It's only noon, a little too early for alcohol but I don't dare stop her.

"Julia, can you just fix this without yelling at me?" I ask as I sit criss crossed on the couch, Tatum is on a facetime call with me. The camera faces me so she can't see Julia.

"Yell at you? I'm going to do more than yell at you, Renee! She's your photographer, not your fucking girlfriend." She gulps down the entire glass before pouring another one, "There's too many headlines for me to get rid of all of them. The only thing I can do is forbid you two to be alone together. The only times you'll be seen is during concerts, that's it."

"Julia, ease up!"

"No! Tatum, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Good. No more after parties for you, you take photos and leave. That's it." Julia sits on the couch beside me so she's now in the frame. "Understood?"

"Understood."

"Tatum."

"It's for the best, Renee. Plus, you got enough publicity over this entire scenario." I roll my eyes at her statement.

"See, the girl gets it. Now, you have an interview today and they are obviously going to ask about Tatum. What do you say?" Julia hands me her wine glass as she gets up off the couch.

I down the glass and look at Tatum on the phone. She's not paying attention, she's busy doing her makeup.

I admire her while she applies her usual light pink lip gloss. All I want in that moment is to kiss her like we did at the bar, I don't care about the consequences.. but from the looks of it, she only sees me as a friend.

When she looks back into the camera, I dart my eyes away. I glance back to make sure she didn't catch me but when I see that smug grin on her face, I know i've been caught.

"Did you hear me?" Julia says from the kitchen, I look over and see her now eating a banana.

"Hm?"

"When the interviewer asks about Tatum, what do you say?"

"Oh uh.." I look back at the phone, she's distracted again doing her mascara. "I deny all of the rumors. The photos don't show anything anyway."

"Correct, good girl. Now hang up the phone and let's get going." When I look back at Julia, I find her eating shredded cheese right out of the packaging.

I stifle my laugh and grab my purse and phone, "Tate, can I call you later?"

She stops doing her makeup then nods, "Yeah! I might not be home later but I'll answer."

I nod, "Bye honey."

"Bye, love."

She hangs up and I follow Julia out of her house and into her Jeep. A hot pink Jeep, I might add. Talk about causing a scene.

"Renee, I'm being serious about this. You need to figure out what you're doing with that girl because the press is having a field day."

"I'll figure it out.."

————

"So Renee," Jimmy Fallon, my personal favorite talk show host, is asking me questions. I sit on the chair comfortably, since he is the only person I have met that doesn't care about celebrities acting human.

"Yes Jimmy?"

"I couldn't help but notice that you released new music, specifically a new song." His audience claps their hands, "Pretty Girls."

I smile and nod, twirling a piece of hair between my fingers. "Yeah! It was a really fun song to write, I can't wait to eventually perform it live."

"I'd love to see it live!" His audience claps again. "But Renee, be honest with me here, alright? Is this song about.. a specific someone. Such as a photographer by any chance?"

I laugh and nearly say yes but I remember Julia's words, "No, I just wrote it for fun. I did see those rumors though, I just find it hard to see why anyone would believe them."

"Well, there you have it folks. Renee Rapp is still very much single."

I laugh at his sentence, "Yes, I am."

Jimmy moves onto a different subject before he offers me the chance to perform my new song here on his show. I have to turn down his offer because my management would hate me if I did that without permission.

After my interview, I leave and meet Julia back at my house.

"You did good, you could've done better but it's over now. The rumors already started to die down.. but now there's crazy fans on TikTok and Instagram making edits of you and Tatum. Control your fan base."

"I tried, Julia. Is that not good enough for you?"

She waves me off and leaves without saying anything else. I check the clock, it's nearly midnight which means it's 4 am in Pennsylvania. Too late to call Tate.

I do my night routine and crawl into bed, sighing after a very very long day.