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"Sorry. I like someone."
It sounded so dumb. She likes someone. So she can't. She was single, but she was acting like she wasn't. To answer like that sounded so infantile, out of any other possible way, but that was the response she was standing on.
Jacob looked down at her with his deep brown eyes, as if trying to search for an answer that just wasn't there. After a moment, he sighed.
"Mel, I don't want to cross any lines, but that guy has given you so much trouble. Last time there was a huge media blowout about him, you looked like you hadn't eaten in days."
"My personal life is no one's business," she cut him off and got up from the couch in her trailer.
"Wait, Mel—"
Realizing he offended her, he reached out to hold her arm.
"You just got back to being yourself, that's all I mean... We all love having fun with you on set. We don't want that taken away. Do you really need a guy who stresses you out this much? All this drama today because of one date yesterday?"
"The only person stressing me out right now is you."
She pulled her hand away. She really tried to not be so harsh on him. He came from a good place, but that overstepping felt threatening.
It was like the air was deflated out of Jacob's body. He tried to replay the conversation, trying to figure out where he said the wrong thing, and how he could make it better. His brain went a mile a minute, but this conversation was unsalvageable.
He always felt like, even with all the fun they had, Melina propped a wall between them. Whenever he tried to get closer, or whenever the members of a group outing slowly slipped away, she'd leave with the last person. It was as though she didn't want to be alone with him, and he couldn't figure out why.
Until he learned about the disaster with Benito. What happened when she was working as a crew member on set, and how he broke her heart. She would never mix work with pleasure again. She couldn't allow herself to get close to Jacob because there was a mutual attraction, no matter how much she tried to suffocate it.
He wanted to show her that things could be different with him. If she'd let him. If she'd take down the wall fully.
"I know you only care about me, Jacob. I know you're coming from a good place... but,"
Melina looked up at him and said the one thing she could rely on the most in this world:
"I can take care of myself."
And just like that. That wall became higher and more impenetrable.
//
Benito texted her that he was in the visitor's parking. She internally groaned. It was a bit of a walk from her trailer, but he'd need a verified pass to park any closer.
