Summer Rain

[26] Looking Up

Dedicated to im_smexy_1996 for the kind comment and messages, thank you!

Okay, serious question, if I were to edit these SaS & AR into one book and get it published, would you buy it?

--

(Unedited)

 

 

I'd never trade it in,

'Cause I've always wanted this,

And it's not a dream anymore, no,

It's not a dream anymore,

It's worth fighting for.

~Looking Up- Paramore

        It was probably the worst time to be distracted.

         I should've been concentrating, preparing for the dreaded interview, but I wasn't. We were about to go on in ten minutes and thoughts of Conner O'Conner and his cruel tactics were currently residing, angrily, in the back of my mind. Angrily, because I really should've been focusing on them, but wasn't, despite witnessing how bad Conner O'Conner could be in his interview with Gemma Travers. He had, in a very sly, subtle manner, made her admit her hatred for the movie company she was working for. Poor Gemma.

         There were two things that were really distracting me.

         First, there was Avril. It had been way too late to visit her after Owen had called, and Perri and Kaden had showed up at my apartment before I had even finished brushing my teeth, so I hadn't had time to visit her before the interview. I couldn't push what Owen had told me to the back of my mind, hard as I tried. It wasn't exactly one of those things that you could just forget.

         The second thing, was Devon. Shawn had somehow turned my calm, collected best friend into a mess of nerves. Devon was going to meet up with him now, to finally explain everything, and he was crazy nervous. I understood where he coming from, I guess, it might've been my twisted past, but that didn't make it any more of a light conversation over lunch. I just hoped that if Shawn was creeped out, he wouldn't shut Devon out, because I could tell that Devon actually really liked him.

         "Devon, it'll be fine,"  I told him for what seemed like the gazillionth time. I glanced nervously at the stage where Conner O'Conner was wrapping up his interview with Gemma Travers.

         "Raine, you and Kaden are on in two minutes," Brett told me, walking over. He and Kallie had an interview after me and Kaden so they had just arrived to get ready.

         "I know, I'll be there in a sec," I replied.

         He narrowed his eyes at me and before I could protest, stole the phone from my hand. "I'll talk to Devon. Go," he said, pointing to the side of the stage where Kaden was standing. I hesitated, glancing nervously at my phone in his hand. I couldn't exactly say Brett was the best person to give advice to someone. I wasn't either, but Brett's advice usually consisted of suggestions to fix things with X-rated activities. Brett sighed. "Okay, you've forgotten how to walk now," he remarked, grabbing my arm and dragging me to where Kaden was.

         "Brett, just d-" I started. Too late, he had already started walking away.  The last thing I heard before he was out of earshot was something about blowing. "Oh god," I muttered, bringing my hands up to cover my face. I had barely moved them when someone stopped me.

         "Stage makeup," Kaden reminded me, letting one of my hands drop. He kept my left hand in his right, interlocking our fingers. I sighed. Right, I had about a point of makeup on my face right now. Not only had they needed to cover the slight circles under my eyes, apparently I was pale enough to need some kind of tinted foundation, so I didn't look like a ghost on TV.

         "I'm kind of scared," I whispered as Gemma walked off stage, an annoyed glower on her pretty face. They were going into a short commercial break, which was enough time for us to meet Conner O'Conner, and for me to start panicking, but not enough time for me to stage an escape.

         "Don't be," he replied, his lips brushing my ear as he formed the words.

         "I just don't want to screw this up." All the other interviews I had done seemed easy compared to what I had just witnessed. Gemma Travers had been acting since she was five. She was used to this stuff, and he had still managed to make her slip up. All the other interviewers had asked simple questions, and while they might have been boring, or repetitive, I would rather go through them again than the prying questions Conner O'Conner was planning to ask. I wasn't sure if he got away with it because he was wildly popular with public, or if it was because he disguised them well. Probably a bit of both.

         "You won't," Kaden said, his thumb drawing soothing circles on the back of my hand. Before either of us could say another word, an assistant clipped microphones on both of us and ushered us on stage. There was a studio audience, so we were met with a chorus of screams as we stepped on stage. Right, this was live, so if I messed up, there was definitely no going back, or editing it out.

         Conner O'Conner, a man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties with short, brown hair and icy green eyes, stood up to greet us. "Kaden, so nice to see you again," he said, smiling when the audience cheered. The smile was fake, though, the audience couldn't see the way his pale eyes were examining me and Kaden, looking for our weaknesses, but I could. Or maybe I was just being paranoid.

         "You too, Conner," Kaden replied, with an equally fake smile. Then again, maybe not.

        They shook hands, then Conner O'Conner turned back to look at me. "Raine, pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you." I had a feeling he wanted to add something else, but couldn't, because he was supposed to look nice, and because the interview hasn't officially started yet.

        I forced what I hoped was a genuine smile. "You too," I said, using my best sweet-to-the-point-of-cavities voice. I held out a hand, but to my surprise, he hugged me instead, causing me to let go of Kaden's hand. Um, okay, totally wasn't expecting that. I resisted the urge to wince as a zipper on his leather jacket dug into my shoulder. I was wearing a strapless dress, so the metal was digging into my shoulder. Okay, he's either attempting to puncture a hole in my shoulder, or appear overly-friendly or... I glanced at Kaden from the corner of my eye. Could he possibly trying to make Kaden jealous? Really? The interview hadn't even really started yet!

        His plan didn't work though, because if Kaden was jealous, or even so much as to affected, he didn't show it. I pulled away after a couple seconds, after Conner O'Conner made no move to do so. I grabbed Kaden's hand, threading my fingers through his. Since I couldn't –sarcastically– say 'thanks for the help' without showing how much I disliked Conner O'Conner already, I settled for pinching him. He simply let out a low chuckle in response, eyes twinkling with amusement, letting me know Conner O'Conner's trick definitely hasn't worked.

        Someone, our interviewer, cleared his throat. "Let's take a seat," he suggested, gesturing to the chairs beside us. It was a little awkward, because while the chairs were big, they obviously weren't suited for two people, so I was practically on Kaden's lap. I wasn't sure whether or not they had done this on purpose.

        A couple seconds after we say down, someone started counting down from five. Then the red lights on the cameras scattered around the stage flickered on, signaling that we were now live. "Welcome back to the Today Show! I'm your host Conner O'Conner and we're just starting are much anticipated interview with Kaden Fleming and Raine Evans," he said, his voice booming through the room. He turned back to us. "How are you two this lovely summer day?"

        Whoa, okay, that was a little weird. He's all of a sudden exaggerated tones and charming smiles now. I mean, it wasn't like he hasn't been nice before, but now he was laying it thick. "We're good, Conner, thank you. And yourself?" Kaden answered, since I was still kinda attempted to hide how surprised I was.

        "I'm great, thanks. So tell me about Call Me Cupid, how's it going?" he asked, flashing a wide, charming smile. Okay, so he's starting off relatively easy.

        "Pretty well. Two more weeks until we're done, I think."

        "Is it weird playing characters who hate each other?" Okay, nope, that kind of escalated quickly. It was a trick question, sort of, but one we were prepared for.

        It was my turn to answer. "A little bit," I admitted. "But we don't hate each other for the whole movie."

        "Besides, our characters have chemistry," Kaden added, playfully pressing a kiss on my nose, then jabbing a hand into my side to tickle me. I didn't have to fake the squeal that left my mouth as I swatted his hand away since I was actually kind of ticklish there. "They would've done something like that. Except said it was 'annoying each other'," he continued, effectively and subtly defusing any doubt Conner O'Conner had stirred about whether or not we'd be good in Call Me Cupid. The studio audience was a good one, half of them were laughing, the other half 'awww'ing.

        "You said filming ends in two weeks?" he paused for us to nod. "What's going to happen to you and Raine then?" he asked. It was a pretty cruel question, but somehow he managed to disguise that with a sympathetic tone and smile.

        Kaden shrugged. "We'll be together, still, hopefully. I'm not letting her go that easily." Cue my blush and audience 'aww's.

        Conner O'Conner chuckled. "Looks like someone's whipped," he teased. The audience laughed and I forced a giggle, since it wasn't really all that funny. I had a feeling that comment was to try and get Kaden riled up.

        Kaden, who didn't fall for it and simply kissed my cheek, mindful of the makeup we had on. "Maybe I am."

        "So Raine, Kaden's been nicknamed the Heartbreaker Heir, because he doesn't date. How does it feel to be the only girl he's dated?" Connor O'Conner asked, eyes narrowing at Kaden's easy answer. It was almost unnoticeable, I could only tell because he was sitting directly across from me.

        Shoot. I hadn't expected that one. "Uh... I think I'm supposed to feel special," I blurted out, surprisingly drawing a couple chuckles from the audience. To my surprise, Kaden didn't wince at my answer and Conner O'Conner didn't smile triumphantly at its lameness. Probably because everyone thinks I'm trying to be funny.

        "You think?" he repeated. To the audience, he probably sounded amused, and charming, but to me, he sounded fake. Probably because he was. Eyes don't lie, and his were dull, no amusement twinkling in them at all. From behind him, offstage, I could see Perri wince, telling me Conner O'Conner was  indeed looking to create drama, and not amused at all.

        I shrugged, stalling slightly as I tried to think of a good response. "I don't really see Kaden like that," I finally answered. It was the best thing I could think of. It was okay, I think, because Perri relaxed and gave me a slight smile when she saw me watching her.

        "How do you know he won't cheat on you?" Conner O'Conner asked casually, as if he was asking about the weather. The audience gasped, then fell silent. I wasn't quite sure if they were surprised by the straight forward question itself, or how bluntly he had asked it. They were eagerly waiting my answer, though, I was sure of that much, at least.

        Kaden's hand tightened around mine. "Conner-"

        "I'd like Raine to answer, if that's alright, Kaden," our interviewer cut in. Whoa, okay, that had been pretty risky, especially since it was Kaden. He could probably buy the Today Show and fire Conner O'Conner, if he wanted to. Kaden looked like he was ready to either punch Conner O'Conner or storm off the stage. Both those options would've made things worse, so I lightly pinched Kaden's hand to let him know I could handle it.

        I decided to play along for a bit. Conner O'Conner was starting to really get on my nerves, I wanted this to backfire on him. It was risky, because it could possibly backfire on me even more, but if it worked, it would definitely be worth it. "I don't," I told him, using the same casual tone he had spoken in. Offstage, behind Conner O'Conner, Perri looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

        "Are you're not scared?" Conner O'Conner asked, raising an eyebrow.

        "No," I paused, letting the two letter word hang in the silent air for a moment. "Because I trust him," I said, making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world, keeping an innocent smile on my face. "Relationships are based on trust, after all," I added sweetly, hopefully killing any doubt Conner O'Conner had managed to raise. His slightly narrowed eyes and fake smile told me I had succeeded.

        Kaden pressed a light kiss on my temple, my hair hiding his smirk. He chuckled, quiet enough that his mic didn't pick it up. "Nice one," he whispered, so I was the only one who heard. I resisted the urge to grin victoriously.

        Raine Evans: 1, Conner O'Conner: 0.

***

        “Is she okay?” I asked as soon as I walked into the hospital waiting room. A couple people shot me annoyed looks, but I ignored them, focusing on the guy I only knew was Avril’s brother because of how much they looked alike. He was about three years older than me and like Avril, he had dark brown hair and eyes.

        Owen grimaced. “She’s not hurt. But she won’t tell me what happened.” Okay, that was a little weird. Avril used to tell Owen everything. He had pretty much been the only person she trusted. With how their parents treated them, they had been really close, closer than any other siblings I knew. “Do you think you can talk to her?”

        “I can try. But if she won’t tell you, I doubt she’ll tell me,” I told him honestly. Owen nodded and didn’t say anything else as he led me down the hall to Avril’s room. “Can I talk to her alone?” I asked when we got to her door. “No offense, it’s just if she doesn’t want you to know and you’re in the room…”

        He shook his head. “No, I get it,” he said, though he still looked a little upset. “I’ll go grab something to eat since hospital food is awful.” Owen smiled, though it didn’t really reach his eyes, showing that his grin was fake. Great, way to go, Raine. I thought, watching him walk down the hall. I sighed and shook the thought from my head as I pushed open Avril’s door.

        She looked up immediately as I walked in and grinned. “Hey,” she said clicking off the TV.

        “Hiya,” I replied, forcing a smile that I sincerely hoped looked more genuine than Owen’s weak one had. I may have a job that required faking a smile for the cameras almost all the time, but Avril knew me pretty well. Not to mention Avril was great at reading people. She was the one who had taught me to check the eyes to tell a fake smile from a real one, the hands for a lie and a bunch of other unconscious signals people made while talking.

        Like, I had expected, she didn’t fall for it. “He told you, didn’t he?” she asked, turning away from me, to stare at the blank TV in front of her. “Nothing happened.” Yeah right. Despite knowing how to read someone and knowing the signals of someone lying, Avril couldn’t lie. At least, not well enough to fool me.

        “Avril, it’s not… Right if he… Forced you. We need to know,” I told her, struggling to find the right words. “Please, Av, we’re not going to judge you. It’s not your fault if he did,” I begged when she stayed silent.

        She sighed. “He didn’t, Raine. Happy?” she said tonelessly.

        “No, because he still hurt you! Who was he?” Again, she didn’t answer. Why was she protecting him? He hurt her! Unless… “Av, I’m not going to judge you, I promise, but a relationship like that isn’t going to end well.” It was the only explanation I could think of, if he hadn’t raped her.

        “He wasn’t my boyfriend.” She paused, squeezing her eyes shut. “It was a lot worse than that.”

        “If you’re scared of him-” I started.

        Her eyes flew open. “I’m not,” she cut in before I could finish. Okay, well, I’m out of guesses now. And it looked like Avril wasn’t going to crack any time soon. I wonder if she’s ever going to tell anyone. I mean, she didn’t tell me, or Owen, and I wasn’t sure if there was someone else that she trusted in her life now, but I hadn’t seen anyone when I came to hospital. How bad was it? And who had that guy been? If he hadn’t raped her, or been an abusive boyfriend…

        Silence hung in the air.

        Just as I was about to let it drop and try talking about something else, she sighed and turned to meet my eyes. "Raine, I worked as a prostitute."

-READ ME-

Does that count as another cliffhanger? Yeah? Whoops. :3
Sorry it took so long to update. it's getting harder for me to write chapters, since the end's approaching, and it's gonna me over and... *sniffle* yeah.

Vote, if you found the interview guy annoying.
Comment, if the last line/Avril's answer surprised you.
Fan, if you'll be sad when this story's over.

Update: Aiming for Friday. Latest Monday.
Teaser: "She got in a car accident."
Question: If I were to get this book published, would you buy it? (Please, please, please answer? I'm actually thinking about it. It would need a lot of editing, but...)

~JJ :)