The Scandal

13. Pink

A/N: Kickinit_Sofia thanks for the suggestion, i literally didn't even think of adding that part (his reaction to the article) at all?? and idk why?? lmao. and yeah i'll try adding more of his feelings in general into it, but it's just unlike him to spill his emotions that way so i'm trying to find a way to be subtle about it

and thanks everyone who commented or voted, it was more than usual :) SO here's a quick ass update bc ILY

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In between takes, I ended up standing alone next to Leo, and it was too silent not to ask him about it. I had to know what he thought.

"Did you see the article?" I finally asked, crossing my arms shyly.

He looked at me like I'd surprised him just by speaking. "Oh, yeah," he replied, his tone not telling me anything.

"Oh," I said.

It was quiet for probably thirty solid seconds before he gave me any other kind of response.

"You said it all the best way you could say it." He shrugged. "It was good."

"Nothing could make it sound good," I pointed out.

"Yeah, no... but I mean, you sounded good. You were sincere. I just think you did well."

"Thanks," I said, feeling my cheeks heat up. "Have people said anything to you?"

"Ohhh yeah," he answered with a short and not-so-funny laugh. "But, not like we can avoid that. It's whatever."

He said everything in a way that made me feel just a little better. He had a way of always sounding nice.

The problem was that I started second-guessing it, like maybe he wasn't being honest. Maybe he was just saying that stuff because he didn't want to see me cry or something. Maybe that was plausible, or maybe I was being paranoid and insecure as I had been so often lately.

I hoped that would change, but it didn't at all, at least not for a long time. Over the next few weeks, it became impossible to hide the bump growing under my shirt, which just made everything worse. When they dressed me on set, they sort of stopped trying. They just depended on camera angles, and gave me various props to hold in front of my stomach.

I wondered what Jamie Lynn did. I couldn't remember correctly. I think they made Zoey go away to another country and they only communicated with her through a webcam.

Kim could've done that too, but for some reason they didn't write it in. Well, not until the last episode, that is, but by then it'd already become plainly obvious that I was nearly five months pregnant, so it really didn't matter much.

As much as I did love Kim, and Seaford, and all that the show brought me, I just wanted season 3 to be over. And there was a big chance it would be the last season. There was a big chance it would get cancelled on account of me being pregnant—it's what all the parents wanted.

On set all I usually did was sit on my phone by myself, waiting to be needed by someone. Dylan and Mateo tried to talk to me, and I did talk to them sometimes, but I would have rather just isolate myself and be sad. That was starting to be more normal to me.