Promise? ✤ COLIFER SHORT STORY

Chapter 5 ✤ Cheeky Colin

Jen's POV

Around seven o'clock that evening, a black SUV stopped in front of the hotel to take us to the venue where the gala dinner was taking place. Rose and I were all dressed up; I was wearing a beautiful, red Romona Keveza gown and a Daniel Swarovski clutch, and Rose was wearing an equally stunning, black Herve Leger strapless bandage flare dress with a Me Char purse.

The atmosphere in the car was that of pure excitement. We chatted all the way to the venue, discussing our dresses and the amazing job the makeup ladies did at the hotel. Every once in a while, the driver glanced back at us through the rearview mirror with a grin on his face.

It felt like my chest was being squeezed together by the time we could see the venue and the red carpet through the tinted car windows of the SUV. People were getting out of cars and walking towards the reporters and cameras that were gathered on the red carpet.

I didn't even realize I'd grabbed Rose's hand until I squeezed it a little too tightly.

"You ready?" she asked as the car came to a stop and we had to get out.

"I think so," I whispered. A smile was stuck on my face while my mind tried to decide what to focus on: the gala dinner or the fact that Colin was here as well.

I smiled all the way to the red carpet, Rose by my side. We posed for a few pictures together, but then we split up as the first interviewer waved me towards him.

"Hello, Jennifer, nice to see you! You look absolutely stunning!"

"Thank you so much!" I said, smiling broadly. "I'm really happy to be here tonight. You know, it's nice to raise awareness for a good cause rather than coming together to protest against something."

"Absolutely," the guy said with the exaggerated enthusiasm of an interviewer. He asked me a few questions about the event and the Emmy Awards, but then we got to the part the world was waiting for: the Once Upon A Time reunion.

"Now, we've seen that you and a few of your former cast members from Once Upon A Time reunited yesterday, but what was it like to see each other again, four years after the show ended?"

"Oh, it was great!" I said. The lights around me were too bright too see anything other than the interviewer and the camera right next to my face, but I couldn't help but look around the red carpet. "The show was such an important part of our lives, and I've definitely missed playing a character that had the ability to grow like Emma did on the show. And, you know, it's great to see them again, because we're all great friends, and we miss spending time on set together."

"Did you guys keep in touch?" he asked eagerly.

"We've definitely kept in touch, but everyone is doing their own thing right now, so it can be tricky to see each other on a regular basis. We're really grateful to have the opportunity to attend this dinner tonight, and the Emmy Awards on Sunday."

"Okay, Jennifer, thank you so much for coming over here."

I smiled as I ended the interview, but I could barely keep my nerves in check. I hadn't seen Colin yet, and that thought seemed to consume all my energy as I went from interviewer to interviewer.

Naturally, every single one of them asked about Josh, Ginny, Rose and Colin. I'd just successfully dodged a very bold question about Colin when they warned me to round up the interviews. I headed over to the last interview, but my heart skipped a beat or two when I saw a very familiar face in the crowd of interviewers at the end of the red carpet.

Colin's gaze found mine, and he smirked as he took a microphone from the girl who was supposed to do the interview. The next moment he was right in front of me, drawing the attention from pretty much everyone in a four-yard radius.

What the hell was he doing?

"Hello, Jennifer, welcome to our red carpet," he said, and, looking back at the real interviewer, he added with a smirk, "We were just saying how beautiful you look today! That is some fancy dress, if I may say so."

This was not being careful. At all.

The actual interviewer just giggled and nodded her head, and I wasn't capable of much more than smiling like a total idiot when I said, "Well, you don't look too bad yourself!"

Which was the truth: he was wearing a black, classic tux with a white shirt and a bowtie, an irresistible combo that looked totally out of place between the interviewers.

He pressed his tongue in his cheek and smirked. "Now, we were wondering how you feel about all the excitement that comes with the Once Upon A Time reunion here during the Award weekend."

"Well, I feel like this definitely should've happened sooner," I said, trying to organize the thoughts in my head— not that it was possible with Colin standing right in front of me to do an interview out of nowhere. "But what about you, Mr. Hook? I can only assume you missed your father-in-law terribly."

"Oh darling, Josh and I still text every day," he said jokingly, but the "darling" elicited a faint squeal from the interviewer.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that the audience around us was increasing when I said, "Josh told me yesterday to say hi to you, and he can't wait to see you again."

"I'm sure I'll see him in a minute," Colin replied, and he whirled around to face the camera again. "Okay, and with that, ladies and gentlemen, we now end our interview with the fabulous Jennifer Morrison!"

"You know," I said, leaning into the microphone, "there's something familiar about this. I feel like we've done this before."

"Possibly," he grinned. He smirked at the camera and gave the microphone back to the interviewer. But before he headed into the venue, he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him a few steps so he could whisper in my ear, "See you inside, TV wife."