"Les, come on, you gotta talk to Ann about me walking Rae to the premiere!"
"Seb, if I said it once, I've said it ten thousand times, NO. This is Rae's first public event and for the love of God, I don't want another incident like Bucharest last week. I'm going with Ann this time. Let Rae do this on her own. You're goddamn lucky the organizers allowed you to the actual screening, be happy with that," Leslie's firm voice crackled over the phone as she gave me the mini-lecture.
Unbeknownst to Rae, I'd been trying to convince my people to let me walk her to the red carpet of the Ocean's 8 premiere. I sighed as I reluctantly agreed with my manager and ended the call. Well, at least I get to sit with her during the actual movie so I guess I could be happy with that. I guess this is just one of those times Rae was talking about.
That was yesterday. Today was the day of the premiere and I found myself sitting in a make shift waiting room while Rae does the press line as well as some things for the magazine. I almost forgot this was half work, half play for her. My fingers itch to dial Ann's phone number to check how my girl's doing. When my phone buzzes with a text, I almost drop it just trying to get the message to open. I hear Josh snort on the other side of the room but I ignore him, wanting to see what Ann has to say.
"Your girl is a fucking pro, she's almost done with interviews now, just snapping pics with the cast, she'll be with you in about ten minutes, said she wanted to check out the interviews at the booth first before going in."
I grin like an idiot and let out a "phew" of relief. Now I can relax a little until Rae gets here. It may be disguised as something else at times, but deep down, my confidence in her about handling this kind of pressure has never wavered. Sometimes, my worrying and overprotective nature gets the better of me, hence why I snapped the other day.
I fiddle with my phone for a bit, mostly just checking out my Instagram feed, trying to see what weird photo manipulation fans have made of me in various 'ships' they wanted me on. I chuckle at the ridiculousness of some of them, especially the ones with Chris/Captain America. As I scrolled down further, I was surprised to find a few photos of Rae from the red carpet right away with the tag #Raestian. With a shake of my head, I tap on the hashtag and a slew of comments flashed on my phone screen.
username1 seems like he finally caught a queen. smart and gorgeous. way to go, @imsebastianstan #raestian
username2 ^^^preach it sister! #raestian
username3 meh she looks boring af,he could do sooo much better IMO #booraestian
username4 GTFO @username3 ur op doesn't matter if she makes our fave potato happy #raestian
username5 how and where do I apply for adoption @imsebastianstan????
username6 found her IG!go follow @rae_the_zelle NOW! #raestian
username7 she's so fuckng flawLesS omG my asthma moved to a diff st8 #RAESTIANFTMFW
"What are you grinning at, you dork?" Josh comes up beside me and I look up to see him taking a peek on my phone. "Whoa, your fans are QUICK."
"That they are," I respond. My grin slowly fades as I realize that this was something I've correctly predicted. The sharks have begun circling around Rae, it was only a matter of time before someone actually pounced and chomped off of her. Josh must have noticed me going deathly quiet and put a hand over my shoulder.
"Relax, Seb. She's a big girl. If she's bound to get hurt, you have to let her experience it. Just don't make her feel she's going through stuff on her own," Josh says calmly and I find myself agreeing with him. I hand my phone over to him and stand up to go to the men's room.
YOU ARE READING
Beyond the Black Curtain
Fanfiction"Why did you do this for us, Rae?" his soft, gentle voice filled my head. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and looked up at him. His eyes were the color of the sea this time, dark and probing, as if they were looking right into my very soul...
