Ever Since New York

Atlanta.

After finishing with my scenes for the day, I decide to spend the rest of it in my trailer reading my book. I finally came around to finishing the Harry Potter series, and I'm currently finishing the fifth book. I smile to myself at the thought of Hero being in one of the films when he was younger. He's come so far since then; we both have.

I left my trailer door open to let the cool air circulate through, but I regret that decision when I'm startled by Anna who had been standing in the doorway for who knows how long.

"Sorry to scare you, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." I say, sitting up and patting the space next to me on the couch.

She pulls her phone out of her pocket before sitting next to me. "I wanted to be the one to show you this."

"Show me what?" I ask nervously.

She unlocks her phone before typing something into the search engine. "You remember Julia, right?"

"How could I forget?" I say with a slight laugh.

"Well, she did an interview for a new movie she's in. She was asked about After..."

"Show me." I urge her.

I hoped that it wasn't as bad as the Cosmopolitan interview.

Anna hands me her phone and I scroll through the article.

"... I don't regret my choice to drop out of the film. I think the actors chosen for the roles fit them perfectly. A little too perfectly. I mean, the whole good girl and bad boy vibe I get from the two leads; they really fit the entire premise of the movie. I'm starting to think the entire thing is an act, a publicity stunt..."

I quickly hand the phone back to Anna, not being able to bring myself to read the rest of the article.

"I'm sorry, Jo. I just-"

"It's fine. People have their opinions. I just hope they don't get too out of hand."

"I can have them take the article down." Anna suggests. "If it bothers you too much."

I shook my head. "I don't want people to think we can't handle criticism. We've all fought so hard for these films. Why let our guards down now?"

"I'm so proud of you." Anna tells me with a smile, before hugging me.

After she leaves, I'm tempted to finish reading Julia's interview, but I can't bring myself to do it. I knew that if I did, I'd feel worse than I already do.

But sometimes, when you're feeling bad about yourself... you end up making yourself feel worse anyways.

Instead of reading the rest of her interview, I pull my phone out from my back pocket and open up Instagram. I was rarely on social media, due to the fact that I didn't see a reason for it. If I really felt like posting something, then I would.

I posted a picture of Hero the other day. It was down at the lake. He was staring off into space somewhere, but I captured a beautiful silhouette of him just as the sun was setting.

I tap on the comment section and begin scrolling. Most of the comments were from fans, saying things like 'you two are so cute' or 'my favorite couple'. I continue to scroll until I hit a pocket of hate comments.

"Fake couple." One said.

"I can't believe you guys don't have enough self-respect that you made a movie about an abusive relationship." Another said.

"Julia would've been a better Tessa." Was one that I was used to seeing.

The thing about comments like these is that for some people, they use the hate to fuel their fire. They make themselves stronger by not worrying about what other people think.