Dear Sunshine,

Chapter 10

I step out of the van, my eyes widening at the sight of the studio building. I suddenly want the ground to swallow me whole.

I'm not ready for live TV.

Why did I let Forest convince me to do this? No amount of money is worth all the privacy I'm about to give up on. It's not worth my healthy mindset being completely washed by a concept like fame.

"Zoe? You coming?" I tear my eyes away from the building, and Casey has turned towards me and away from Cassandra and a group of people, mainly makeup artists, hair stylists, and designers, carrying all the things needed to make Forest and I look presentable.

I want to shake my head no and run back into the van. In fact I'm very tempted, but I nod and put one foot in front of the other, not prepared for what lays ahead in the doors that is swallowing the entire team.

I eventually catch up with Casey, and he puts an arm around my shoulder comfortingly. "Try not to worry about the audience and cameras. Just focus on Richard and Forest."

I just nod as he coaxes me in the big stage doors. I glanced around the environment, bustling workers with head sets on, moving different film equipment around.

I didn't notice that I had stopped in my tracks at the sight until I felt Casey nudge me forward again.

I start to notice stares and eyes on me from the crew. They had no idea who I was or why I was important, but yet I was going to be interviewed.

But I'm not as important as the media has made me seem. I'm just another person and I don't want to be seen as someone fortunate just because of who I was 'dating'.

I put my head and eyes down once I was feeling overwhelmed enough by everyone.

"Don't worry about them, they're just curious." Casey whispers in my ear, and suddenly I'm very grateful to have him by my side.

"This is not what I'm used too." I tell him under my breath, honestly.

Casey chuckles at my admission. "You're a new face. You'll be the talk for maybe a week and then things will die down. Media gets bored if you aren't special or eventful for Hollywood's taste."

"The media never gets bored of Forest though." I point out, and he shrugs.

"Forest, yes. You? Don't worry, it'll die down and you'll live life normally very soon, if you don't leave Forest."

I held in an uncomfortable laugh. It's not going to last long, but I'm not going to bring down his hopes.

"Anyways darling, your dressing room awaits." He opens a door to his right, and I peer in, glancing at Casey.

I slowly step inside, the cosmetics and designer team setting up already.

"There you are. We need you to get dressed right now so we can start on your hair and makeup." My designer, Nickolas, ushered me to a private room in the back, handing me an outfit bag off the rack.

I wasn't able to say much before he closed the door, and I was left in a room, stunned, a bag with an expensive outfit in hand.

I sighed, unzipping it to see beautiful bright yellow fabric, smooth and soft as silk.

I took it off the hanger, noticing that Nickolas changed the design from a dress to a full body pant suit.

I smiled, silently thanking him for not making it into a dress that I thought was overly formal for the occasion.

The top half was, however, still the same. Two stripes of thick fabric were sewed together by the boddess, coming up to cover the upper part of my chest, and draping down my back and to the floor.

I put it on, slowly feeling more confident as it fit on my body like a glove. I felt like an expensive version of a sunflower petal, if that made sense.

I opened the door, walking out to see the team finish setting up, and they looked back at me, stopping and taking in how I looked.

I crossed my arms uncomfortably. I wasn't used to this type of attention.

"Come darling, let's give you some finishing touches."

———

I watched the screen in the green room anxiously. Forest was already out there talking to the late show host, Richard Stein.

My eyes couldn't leave Forest, his brown hair neatly styled and trimmed to perfection, a white dress shirt and black slacks fitted his body.

I'm sure every girl watching this interview was swooning over him, and paying much attention to the fact that his top two buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned, exposing more of his tan skin.

Stop looking.

I looked away from Forest and what he was wearing, refusing to admit I was just checking him out in the green room.

A knock sounded, and a middle aged woman with brown hair reaching her shoulders peered inside.

"You're on in about a minute, Madi. Follow me."

Thank god she called me Madi. At least Cassandra was considerate with my name towards other people.

I followed the producer, I assumed that's who she was, out to a giant navy curtain.

I get to do the famous walk out of the curtain thing on this show. It was just like any other late show host.

I looked back up at the screen, trying to listen to how the interview was going.

"So Forest, you have everyone buzzing about a new girl." Richard smiled, and Forest just laughed confidently, leaning back in his seat.

"That's true." Forest confirms.

"What happened between us? Was I not good enough for you? Was it the cat?" Richard joked, and the audience chimed in laughing.

I rolled my eyes. I never really understood cheesy lines like that.

"Ah, uh, actually I'm not gay? But we tried to keep our relationship private for as long as we could before getting caught." Forest explains once the audience dies down.

"Well you certainly did a good job at keeping all of us in the dark. But you brought her here today, so shall we introduce her?" Richard gets ready to stand, and I feel my heartbeat pick up, looking away from the screen and to the curtain.

It opened, bright strange lights blinding me. I put on the biggest smile I could muster and walked out onto the stage, knowing my life was going to change forever.

There was no backing out of the deal now.