Spotlight

I got into my dressing room and began exploring the bag that had been tossed to me wondering what my outfit consisted of. I really wasn’t worried because the girls really know how to be in style. Various pieces of clothing, jewelry, and a pair of heels came out of the bag, scattering around the sofa I had on the center of my dressing room. I turned to look at myself in the mirror and sighed. This set was my home.

Ever since I was named the ‘best drama actress’ I was given a dressing room for myself, unlike most of the people on the different shows of the network that share dressing rooms with a costar. At the beginning I considered it silly, but it actually helped since Joey began treatment, and he and mom had to get out of town for doctor appointments or spend nights at the hospital.

Joey, or Joseph Sanders, was my then ten-year-old younger brother. The day I was chosen best drama actress, almost a year ago, Joey started feeling ill. He was having high fevers, weight loss, and bruising. Mom and I took him to the hospital, fearing he had an infection or a virus, but we didn’t prepare ourselves for the worse. Joey was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is most common on younger children, but for some reason Joey had it at the age of nine. I cried so hard for an entire month, sometimes I still do so, and only he, the one person I never thought I’d seek for support from, understood me.

“Mom, I need to go get some fresh air,” I said with a shaky voice removing the tear streams from my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“Okay, sweetheart,” she said trying to hide her urge to cry. She wanted to be strong for Joey and me, but it was impossible not to be shattered inside by the awful news. “Take as long as you want. It’s about time I go explain Joey what is happening to him.”

“Okay, mom,” I said in a whisper. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby,” she replied planting a kiss on my forehead.
I walked out of the room and into the long white hall filled with a few doctors and nurses that rushed from room to room checking on their patients in case one of them was about to leave this world behind. Joey was going to be one of those patients. Joey had cancer. Joey could die.

I pressed my back against the wall as tears began to fill my still puffy, red eyes. I don’t recall crying so much in my whole life before that day.

“Leah? Is that you? Are you alright?” a comforting male voice said from beside me. I looked up, tears still pouring out of my eyes, to see him. If there was someone I never thought I’d be comforted by in the whole world until that day was him. As I looked at him silently I noticed that he too had been crying, his eyes gave him away. “Is everything okay, Leah?” he asked again.

“No,” I said throwing myself into his arms, as even more tears fell from my eyes, and crying into his chest.

“Shh, it’ll be alright,” he whispered with a shaky voice in my ear trying to calm me. He was crying too.

I entered the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and took a much needed hot and relaxing shower. I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my body, and, still dripping wet, walked outside of the bathroom until I reached the mess on my sofa.

I began clothing my exposed body and adorning it with the accessories that lay on the black couch. After I got dressed, I went to my vanity and did my makeup and hair. When I was done with that, I stood up and walk until I reached my full length mirror. I saw a beautiful young woman with dark brown curled hair and big brown eyes staring at me with a smile of approval on her face. I looked just like my mother. Joey looked a lot like mom too. Thank God none of us looked like dad.

“My life is the farthest from perfect,” I told him as he handed me something to eat. We were sitting on a table at the hospital’s cafeteria. When we both had stopped crying, he took me by the hand and walked there with me. My eyes were too dry to cry more.

“I understand you, mine is like that too. People all around the world wish to be us, but they don’t even know what we have to deal with,” he said looking directly into my eyes. I felt like he could see right into my soul, right into me. He seemed to be able to break through that barrier of protection I had created, but instead of crushing me he was standing in front of me as if he was a new barrier. A barrier that would protect me from the horrible people that occupy the world we live in.

“Why are you here?” he asked. I just looked at him blankly. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I would understand that.”

“No. I do want to tell you.” The words escaped my mouth and even I was surprised by what I had said.

“Really?” he said in a way that somewhat seemed hopeful, as if he had been waiting to talk to me for a long period of time.

“Yeah,” I said smiling at him as a slight blush crept into my cheeks.

“So, tell me, are you alright, or is it someone else?” he asked caringly. I was actually enjoying his company.

“It’s my little brother, Joey. He just got diagnose with leukemia,” I said staring at the apple he had handed me before. I really didn’t feel like eating. ”My dad, he’s an alcoholic. When mom left with us seven years ago I thought things would be better. I thought everything would fall right into place, but now it seems like the complete opposite. It seems like everything is crumbling down and all the hard work that my mom put into moving us from our bad past was for nothing more than a worst present. Life’s unfair.”

“Look at me, Leah, please,” he said in a soothing tone. I raised my sight to him and looked into his deep blue eyes. “I know how you feel, trust me,” he placed his hand over mine and began stroking it softly with his thumb. “My dad’s a smoker, or used to be. Doctors have done all they can, but the cancer in his lungs has spread so much in the last few months that he probably has only a couple of days to live.” His head was now hanging low. I could hear the pain in his voice.”He’s the only one I told every single thing to. He knows things not even my friends know”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“You know, I was named after him,” he said looking back up at me with a small smile and watery blue eyes.

“Well, my real last name isn’t really Sanders. My mom changed it to hers after she left dad,” I said returning his smile.

“I’m glad she did. I can tell you really admire your mom.”

“I’m glad you were named after someone you love so much.” We just sat there smiling at each other, his hand still placed on top of mine. It was good to find someone who understood me.

I turned around and sat in my bed. Since Mom and Joey had to travel so much and sometimes spend the nights at the hospital, I figured it was better for me to stay on set than to be alone on our apartment, so I bought a bed that occupied all the left over space.

“Sure you don’t want me to stay here with you?” Alana asked me the first night I ever spent sleeping on set. Everyone had already left, except for Alana and Oliver, who was waiting for her at the door.

“Yeah, totally sure, A. I’m sixteen, not seven!” I replied. Why won’t she leave?

“Okay, if you need anything you now my number. Be safe, kid.” She smiled and gave me a quick hug. “Goodnight, L!”

“Goodnight, A!” I shouted back as she ran through the hall to reach Ollie, who was completely desperate to go home.

I closed my door and sat on my bed waiting. I waited for about five minutes.

Knock, knock. Finally! I opened the door with happiness filling my body and the boy at the door gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

“Hello there, gorgeous,” he said with a smile on his perfect face. I felt a blush rising to my cheeks and he laughed.

“Shut up! You know you always make me blush when you call me all those silly names.”

“Silly? But baby, you are gorgeous, splendid, smart, and the closest thing to perfection in this whole world,” he said looking at me with his deep blue eyes. I love his eyes.

“Now you are just talking nonsense.” I gave him a small laugh and then another peck on the lips. I turned around and sat on the sofa.

“Why are you so modest?” he said with an adorable chuckle as he closed the door behind him.

“Why are you lying?” I turned my head to face him.

“I’m not lying,” he said sitting next to me. “I’m just stating the facts.”

He always managed to make me smile even when I thought things were falling apart. Then, I remembered something that made me serious. Like always, he noticed.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“It’s been a month and a half,” I said. My eyes began getting teary as he just stared at me with a confused expression marked on his face. Then he understood. It all came back to him. All the memories of that second day at the hospital flooded both of our minds.

“Leah, don’t cry,” he said as he brushed away with his thumb the first tears that made their way down my cheek.

“You know, I was outside the room. I heard when you were talking to your dad about me,” I said smiling through the tears. “I was looking for you and I accidentally heard you two talking. You said you finally had the chance to talk to me and that you liked me even more than before.”

He blushed at my revelation. “Oh, really?” he chuckled slightly. “I never thought you would hear that.”

“So you liked me before we saw each other at the hospital?”

“Well, I think you know the answer to that question since you heard that conversation,” he said smiling.

I laughed a bit. The tears were beginning to stop. “It was really sweet when your dad told you to ask me out. I’m sure I would have loved him if had had the chance to talk to him.”

“Yeah, you would have. At least he was still there to celebrate with me when you said yes,” he said smiling. Something I always admired him for was his strength. His father had died a few hours after he asked me out and he was strong the whole time. Yes, he did cry, but that means that he’s a guy with feelings. He went through a lot during that week, but, like always, he turned the bad situation into something positive. He always tells me that at least his dad isn’t suffering anymore and is in heaven with all the angels. It’s lovely how much he cared about his father. From what he had told me he’s dad was a wonderful man. I wish my dad was half of what the man had been while alive.

“I really don’t understand what you saw in me before, and even after we were together at the hospital.”

“Leah, can’t you see yourself? You are beautiful!” his ocean eyes looked directly into mine. He called me beautiful. It was not the first time he had done it, but I just didn’t get used to it. No boy I’ve ever went on a date with had called me beautiful. They had made remarks saying I was ‘hot’ and stuff that made me feel like a piece of meat, but this was different.

“You really think so?” I said shyly. I could feel myself blushing.

“Yes, I do.” He smiled that dazzling smile of his and I melted inside.

I gave him a quick kiss. “You make me beautiful.”

“I love you,” he said softly ad he lean in to kiss me. My body froze. I was in complete shock. My body felt the need to freeze and I couldn’t move. My mind shut down. He had never said that before. No boy had said that before to me. He probably felt me tense because he pulled away and looked at me with a terrified expression. “Leah, is something wrong? Is it because of what I said?”

“No, no, no,” I repeated mostly to myself as I went out of my trance. “It’s not because of what you said, I mean it is, but I just – I.”

“I’m sorry, okay? The thing is that I can’t help the way you make me feel. You make me feel wanted for who I am and not for my fame or money. You make me feel secure, because I know I can trust you to be there for me. You make me happy. You make me feel marvelous. You make me feel alive. You make me feel blessed. You make me feel so many things, Leah. I’m sure of what I feel, and what I feel towards you is pure love. I know you might think I’m stupid or something because we’re still kids, but I just love you. I’m sorry if it was too soon, but I can’t help it. You don’t have to answer back if you don’t want to.” I didn’t say I thing. I just stood there processing all that he was saying without being able to move. “Leah? Okay, now I feel like an idiot.”

“I love you too,” I blurted before gasping at my own words. All he had rambled made me realize I did.

“Really?” he said looking like a kid that had just been given the toy he wanted the most on Christmas morning.

“Yes” I said smiling at him.”I love you too, Al–“

My flashback was cut off by a knock on the door that brought me back to reality. The clock on the bed side table said eight thirty five.

“Come in!” I said, giving S permission to open the door. She had a blindfold on her hand ready to be place in front of my brown eyes.

“Come on, birthday girl. It’s time for the blind fold,” she said with a smirk plastered on her face.