The Truth About Hollywood

"Hi..." I greeted slowly as I walked casually over to Stephanie and Danny.

Steph gave me a nervous look, and then looked back at Danny. "This is exactly the reason that I didn't want you going out for this role. I knew that something like this was going to happen and it was going to make me all worried that I was going to lose you."

"But you're not going to lose me," Danny soothed, rubbing her upper arm gently.

"Wait," I interjected before I could stop myself, "you didn't want Danny to have this part?"

"No. I knew that he was going to have to make out with a girl like you, and you were just going to steal him away from me."

My jaw clenched. Something inside of me had been set on fire. "I'm not going to steal Danny away from you... He doesn't make out with Stella, and she's the one who you should be worried about. Not me."

"I didn't mean you specifically." She turned back to Danny. "Just quit now, while you can. They can cancel the show."

"Why would you do that?" I couldn't keep my mouth from throwing out words; it was as if something took over my body.

"What are you talking about?" Her brows were staring to furrow, and it was clear that she was finally starting to get angry at me too.

"I'm talking about you. Why would you do that to him? If you really loved Danny, then you wouldn't tell him to stop doing what he loved just because you're insecure about your claim on him."

Her eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe that I had said that to her when I barely knew her. "Who are you to be telling me what I should act like?"

"Alright," Danny finally stepped in between the two of us. "Stop fighting. People are starting to stare." Surely enough, a couple of crew members were studying the fight. They looked away quickly when they saw me staring them down.

"Well, let me stop it right now." The look of Stephanie's face made me a little afraid; it was extremely intense. "Pick, Danny. You can have either the show or me. But I'm not going to let you have both anymore."

With that, she turned around and stormed out of the studio, letting the door slam shut behind her.

Danny bit his lip and looked at me, helpless written deep in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Levi cut him off.

It looked like Levi had been watching the whole thing; when we turned around, he was looking in our directions with a stony glare. "You two can take off the rest of the day. We'll pick up your scene tomorrow."

Danny and I nodded before walking out the door. "I don't know where Steph went," Danny whispered. "Let's look around for her for a little bit."

We called her name for a while, wandering around the parking lot, and even up the street, but she was nowhere to be found.

"She probably tried to walk back to my place," he muttered. "That was stupid of her."

We were quiet for a second as we made our way back to his car. He sniffled for a second and wiped his hand across his face.

I could tell that he was trying to hold back tears, and I hugged him tightly. He stiffened, not familiar with me being so close without the camera rolling, but he eventually put his arms around me too, burying his face in my shoulder.

"I just don't know what to do," he said, his voice muffled slightly.

"I know," I replied, rubbing his back. "I know."

We stayed like that for a while as he pulled himself back together. "I should probably take you home," he voiced, though he seemed to be talking to himself more than me.

"I think we should both look for Stephanie." I no longer felt comfortable calling her Steph, since we didn't seem to be on friendly terms anymore. That was over pretty quickly.

"I don't know if I want to find her," he joked half-heartedly. "I just... I love her. I don't want to lose her. But I don't want to lose the show either. I love it here." He shook his head, and we both climbed into his car.

"You know..." I pondered aloud, wondering all the while whether it was my place to say my point of view or not. It probably wasn't, but it was too late to stop at that point. "Have you ever thought that maybe...?"

"What?" Danny urged when I stopped talking. He pulled out of the parking spot, and we were already on the street by the time I started to talk again.

Before I could think about it for another second, I blended all my words together, saying, "Don't you think that you shouldn't choose someone that makes you choose between two things that you love?"

There. It was out. He was silent. As we went through the streets, I kept an eye out for a flash of flaming red hair, but I didn't see anything.

It made me kind of nervous how Danny wasn't saying a thing about what I'd told him. Maybe he was just mulling everything over in his head and needed the silence in order to figure out everything. At least, that was what I hoped.

Finally, we pulled into my driveway, and he was still quiet. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you find Stephanie?"

"No. I'll just text her."

"Alright, well..." I went to open the door, but stopped and turned to him. "Look, I'm sorry if what I said came off as rude... It's just what I would consider if I was in your position."

"No, it's not rude." He sighed before adding, "But I gotta know something...you're not saying that because you want me to break up with Steph so you...?"

My heart picked up speed with embarrassment. That hadn't even run through my mind, but now that it was brought up, it was a valid point. "No. Not at all... I wouldn't do that. I know you don't like me like that, and so I'm just working to get over it."

I gave him a reassuring smile and reached one more time for the handle on the door. "But that's the thing, isn't it?"

"What?" My confusion was overbearing as I turned to him.

After hesitating while his face turned bright red, he bit his lip and expressed, "I kinda do like you like that."