A Prince, a Comedian, and One Big Secret

I woke up barely remembering the conversation I had with Haylie the night before. I just remembered how worried she was about Harry, and how she wished that he was willing to accept who he was, instead of going through an elaborate charade in order to impress people. That was so Haylie, worrying about others before she even began to worry about herself.
I sat up on my bed and stretched and while I was stretching I reached for the remote and turned on the TV. It might have been a little egotistical, but I was wondering what people were saying about Haylie and I.
“A source close to Seth says, ‘He really did love Haylie, and he is taking this break-up rather badly. He is willing to do anything he can to get Haylie back again. But he also knows the chances of that happening are close to zero when his competition is a prince.” Ryan Seacrest read.
I smiled stupidly. That was exactly what I told my brother to tell the media. All Josh knew was that it was a fake break-up, nothing else, but he was an excellent person to leak information to the media.
I got out of bed and got dressed to go to the coffee shop down the street, and then I had to go to the studio to start writing for this week’s show. I knew Haylie had called for that day off, but I still had to go in.
I got sympathetic stares from people at the coffee shop and it made me feel quite awkward. I might have been on SNL, but I wasn’t insanely famous like the people who hosted SNL, and I liked to be able to do simple things every day without getting stared at.
“Hey Seth,” a girl batted her eyelashes at me as I poured sugar into my coffee.
“Hey,” I politely responded.
“So, if you needed a shoulder to cry on, I am here,” she said like she had no clue how insane she sounded.
“No, I’m dealing with it,” I awkwardly told her as I picked up my coffee and headed for the door.
Being this far into the spotlight was making me paranoid. Was everyone on the street looking at me?
When I got to the studio, I headed straight to my office to call Haylie. Her phone went to voicemail, but a few minutes later I got a text from her.

Hey Babe, sorry I can’t answer I’m at the Mall with Harry. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you.

I knew this kind of stuff was going to happen when I let Haylie become a beard for Harry, but at this moment I felt exposed and ultimately lonely, all I really wanted was for Haylie to be here.
I sat there and stared at the text she sent me until someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I shouted at the knock. In walked Lorne.
“Hey Seth, I’ve come to talk to you about what’s going on in the media,” Lorne told me as he sat down at one of the chairs.
“What would you like to know Lorne?” I asked seriously.
“Well, you’re side of the story,” Lorne answered.
“Well sir, you should know that what’s going on between Haylie and I won’t affect our ability to work together,” I told him.
“Are you sure? Haylie did ask me to let her have today off, and since she’s never called off before I had no choice but to give it to her,” Lorne explained to me his worries.
“I understand, but…” I trailed off, debating on whether or not to tell Lorne the truth. “What’s going on between Haylie and I is fake for the media,” I blurted out before I got the chance to stop myself.
Lorne looked genuinely surprised. “I never pegged either of you for media chasers,” he said.
“Well, all I can say is, there’s a really good reason for what we’re doing, but know that if it were up to me the media wouldn’t have gotten involved at all,” I told Lorne.
Lorne was the most difficult person in the world to read. Even after years of knowing him, I couldn’t tell whether or not he was pissed at me for what was going on.
“Okay well, if you and Haylie know what you’re doing, I have faith in you,” Lorne said after a moment of thinking about what I had said.
I was confused, why wasn’t he mad at us for not revealing the fact that we had a relationship in the first place? NBC had very strict policies about things like that.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “Why aren’t you pissed at us for not telling you about our relationship?” I asked.
At this, Lorne started to laugh. “Come on Seth, it was so obvious that you to were in a relationship,” he smiled. “I just had enough faith in you two that it wouldn’t get in the way of your work,” he explained. “Just, don’t call off for fake heartbreak ever again,” he joked.
Lorne left my office and I began writing a sketch for Saturday’s cold open. The sketch was going to make fun of the media and how insane they were about everything happening in Haylie and mine’s life.
I only got a few lines written when Haylie’s name popped up on my caller ID. Nothing in the world made me happier than to see her call.
“Hey gorgeous,” I answered happily.
“Hey, what’s up, how are things in the studio?” Haylie asked me.
“Well, Lorne came to talk to me,” I told her. “He wants to know whether or not our break-up was going to affect us working together,” I added.
“What did you tell him? I hope you told him the same thing you told your brother,” Haylie’s voice was suddenly urgent.
“Of course I did,” I laughed, I knew she was worried because she didn’t want this charade to hurt either of our careers.
“Good, cause I’d probably kill myself if you got in trouble,” Haylie admitted.
“Oh don’t say that,” I told her. “I can handle myself, oh, and the funny thing is that Lorne already knew about us dating before all this,” I informed her.
Haylie laughed. “It is pretty hilarious how people know everything about us, even if we don’t want them too,” she told me.
I wanted to beg her to stop this charade and come home, but I didn’t want to control her. I never want to control someone as great as Haylie, all I really hoped is that when it all came down to it, I would be the guy Haylie chose to be with.
“So are you excited for your dinner with Prince Charles?” I asked her.
“Oh yes, but I’m also nervous,” Haylie nervously giggled. Man, I loved it when she giggled that way.
“You’ll do great,” I assured her. “I love you,” I breathlessly added.
“I love you too,” I could tell that Haylie was blushing.
We talked for a little bit longer then Haylie had to go get ready for Dinner.
“I’m going to have Harry take a picture of me so you can see how hot I’m going to look,” Haylie promised me.
“You look hot every second of the day,” I reminded her.
“Oh come on, I’m not that pretty,” Haylie brushed my compliment away.
“You better go before I started singing Bruno Mars’ song ‘Just the way you are’” I joked since I was a horrible singer.
“I’m perfectly fine with that, since you’ve refused to sing to me ever since we started dating,” Haylie teased me.
“I got to go anyway Hay, but I seriously do love you,” I told her.
“Okay, I love you too,” Haylie said as if she was promising to love me forever.
As I hung up the phone and went back to writing, I had made the decision to ask Haylie to marry me as soon as all this was over.