Stuck On Me- (loreen)

Liverpool

Days before the final, UK

The first selection day inside the contest was closer than ever and let me tell you, I was nervous like I've never been before.
The UK is one of the countries that get an automatic entry to the final, so unfortunately Mae wasn't with us during the Semifinal rehearsals.
I took the chance to talk with the other participants who I didn't have the opportunity to in the PreParties.
Surprisingly, everyone was so nice, so many icons there and so many good people to be around.

When I got out of Luke's room I unexpectedly bumped into someone.
"I'm so sorr- Oh, hey."- I looked up to see Loreen standing in front of me.

"Hey! I haven't met you yet, have I?"- she asked.
I don't know how to explain this, but after all the Mae and Alessandra's talk about Loreen I just started getting really amazed by her.

"No we haven't. Sorry for being distracted."- I giggled, a bit embarrassed by the occurred.

"Don't worry about it, honey. I'm just glad I found you, the media team is trying to gather some people for interviews and they want us to shoot together. Is that okay with you?"- she asked politely.

"Oh yeah, of course! When?"- I got excited.

"This evening, if you're available. They said they're free all day today, that's why they have been looking for you but apparently couldn't catch you anywhere."

We after decided to plan our interview to be around 4:30pm.
I was sure this would be great for us, since we're both very popular among the public and it would give me a big chance to get even more public attention.
As I said, everything is a performance and you gotta be intelligent to go far.

After arriving we prepared ourselves and sat face to face in front of the camera.
We shared beautiful words and interesting stories, it was a genuine conversation and good content for the public.
Loreen is also an intelligent artist, she knows exactly what she's doing.

To be honest, in the beginning, I went to Eurovision with just one goal in mind: success and recognition, but that journey surprised me everyday.
While sitting in front of Loreen, I didn't feel the need to chase success, I felt a lot more, I saw genuine feelings somewhere inside me.
That woman really warmed my heart and there was something in her. In that exact moment I didn't see her as just a step for my own success and that was scaring me.

The goal was never to make friends, it was to win. Only that.
Eventually, the more seconds I spent with Loreen, the further my goal was. The more words I shared with her, the farther I saw it running away from me.

I don't know if she sees me as a step for her own success too, but she has her own plans. I'm sure of that. I need to focus, no matter how hard it can be.

When I got out of the interview, I went to meet Alessandra so we could have diner together.
There was this cute restaurant in the city where we decided to eat.
We just wanted to be alone and take some time to be ourselves in the middle of a competition.
Maybe in the end it was all I needed, I was too focused on being a star in the eyes of people that sometimes I forgot I was human too.
I kept reminding myself about how I wasn't there to make friends but I forgot to remind me of how I wasn't also there to make enemies.

"I heard that Bojan wants to know you more."- she said, almost whispering and smirked. I instantly understood what she meant.

"Bojan?! There's no way! Who said that?"- I almost yelled, not expecting it. I knew people like to gossip and in the end it turns out to be all fake though.

"I can't tell you that but that's all I heard."

"Girl, Bojan and Käärijä are a thing on the internet, don't y'all dare to say something like that or I'll get cancelled in a second."- I decided to joke a little about it.
After all I heard on the internet I didn't want to be involved with anything related to them or their shippers would burn me in a second.

"But seriously, have you talked to him yet?"- she shifted in her seat once again.

"I did, I talked a lot with him and his band. I also got him a gift just like I did to almost everyone else. There's nothing more than that."

"So you literally met everyone already?"

"Basically yeah and I was with Loreen like an hour ago."- I decided to bring it up since I knew Alessandra was a fangirl.

She freaked out instantly, like I expected.
"You were with Loreen?! Where?"

"We did an interview together but almost didn't talk behind the cameras, just when I bumped into her but let's not even talk about it."- I looked down while laughing, remembering the embarrassing moment.

"Girl, if that happened to me I'd die right in the spot. Out of context, but I'd literally marry her if I didn't have a boyfriend."

"Well, I don't have a boyfriend but I'm still keeping my professionalism."- I joked back.

"What if we all weren't in a competition? Would you give her a chance?"- she got closer to me. Alessandra loved to tease me with this type of questions.

She made me blush with it though, I tried to hide my face in my hands but just made it worse.
Would I really give a chance to know Loreen if I wasn't with the pressure of the competition?
I admire her so much but all this pressure... is it just the pressure of winning the only thing making me step back?
I thought for a while but ended up just giggling shyly.

"Is that a yes?! Ava, go get her now."- she hyped me up.

"No, I'm not doing that, Alessandra!"- My serious face made her roll her eyes.

"Come on! I wanna see what happens."

"I don't think it would go well, she's the most professional person in this whole competition and there's no way she'd be interested."

"And how could you know that if you didn't even try yet?"- she leaned forward, trying to convince me.
I just shook my head.

"Come on, ask her out! I dare you."- she insisted once again.

"Okay, we're gonna have the turquoise carpet and after that I'll ask her out, deal? I'll kill you if she says no."

"Deal."- she got excited.

Alessandra would definitely be one of the few people I'd continue contacting after the end of Eurovision.
She's so delusional, that I ended up falling into the delusion as well.
I knew Loreen wasn't interested in any type of friendship that could eventually start there but I decided to talk with her anyway, even if it was just to shut Alessandra up.

_______

Well, this chapter ended up longer than I expected so I just want to quickly welcome y'all since I didn't get the chance to make an introduction chapter!

Also, soon I'll make a trailer for this fanfic like I usually do :)

~M
<3