College Life | Hailee Steinfeld

Chapter 39: Trouble In Paradise

Y/N's POV:

It's been two months since I auditioned and was chosen for the role of the lead actress, Belly, in the series 'The Summer I turned Pretty'. It all happened so fast. They gave me a two weeks' notice and said I had to fly out to North Carolina to meet the cast and get started with filming.

As soon as I found that out, I flew back to Seattle for a weekend for a meeting with the dean at University of Washington. I also met with my advisors at and some of the teachers. I almost dropped out of school to pursue this role in this series but with only a few classes needed before I graduated with my degree, I was able to enroll in online ones to acquire the credits I needed. Meaning, I can continue my education from North Carolina where I'll be spending the next handful of months. I know it's silly; the fact that I would drop out of college so close to graduating, but I've spent so long making choices that didn't prioritize my happiness, I wanted to finally do something I enjoyed. Luckily, I'm able to do both and it's been working for me. Online courses are much easier than in person classes, at least in my opinion. Balancing school, work and a relationship is not for the weak, let me tell you that. There are new challenges that arise each day from something.

As soon as my school situation was figured out, I flew back to LA to Hailee and she officially asked me to move in with her, which of course I said yes to. Her house is now our house, until we buy a new one together (which I was planning on very soon after I finished filming). She was wrecked knowing I had to leave to start filming but it all worked out because she had to travel as well to do press interviews and promote her film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. She wrapped up filming a while ago, but it had just gotten done being edited that they're just now releasing it.

I've recently come into some more fame after I got the role of Belly in TSITP (The Summer I Turned Pretty). The writers released the cast to the public and let's just say that the books were such a huge hit, I gained millions of followers in a week's time. My tik tok page was doing better than ever, as well as my Instagram. I squared away my availability with the brands that sponsor me; they're allowing me to shoot promos from North Carolina and just posting them to my social media allows me keep my spot as a lead ambassador and model for those companies.

Hailee and I spent as much time together as we could before we both had to work, I would be going to North Carolina, and she would be going all over the world; London, New York, Miami, etc. We were doing so good. I've never felt more in love with her than the days before we had to part ways. We made a promise to facetime as much as we can, text in between shoots/interviews and of course visit each other when we had days off. Within two weeks of me being in North Carolina, she surprised me and stayed for the weekend before she had to fly home for a photoshoot. Two weeks after she surprised me, I had a break of four days, so I flew to the UK to surprise Hailee when she was doing interviews there. It was like the distance intensified our love for one another. Each day we were apart my body and soul longed for presence. I craved her, I missed her, and I needed her more than ever.

However, it's been a month since we've both had any time to fly out and see each other. The promised facetimed calls and texts became less and less each day, and that burning feeling I had for her presence subsided and was replaced with suspicion and insecurities whenever I saw photos of her out, pictures she posted on Instagram and fans sharing videos of her on the internet. I wait for her messages, her calls or any updates from her, but I don't get any. Yet, she has time to post on her Instagram and I even saw an interview where she was on her phone texting, but it wasn't to me. In my gut I knew something was wrong, but I also wanted to dismiss those thoughts and just trust in Hailee, trust in our love and this relationship we've built and fought so hard for. Instead of sitting and moping around in my trailer after I was done filming, I've gotten super close with the cast here and I can even say that some of them are now my best friends. Gavin and I are really close, which is funny to me because fans have shipped us together and even make edits of us. Gavin is the actor for Jeremiah in TSITP, who is a love interest of my character, Belly. There's also Chris who plays Conrad and Minnie who plays Shayla. The four of us are like an inseparable group and it feels so nice to have such close friends when I'm far from home, far from Hailee.