Hollywood's Golden Runaway

(2 5)

I spent the night in Liam's trailer, having drifted off at some point during our third or fourth movie, I couldn't remember. I wake up in Liam's bed but I find the other side of the bed faintly warm. When my vision clears, he's not next to me as he usually is, but I hear muffled voices from the other side of the bedroom door. I can sense the urgency and worry in their tones. My curiosity piqued, I tentatively enter the room to see Liam arguing with Devon. Just as I try to think of an adequate reason as to why Devon has flown all the way out here, the pair notice me standing in the doorway.

"Oh, there she is. Maybe she can give me some answers?" His voice is frantic to say the least only adding to my confusion. I look to Liam with a scowl and he looks like he has been hit by a truck, his face ghostly pale. I start to feel the panic that's infected the room creeping in.

"What's going on?" My voice is quiet as Devon strides across the room to me, his face practically murderous.

"That's what I thought you could tell me," he hisses, "care to explain this, Isabella?" He shoves his phone into my hand. The screen depicts the front page of a popular tabloid magazine with the headline: Isabella Scott's Mystery Man? Is She As Faithful As We Thought?. My heart plummets to the pit of my stomach so fast I think I'm going to vomit. Then it pretty much falls out of my ass when I scroll down and see a picture of Finn and I hugging from last night outside my trailer right before he left, and a second photo beneath that depicts us standing side by side, Finn looking down at me with that goddamn expression that makes my heart melt. A mixture of love and wonder. My eyes snap straight to Liam who hasn't said a single word, his own gaze fixed on the floor, his expression indecipherable.

"I-" I try to formulate some kind of excuse before I can even think. My mind is racing at a hundred miles a second, but the one grounded thought is on Liam, and what he could possibly be thinking about this whole new mess I've created. Thankfully, a knock at Liam's door interrupts me before I have even thought about what I could say about this.

"Liam? Isabella? Are you there?" It's Ethan.

"Come in," Liam speaks for the first time. I exhale the breath I've been holding since I looked at that phone screen as Ethan lets himself in. He picks up on the obvious tension in the room, looking between the three of us quizzically.

"Everything okay?" He doesn't know. Without a second to hesitate the three of us grin.

"Just perfect," Liam grinds out through his teeth. My stomach sinks even lower if that's possible. Ethan clears his throat in an attempt to clear the air.

"Right well okay then, see you on set in an hour." He left as quickly as he came in. God, I have no clue how I am meant to do a full day of filming feeling the way I do, knowing that some of the scenes Ethan has planned today involve a lot of romance between Selina and Mason. The three of us lapse into silence once again before Devon lets out a heavy sigh before turning back to me.

"Go get ready, Isabella. We will talk about this later." Devon dismisses me and with a final fleeting glance at Liam, I see that he has turned his gaze to me for the first time. The expression in his eyes is not one of heartbreak, betrayal or anger but of worry. When I don't think I could feel worse, Liam gives me a small nod of reassurance. Then he mouths three words which almost make me collapse on the spot in appreciation: We're a team. Without needing to say more I know that he knows that there's no truth to what the tabloid is suggesting which makes my heart swell at the trust he has in me. So with a renewed sense of confidence at getting to the bottom of this new slander, and my mind set at ease that Liam trusts me enough not to believe it, I head back to my trailer to try and prepare myself for what would be the longest day of my life.

***

Ethan barely has time to lift his megaphone to his mouth before Liam and I are sprinting off set to my trailer. I can feel the presence and questions of our friends around us as we run. Julia and Kate jump up at our sudden appearance, Julia slipping her phone quickly into her sweater pocket, the pair of them looking between us with guilt plastered across their faces.