Spotlight

30

           

***Mae's POV***

Mid February came around quick, and we had completed the filming of Breakfast at Tiffany's and they were just taking time to edit it and do all the other specifics that they did to every film.

I still lived in my small apartment in New York, where every now and then Dean came to visit me. At the moment, he had been living with me for the past two weeks while he had time off from his studying. Since his entire tuition had been paid for at the expenses of my management, he was basically assured to pass with how well he was doing.

It was Dean's last year of law at college, so it was a question on the table for both of us as to what he was going to do after July came around. I was in a stage of my life where I had no idea where I would be living in a month, or even this time next week. The next film opportunity that came to me I would most likely take no matter the location.

Sometimes I would sit down and wonder what would become of Dean and I. We obviously couldn't fake it anymore, or forever at least. It's not like we were going to fake getting married. At the start Dean was only on my side to keep me in the limelight, and now that I had it – I sometimes wondered what would happen to him.

As we sat in my apartment and overlooked the city, we shared a bottle of wine as Dean typed some online lecture notes into his laptop.

"So, when are exams?" I asked, sipping the red wine from the glass.

"In about four months, and then I'm done!" he smiled and leaned into the back of the chair. He outstretched his arms above his head and revealed the tense arm muscles in his upper arm. He picked up the wine glass and swished the red liquid around before taking a longing sip.

"That's exciting, have you got any job offers yet?" I asked. I wasn't really sure how university worked as I'd never been myself.

"Yes actually, I'm hopefully going to work at one of the law firms here in the city."

"And when were you going to tell me?" I asked, and hit him with the pillow from the bed. He was my best friend, as if I could have missed a major detail like that.

"I guess it just slipped through one of our phone calls," he giggled. He was right. Lately our weekly phone calls had been disturbed by my annoying schedules or his studying and we hadn't been able to talk much about the two of us in a while.

Dean and I came to the conclusion that when the fake relationship was over I was going to pay him around fifty thousand for all of the troubles he had travelling back and forth while studying. It felt like I owed him a lot more, but I knew that fifty thousand was a lot to a college student.

The two of us were just looking at each other smiling from the news he just provided me with, when the doorbell rang and I jumped in my spot. I quickly walked over to the door and looked through the small peephole provided. I usually did this in case of a safety precaution in case some random fans had found out where I lived.

I opened the door to a smiling Tate, who was frowning at my door.

"Hello!" I smiled, "Can I help you?"

"I was in the area and noticed that one of those new donut places opened around the corner this morning. I know how much you love donuts, so I was wondering if you wanted to get one?" he laughed. There was something incredible about the donuts in New York and I just couldn't have any self-control when it came to them.

I turned around to look at Dean who was focused on his laptop but obviously still listening on in the conversation.

"You guys go, I have studying to do anyways!" he grinned and threw his hand up in a waving motion. I grabbed my keys and my purse, and left down the hall with Tate. On the way to the donut shop we laughed about the flavors that we both imagined they would have.

After Dean, Tate was my best friend. We had become so close in secret, and it was so secret that the general public had never spotted us together. We mainly hung out in either my apartment or his loft on the other side of the city. It was good to have a friend that was so genuine about his career, and he was mentoring me every step of the way.

When we got to the donut shop, the flavors were all extravagant and ones that I had never heard of before. It was one of those modern places that had thousands of colors and flavors to choose from.

We quickly ate our donuts in the shop after snapping a photo for both of our Instagram's. Tate had over thirty million followers and when he posted a photo of me holding up the donut, I noticed that my account was flooded with comments, new followers and likes. Most of the comments were people questioning if I was dating him, and I laughed.

It was little things like this that took me back to summer nearly three years ago, when hundreds of teenage girls sent me death threats because I had a relationship with their idol.

By the time I got back to my apartment it was nearly ten p.m. and Dean was already in bed by that time. I had a call incoming from my publicist as soon as I entered the apartment, which made me dart to the kitchen to answer it so that Dean wouldn't wake up.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Yeah. What the hell was that photo you posted?" she asked.

"What? We're just friends."

"But does everyone know that? Nobody has seen you and Dean together for ages. You can't have people thinking you're a cheater because once you get a cheater reputation it never leaves you."

"I understand that but Dean is asleep in my apartment right now. We're still faking it."

"Then tomorrow you two need to be out in the city to stop the rumors of you and Tate otherwise you're going to be seen as a two timing cheater."

"Okay, I get it."

I hung up the phone and made my way to the bed alongside Dean. I watched him as he slept and wondered what he was dreaming about. His eyelashes were flickering in his sleep and his cheeks were puffed up from the position he was lying on the pillow.

Dean did have a beautiful face and I wondered, if it wasn't for me would he have a real girlfriend? I knew that when he woke up in the morning I would have to prepare him for an entire day of PDA in the city. I shifted over in the bed and lifted the duvet back over the top of us both.

The lights turned off with my voice command and I closed my eyes. My mind would be buzzing for the rest of the night and I could tell it was unlikely I would get to sleep anytime soon.

I felt like I was done with relationships but every new man I met intrigued me and I realized I was aching for a real love like never before. Last 'loves' that I'd had before were just teenage fantasies that I always knew were never going to last.

I wanted something real.