The Interview (English) *completed*

Chapter 23

I got woken up by the bright sunlight falling into my bedroom. I was actually not too mad about waking up already but someone next to me wasn't too excited.
"You didn't lower the blinds yesterday, did you?", George's voice was rough, and I shook my head at his question.
"No, I forgot."
George groaned. "Sometimes I hate you."
I chuckled and pulled the duvet back. George had arrived at the airport late last night and had packed his stuff for Greece before driving to my place. He would stay here until I got back from the baby shower and we tried not to talk too much about it because I was just happy to have him back here with me for a day. We hadn't seen each other in a month and it had been the hardest month I had had in a long time. When he had come back yesterday, something had still felt wrong between us. Sighing I got up and grabbed a pair of leggings out of my closet. Fully dressed I went to the window and pulled the blinds down. "You just stay here. I'll go for a run, have a shower, make breakfast and then I will wake you again."
My boyfriend just scoffed. "You make me look so lazy."
Laughing I put on a running shirt. "Not lazy, just not in the need for a run." Tying my shoes, I was basically already out of the door when he called me back.
"Alex?"
I went back into my bedroom and gave him an expecting look. "Yes?"
"Love ya." He was practically already back to sleep and I chuckled at the image of him sleeping on his front, mumbling into the pillow. Giving him a kiss on the cheeks and pushing his hair out of his forehead, I smiled. "Love you too."
He smiled too and I had to force myself to actually leave my flat because I was very tempted to jump back into bed. With some music in my ears I met Bruce at the foot of the stairs.
"Ah Bruce, nice to see you. Up for a run?"
My bodyguard and personal trainer gave me a smirk and nodded. "Always. I wasn't expecting you to be up by now though. I thought I'd just have a look around the building and do some..."
"Yeah, yeah. Doing bodyguard things, I get it. Now come on, I have a tight schedule this morning." I was already running in front of him and he followed without a comment. We always did that in the mornings when I had time for it and just yesterday, I had asked him if he would be up for some running. I had really started to enjoy exercising and running, getting the fresh air, noticing the changes in my body and knowing it was just my hard work that gave me such great results.
After about an hour of running and stretching I got back to my flat and headed right for the shower. Bruce would go home and then wait for me to call him once I had to leave for the baby shower. George was still asleep when I got back, his loss, since he didn't get to shower with me, and I hurried to get as ready as possible at this point. I was just brushing out the knots in my long black hair when George came into the bathroom.
"Damn it, you are already done showering."
I chuckled at his disappointed face and walked past him to get some clothes. "Not my mistake that you had to sleep another hour and a half." I got my dress out of the closet and put it on, before I remembered that I would probably spill coffee or any other breakfast related thing on it if I was already wearing it now. So, I put on a jumper and a pair of shorts instead and went into the kitchen to prepare some quick breakfast. I would call my parents at nine thirty so that it wasn't too early in Germany, it was a Sunday after all, and until then I wanted to have eaten and be dressed so that I didn't have to worry about cutting the Skype call with my parents short. The baby shower would start at eleven thirty so I would have about an hour and a half to explain to my parents that I was dating a world-famous actor. I felt a little bit nauseous when I thought of it again and had to take a deep breath. This was a promise I had given George and I needed it for myself too.
The noise of a Skype call ringing seemed so loud in my living room and I started picking on my nails. George was currently in my bedroom putting on some clothes to look more decent in front of my parents, while I was already dressed and all dolled up, basically ready to head out.
"Alexandra, dear, how are you?"
I smiled at my mother and answered her in my mother tongue. "I am great Mama..." There was no chance for me to continue talking because she just interrupted me.
"How is the film preparing going? Do you have news on the cast yet? Are you happy with the script? I saw that you got to read it on your Instagram page yesterday. Did they change a lot of things compared to your novel? Also, did you see that great add with that hot actor that you like so much?"
"My goodness, Petra, calm down. Let her talk. Good morning sweetheart." My dad had finally managed to interrupt my mother and I had a chance to think about an answer to all of her questions.
"It's going great. I am glad that you use Instagram to follow my career and my life, I am very proud of you." My mother roller her eyes at my ironic answer and I thought about the rest of her question. "Which actor do you mean, Mama?"
She smiled and my dad rolled his eyes. This whole eyerolling thing seemed to run in our family.
"That really attractive British one, the one from that perfume add."
I tried to swallow a smile, it was weird hearing my mother talk about my boyfriend like that, but then again, my boyfriend was extremely handsome and my mother was the kind of person that got very invested in celebrities. I guess I got that from her too.
"I guess I didn't see it at the same place where you saw it, but I am familiar with it." I looked at George coming into the living room and my mother immediately noticed.
"Who are you looking at? Is there someone else in your flat? Why don't you let that poor person talk to us as well? Is it a man?"
"There is someone in my flat and yes I will introduce you to him, but only if you promise not to freak out, Mama."
I guess getting it out there seemed to be my way to go with it. For some reason this whole thing felt like an out of body experience, like I had no control over my mouth and how I chose to tell my parents.
"Alexandra, what do you mean?" my mother had leaned closer to the screen and my father looked a little bit less happy than five minutes ago. George just helplessly stood in the door frame of my living room, not understanding a word of what I was saying. Now he at least knew how I felt when he talked Greek with his siblings on the phone.
"I mean that I have been dating the actor we just talked about earlier for a while now and I wanted to tell you about it personally before you have to find out about it over Instagram." I started to chew my lips again and then looked at George again.
"Alexandra, we can see that you are looking at someone else. Bring him in already."
I nodded and was surprised by how unbothered my parents seemed about the whole George Oscar thing. "Just remember, he is from England, so speaking German won't do anything."
My parents both rolled their eyes, which finally gave me proof that it was indeed a family thing.
I got up from the sofa, went to George and gave him a worried look.
"What? What did you tell them? Do they not approve?" in that moment I noticed how concerned he actually was.
"That's the thing, they don't sound surprised or irritated at all." Something was wrong here. I ran my hands through his hair and then took his hand to bring him back in front of my laptop screen with me.
The moment George appeared on the screen I could see my mother's face drop.
"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Schneider, I'm George, very happy to finally get to talk to you." he took my hand into his and squeezed it lightly, for his or for my support, I couldn't tell.
"Alexandra Katherina Schneider, I thought you were joking with us." My mother was still frozen and even Trixie, who just came into the picture, seemed irritated by her mummy's behaviour.
"Mama, why would I joke about something like this?" The fact that she had now switched to English didn't really make this less awkward.
"I don't know, I just didn't expect him to... to just sit there on your sofa."
This whole thing was getting a little bit weird, my parents thinking I had just joked around certainly didn't help to relax the atmosphere and I tried to lighten the mood by telling them a little bit more about how George and I met and eventually they warmed up a little bit. George tried his best to not overwhelm my parents, I could see that in the way he talked, and I really appreciated it. We actually ended up having a really nice conversation, once my parents came out of their shock and started to talk to George. I was so relieved that they seemed to get along so well, at one point I went to get dressed and get my shoes and when I got back, they were still chatting. No awkward silence, no weirdness and my dad already invited George over for bis birthday barbeque in summer, which was a really good sign.
"Mama, Papa, I don't want to interrupt this new friendship, but I have to get going."
"Where are you going?" my mother was still talking to George.
"Mama, I told you that I was going to my friend's baby shower today." I finally closed the strap on my sandal and was ready to go. Now I just had to get my boyfriend and my parents separated. "I'm sorry, Mama, Papa, we have to go now."
"Alright sweetheart, have fun today and then we can talk about when you and George come to visit us." My dad had realised too that we had to get my mother away from the screen for a bit.
"That's a good idea Papa, I will call you soon. Bye, have a nice day."
"Bye sweetheart, goodbye George, it was very nice to talk to you." My mother was still very smitten by my boyfriend, but I was glad she liked him, it could've gone an entirely other way and that would really make things more difficult.
"The pleasure was all mine, Petra, Markus. Have a very nice Sunday."
Smiling I took George's hand again and then ended the call. "Oh my God, I think I need a drink." I got up from the couch and went to have a look for a drink that would be acceptable at nine thirty in the morning.
"Why? It went incredibly well, didn't it? Or did I miss something?"
"No, no, don't worry, you were amazing, they loved you.", I gave him a quick kiss on the lips before taking my phone and texting Bruce that I was ready to go. "It is just always very exhausting taking with my parents, let alone when something this big is revealed." I straightened the fabric of his shirt and then gave him another kiss. "Thank you for doing this though."
George wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to himself. "I have to thank you, gorgeous. I know how difficult it must be for you to take this next step and it means so much to me that you are doing this."
Smiling I kissed him on his lips, George held on to my cheeks and intensified the kiss. Before he could go any further with this, there was a knock at the door.
"Something is really off with the timing of people today." I chuckled and wiped away a little bit of lipstick from George's lips. I opened the door and let Bruce in to the flat. "I will be ready in a minute; I just need to grab my purse." I was checking my reflection in the mirror and fixing my lipstick on my way out of the flat and then felt George's hand on my waist.
"I know we said that we won't talk about this now, but I still wish I could go with you."
I bit my lip and for a split second I debated to have him join me despite all the reasons why I didn't want to do that in the first place.
"George, I just told my parents about us, your family knows about us and our friends know about us. Isn't that enough for now? It means that we can at least have friends over now or actually visit my parents as long as we are not seen by paparazzi. I am trying my very best, but I can't do it all at once. I'm sorry."
George gave me a soft kiss on the cheek but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "Don't apologise. I just keep trying and trying and one day we will do all of these things together."
I chuckled and then turned out of his embrace. "We will. But now I have to go to a baby shower and deal with a bunch of wild children of Camilla's friends and nappy shaped cookies."
When I got out of the car and to the front of the building, I felt Bruce follow me.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at me with a confused look. "My job?"
I shook my head. "Oh no, you are not going to accompany me to this. Or do you want everyone to be all over me because I brought a six-foot four guy to the baby shower for my best friend? Believe me, I will be safer if I don't get attacked by women who want to know why they haven't met my plus one before."
Bruce looked slightly uncomfortable. "You can just tell them I'm your bodyguard."
"Yeah, because for the dangerous case of 'guess the gender' I am in desperate need for protection." I sighed. "Please Bruce. If it makes you feel better you can wait in the car for my call or for the masked terrorist that will run into the building, but I won't be comfortable having my security detail at this event."
He looked back to the car and then at the house. "But George said I had to keep an eye on you, I don't feel comfortable with this."
I put my hand on his upper arm. "I will take care of him, don't worry. Now please, can I go in? If I'm late then Camilla will kill me and there won't be anything you or I could do against it."
He left without another word and I dialled George's number while I went up the stairs to the entrance Camilla's lovely town house.
"Alex?"
"Yes, hi George, could you please stop intimidating my bodyguard and let him do his job the way I want him to do it?"
I could hear him groan on the other side of the line. "Seriously? He couldn't even go half an hour before ratting me out?"
Laughing I rang the bell. "George, come on. You don't have to do this every single time I leave the house. Bruce will come to my help if I need him."
The door opened and a smiling and quite pregnant Camilla smiled at me.
"I have to go now, try not to worry too much about me."
George grunted and I laughed.
"Love you."
"Love you too gorgeous." He couldn't stay mad at me right now, I knew that.
I ended the call and then finally went to greet Camilla. "I'm so sorry, we had to clear something up."
Camilla laughed. "I saw you with Bruce for like five minutes, so I figured there was something to discuss."
I shook my head and went inside. It wasn't that cold, but it was too cold for my sandals and knee long dress. Camilla closed the door behind her, and I finally gave her a hug.
"You look amazing, how do you feel?"
She smiled. "Not as easy as with Milo, but very excited about this whole thing. Also I love that you decided as a theme for presents we would do things I would love to have after the birth and not just baby stuff, because I went to see what we still have in storage from when Milo was born and honestly, I could pop out three more of these and still have enough things."
Laughing we went into the living room where Chloé and Julie were at the bar and chatted with Andrew, while the majority of people were busy keeping their children from burning down the house.
Milo came running to me and I stretched out my arms to catch him when he jumped towards me. Lifting him up to my hip I chuckled.
"Hey there, mate."
"Hi Alex."
He smiled at me like only little kids smiled.
I went to socialise a little, while having Milo play with my hair. George and I never talked about kids, after the whole marriage thing we stayed clear of all future related conversation topics but being here with Milo in my arm I started to think about the possibility of us having kids.
It was ridiculous, how much George already meant to me after dating him for only half a year. I was thinking about marriage, kids and the guilt of having all of that despite what happened to Paul.
The baby shower was lovely, I kept talking with my friends, got to meet some new people and even a fan of my books which was quite a funny coincidence. I was quite thankful for the fact that Camilla was not the kind of person that needed all the cheesy games and cringey traditions and instead wanted to have some fun with her friends, tell everyone that she was expecting twin girls and insisted on doing a bouquet throwing but instead with a rattle. Needless to say, I was only mildly freaked out when I caught it.
I had explained to Camilla beforehand that I would have to leave earlyish and wouldn't stay to the very end, because I did want to spend some time with George before he would leave for another two weeks abroad.
When I got back to my flat George was in my kitchen with Davis, discussing how they would do the security while he was gone.
"Hey, gorgeous. What would you think if you would live at my place for the next two weeks?"
I rolled my eyes at him and took my shoes off.
"No need for that. I've lived at my place for so many years, I can handle being here for two weeks."
George didn't seem too happy about it, but I wasn't going to get sucked into another discussion.
"Davis, I'm very grateful for your service to my boyfriend, but why don't you take some time off while he is gone? Maybe you and Bruce can take turns so that you both get a week off?"
Davis immediately looked at George for approval.
George looked at me and I knew he was annoyed that I sprang that on him, but it wasn't a bad idea.
He sighed and pulled me closer to himself. "And you are sure you are okay on your own?"
"Of course I am. What is going on with you? You haven't been this worried about me before."
He shook his head. "It's nothing. But okay, Davis, if Alex says she doesn't need you then why don't you take next week off and then you take Bruce's job until I'm back from my trip."
I smiled at the men in my kitchen. "Good that that is taken care of. I'm going to get out of these clothes now. Davis, I wish you a nice week if I don't see you again before then."
"Thank you Alexandra."
I went into my bedroom and got out of my dress, looking at George's packed bags at my bed. With a sigh I pulled out a pair of yoga leggings and was about to put them on, when I heard the door close behind me.
I turned around to George who looked at me with a sly smile.
"You don't have to bother putting them on."
Laughing I put them on despite his efforts and went over to him.
"You have to leave in two hours."
George chuckled and wrapped his arms around me. "Yes, I'm aware of that. Which is why I want to spend them doing what I like most."
With one swift motion he threw me on the bed, and I squealed. This was the first time in a while that George was so playful and boyish.
Having George's eyes glued to my body made me blush and I sat up on the bed, pulling him onto me.

AN: We are getting closer to the end, guys...