Page 105 of Seeking Stars
She parked outside her childhood home and vowed to keep this time with her parents a safe place. If she could keep lunch comforting and familiar, it would be a much needed balm to her frayed nerves. She hugged them and kissed their faces like she always would, and let their warmth soothe her.
As soon as they sat down to eat the seco de pollo, her parents asked her if she was seeing anyone.
"Uhm… yes, actually." Ana half-smiled, half-bit her lip.
"¿Qué? ¡Hija!" her mom said. "And you didn't tell us? How long has it been?"
"I'm telling you now, Mami."
"¿Cómo se llama el muchacho?" her dad asked.
"His name is Liam."
"You should invite him for dinner." Mami added, cutting into her chicken. "It's been a long time since you've dated anyone."
Ana took a long, deep breath. She hadn't had a chance to prepare for this conversation, and all she knew was that she didn't want her parents to worry. She clung to the fact they didn't follow celebrity gossip, and she prayed that nobody would tell them what was going on.
"He's amazing, but it's hard right now because he travels a lot and he's not from here."
"So he can't come for dinner yet?" her mom asked.
Ana smiled. "No, not yet."
They had coffee after their meal, continuing to casually chat. When her parents asked about work, she managed to talk about the latest documentary and Liam as if they were two separate things, nervously navigating the fine line where omission became a lie. At some point, Ana's parents would learn the whole truth and she'd be in trouble anyway, but the way things were right now, this was the best she could do.
Later, she quietly took a picture of the three of them and, asking for silent forgiveness, Ana sent it to Liam without letting her parents know. She didn't want to put the idea in their head that they could ask for pictures of Liam; she'd been there before and it had ended in a big reveal. She waited on her phone just in case he replied right away and, as she didn't have social media apps on her phone anymore, Ana made the mistake of checking her emails. She had one from Diana.
Ana,
I need to share bad news. You may not know, but there's currently a campaign to downvote your previous work. People are leaving bad reviews everywhere to lower your ratings— and your previous documentary participants are being harassed. We're doing our best to help them field questions and direct people our way.
This is precisely the kind of situation I wanted to avoid. At this point all we can do is focus on damage control. On your side, we will send you a draft of a statement to read. As per our agreement, you get to give your opinion on what we say in any public communications. Once it's approved, we'll ask that you say something to the same effect on your social media and then pretend it's all in the past. We hope for your helpfulness in this process.
Finally, this may be the final push you needed to break things off with Mr. McMillan, if you haven't already. You really need to stop living in a dream world and focus on your career. Let me make it what we both know it can be.
The email lit a fire in her belly. Liam wasn't easily discarded. There had to be a way to keep him and her career, too. She just needed to hunker down and figure it out.
The conviction lasted only until a flash temporarily blinded her while waiting for the gate to open at her building's parking lot. Someone took a picture through her side window, making it clear that her safe exit wasn't safe anymore.
"Oh my god," she mumbled, trying to cover her face as she drove past them.
Later that night, one got into the building and knocked at her door.
Being with Liam would be like this. There was so much more to it than simply how much Liam and Ana cared for one another. Ana's blood boiled at people, at the industry, and everyone who thought they had an opinion on the matter. For the first time, she thought she could truly understand Liam's bitterness when she first met him. Underneath her anger, dread caved a hole in her.
She wanted to be with him, she knew that, but how was she supposed to deal with all the chaos and pain?
Ana: Diana is really angry. I think I'm in trouble with her. There's a campaign to bring down my ratings, my documentary people are being harassed.
Ana: Paps have been harassing me today. I hate this
Liam: I'm sorry. None of this should be happening. I wish we could talk right now.
Liam had been in meetings all day and now he was about to go into training with Brad again. Ana lay in bed, drained from a long day of frustration and fear. Immobile, eyes open yet unseeing, she shut down, thoughts leaving her one by one, emotions going away for once. It won her over, the quiet of being numb for a while, and she embraced it with open arms.
She fell asleep before she could talk to Liam that night. She woke up the next day to a few missed calls and a text from him.
Liam: you must have fallen asleep. It's even later there and I'm sure you're tired. This shit is exhausting.
