Stage Lights || H.S.

the red carpet

Between Amy, Harry and I, the cake had absolutely disappeared in a matter of minutes. It was a white vanilla bean flavor with delicious icing. We sat in the living room and ate it all. Friends was muted on the TV, Harry and Amy were on the couch chatting as if they were close friends. He told her about how he had convinced Columbia Records -and mostly my dad- to change his next single from Only Angel to Kiwi since it seemed to be the fans' favorite, and Amy whined about how Sweet Creature should be a single instead.

I watched him explain to her about how they needed a more upbeat song since Sign Of The Times was a slow ballad, and then she started to go on about One Direction. They talked favorite songs off the albums and he was interested on knowing her perspective as a fan, she didn't hesitate to say Made In The A.M. was her favorite -whatever that means.

Harry was sweet. The way he laughed when Amy said Steal My Girl sucked, the way he completely disagreed that his big bandanas should make a come back. I found myself getting completely lost in his voice, the raspiness and huskiness, the way he pronounced certain words, the way his British accent slowly faded away and then suddenly overloaded on words like pretty, quite, obviously, trousers.

I was sat on the floor around the center table, digging into the last piece of cake that sat on my place as I watched him carefully. He gestured with his hands when he got into what he was talking about, his lips moved in a funny way when his accent got thick. He laughed about something Amy had said and tilted his head in my direction. His eyes were shiny, light and sparkly, his lips pressed together but a smirk creeping on the corner. He blinked a couple of times, letting his hands fall on his lap.

"What?" He asked, his accent definitely strong in that question.

"I just--" Before I could finish my phone started ringing, it vibrated against the wooden table top being extremely loud for no reason. Renee. "I have to pick it up."

I put my fork down and grab my phone, running into my bedroom. Renee and I haven't had a real conversation in years, but the past month we had talked more than we had since I moved out of the house, it was just back and forth texts of her reminding me of a shoot or telling me where to go and who to meet.

Still, the more I have ever used her contact.

"Hello?"

"Hi, honey. I'm outside."

"You're-- what?" I ran to my window, her car parked right behind Harry's big black shiny Range Rover.

"Don't tell me you forgot?" Silence. "The Glamour Magazine party? The red carpet?"

"Shit. Shit." I totally forgot about it. "Is there anyway..."

"No. Absolutely not. Do you understand how important this is, Luna? What else could be more important than this?"

I glanced over the door. I could hear Harry's laugh from here. I wanted to be with him, I wanted to spend all the time I had wasted with him. All the time I had wasted in general because it felt good. I felt good.

+++++++++

"I'll be here when you come back. I promise."

His voice echoed in my head as I exited the car. My feet touched the red carped and someone offered me a hand to help me out. The flashes were blinding and it was a familiar feeling. The anxiety building up and the breath you forget you're holding, the way you keep seeing stars from the cameras when you're trying to walk away, the way someone shouts your name and you forget that it's you that they're talking about.

I was guided around along with Renee. She seemed to know what she was doing, while me... Well, I just followed everyone, being dragged around the red carpet amongst other models. Prettier, skinnier and way more famous ones.

"They're ready for you." The man with a walkie-talkie said, gesturing to a barricade where reporters, journalists and camera men crowded around waiting for their next victim.

My stomach turned. "You never said anything about interviews."

"Well, they want to talk to you and I think it's a good--" Renee spoke.

"What do they want to talk to me about?"

"It's E!, Luna. It's important for your career. Publicity."

"I just don't--"

"It'll be over before you know it." She said.

The man pushed my back and suddenly the camera was on me. The light was bright and I was so so nervous. The reporter smiled at me, a nice friendly smiled. Her dark hair pulled up on a ponytail, her blazer a dark shade of grey.

"Luna Davis has finally hit the red carpet. Wow!" She said into the microphone before pushing it on my direction.

I had to be quick to make it less awkward. I opened up my brightest smile before speaking up. "I'm so excited to be here. This is so much fun and Glamour is one of my favorite magazines."

"Is it where you get all your beauty and fashion tricks from?"

"Of course it is. I trust them."

"We're so happy you came back to the modeling world and public eye. We know you took a break for a while. What is it that made you come back?"

"Well, modeling is something that I've always loved and that I grew up doing. I took a little break, you know, I'm only twenty-one." I giggled. "And I now I'm ready to invest on my career and give my hundred percent."

"That's so good to hear." She nodded. "Your pictures for Calvin Klein are everywhere and that was your big comeback. It's blown up online, everyone loves it. How has it been?"

"It blew my mind. I think that it's so far my most liked picture on Instagram. It's obviously all about the people supporting me and I'm so glad to, you know, have that."

"And besides the Calvin Klein ads, there's another thing that have kept you pretty up there on the tabloids lately. It's no lie that you have been pretty close with Harry Styles lately and I have to ask, what's going on there?"

I felt my breath getting caught on my throat. Suddenly the light felt brighter, my dress felt tighter, the conversations around me felt louder. I tried to keep a smile to not show how nervous I had gotten at just the mention of his name.

"Who's Harry Styles?" I laugh. "No, I'm kidding. Uhh... Growing up in a household surrounded by the music industry you happen to run into people and meet people all the time. You know, my best friend is actually a big fan of his, we went to a few of his concerts."