The Artist - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧

𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝖙𝖜𝖔

I take a sip of the glass filled with some wine while I flip through my cards. Joaquin groans beside me making Khadijha chuckle. "You're taking so goddamn long!" He exclaims impatiently. I roll my eyes at his behavior and put a red three down. "This is uno I have to think before I put a card down dumbass." I say and he flips me off in return. Khadijha and I laugh at his childish behavior provoking him much more. He slams down his card and takes a big gulp of his drink. Khadijha decided to come back to LA because she hadn't had any scenes filmed and she told us- more like told me-because apparently Joaquin did already know about it, that the atmosphere at the set is a bit off. I didn't ask any more question and I didn't ask about Hero which I'm really proud of I let him have his space.
"Wait stop!" I yell when Khadijha wants to lay down her next card. "You can't put a 4+ on a wishing card K."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." She leans back in her chair frustrated. I look towards Joaquin to get some back up words. He shrugs his shoulders innocently. "I don't care." "I know you don't because I have to pick up the extra four cards." I tell him throwing a card at him. "Hey no need to get aggressive lady!" He says in a serious tone. I poke out my tongue at him and want to throw another card but Khadijha grabs my wrist giggling. "Maybe we should play something different." I nod eagerly and take another sip from my drink. No I'm not compensating my stress with alcohol I would never. "I think we should dance!" I exclaim and let the cards fall onto the table carelessly. I stand up and run towards our radio station turning the volume full up and starting to dance. I'm soon joined by a drunk Joaquin while I wiggle my butt into the air. "This looks ridiculous." I turn around and look at Khadijha who is clutching her stomach and laughing. "Do it better!" I tell her grabbing her hand and pushing her onto our little improvised dance floor. The next second I stumble and crash into Joaquin taking him with me down while he grabs Khadijha's hand and we all land on the floor together. "This is a disaster." K says and I nod agreeing with her. A phone rings suddenly making me sit up excitedly. I run towards the kitchen table we sat at and look down at the caller ID on my phone. "Hello?" I ask in a deep voice but quickly have to giggle afterwards. "April everything okay?" Hero asks me and I see Joaquin and Khadijha holding hands gazing at each other longingly. I laugh at their expression and they pucker their lips jokingly. "April?" He asks again and I try to stay serious and step into my room closing the door. "I'm fine sorry there was..a distraction in the living room." I sigh and let myself fall backwards onto my bed. I snuggle my face into the cushion and smell the light cologne of Hero. "I miss you." I say instantly. He chuckles lightly "I miss you too darling but I guess I got replaced by a friend called alcohol?" "Oh yes he's very friendly to me and he makes me feel happy."
"So then it doesn't matter if I come back?" I sit up quickly at his sentence my eyes widening. "No, no , no. You should come here asap! Khadijha told me there's stress on set?" I ask him trying to have a normal conversation but the heavy clog of the alcohol is a little bit too strong.
He sighs and I hear some shuffling. "Yes but you don't need to worry about it love. We're staying just for two days and than I'm finally going to see you." "You were gone too long." I pout because I want him next to me right now. "The cushion still smells like you." I tell him dreamily and somewhere deep in my mind I'm regretting that I'm talking to him drunk. I hear his beautiful chuckle again. "You can't even imagine how much I miss you." His words are like balm for my soul which is washing all the worries and doubts away. "I am scared." I admit quietly. "Why what's wrong?" His voice is filled with worry. "Do you feel like I'm holding you back?"
"No not even the slightest bit how did you even come up with that?" "I don't know I just wondered.." I trail off I don't want him to know that his manager's practically bribing me. He was talking about a Josephine who exactly was that? "Anyways how is filming going..are you okay with everyone on set?" "Yeah they're all excited that we're filming in Arizona and are sad that we're going to leave soon except for me." I'm happy that he tells me more than once that he wants to come back so desperately. He doesn't mention any Josephine but I ignore it I think the manager just wanted to make me insecure and I shouldn't let my worries cloud my judgement. I trust Hero. "I'm going to be here when you come back anyways so enjoy the last days promise me that." "I promise April."

I let out a small yawn the wine definitely made me sleepy. "Do you want to sleep?" "No don't hang up I want you to stay with me." I snuggle myself under the covers and put the phone between my ear and cushion. "Can you sing me that beautiful melody you always hum?" I whisper tiredly. He starts to sing the song quietly and I let my eyes fall close listening to the words he sings. I put him on speaker and let the melody fill my room the comforting feeling hugging my body and lulling me into sleep.