Authors: Heather Leigh
Drew tugs on my han
d and presses me up against him. “No way would I ever want out, Sydney.” He slants his mouth down over mine, skimming his tongue over my lips. I kiss him back, not holding back anything, and my heart pounds wildly in my chest.
The elevator pings again, and the doors open on the 4
th
floor. We break apart and a young man in a suit steps in. His head is down and he’s reading something on his phone, so he doesn’t notice us until he bumps into Drew.
“I’m so sorry,” he says as he looks
up. “I didn’t expect anyone …” His face registers shock when he grasps whose feet he just stepped on. “I, I’m s-s-sorry.” The poor guy’s face is bright red and he turns to the front of the elevator.
Well, that’s not awkward or anything.
I look at Drew and we both cover our mouths and silently laugh.
Chapter
35
I’m so nervous that I might throw up. I pace the tiny room, drawing stares from my mom and Drew who are sitting calmly on the couch.
“Sydney, please stop. You’re going to be a sweaty mess if you keep running around like that,” my mom says in a soothing voice.
Drew stands up and puts his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to stop my pacing. I look up at his handsome, composed face. “Syd, it’s going to be okay. I’ll be right off to the side where you can see me the entire time. They’ll love you, but you can still back out if you want to.” He gives me a serious look and brushes his lips across mine. The contact with him is so soothing that I want him next to me when I do this. But I know that’s crazy. Today is not the day for that bomb to detonate.
The door to the little room opens and a
woman in a huge headset comes in. “Miss Allen, Ms. Allen, it’s time.” She gestures for us to follow her.
“Actual
ly, it’s Miss Tannen, not Allen,” I say and turn to my mom. She winks at me and walks out the door.
“Are you ready?” Drew asks, looking in my eyes for reassurance that I’m not going to fall apart. This was my idea for God’s sake! I need to get it together.
“Like ripping off a Band-Aid, right?” I smile nervously. He smiles back and laughs uncomfortably. He thinks this is a terrible idea, and is only going along with it for my sake. “Let’s go,” I say, taking his hand and letting him lead me out behind my mom.
We get close enough to be able to hear the murmurings of a large crowd of people. The hallways get more and more crowded the further we walk. I start wondering what in the hell I was thinking when I suggested this to my mom. We made calls, well, Mom made a call to her agent who made the calls for us, but still
, it was my idiotic idea.
I told her that the best way to stop the speculation about where I went twelve years ago and to reintroduce her to the public after her leave of absence was to just go on the biggest nightly talk show in the country. In one hour we could both stop the media from digging to uncover me, and put my mom back into the spotlight for her return to acting.
When we told Drew, he loathed the idea. He’d rather have me stay hidden away, but that’s not realistic with stars as big as Drew and my mom in my life. He’s even more over-protective now that I’m pregnant and went through each scenario point by point to see which option would be safest for me. But in the end, I told him I was done hiding, done freaking out over exposure, and mostly, I want to be able to be with him openly. Now, I’m thinking he was right and I may have made a huge mistake.
We reach the edge of the stage as the host of
Late Night Report
, Brandon Eastlake, starts his comedic monologue. Mom is paying close attention to the directions given to us by the assistant in the big earphones. I’m not listening, I figure I’ll just follow my mom and do what she does. She’s the celebrity after all. I’m just the curiosity from her past.
Drew has his hand on my lower back, keeping me close to him. I feel his other hand slide across my belly in a soft caress
. He leans down close to my ear. “I love you Sydney, no matter what.” His whisper sends chills down my spine.
I put my hand over his and
look up at him. “I love you too, always.” He gives me a kiss on the top of my head and it’s time to go.
What the hell have I done?
I follow my mom out from the backstage area and into the bright lights of the stage. Five million people watch this show every week. When they announced yesterday that Evangeline Allen and Sydney Tannen would be appearing tonight, they estimated that twenty million or more might watch just this one episode.
I think I feel sick
.
I smile at the studio audience, or where I think they are, judging by the
deafening roar. I can’t see much due to the blinding spotlights. I manage to walk over to Brandon and get a hug and an air kiss, then move to sit down next to my mom on one of the plush blue chairs.
The crowd refuses to stop clapping and whistling, ecstatic to see my mom. I grin and look over at Drew, who’s standing just beyond the view of the au
dience, applauding for her too.
“Well well well!” says Brandon Eastlake, attempting to get the crowd to calm down. “That’s
gotta be the most enthusiastic reception we’ve ever had here on the show!” he says, smiling at us.
After an eternity,
the noise stops so he can begin the interview. “So … how’ve you both been?” he jokes. The studio audience goes crazy again, and he has to wave his hands to get them to stop. “No really, you both left California over ten years ago and there’s been no mention of either of you since. What happened?”
“Hi Brandon,” my mom says politely. She looks so beautiful here in her element. She’s
radiant, the epitome of a movie star. I, on the other hand, am shaking like a leaf, sitting on my hands to hide the twitching. “Where do I begin?” The crowd laughs, as entranced by her as they were twelve years ago.
“You did great, Sydney.
” Brandon Eastlake is congratulating me backstage after the show. He had been quite surprised to see that I was dating ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Andrew Forrester, but understood why we didn’t want to come out as a couple just yet. He said that our story about why we left Hollywood and how my parents sacrificed everything was so amazing, that even he was blown away.
When he had asked me onstage how it felt learning that the video seen round the world didn’t break my parents up, I choked up on camera, earning sympathetic noises from the audience. I told him how grateful I was that my parents loved me enough to ma
ke such huge sacrifices for me.
Discussing the accident with the paparazzi became very emotional, my mom and I both shaky when describing what happened. Several times I glanced at Drew and saw him clenching his fists, completely stressed out. He
looked like he was about one second from running on stage, scooping me up and taking me away from the pain. Somehow, he managed to keep his promise and stay out of sight.
Brandon asked if I had any plans to reunite with my father now that I was out of hiding, and I told him I definitely would reach out
to him soon.
Mom discussed her future plans, and the movie she would begin filming next month in Georgia, a futuristic adaptation of
Gone With the Wind
called
Atlanta Burns
. The screenwriter remembered that it was her favorite story and wrote the part just for her. I mean, my middle name is Scarlett, that pretty much says it all. Then she recounted some of her most famous roles and Brandon asked about her favorite ones.
The
audience, and Brandon for that matter, were floored when I said I didn’t own a TV and had never seen his show. He made me promise that I would buy one just so I could see him every night before I went to bed. While the crowd laughed at his joke, Drew stood offstage and glared angrily at the handsome host for flirting with me.
Drew seems to have gotten
past his ridiculous jealousy over my lighthearted teasing onstage, and is having an animated conversation with Brandon Eastlake. He’s met Brandon several times,
of course
, and they’re discussing a football game from a few weeks ago where Drew’s Patriots beat Brandon’s Giants. Drew is more than happy to be an ungraceful winner, telling Brandon that his team will always be second to the Pats. That causes Brandon to start in on the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, and I have to excuse myself to get away from them.
“You did great, mom.
” I give my mom a big hug.
Sh
e smiles at me and hugs me back. “You are the one who did great, Syd. I’m so proud of you for getting out there and taking control of your future. Your dad is so proud, I’m sure.” Her eyes are a little teary when she mentions dad. “You really think you’ll call him? He would love that Sydney. I know he misses you terribly.”
“I will Mom. I meant it. I just want to wait fo
r this,” I gesture around us, “Mess to settle down first. Plus, Drew wants me to go to his movie premiere next week, so maybe I’ll call him while we’re in L.A. for that. Although with tonight, then the premiere with Drew, the media is going to go nuts.” I stop myself from going down that road. “But you know, I’m doing things my way now, so who cares about the media? I’ll call Dad when I’m in L.A. You don’t happen to have his number, do you?”
She laughs and pulls out her phone.
Of course she does.
Chapter
36
I’m waiting for Leah to bring my packed suitcases over to Drew’s brownstone. Ever since the
Late Night Report
interview aired two days ago, my loft has been under siege by reporters and paparazzi. I don’t know why I thought that the show would satisfy everyone’s curiosity about who Sydney Tannen is, but it didn’t. I do think it will die down soon, they have to lose interest at some point. Maybe not after Drew and I walk the red carpet Saturday night, but eventually.
It has to, right?
Drew told me that a movie he wrapped last summer is going to be prepped for a limited release and asked if I would go with him to the Los Angeles premiere. I don’t want to go, but I figured we’re doing things the new way these days by ‘going big or going home’ so for some crazy reason I told him yes.
After the interview aired,
I’m not surprised by the sheer number of blogs and gossip sites devoted to me and my mom and of course, the corresponding bullcrap articles supposedly quoting my dad’ s reaction to everything. What does surprise me is how little I care. Living through this as a kid is much different than as an adult. I know what is true and what isn’t and that’s pretty much all that matters. As a child, completely removed from the truth, but on the receiving end of the psychotic fans and teasing from classmates, it was impossible to understand.
“Thank God I’m out of there! Your neighbors must hate you, Sydney!” Leah says as she bursts through Drew’s front door. Bruce follows behind
her, hauling two giant suitcases and a hanging garment bag, straining under their weight.
“Leah! That is way too much stuf
f for one weekend!” I complain.
“Well, you didn’t have to run the gauntlet through those crazy people! I was under a lot of pressure! It’s a good thing they don’t know who I am, so I was at least able to get inside without a camera getting stuck in my face. Poor Bruce was shoved by paparazzi who thought a girl with dark red hair delivering something to the concierge was you. He
almost got trampled to death!”
I
nside, I’m laughing at Leah, because she kept saying all these years that it wouldn’t be a big deal to just live normal and not hide my identity. Now she’s on the receiving end of exactly how ‘not normal’ my life is and it’s pretty humorous.
“Thanks, Bruce,” I pat Drew’s driver on the arm, “I’m so sorry you almost got stepped on. Are you okay?”
He puts the suitcases down and smiles. “It’s not nearly as dramatic as all that, Sydney, I was pushed and I stumbled a little. No big deal.” His kind expression lets me know that he doesn’t want to be fussed over.
Drew comes down the stairs and sees Leah, red-faced and
dripping sweat, takes in my amused expression and chuckles. “They got you, huh Leah?”
“It’s not funny, jerk. Bruce almost died!” She has a petulant look on her
flushed face.
“Leah, stop it!” I laugh.
“Bruce did not almost die!” Bruce turns an interesting shade of purple as we all look at him.
Drew steps
over and shakes his hand. “Bruce, man, thanks for the favor. We’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll just go then.”
The very relieved driver darts out the front door and sprints for the car.
Drew and I burst out laughing at the scene we just witnessed. “You guys can just go get Sydney’s stuff yoursel
ves next time then,” Leah huffs and puts her hands on her hips. She’s all flustered and disheveled. Her blonde hair is falling out of her ponytail and her clothes are wrinkled and a little dirty.
“I’m sorry, Leah, we appreciate what you’ve done. There’s no way either of us could go anywhere near my place right now. Maybe when we get back or something …” I stop talking when I notice the incredulous looks that Drew and Leah are giving me. “What?”
“Sydney, we’re going public as a couple in a day and a half. We not only won’t be able to go to your place, but they’re going to be outside here as well,” Drew says as he pulls me into his arms.
“Well,” I push back from him and throw up my hands in frustration, “I guess we’ll just live on the street then. I don’
t care.” I stare them both down. “When we get back we’re going to stay wherever the hell we want to stay. I don’t give a shit if they’re outside all damn day and night!”