chapter three,
to live for the hope of it all

    The place was crowded at club Mercy brought her two friends to. "Okay.. here you go." Mercy smirks bringing over a bright blue cocktail.

"What is that?" Nai laughed as her friend sat the drink down infront of her. "A blue lagoon. I thought you'd like it." Mercy says as she takes a sip from her drink.

"It's definitely blue." She smiles as she holds it up, almost as if she was inspecting the drink.

"Yeah, that's why they call it a blue lagoon," Remy chimed in, taking a sip from her own drink.

"Drink up, Nai. You need to loosen up," Mercy added, raising an eyebrow.

Nailea glanced over at her friend, feeling a mix of reluctance and determination.

"I don't know..." she mumbled.

Mercy let out an annoyed sigh. "Nai, you've been moping around in your apartment for days. You need to get out and have some fun for once. And you need to drink that damn drink!"

Nailea sighed, realizing that Mercy had a point. She had been moping around for far too long, living like a recluse. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the blue cocktail and took a sip.

"There you go," Mercy said, satisfied with Nai's decision. As Mercy continued chatting with Remy, Nai took another sip of the drink.

Throughout the night it felt like a blur to Nailea. Her memories were foggy of the night and the only thing she could remember was Mercy throwing up out the taxi window.

As Nailea awoke from her slumber the next day, she had a horrible headache. She sat up and instantly put her palm to her forehead.

Something Nailea loved was the clean girl aesthetic, but let's be real. She could never be that.

If she was one of those clean girl's, she would've woke up earlier and gone for run then made a matcha tea. But in this reality, Nailea scrolled on her phone for what felt like forever til she got up and took a shower.

The girl stepped out after a relaxing long shower. As she got ready to look presentable for the rest of the hours left in the day, her rang on the counter top.

As she flipped it over, her manager was calling. Which was unexpected since Nailea had taken a break from her career.

"Hey, Miller. What's up?" she spoke first after answering the call.

"Nai! Girl, do I have some good news for you." She heard her manger happily say on the other end.

"I told you, I'm taking a mental health break. Away from social media, away from singing, away from everything and everyone."

That everyone being a special someone. Micheal. She avoided him at all costs. Not wanting to ever have to deal with him again.

"No, listen to me. This is one of the best opportunities yet."

Nailea leaned against the table, "Fine, I'm listening."

"Okay, so remember that Ryan Murphy, Jeffery Dahmer Monster series that came out like 2 months ago. Well.. I've booked you for the second season of that show, it's about Lyle and Eric's story. You know the Menendez Brothers."

Nailea's jaw practically fell to the ground after hearing their words. "What." She held the phone to her ear.

"Aren't you excited? It's going to be a hit!" Miller exclaimed, distracted by his excitement.

"Miller. Do you know how bad of a person Ryan Murphy is?" Nailea frowned at all the backlash she would get for taking a role in this project. "Also, who would I even be playing? Because I know you are not calling me old if I am going to be playing the mom."

"No! You're casted as Jaime Pisarcik. Lyle's girlfriend in the show."

Nailea struggled to say anything, she didn't know what to say to that. "I can't believe this. I'm not even blonde."

"About that.." Her manager lingered his words, already knowing her reaction.

"Miller!"

‧₊ ᵎᵎ 🍒 ⋅ ˚✮

JANUARY 21ST 2023
ON SET OF MONSTERS

    Four months had passed since Nailea booked Monsters. She was now on the set during the scene where Lyle asks Jaime to lie for him jail.

She had always taken this case very seriously and wanted justice for the Menendez brothers.

Nailea stared at herself in the mirror, barely recognizing the person who stared back at her. Her once brunette locks had been bleached blonde and teased out, she knew she was only doing this to be professional but something about it all felt unnatural.

She was now playing the role of Jaime Pisarcik, a character she'd studied and obsessed over in the past. But standing here now, ready to film a scene for the highly anticipated second season of the Ryan Murphy series, she felt like a completely different person.

"You ready to do this?" A crew member said, snapping Nai out of her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and nodded, doing her best to put on a professional face. "Yeah, I'm ready," she said, her voice firm.

The set was a flurry of activity as the crew set up the cameras and adjusted the lighting. Nai looked around, trying to spot the people she would be sharing this scene with.

They had already filmed one scene alongside the two main actors, Nicholas and Cooper.

There was a sense of anticipation in the air. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the scene to begin. Nai could feel her heart racing, even though she had studied the script countless times.

It felt both weird and good to be back at acting. Back on a set. Back to what she was destined to do.

As she waited, she looked over her lines one last time. She knew them by heart already, but it was more a way to calm her nerves that were on overdrive.

"Alright, we're ready to start," The director called out, pulling Nai's attention away from the script in her hands.

She took one last deep breath, pushing all her nerves to the back of her mind. She was ready.

The director called out, "Action!" and the set went silent as the cameras rolled.

‧₊ ᵎᵎ 🍒 ⋅ ˚✮

    After hours of filming and the constant feeling of everyone watching you, Nailea had finished for the day.

"Hey!" A voice called after her as she walked away from the set.

She turned around to be met with her scene partner, Nicholas. "Oh, hey." She casually replied.

"You were really good. I also love your dad's films.. and yours of course!" He awkwardly smiled.

Nailea couldn't help but smile at his compliment, feeling a bit awkward herself. "Thanks. You were great too." She replied, trying her best to act normal.

This was still a new experience for her, being recognized more for the work of her parents more than anything else. Besides the fact that she was a well known nepo baby.

"Listen, um," Nicholas began, scratching the back of his head. "I was wondering if you'd like to grab some food or something sometime. Just because we'll be filming together for a while.." He trailed off, clearly nervous.

Nai was taken by surprise. She hadn't been expecting this at all. She glanced away for a moment, considering his offer. He was cute, and it was obvious he was interested in her.

"Yeah... Yeah, sure." She replied, feeling a little flutter in her stomach.

Nicholas' face lit up. "Really? Awesome." He said, his nerves seemingly vanishing. "Uh, here's my phone number."

He quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket and entered his number into Nai's phone. Once it was all set up, he looked at her.

"I'll text you." He said, a soft smile on his lips.

Nailea smiled back at him, trying to keep her own excitement under control. "Sounds good." She replied, feeling oddly nervous about the whole situation.

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