I fidget with my dress, while we wait for the door of the limousine to open. I can already hear the high pitched choir of thrilled fangirls. It's not about me, it's all about Dan I keep reminding myself. This is the night of the premiere. No one will probably look at me, but I'm still nervous as hell. Quickly I throw a glance in a small mirror. I don't even look like myself anymore. Jess's stylist did my make-up and hair, threatened to give me some scary fake nails, but I managed to avoid that. I'm afraid my thick velvet dress might be a bit too warm, but it looks awesome. I keep staring at Dan, he looks hot as hell. I wish he always wore suits.

As soon as Dan steps out of the car, I get the feeling my head explodes. The squeals of his fans pierce my ears. Jess smiles at me, mouths 'good luck' and follows Dan out on the red carpet. Eric, Jess's husband, and I follow them quickly. I'm blinded by the flashlights of the cameras right away. Dan hooks his arm in mine, walking me to spot where the photographers are clumped together. I can't see a thing, I'm completely blinded by the stroboscopic lights. Just keep smiling, whatever happens, smile. I keep repeating that sentence over and over. I hope I don't look like a maniac, or worse, like a clown, with my superficial smile plastered on my face.

"Who's the pretty lady, Dan?" Some journalist yells.

"This is Elise. She's helping me with my next project." He doesn't look at me, he just keeps staring at the faceless mob in front of us. It feels as if there is a distance between us. This whole circus is part of his work.

I don't know how long we stand there posing, but I'm relieved when Eric grabs my arm.

"Stay close to me, we're going straight to the building and let them do their thing." We're not that interesting, the paparazzi and journalists want photos of Dan and Jess. I look at Dan. He's the cocky, sunglass-wearing guy again, who once walked into the lunchroom. He's talking to some of the fans, taking selfies with their phones. I see one girl faint, her face full of admiration. Her friend catches her, and drops her almost as fast as she gains Dan's attention. I smile and follow Eric into the theatre.

"And now we wait." Eric says as he hands me a glass of champagne. This is not just some night out to the cinema. I will see Dan probably not that much tonight. He will be talking to journalists, critics, basically it's one night of hard work for him.

When he walks into the theatre he doesn't look like the man I know. I wouldn't call it arrogant, just self-aware. I guess this is his professional look, small smile around his lips, talking with some honored guests, waving to the director.

When he's close to us, a girl with long brown wavy hair walks to him.

"Dan, how nice to see you again." She seems to have only eyes for him as she wraps her arms around his neck. The décolleté of her revealing red dress leaves barely anything to the imagination.

"Sasha." He still smiles, but I notice some tension in his jaw. Everyone is almost seated in the theatre, and it is time we should enter as well, so I walk over to them.

"Hey Dan, can you show me where we are seated?" I say.

"Did I introduce you to Elise?" He pulls me in between them as if I'm some kind of shield.

I shake her hand. Her red-painted smile shows a little too much teeth. She doesn't even look at me, her eyes are all over Dan. "Nice to meet you." I say.

"Sasha" She introduces herself, still not taking her eyes off him.

"She's my advisor for a new project." Dan says.

"So that's what you're calling it nowadays." Her eyes are small slits when she finally looks at me. "I guess I see you later."

And she walks off, swaying her hips.

"Who was that?" I ask him.

"Sasha." He says.

I shoot him a dirty look.

He chuckles. "Don't worry about her. She's someone that I used to know. Nothing serious, or not as serious as she hoped."

Together with Jess, Eric, and the director, we're the last ones to enter the theatre. People are applauding as we walk to our places. All eyes are on us and I feel my face turn red. When the lights finally go out and the movie finally starts, I start to relax and I lay my hands on the armrest.

Dan's arm is directly next to mine. We're not touching, I can feel Dan's warmth. His proximity makes the hairs on my arm go straight up. I try to focus on the story. It is weird to see him on the big screen, while he sits right beside me. The first half-hour tells the story of a couple, played by Dan and Jessica, how they met, how their relationship evolved, and about their general life. But then Jessica's character hears she has cancer. At that moment Dan's hand glides over mine. I throw a glance at him and see his eyes rest on me.

The doctor in me checks every fact they tell about cancer and I think they did a decent job, although the medical side plays a minor role. The focus is on how the relationship between the couple evolves. How Jessica's character is trying to deal with the fact she's ill and dying, and how Dan is trying to support her. He shaves off his hair as soon as she starts to lose hers.

"You really shaved it off?" I whisper, thinking of one of the first things I noticed about him.

"Yep. Jess didn't, the coward." He says, mocking her.

I hear Jess snigger. "I was so glad about that cap."

But then the tone changes as Jess's character confesses she cheated on Dan's character. After the confession, he leaves her alone in the house and runs for miles. When he comes back to the house he walks to the shower and slowly takes of his clothes. I hear the excited squeals and whispers of all the women around me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind staring at Dan's body, but the whole setting starts to freak me out. Dan's fingers entwine with mine.

To my horror, the image of my naked boyfriend is filling the screen. The sighs of hundreds of horny women fill my ears. And my ordeal isn't over yet, as he puts on the shower and the camera is following the water that glides from his naked body. I shouldn't freak out as I do, I know he will be sleeping next to me tonight, but there's this weird possessive thing going on in my brain. I quickly throw a glance to him, to see how he feels about this scene, but he seems fine. He smiles and gives me a subtle wink.

I'm glad when that scene is finally over. It seemed to go on forever. I wonder if it added anything to the story. My heart is pounding in my throat and I almost crush Dan's hand.

I lay my head on his shoulder, only to realize that this is a bad idea. I try to stay focused on the movie and when it comes to an end, I'm completely in tears. Jessica's character died and Dan speeches during the funeral ceremony. It's emotional and I can't stop crying.

"Was it that bad?" Dan asks.

"O shut up," I say while I try to wipe away my tears. "It was beautiful."

Dan cups my head and with his thumb he wipes one lonely tear away. "You're decent again. Now I have to talk to the press and then there's a party where we are expected. And I can't wait until after the party."

"What will happen then?" I ask.

He smiles. "I can finally kiss you."

-X-x-x-x-x-

When we arrive at the after-party Dan and Jess walk to the dance floor. I stay at the bar with Eric. We both don't feel like dancing.

"So, how did you two meet?" He takes a sip from his red wine and stares at me over the brim of his glass.

"I'm helping him with this new project and..." I stop talking when I see Eric raise his hand.

"Come on, Elise. I know there's something going on between you two and I guess I'm not the only one who sees it. I can tell it by the way he looks at you and how you hold his hand."

My eyes glide through the room. "Is it that obvious?"

"I think only a big neon arrow would make it more obvious, but only slightly."

"Well, so far for trying to stay under the radar." I say with a big sigh.

"Hey, I know where you're coming from. I was Jess's dentist." He says.

My impertinent gaze must tell him how surprised I am.

"Yeah really." He answers the question I never asked. "At first we tried to keep it a secret, but I just wanted to be with her, and was getting sick of hearing in the media she dated other people. I have the benefit I don't have the piercing eyes of a million fangirls on my back. I don't envy you for that."

I sigh. "We're not dating that long. I hope we can keep everything a bit private as I don't know how happy my new employer will be with my face all over the entertainment section of newspapers."

"For me it wasn't too bad when they first found out about us. Jess's management had their ways to handle things and when they found out my job was just really boring they gave us a rest." Eric laughs. "But the first time I found a journalist lying in the bushes in front of my practice it was a bit... surrealistic."

"Thanks." I say.

"What for?"

"For telling me this. I am really worried about going public with this relationship. The press, the screaming fans; it scares the hell out of me." I confess.

But Eric isn't listening to me. "Seems like not everyone knows you two have something going on."

I follow his gaze. He's staring at two people on the dance floor; Dan and Sasha. I see Dan wrestling himself from her arms and shoving her away. Sasha yells something angrily at him, while her finger points in our direction. I see the anger rise in Dan's eyes, but he turns around and storms off.

"I'm not an actor, but I think that is my cue," I say to Eric. I glide off the leather barstool and I try to follow Dan as quickly as possible on my high heels. But he walks way too fast, so I kick them off. With my shoes in my hand, I run after him. At first, I think he's going outside, maybe to get some fresh air, but I can't remember that we entered the building this way. Then I see him walk up some stairs.

"Dan, wait!" I say, but he doesn't seem to hear me. Finally I reach the top of the stairs, but he's gone. Quickly I look around, only to see a door close at the end of the hallway.

When I open the door, it leads me to the rooftop of the building. Dan stands at the parapet. I slowly walk to him until I stand next to him.

"So what was that all about?" I say. Here we are again, standing on a rooftop.

"It's nothing." He says.

"Yep, that's why you stormed off and didn't stop when I called you." I throw a quick glance to him. The grey bags under his eyes that indicate he's probably exhausted.

"Please, I don't want to talk about it." His hand glides over my back and we're standing side by side in some semi-embrace. "But I'm glad you ran after me. Finally some time alone."

He leans in on me, nuzzling my hair. "I love this perfume you're wearing."

I'm not wearing perfume, but I'm not going to tell him. Before I know it he lifts me up and I'm lying in his arms.

"Hey! Put me down," I say.

"Only if you put your shoes back on." His eyes sparkle when my shoes fall to the ground as I make some halfhearted effort. I'm hypnotized by his blue eyes and I don't protest as his lips find mine. Our kiss is brutally interrupted when the door closes with a loud bang.

Our moment is gone and I let myself slide to the ground, quickly picking up my dreadful shoes.

"Can you remember you closed that door when you walked up here?" he says.

I shrug. "Nope."

'It's probably nothing," he says, but a shadow of a doubt glides over his face.

"Yeah, everything will be fine," I say, but I can't even convince myself. I can't ignore the creepy feeling that something is terribly wrong.

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AN: Thanks for reading! If you liked the chapter, please vote for it by pressing the little star :)