Some people are terrifying. They have a strong presence that leaves you off kilter, feeling like you have to defend yourself at every turn. A one person army of emotional terror. Delle is one of those people. A chaotic phoenix that could burn you with a look. And normally, her determined, straight to the point approach is more charming than terrifying, but at the moment, I wasn't in the mood for the detective side of who she was as I sat there trying to calm myself down after finding out my brother was in the hospital.

"Delle, I really don't have the emotional energy to deal with..." I waved my arm, gesturing to all of her as I closed my eyes. "Look around and deduce what kind of head space I'm in based on the fact that I am currently in the hospital." 

I sunk down further in the hospital chair, wrung out. "Can I get a rain check on the guilt trip? I should have emotional availability tomorrow. I'll put you on my schedule." 

Delle was quiet, watching me for a long moment. "I'm not going to yell at you," she said, her voice suddenly gentle as she sat down next to me. "I just need to understand..." she trailed off, her eyes going to Carter's door. 

I shrugged, not interested in sharing. I wasn't a sharer when it came to Carter. He was my world. A world that others didn't get to see. 

But Delle didn't seem to need me to fill in the blanks. "How's he doing?" 

"Why are you here?" I replied, an edge to my voice, defensive. "How did you know—"

"I did my research on you when we first worked together, remember." 

Turning, I glared at her. "Please don't give me the runaround, Delle. I'm not in the mood. Just answer the question. WHY. ARE. YOU. HERE?" 

She sighed, pushing her long red curly hair out of her face. "To talk. I heard you quit working at the gossip column, but then I see your boss at the party tonight and well... I got curious." 

"Detectives..." I muttered to myself. "Yeah, I quit... but she wants me to finish out my contract." 

A flicker of irritation entered her expression. "Black mailed you?" 

"A little bit." 

Delle swore. "So if you don't write the articles, she'll blast you online, you'll lose your new acting job, and then she'll fire you, which you can't afford because of the money needed for your brother. Did I miss anything?" 

"Nope."

She crossed her arms, chewing on her lower lip, brow furrowed, the wheels turning in her head in a mad dash. "That's a whole lot." 

"Yep." 

Nodding, Delle seemed to come to a decision. "I won't rat you out." 

My head snapped up, and I stared at Delle completely shocked. "What?" 

She leaned back, arms sprawled out on the backs of the chairs. "There was a lot of things I did as a detective that wasn't great. The most common cases we took on were of spouses wanting us to follow each other to see if they were cheating, parents wanting us to follow their children to see if they were doing anything illegal, and divorced couples wanting to see if their significant other was skipping out on alimony. My job wasn't pretty, or clean. And the people we worked for weren't always the best." 

Delle stared down at the white hospital floor, black boots tapping thoughtfully. "Look... you aren't trying to be malicious." 

Swallowing, Delle turned to look at me, her eyes showcasing a rare moment of open honesty. "You are trying to survive. I understand that." She paused, her eyes flashing with something protective. "We do what we gotta do for the people we love." 

My mind spun with this new piece of information. Delle willing to keep my secret. The entire idea left me overwhelmed with gratitude and at a loss. "Why? Why help me?" 

Delle looked at me again with those analyzing eyes, and with that gaze I suddenly felt like I was being pulled into a warm embrace. A protective bubble. A little sister under an elder siblings gaze. She was declaring her intention to tug me into her list of people to protect. "Do you have a support system?"

I looked away, embarrassed. My parents were far away, Carter was currently being pumped full of new blood, Bex had her own list of things to worry about, Prism and I didn't have that kind of relationship, and Duke although great with Carter, wasn't someone I confided in. The truth of it was, I really didn't have anyone. 

"You do now," she declared with finality. "You can't handle this kind of crap storm alone."

"And what will you tell Allie? She'll be pissed if she ever finds out. Especially if she found out that you knew what I did for a living."

Delle looked away, her expression suddenly unreadable. "Let me worry about that." Her eyes cleared. "But if you are going to do this. I strongly suggest you have me look over anything you write. There is always a way to give your boss what she wants without destroying your soul or hurting others in the process." 

Her eyes sparked. "Besides, we may get to have a little fun with the kind of outlandish things you write... no one ever said it had to be factual." 

...

Carter was fast asleep when I finally ducked inside his hospital room. His pale skin had taken on a healthy pink complexion and I nearly cried at how rare of a sight that look had become for him. I pushed his black hair back out of his face, eyes on my task when I finally addressed Luke. 

"Thank you..." I didn't know what else to say. Thank you didn't feel like enough. 

He was quiet, not bothering to respond. I busied myself with tucking Carter in tighter, needing something to do. "He has something called Von Willibrans Disease," I said quietly. "Type three. Only three percent of people with Von Willibrans have type three." Settling down on the edge of the bed, I finally looked up at Luke, who looked back at me with an unreadable expression. 

"So..." I said, filling the silence. "Thanks... for the blood..." 

He nodded, looking away. "What's the point of being a universal blood donor if you can't use it to help people, right? They have me in the system here anyway." He stood up and walked over to me, holding his hand out. I stared at his hand, confused. 

Is he trying to hold my hand? Make a truce? I reached out my hand only to have him pull his hand back. "My button up..." he explained, gesturing to the shirt he had taken off to have his blood taken. "You're holding it." 

Blushing, I tossed him the shirt. "Ah. Yes. That." 

He pulled on his shirt and walked to the door without a word.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow." 

Luke turned and shot me a doubtful expression, buttoning up his shirt before glancing at Carter. "We'll see..." 

Then he was gone, out the door. 

"I like him," Carter murmured sleepily drawing my attention back to him. I moved to sit next to him and was rewarded with my brother cuddling up next to me. "He's funny." 

"Is he?" I asked, trying not to sound doubtful. 

"Yep. Did you know he has beaten Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and that he has Legends of  Zelda: Tears of a Kingdom?  It's not even out yet." He yawned, his eyelids growing heavy again. 

I raised a brow. I had been itching to play the new game but wasn't sure I could justify the purchase. 

You can with this movie job, Em. Just don't mess things up with XOXO Daily Gossip.

"Is he the one you are doing a movie with?" Carter asked, pulling me back to the present. 

I nodded. "Yeah. Supposed to pretend to be in love with him," I muttered, wrinkling my nose at the idea. He was attractive, but his cranky demeanor left a lot to be desired. 

Carter snorted. "That shouldn't be hard. You pretend to like a lot of things you hate." 

"I think you overestimate my abilities." 

He yawned. "Don't sell yourself short. Just go in there tomorrow and remind them why they picked you in the first place." 

I laughed. "Okay, life coach. I'll do my best."

...

I knew I was on borrowed time. My name was all over the internet by the time I set off for the studio lot, but no one had found a picture of me yet. Perks of having no social media presence. 

That luxury wouldn't last long. Someone was bound to get a picture of me sooner or later. But for now, me and my rainbow haired ways were safe. The biggest curveball wasn't that my name was suddenly known, it was having Carter with me today and trying to figure out how to sneak him onto the studio lot. There was no way he could be in school after a blood transfusion, and Duke wasn't home, so I packed a bag for Carter, and hoped I could trick the guard at the front gate one more time.

"So what's the play?" Carter asked as we walked up to the guard gate. 

Adjusting my ripped jean shorts, I pulled my beat up satchel across my shoulder. "Intern." 

Carter started laughing. "What? That won't work!" 

I smirk. "You told me to believe in myself right. What happened to that pep talk energy?"

"That was before you decided to bring me into your dumb plan..." he muttered, walking in step with me, overly large school bag slung over his shoulder, making him look even smaller. 

Why do they make backpacks so large? It's a wonder that kids don't fall over when wearing those things. 

"It will work Carter."

He shot me a doubtful expression but didn't argue as we walked up to the guard gate. The guard took one look at me and ushered me through. "Good morning Miss Springs! I hope shooting goes well today."

I was so surprised by the warm greeting, that it took me a moment to start moving past him. "Thank you." 

The guard looked down at Carter and held up a hand, stopping him from following me. "Who's this?" 

"Miss Springs' assistant," Carter replied casually, all confidence.

The guard stared at him doubtfully. "You're like ten years old." 

Carter shrugged. "They start us younger and younger sir. The state of this business." 

I laughed. "Schools put so much pressure on kids to get internships at such a young age." 

The guard nodded, as if he himself had experience with ridiculous school standards. "So true. My niece started shadowing her father when she was thirteen! They put so much pressure on you guys."

Carter nodded, responding with a high level of sincerity that left me on the verge of laughing. "It's a tough life sir. I'm glad you understand."

The guard waved him through. "Good luck kid. We don't give passes out for shadowing people, so best to keep a low profile." 

Carter nodded. "Will do. Thanks." 

"You are freaky good at this," I murmured once we were out of earshot of the guard.  

Carter shot me a grin. "It's easy to pick things up when I watch you do sketchy things all the time." 

I shot him a look. "Not everything I do is sketchy, Carter." 

"Says the girl that snuck her little brother onto a studio lot after conning her own way onto a movie," he replied with a far to innocent smile considering the words coming out of his mouth. 

"Okay, no more talking," I replied dryly. 

We arrived at a fake city block of New York City, and I was suddenly swarmed by assistants. 

"Em! Welcome! We need to get you into the makeup chair," a woman said pulling me towards a garden store front that apparently held an entire arsenal of makeup and clothes behind the front door. 

Carter laughed at the sudden panic that filled my eyes as they tugged me away, gave a wave goodbye, and settled himself down on a bench on the fake sidewalk. "Good luck with that." 

"We're shooting today?" I asked, surprised. "I was told they were adjusting costumes and practicing lines for the first scene." 

"The Director wants to tighten up the schedule," another woman explained as she pushed me through the door and into a makeup chair in front of a mirror with blindingly bright lightbulbs. 

I didn't know my lines. I hadn't finished reading the script yet. 

OH NO. NO. NO. NO.

"We are going to have to wash out the hair dyes—" 

"And cover her tattoos." 

"This will take hours." 

Three different woman talked over each other as one tugged on several strands of my hair with a frustrated expression, another held up my arms, assessing the ink on my shoulders, and a third scrambled through a weapon sized makeup bag looking for something to make it all work. 

I was in the middle of a makeover montage, and the people in charge looked terrified of their task, which I took as a very bad sign. 

"We'll have to use something for the bags under her eyes." 

"I think I have the right color in this bag somewhere."

"They want her hair to be a natural brown. Should we add highlights?" 

"Did he say what scene they want to do today?" I asked over their continued analyzation of my physical appearance as I yanked my script out of my satchel and scrambled through the pages.

"The kiss scene," the woman who was still tugging at my hair replied, half distracted. "Why do you think we are trying to make you look kissable under these ridiculous conditions?" 

KISS... SCENE....?!?

My heart hammered wildly, my face suddenly scarlet red. I wasn't prepared for that. For kissing Luke Walker, let alone while dozens of people and cameras watched. —OH MY GOSH, and my brother too! 

I gripped the pages of my script and began to read, face growing redder and redder with each page. 

This is going to be interesting... 

---

Thank you for reading chapter ten! I hope you are enjoying the story! Or are at least curious to see where it goes!

UPDATE DAYS - A NEW CHAPTER EVERY FRIDAY!

It looks like Em is in for an interesting day with Luke! How will shooting their first scene together go? 

Will they warm up to each other after their first on screen kiss?

How will Em's makeover go?

Will Delle be able to help Em stay out of trouble for writing for the XOXO Daily Gossip?

Will Carter being on set be a distraction? 

What will happen next?

CHAPTER QUESTION - Would you be comfortable kissing someone you don't know very well for  a play or movie? Would it help your comfort levels if they were attractive, or make it worse?