𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐀𝐑
BEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT: DREW & ARABELLA'S UNTOLD STORIES
"And action!"
The neutral brown-toned studio suddenly bathed in a warm glow as the flashes signaled the cameras were rolling.
Drew groaned dramatically, shielding his eyes. "I'm blinded—"
"Hey, Harper's Bazaar," Arabella interjected, flashing a smile at the camera. "I'm Arabella Whitmore."
"And I'm her very lucky, handsome boyfriend, Drew Starkey," Drew chimed in, straightening his posture.
Arabella shot Drew a pointed look and rolled her eyes. "And today, we're going to interview each other."
"That's one way to describe it," Drew replied, casually flipping the cards in his hands.
"How would you put it?" Arabella asked, her eyes narrowing as she became suddenly aware of the cards in his hands. She couldn't help but wonder what was written on them.
"Well," he started, clearing his throat dramatically, "there's a twist."
Arabella furrowed her eyebrows at Drew's words. A twist? she thought. She had assumed this was just a regular interview.
As if Drew could read Arabella's thoughts, he turned to the camera with a mischievous grin. "Ara thought we were just going to interview each other with questions on the spot," he said, pausing for dramatic effect. "But where's the fun in that?"
Arabella was deeply confused at this point. Wasn't that the whole point of the interview? She thought, her mind racing. To interview each other...
"I'm so lost," Arabella breathed out, her hands resting on the temples of her head.
Drew smirked at Arabella, clearly enjoying her confusion, before turning back to the camera. "What Miss Whitmore didn't know, is that we already planned an interview together."
"Can you stop teasing and get to the point?" Arabella groaned, crossing her arms in mock frustration.
"It adds suspense," Drew shrugged. "Anyways, it seems like Arabella has suffered from memory loss because she forgot the faux-interview project that we were partnered for in 10th-grade public speaking class."
Arabella's mouth parted as the memory suddenly clicked. She remembered now. She and Drew had been partnered for that project in 10th grade.
The assignment was to professionally interview each other, record the conversation, and then submit it. But then, everything had changed. Mr. Randall, their teacher, had unexpectedly quit in the middle of the year, and they were left with a new teacher, a completely different syllabus, and the project had never been finished. So they never got to see or ask the questions.
"No, you didn't," Arabella breathed out, her voice filled with complete shock.
"Yes, I did, baby," Drew said, crinkling his eyes as he laughed, clearly amused by Arabella's reaction.
Arabella just gawked at Drew, then gawked at the camera. She turned to look behind it, staring at the crew who stood there, clearly in on the whole thing.
"You knew about this?" she asked, her voice tinged with disbelief. The crew all nodded in unison, grinning ear to ear.
"What you guys are missing," Drew began, turning to Arabella with a mischievous grin, "is that we didn't actually get to finish the faux interview since our teacher quit mid-year. To this day, I still wonder why."
"Definitely because of our class," Arabella said, pursing her lips together, shrugging. "You were so loud."
"I was not." Drew scoffed. "Well, Mr. Randall, if you're watching, this is for you. I'm going to be waiting for my one hundred."
Arabella smiled at him as he looked at the cards. They did their project on a doc which meant that someone had to access the doc and copy over all the questions onto aesthetically-pleasing cards.
"I think these are for you, baby," Drew mumbled, pulling out the baby pink-colored cards and handing them to Arabella, all while keeping the baby blue ones for himself.
Arabella chuckled softly, her heart fluttering in her chest. This simple act—him putting so much work into something that she was supposed to handle—meant more than she could express. The fact that Drew had taken the time and effort, especially for something connected to Harper's Bazaar, the very magazine she worked for, made it feel even more special.
"No modifications or anything," Drew said, snapping Arabella out of her thoughts as he waved the cards in the air. "This is the real 10th grade Arabella and Drew in the flesh."
"You heard him." Arabella nodded towards the camera.
Arabella held the pink cards in her hands, the questions she was about to ask Drew, while Drew clutched the blue cards with his own set of questions for her.
Once they got situated, Drew looked at the camera and gave it a quick thumbs up before turning back to Arabella.
"You want to go first?" Drew offered, nodding towards the cards that laid in Arabella's hands.
Arabella nodded and took a card from the pile of cards. "I'm scared," she muttered under her breath before reading the first card aloud. "First question: What is one thing you want to achieve in your lifetime that you haven't already achieved? Gosh, these seem boring."
Drew thought for a moment before speaking, "Well the 15 year old me would say to become an actor and start a family with the women I love. So the 25 year old me would say to start a family." Drew said. "I don't change goals that much, I have a couple until I achieve them."
"You're cute," Arabella smiled, leaning over and swatting Drew's knees with the cards playfully. "Your turn, babe."
"Alright," Drew hummed, taking a blue card from his pile. He scanned over the words, his expression changing as his eyes widened. "Did I seriously write this?" his eyes widened, looking at production for confirmation.
They all nodded, and Drew let out a chuckle. "Oh my God, I was evil."
"I'm a sensitive person. So I might start crying, just a heads up." Arabella cautioned playfully.
"Yeah, I know," Drew agreed, causing Arabella to snap her neck towards him. "Okay... my first question, why do you never eat school lunch? Do you think you're better than everyone?"
Arabella's mouth dropped at his question and looked at him in shock. Drew just grabbed her hand, and placed multiple kisses on it mumbling 'sorry, sorry'.
"I was allergic to school lunch."
"You're such a princess," Drew rolled his eyes, flailing his arms. "Everyone thought you had a butler make your lunch every day."
Arabella scoffed, then said, "No, I'm serious, I was! I remember taking a bite out of Ivy's taco salad, and that was not edible. I threw up for days after that."
Drew looked to the camera and gave a 'yeah, right' expression. "Whatever you say, princess."
"My turn," Arabella sang, taking out her cards once again and picking up the first one on the pile. She glanced at it, then looked at Drew with a sigh. "Okay, no fair. Mine are actually so boring."
"It can't be that boring. C'mon give it to me." Drew encouraged, leaning back into the couch.
"What's your favorite color."
Drew stayed quiet for a minute, then put the cards up to his face, shaking his head underneath them. "Could you tell that I was interested first?" he then asked the camera.
"Sorry." Arabella pursed her lips together, hiding the laughter that threatened to fall from her lips. "Well... what's your favorite color?"
"Green, but not the light one. The really dark one."
"Like forest green?" Arabella inquired.
"Yes, like your freshmen year homecoming dress."
Arabella pouted. "Aw, baby. That was cute. I don't know how you remember that though."
"I remember everything," Drew said to Arabella, which made her give a wide smile to him. "My turn. I can't stand your boring questions." Arabella laughed, shaking her head.
"I think mine turn better." Arabella replied.
"You think? Well that's promising." Drew mumbled, making Arabella shrug. Drew grabbed his stack of cards then visibly made a cringed face before reading it. "Who is your boy best friend?"
"What?"
"I had a chance and I had to take it, all right?" Drew defended himself, his arms raised in faux-surrender.
"Well you obviously know the answer to it now."
"No I don't." Drew pressed, crossing his arms over his body. "Who is it?"
"You're impossible," Arabella groaned, while Drew just smirked. Drew then playfully put his hand on his ear and leaned in, just to piss Arabella off more. Arabella rolled her eyes. "You."
"Great."
Arabella flipped the card to the next one, not having to specify anymore whose turn it was. "If you could be an actor, what actor would you like to work alongside with?"
Drew raised his eyebrows in surprise at Arabella's good question. He then got a bit closer, leaning over the side table in between them to see if it was the actual question—and it was. He sat back, nodding with approval.
"See I told you it got better." Arabella winked at Drew who just nodded, pleased.
"I'm surprised you remembered that I said I wanted to be an actor."
"I remember everything." Arabella giggled. "Anyways chop chop, answer the question."
"Well I always wanted to work with a certain actor since my family and I loved James Bond but now the dream is becoming—"
But before Drew could finish, Arabella's voice disrupted his sentence.
"Drew!" Arabella whispered, giving him a look that Drew immediately understood. He slapped a hand onto his mouth, realizing he was about to spoil his upcoming work.
"Okay, moving on." Drew said quickly, grabbing his cards and flashing a sheepish grin at the camera.
"Do you ever get annoyed being connected to your family all the time?" Was Drew's next question, which is actually a pretty good question.
Arabella was surprised that Drew took notice of her discomfort with always being tied back to her family at such a young age. It was something she hadn't often shared with anyone, and the fact that he picked up on it made her pause for a moment.
"I mean, I love my family. I always will," Arabella started, her gaze locking with Drew's. He was completely focused on her, and it made her feel heard in a way that she hadn't expected. "But I also like being my own separate identity as well. I know it's inevitable, but I try my best to get to where I am without relying on my family's name. That's also one of the many reasons I chose writing. It's something that I can call my own."
Drew nodded with understanding as Arabella spoke. "I get it, and I admire it so much." Drew spoke. "It's hard to step out of the shadow of something so big and make your own path. But you did, you created something incredible that's entirely yours."
Arabella smiled, her cheeks flushing at his words. "Thank you, baby."
"What can I say, I'm a fan." Drew smirked. "The questions better stay at this quality level."
"Let's see but no promises." Arabella said, reading her question now. "Why are you ashamed of telling people you're into theater."
Drew nodded again, clearly pleased with the question. Anything's better than 'what's your favorite color'.
Drew ran a hand through his hair as he thought. "I guess... it's not that I'm ashamed. It's just—growing up, theater wasn't exactly the 'cool' thing to be into. And I didn't want to be labeled as that 'theater kid' who burst into song or recited Shakespeare in the cafeteria." Drew said, and just like how Drew did, Arabella's focus was only on him, nodding. "But the point is, I loved it—acting, all of it. It just felt easier to keep it low-key rather than deal with the teasing."
"I understand, people at our school weren't exactly the nicest," Arabella responded, her eyes softening.
"You were though."
Arabella blinked, surprised by Drew's sudden shift in tone. She met his gaze, a smile tugging at her lips—something she had found herself doing a lot during the interview. But in that moment, it felt like the only way to express her gratitude.
"It takes time to embrace something so close and special to you," Arabella said gently. "But you should never hide it."
"You're such a smart woman," Drew mumbled under his breath. Just as the moment lingered, production signaled that they only had time for two more questions—one from Drew and one from Arabella.
It was Drew's turn to ask his final question to Arabella. He took a deep breath, his expression softening as he asked, "What made you want to think about a writing career?"
Arabella was surprised that, once again, Drew had taken notice of her aspirations of becoming a writer, especially back when they were still in school. Everyone around her had assumed she would follow in her father's footsteps and pursue business or take after her mother and dive into modeling. At school, people dismissed her as a "nepotism child with no talent," making it even harder to share her dreams openly. Even Ivy, her closest friend, hadn't known the full extent of Arabella's intentions. But if Drew did, that spoke volumes about how closely he had paid attention to her.
Arabella nodded before answering, "I think I mentioned this in my Vogue interview with Natalia Morraine, but I'll say it again."
Drew bit the inside of his cheek and nodded, though Arabella didn't notice. He already knew the answer, and as embarrassing as it was to admit, while he was in a relationship with Sadie, he had read Arabella's Vogue article at least ten times. His fingers always lingered on the part that said, "I was partnered up with this one boy, who by the way, was a full-on athlete—like basketball and football athlete." He knew it was about him. Hell, he could probably recite the whole article.
"I mean, I didn't always wanted to pursue writing," Arabella started, her voice thoughtful. "Like, I seriously hated writing up until—I think—eighth grade?"
"Yeah," Drew interjected, a bit too quick. "Yeah, 8th grade."
Arabella smiled slightly, knowing that Drew understood exactly where this was going.
"Yeah, before 8th grade, I didn't really try in school because I always thought I was going to end up in my dad's business," she said. "But then I was partnered with this really annoying kid in my English class. He made us get sent to the library because he was so loud. Anyway, the two of us sat down and wrote in silence for almost the entire period. When we finished, I realized that I didn't hate writing. In fact, I really liked it."
Drew just grinned at Arabella. "What was the annoying kids name?"
"He was really weird, he made everyone call him by his middle name instead of his first name."
Drew rolled his eyes. "To be fair, I didn't like the name Joseph. My mom and I tried to come up with nicknames because I used to get made fun of in elementary school. The options were either Joe, Joey, or JoJo."
Arabella started hysterically laughing at JoJo.
"It's not even that funny, baby." Drew muttered, shaking his head.
"It kind of is," a production member interjected from behind the camera, which made Drew throw his arms up in disbelief.
"Whatever," Drew said, crossing his arms over his chest like a baby. "Ara, come on, you got one more question to ask me."
Arabella picked up a card and read it aloud, "If you could go back in time and teach your younger self a lesson, what would you say?"
"Communicate better," Drew said, causing Arabella to laugh softly. "Oh, and also," he added, turning to the camera, "don't wait until graduation day to make the first move."
"You barely made the first move." Arabella scoffed.
Drew feigned offense, "Nuh-uh! I totally did, you liar."
Arabella just shrugged as Drew kept on talking in the background, yelling "I so did" and "You have terrible memory."
The video came to an end, the outro music playing as Drew continued his tangent.
As they stood up, Arabella turned to Drew. "Not bad," she nodded, pleased.
Drew just grumbled in response.
"I did make the first move."
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