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“Okay” Keke said, clasping her hands and gleaming at Sean, “That was great, I can already think of a few clippable moments that people are gonna love. And it should be up in a few weeks so I’ll text you when I know the post date!”
“Great,” Sean said, smiling back, still feeling warm and fuzzy about the past couple of hours he’d spent with Keke. He doesn’t want it to end but he doesn’t know how to extend this moment. “I’ll help you fold up these lights” he says, grabbing a lightbox stand toward the front of the room.
“No no!” she exclaims, reaching to grab his arm, “we’re recording tomorrow and our stage producer is out so we have to keep things as iiiiiis”
“Shit” he mutters, immediately lowering the lightbox and angling it so it looks as it was. He feels his ears getting hot and kicks himself for a second before blurting, “You know I’ve done staging before? Lighting and sound too. I learned years ago when we first started. I can come help you out if you need a hand. I’m in LA for a few more days and don’t have plans. Who, um, who are you interviewing?”
“Sean”, she replies, stepping toward him and grabbing the side of his arm, “I’m not gonna have you waste your free days in LA staging lights for my podcast” Standing closer to him, she realizes he’s a few inches taller than her so she raises her chin to meet his gaze. She’s smiling at him. His cheeks are blushed and his eyes are twinkling. Well, she thinks, he has blue eyes, of course it looks like his eyes are twinkling. And the lights make it warm in here so he’s probably just hot?
She can’t decide if Sean actually likes her or if it’s just friendly banter they put on for the cameras. Well, she can believe he had a crush and she likes leaning into it, teasing him and making him blush. But is there actual interest in a relationship here? Does he actually genuinely like her like that? She wishes she could just read his mind and see what his intentions were. What he expected, what he saw in her, what he wanted.
The last time they’d seen each other was in New York for her third Hot Ones interview and it ended so awkwardly. She thought it’d be funny to catch him by surprise and share a kiss but things ended so abruptly.
Her team immediately ushered in, surrounding her and talking about the next interview scheduled. She could tell he wanted to say something, acknowledge the moment they’d just had and the spark they felt, but this was show business. Her PR agent was talking to her about the next shoot they had lined up. She ripped her eyes away from the gaze he was holding and nodded at her manager, showing her she was paying attention. She was thinking of him, sweet Sean smiling at her with those adoring eyes. It was nice to have this attention from someone who seemed so genuinely interested in her. Still, there’s so much going on in her life that it seems unlikely to work. She frowns, forcing her thoughts to tear away from Sean and this fun interview they’d just had. She’s been up since 5am and its a 10 hour press day so she has 6 more shoots after this and 4 conference meetings in the evening. She shuts down that mushy lovey-dovey part of her brain and faces her PR agent, “Tell me again about the Cosmo and Elle plans?”
Sean lingers in the background, talking to his own producer as an excuse to stick close by, face still warm, heart slowly settling. He’s replaying the past couple hours in his head, her huge smile and sweet eyes and infectious laugh. He can tell she’s teasing him but it feels real. Still, he knows better than to cross the line with talent. She turns back to him as she’s being bustled away, they lock eyes and everyone falls away for a second, “Sean, thank again babe, I’ll text you, okay?” She’s gone before he can respond. A dream that ends in the blink of an eye.