Chapter 14: Time to Move On

Tamia

The weeks flew by and my music program was almost over. I'd stopped going to the set for a few days because I was hoping to miss the kissing scene between Jason and Millie. I just told Jason that I was busy and couldn't make it since I told him that he could date whoever he wanted. I wanted him to think that I meant it, even though I knew that I didn't. I was there again today because I was sure they'd already shot that scene, but my day on the set was not what I expected.

I was sitting off to the side watching Jason and his brothers do their scene, and Faith the makeup artist was sitting next to me.

"Could you be more obvious?" Faith asked me with a smirk.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"It's obvious you have a crush on Jason," she replied. "And you're super jealous of Millie."

"This is your first time talking to me and that's what you assume?" I snapped back. I mean, it wasn't untrue. Millie was very short, but she was gorgeous. She had beautiful dark brown skin, almond eyes, and every time I saw her, her straightened natural hair was always perfect.

"Look," Faith continued, "I was just going to tell you that you don't have to worry about Jason and Millie."

"I don't?" I asked.

"No," she replied. "Jason isn't really into actresses, singers, or other famous girls."

I remained silent. Something was telling me that Faith wasn't really trying to make me feel better.

"But he's also not into... normal girls either," she continued, looking me up and down. "He likes women who know the business, but aren't necessarily in the business."

I could tell that she was hinting at herself.

"So you and Jason are close?" I asked. I wasn't completely sure how long she'd been working for the Draper Brothers.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling. "We're super close. He's been a good friend to me, and I've been one to him."

"Well, Jason and I have been friends for a while too," I said.

"Really?" Faith asked, looking surprised. "He's never mentioned you." And with that, she walked off.

At this point, I was used to girls messing with me when it came to Jason, but Jason never mentioned her either...

Suddenly I felt a hand tap my shoulder. I turned around to see this cute brown-skinned girl with a short Afro and glasses.

"Hi!" she said excitedly.

"Hi," I said back.

"I'm Gonzala," she continued. "Are you a fan of the Draper Brothers too?"

"Um, yeah," I stuttered. I still didn't want to go around bragging about how I personally new the Draper Brothers, even though Faith had me wanting to now.

"Who's your favorite?" she asked me.

I was hesitant in answering that. Of course I wanted to say Jason, but something stopped me. Finally I said, "I like all of the guys." And this was true.

"Jason's my favorite," Gonzala replied. "I've been writing him letters since the beginning of his career!"

"Letters?" I asked. Then I remembered how Jason was never active on social media.

"Yeah," Gonzala replied. "I wanted to try something different from reaching out on social media, so I started a traditional fan club. We were able to get a P.O. box address to send letters!"

I was stunned. I had no idea about this fan club. I mean, Morrissa and Vie never mentioned this.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I'm an aspiring writer, so writing is kind of my thing."

"No, I think that's really cool," I replied. I really did, but I was also hurt that this was something Jason never mentioned. "Um, has Jason ever written you back?" I asked cautiously.

"A few times, actually," Gonzala replied. "The last letter was inviting me to the set of this movie. That's why I'm here!"

"Wow, that's really cool," I said, trying to fight back tears at this point. "Um, I've got to go."

"Wait, I didn't get your name!" Gonzala said.

"It's Tamia," I said, secretly hoping that maybe Jason mentioned me in one of their letters.

"Wow, that's a beautiful name. I've never heard it before," Gonzala said, giving me my answer.

"Your name is really unique too," I said as I started to walk away. "Well, goodbye."

"Wait," Gonzala said, stopping me in my tracks. "Here's my card. It's just of my blog and socials so you can see my work."

"Thanks," I said.

On the way home, I tried not to let all these girls surrounding Jason make me go crazy, but it seemed like it was always something... or someone. There was Penny the model, Onise the actress, Abi the choreographer, and another actress: Millie. Now add Faith the makeup artist and Gonzala the superfan. *Yeah, thinking about this too much is gonna make me lose my mind.*





Jason

"And... cut!" the director yelled.

Finally. It had been a few days since Tamia had been to the set, and I was excited to see that she was back today. Unfortunately, today was one of our busier days, so we didn't get to talk much. She was being a little distant— even though she told me she was busy with her music program— and I knew why.

"Hey, where'd Tamia go?" I asked Faith as I was running off the set.

"How should I know?" she snapped. This wasn't like Faith.

"I saw you two talking, so I just figured..."

"Oh yeah," Faith replied, "we did talk a little, but then I had things to do. She's totally obsessed with you, by the way."

"Really?" I said, not holding in any of my enthusiasm. "She told you that?"

Faith's demeanor completely changed. "Chill, I was joking!" she laughed. "Actually, she said that you two have been friends for a while."

"Yeah," I replied. "We met back in our senior year of high school." We'd both just turned 19 a few weeks ago, and I had a birthday gift I wanted to give her. But I'd been too busy to do so.

"I told her that we were also good friends," Faith said.

"Well, yeah we are," I replied, "even though we only met a year ago. But you've become someone I can trust in this industry."

Faith smiled. "Well trust me when I say this: Tamia only sees you as a friend, and she thinks that's all you two could ever be."

"She said that?" I asked. I can't lie, I was hurt. Especially after what Tamia said to me a few weeks ago. She told me that I was allowed to date whoever I wanted.

"She's not the right girl for you anyway," Faith continued. "She doesn't know how your world works, so it could never work between you two."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said, walking to my trailer.

As soon as I walked in, someone knocked.

"Come in," I said, partially annoyed. It way Braden.

"I thought you'd like to meet your 'pen pal'," he said, smiling. "She's here."

"Send her in!" I said excitedly.

This may sound crazy, but years ago, I fan reached out to me and my brothers asking to send us letters. I liked the idea since I wasn't really that big on social media, although Raymond and Caiden never bothered to read the letters. Recently, I started receiving more and more letters from this one fan, who signed her name as "Miss T.", and it doesn't take a genius to know that I instantly thought it was Tamia. She talked about how she was secretly in love with me, and how one day she wanted to get up the courage to tell me in person. So I "invited" her to the movie set.

In walked a girl I didn't recognize, but she had such a huge smile on her face that I couldn't help but smile back.

"Hi," I said. "You must be 'Miss T.'"

"I am," she said excitedly. "I'm Gonzala Terrazas."

Oh. The "T" was for her last name. I guess it was pretty stupid of me to think that this was Tamia's way of confessing her love for me.

"I love your letters," I said truthfully.

"Thanks!" she squealed. "Honestly, I've been writing you for years now, but I've always signed my letters anonymously. I only recently started using the pen name 'Miss T.'"

Suddenly, everything hit me at once: what Faith had just told me, and what Tamia told me a few weeks ago. Maybe we were only meant to be friends. Maybe that's all we could ever be and it was time to move on.