The next morning, I woke up for work feeling absolutely nauseous. To make up for the missed time, Levi and I had accidentally stayed up way too late grinding our rank. And although we ranked up, I could barely get myself out of bed. I laid there for a moment, wondering when I'd get used to waking up so early.

Then I remembered Theo's offhand remark about having to meet his parents at the award show and I shot right up, wide awake. I needed to talk to him about that. But that jolt of adrenaline didn't last long and I nearly fell asleep in the shower three times.

Zara, ever so amazing, had a latte ready for me when I stumbled onto the set. "You look tired," she said.

"Typically," I responded with a yawn, gratefully taking the drink. "Thank you."

"Tomorrow is the last shooting on this set, so you should be able to leave a little early. Next week we'll be shooting on location which is always harder than a set we built," she told me as we canvassed the set, making sure everything was as it should be and matched our notes from the day before that Zara held in her hand.

I nodded, still a little sleepy. The next scenes we were shooting took place at a fashion show and they'd rented out a venue for it. I didn't understand how they decided which sets would be built and which would be rented, but I liked the idea of traveling around to different places to film. It kept it fresh.

Theo was harder to locate today as most of the scenes were between the minor characters and Sienna and Zara and I had our hands full as Marco seemed to be extremely picky about these scenes. At one point, I left Zara's side to review footage with Marco and Director Ahn, listening to their conversations and critiques, curious as to why we were having to reshoot the scenes so many times. It all made sense immediately. The pair were an unstoppable force. Each decision they made improved the scene, even if the change seemed minor. A dialogue delivery adjustment, a filming direction, an expression... everything made it better when we reviewed the take again. Although Marco seemed like a questionable person to me, there was no doubt he was skilled in what he did.

And that was probably why he was so confident in his script-change ideas. But he was wrong one time. And maybe I hadn't felt one hundred percent confident in believing so, but the fact that Theo agreed made me surer of it. I'd have to try talking to Marco again.

Filming ended without a chance to talk with Theo, and when I set off to hunt him down before he left, Marco stepped in my way, stopping me. "Oh, Maisie I need to talk to you for a second."

I thought about making an excuse to leave so I could go find Theo, but I'd just told myself I would try talking to Marco again about the scenes. "Sure, but can we go somewhere more private?" I asked, learning from my past mistake. I wouldn't let someone accidentally overhear us again.

"Oh, that's not necessary," he said, stepping closer to me.

I felt tempted to take a step back but remained where I was. Up close, I could see just how terribly Marco had dyed his grey hair. Like he'd only run his fingers through some brown dye and then on some strands of hair. "But..."

His head was close to mine as he spoke. "I just wanted to say I'll leave Evie's parts alone in the script."

I could smell his cologne and it made me wrinkle my nose. It didn't smell nearly as good as Theo's.

Then I registered his words. My eyes widened. "Wait, really?" I asked, too loudly.

He grinned, shiny white veneers showing. "Evie is the main character. We really shouldn't cut her out that much."

"Yes, exactly," I responded, keeping my voice low, trying to keep a smile off my face. He'd actually considered my words. Maybe being dismissive was just a reaction to feeling like I was questioning his creative choices.

Marco put a hand on my arm, patting it. "Theo came and spoke with me and made some really good points about the script, so I've decided to keep it as it was."

The elation I felt slipped a bit. So, he hadn't considered my words. He'd considered Theo's. "Oh."

"You're very lucky to be able to film with him. He's very talented and also has great creative input."

His hand squeezed my arm, a little too hard, and I grimaced a bit. "Yeah..."

"Excuse me," a voice said loudly from behind me, causing both Marco and me to jump.

Marco immediately withdrew his hand, looking behind me, throwing what I assumed he believed was a charming smile on his face. "Hey, there."

I glanced behind me, seeing it was Rowan standing there, glowering at Marco. "I need Maisie."

"Feel free to take her. I've finished here."

Rowan didn't let her gaze leave Marco as she held her arm out in the direction of the main building. "Come on."

Marco cleared his throat. "Rowan, I was thinking we should get dinner together sometime—"

"I'm busy," Rowan cut him off. "See ya."

Although Rowan wasn't exactly the person I wanted to see at the moment, I decided to make my escape with her. I headed toward the main building, and she followed behind me. Normally, I'd feel on high alert around her, but I didn't even care that much. I didn't know why I felt so conflicted about the script not changing. I'd been happy to hear Theo would speak with Marco about it at first, but now I felt disappointed that it was because Theo had spoken to him he would keep it the way it was supposed to be. Did my words mean nothing to Marco? I'm the one who wrote the book. I worked with the screenwriter on the script. I'm the one who approved the final version. But Theo's words were more important?

As we walked up to the door, it swung open violently. Rowan's lightning-like reflexes saved me as her arm shot out to stop it mid-swing, only a fraction of an inch from my face. I stared at the door in shock for a second, my heart shooting up to my throat, before stumbling back into Rowan's surprisingly sturdy body.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Rowan said, speaking to the person on the other side of the door. "Did you not see the sign? It says to open slowly."

"...I have actually never seen that sign before and it explains a lot," the person responded, and then Levi poked his head around, eyes round. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, putting a hand over my chest.

"I'll be more careful," Levi said to Rowan before turning back to me. "And I'm sorry for almost killing you, Maisie."

"It wouldn't have been that serious," I said, taking in how tired Levi looked.

He had bags under his eyes, his styled hair was falling down in places, and his clothing even looked a little wrinkled. He'd barely been in any scenes but looked thoroughly worn out. "Sorry again, but I left my phone on set, and need to go grab it."

"Just be more careful next time," Rowan said with a sigh.

Levi gave us a salute. "Got it. Talk to you later."

"Go," Rowan said to me.

There was the usual irritation I felt toward her. "I'm not a dog," I said, turning to look at her.

"Fine, then. Don't go. But just so you know I was going to give you a treat if you did," she responded, smirking.

I grit my teeth together and stomped forward.

"Good girl."

I whirled around again. "Really?"

Rowan shrugged innocently. "You set that one up."

"Why do you even want to talk to me?"

"I didn't," she responded easily, "however I couldn't just walk by seeing after seeing you with Marco."

I dropped my guard a bit. "Huh?"

"I don't trust him. Just keep that in mind."

What did she mean by that? So that was her helping me out in some way? I supposed she did. I didn't want to stand there and have him telling me how great Theo was for telling him to keep it the same when the original script was my idea in the first place. "Well, your comments aren't helping me," I finally said.

"You're just too easy to tease," she responded, giving me a sympathetic look before brushing by me.

I lifted a foot to follow after her, but thought better of it, already guessing what she might say.

She noticed I didn't follow her, turning back and smirking again. "I won't say it."

"I don't trust you."

"Not my problem. Theo wants to see you, though."

Heaving out a heavy sigh, I dogged after her. I needed to talk to Theo anyway, and this was easier than finding him myself. We arrived at his green room and Rowan knocked an oddly specific way, ten total, which seemed like overkill to me. A second later though I heard the click of the lock and Theo opened the door.

"I brought her," Rowan said, smiling.

Theo gave her a look. "Why do you look so happy with yourself?"

"No reason," she answered, slinking by him, and into the room.

"Should I apologize for her?" Theo asked me.

I blinked at him, surprised. Usually, he was taking her side. What was with this one-eighty in his attitude? Because he knew my secret? Because I agreed to help him? Did Rowan know these things?

Theo gestured for me to enter the room and I did, watching as he locked the door behind me. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"I'm good..." I said hesitantly, eyes on Rowan, who sat splayed out in one of the love seats. "Did you tell Rowan?"

"That I was bringing you as my guest? Yes," Theo answered pointedly.

I relaxed. "Oh, okay." I lowered my voice a little. "And she's okay with that?"

"I'm right here," Rowan said, rolling her eyes. "I can hear you."

I flushed a bit. Oops.

"I may be Theo's bodyguard, but I'm not in charge of who he befriends. He's his own person. I'm not that worried about you, anyway."

"Why's that?" I asked, knowing I was just setting my set up for some kind of insult.

Rowan squinted at me putting her pointer finger and thumb together. "You're tiny. I could easily take you."

"Rowan," Theo said wearily.

"I'm literally the average height for women," I pointed out.

"Still shorter than me."

I lowered my shoulders and straightened out my back. "That doesn't offend me."

"Rowan, don't chase her off," Theo said, scowling a bit at her.

Rowan waved him off. "She wouldn't be. She can hold her ground against me."

Was that a compliment? I wanted to ask but didn't want to sound like I wanted Rowan to compliment me. Instead, I turned my attention to Theo. "About Sunday—"

"Do you own any dresses?" Theo interrupted me.

"Uh..." Now that I was thinking about it, I was sure my closet only consisted of hoodies and the few blouses I bought for business casual looks. "No. Is that going to be a problem?"

Theo stared at me. "Did you plan on just wearing a hoodie on the red carpet?"

I gave him a sheepish smile. "That's not possible, huh?"

"No," he said flatly.

"I could buy one," I offered. "I don't think it's a bad idea to have one ready for formal occasions, anyway. I can reuse it."

Theo considered this. "I'll go with you."

"Why?" I asked, eyebrows lifting in surprise.

"You should match your dress to my suit."

"You could just send me a picture," I suggested.

"I'm coming. We should spend time together before Sunday," he said, an air of finality to his words.

I didn't really mind, so I didn't argue against it. I supposed it'd be better to have someone with me to go alone, anyway. I didn't trust my fashion choices that much and with Theo being Theo, I didn't want to embarrass him. His input would probably be useful. "Why do we need to spend together?" I asked, instead.

"So you feel more comfortable around me. It might be suspicious if you're as stiff as you are right now on Sunday."

Stiff? I glanced down at myself and realized I did look pretty stiff. My muscles were tense, my posture awkward. But why did it matter so much if I was just showing up as his date? Would we even be together for most of the night? I figured I'd just sit at a table while he went and socialized or whatever actors did at award shows.

And also, it wasn't as if our interactions together were ever friendly, per se, before now.

"Oh!" I said as I remembered why I'd wanted to find him in the first place. "Right. Why do I have to meet your parents?" That probably also had something to do with the fact he didn't want me to look uncomfortable around him.

Theo folded his arms over his chest, resting against the table in the center of the room. "They'll want to meet my date."

"Date?"

"For the event," Theo clarified.

Neither Rowan nor Theo looked like they thought it was strange for me to meet his parents. "Why, though?" I asked. I remembered that Director Ahn had said his parents wanted to see him attend with someone, but even that was a little strange.

Theo's eyes were trained on me as he stayed quiet for a moment. "My mother is sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, frowning. "Will she be okay?"

Theo dropped his gaze. "It's not a sickness where that can be answered easily."

"Oh... I'm sorry," I said again, clasping my hands in front of myself.

"She's always been concerned about my love life, and lack thereof, but after she got sick, she really began to fixate on it. To the point where she is more worried about it than her own health," Theo explained. "Normally, I ignore her, and live my life how I want to, but I don't want to see her health suffer anymore because of it."

I found myself nodding, immediately understanding now why Theo wanted me to be his date. "That makes sense. Do you think just showing up with a date will help her?"

"I haven't shown interest in someone in a few years, so I believe so."

"You think deceiving her is going to help in the long run?" Rowan asked from across the room.

Theo tensed. "Yes. I do. She needs to put her worry about herself, not me. Even if it takes deceiving her to achieve it."

I stayed quiet. This wasn't something for me to put my input into. I understood why Theo believed he had to do this, though. And I'd already agreed to help him.

Rowan sat up from her chair, lips curved into a frown, but eyes softer than I'd ever seen them before. "Theo, do you think your accident—"

"Rowan," Theo said sharply.

Her gaze switched to me for a moment before she slumped back down in her chair. "Fine, we'll discuss this later."

"There's nothing to discuss. Maisie will be my date. My mother will see she doesn't need to worry about me anymore."

"I'll do my best," I assured Theo, putting my fist up in a fighting type of way. I had questions about what Rowan said, but for Theo's sake, I tried to redirect the conversation. It was clear that was something he didn't want to discuss in front of me. And no matter how curious I was, it wasn't my business.

A brief flicker of surprise danced across his face but was gone as quickly as it showed. "I'm sure you will," he agreed in a quiet voice.

His low voice made my heart quicken. I ignored it. It was almost hard to believe he'd stayed single for all these years if that was what I could gather from what he said. Everything about Theo was attractive. His silky hair, his smooth skin, his broad shoulders... it was no wonder why he was a successful actor. Not that his looks were the only claim for his success— I'd been witnessing firsthand how talented he was.

"Tomorrow, then?" Theo asked.

I forced myself to stop checking him out, hoping he didn't notice. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"We can choose your dress after we finish shooting tomorrow."

"That works," I said. "It'll be less busy than the weekend, anyway. Where are we going to go? Is there anywhere lowkey?"

Theo tilted his head to the side a little. "Lowkey?"

"Aren't you worried about being recognized?"

"I'll be fine," Theo responded casually. "You can choose where you want to buy the dress. Don't worry about me."

Did he just not get approached in public? I wanted to remind him that I didn't want unnecessary attention on me, but Rowan was in the room. I bet she'd have a hundred questions if I said that out loud. I'd just have to trust that Theo knew what he was doing.

"I'll be coming with you guys, too," Rowan added, throwing a hand up to gain my attention. "Don't worry too much."

I smiled wryly. That made me worry even more.

Tomorrow would be interesting.