I prayed to the heavens that Julia and Meg wouldn't embarrass me. I already apologized ahead of time that I wouldn't be able to stay with them throughout the night, but I think they were ready to forgive me when I gave them the VIP tickets.

Heart just finished doing the sound rehearsals and she had an extra thirty minutes until the meet and greet so she opted to relax inside her dressing room. To be honest, hanging out with Hollywood's Prince and Princess before the latter's concert wasn't something I ever thought of happening.

Yet here we were. She was standing in front of the mirror while she switched between two different jackets, trying to see which one looked better with her outfit. Axel was in a long call with somebody who I presumed to be his manager, judging from the negotiations going through. Then there was Adam, who was happily munching on the snack the crew left inside this room.

He kept offering me some but I turned him down every time because I could barely stomach how surreal this situation was.

"Sienna, what do you think?" Heart turned to me, still holding up the two jackets.

My eyes switched between the two – one was a knitted grey that looked cozy and fashionable at the same time, the other was a red hoodie-esque that would definitely suit her image.

"Red one," I replied and she smiled happily, tossing the grey sweater on the couch and putting on the one I chose.

She examined me before crossing her arms over her chest, "What's in that little head of yours and why do you like you're about to throw up any second now?"

Adam stopped chewing and Axel momentarily paused his conversation to scoot farther away from me. I wanted to glare at him, but we all knew that I did not have the guts to do so.

This was just too weird even for me.

I felt Adam's large hand run smooth circles on my back, leaning towards me so he could take a good look of my face, "She's right, you don't look so good."

"I'm fine," I assured them, "Just a little out of it because this is the first time I get to go backstage during a concert."

"Not as exciting as you thought, right?" Heart said, clicking her tongue when she glanced down on her watch, "I need to go meet the fans, how about you come with?"

"Me?" I gasped, pointing towards myself.

She rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yes, you. Now let's go."

Axel had to stay behind because of his call, but he made sure his girlfriend parted with him after a sweet peck on her cheek. I got to meet her manager, a woman named Taylor who Adam described as one of the stuffiest yet caring people he have come to know.

We stood at the side while Heart happily hugged and posed with each of her fans. I was tempted to hide behind Adam when I saw Meg and Julia coming up in the line. Julia was about to jump all over the place and while Meg was better at keeping her giddiness at bay, you could obviously see her excitement.

"Hello," Heart greeted when they approached her. Although I was crossing my fingers, they ultimately went into a tirade of both admiration and, to my sheer embarrassment, of how they knew me, "Really? So you're the girls Sienna asked a favor for."

My face went pale when I thought there were maliciousness in her voice, especially when it was paired with her sweet smile that was perfectly practiced for the public. Adam went down to grab my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, smiling softly down at me.

The trust he puts on her was astounding.

"I hope you take care of her, she's someone who is very dear to a person I love," she told, earning more affection points from the two.

She posed for the camera and as they walked away, Heart sent a wink towards my direction and continued on with the line. This caused me to relax, being assured that there were no ill feelings.

I continued to quietly watch and observe the other fans. At the very end of the line, I squinted a bit to see and my eyebrows shot up at the person I saw, "Vance?"

Adam perked up at the mention of his friend and his grip on me tightened. I started worrying again but then I looked at his face and I was completely dumbfounded at what I saw.

He was laughing. Okay, so he had some reservations since we were still in the middle of the meet and greet, but he was full-on snickering behind his other hand.

Heart finished with the second to the last fan and when she saw who was to come next, the practiced smile slipped off of her face. She glared at him with all her might and placed her hands on her hips, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Vance smirked and I knew her willpower was slipping away.

Heart turned to us and stomped her foot childishly, pointing an accusing finger towards Adam, "Why the hell did you bring him here?"

"I didn't, I was as shocked as you were," Adam defended himself, "But thank you for the entertainment."

"Adam!" Heart screeched, finally turning off her sweet celebrity image.

Vance reached out and hugged her from behind, almost as if he was trapping her and she was obviously struggling in his grip. Still, he wasn't budging, "Come on, I paid for a picture with Heart Valentine, the least you can do is oblige so I can get my money's worth."

"Release me, you buffoon," she protested.

"Let her go, Vance," Adam chuckled, pulling me along to where they were standing, "We don't want her angry just when she's about to perform."

Vance obliged but his teasing smirk still didn't go away, "You're still the same old you, Soph."

Soph. The only person I have heard call her by that name was Adam.

What was Vance's relationship with Heart?

She marched her way back to the backstage, probably to prepare for the concert itself, and the majority of the crew followed her. It was only us plus a few others cleaning up the room who were left.

Vance's gaze softened, his eyes glued to the celebrity's retreating figure, "She's as feisty as I remembered."

"Be careful with yourself, she has a boyfriend now," Adam warned, clapping him on the back, "And he would not be happy if he learned that you did that to his girl."

"You don't have to worry, I backed down years ago for you," he sighed, turning to face Adam only for his eyes to trail down to our joined hands, "Though that seemed to be pretty useless as well."

"Can somebody explained what's happening?" I groaned, looking at the both accusingly.

Adam released me and I unconsciously let out a sound of protest when he did. My eyes widened at my reaction and Vance obviously tried to hold in his laughter while Adam was futile in fighting the red tinting his ears.

Talk about being needy.

Clearing his throat to get rid of the tension, Adam finally addressed my confusion, "Vance used to go to school with Soph and I. He always teased Soph until it got her fuming, but we both know the reason why little boys pick on girls."

He liked her, and probably still does.

That longing look, I've seen it and have done it so many times to know what it meant. From what I picked up, he stopped trying to make advances because of his friendship with Adam. But that didn't erase the fact that he still harbored some feelings for her.

"Very funny," Vance rolled his eyes before placing his gaze back to where Heart exited, "But you're right, she's in a different world now."

She was liked by so many people, even before reaching stardom, and yet, she only had eyes for Adam. She nurtured that crush of hers for years and all it took was one rejection from him for her to stop. Would I have ever gotten the strength to do the same thing she did?

Then again, somebody was there to catch her. Axel snatched her up when Adam let her go and the result was one amazing love story that was supposed to be reserved for the romance books.

And me? I was the one to let go and I was also the one who willingly fell into Adam's arms.

Reaching out, I wrapped my arms around one of his. I leaned against him and puffed my cheeks in an immature manner when I could practically hear Vance's teasing remark that was about to leave his lips, "Not a word."

"I know," he laughed, slowly walking towards the exit, "I have to meet some people up at front, I'll see you soon."

When he was gone, I blinked up at Adam, "You mentioned before that you didn't want Heart for yourself, why didn't you give her to Vance?"

Because although Vance liked to tease people, he seemed kind and genuinely a fun guy.

"I never asked Soph to like Axel, she just did on her own volition," he explained, "If she fell in love with Vance, I wouldn't stop him, but she didn't."

I didn't have much time to dwell on it since Adam started walking us back to Heart's dressing room. By the time we got there, she was already in her first outfit with somebody fitting in her earpiece. I found out that Axel was already onstage hyping up the crowd and doing his own performance.

There was a screen near where Taylor was standing, it showed what was happening onstage. I watched in amazement as he jumped, danced, and sung flawlessly without sounding breathless. Although charming, there was something passive about his attitude and maybe that was the image people had been gushing about.

"Heart is coming up," a man walking by spoke to his walkie talkie just as the said person strutted onwards with a couple of dancers walking behind her.

Adam found his spot next to me once again and urged me to pay attention to the screen just as Axel was ending his song with a ridiculously high note, "That's how you do it."

Confident, attractive, oozing with charisma – Hollywood's Prince.

"As fun as it was being in front of you," he told the crowd, basking in their applause, "There's another person who would like your attention and I want you to cheer loudly for her."

They yelled, they clapped, they screamed her name, "May I present to you, the woman I'm proud to call mine, Heart Valentine!"

Heart walked up the stage, microphone in hand and she winked at Axel as she started singing to her first song. They had a bit of interaction onstage before he exited, getting congratulated by the members of the crew.

But I couldn't even look at him because my eyes were focused on Heart. She was captivating onstage and when I heard shuffling of movements from the guy next to me, I muttered under my breath, "This isn't what you fell for, is it?"

Because the person I was watching was not candidly finding her way through life, this person performed flawlessly. It was as if she wasn't even human, but a doll shaped to be perfect.

Although at first I didn't want to admit it, Adam was right. I did like her just like he thought that I would. Not because of her celebrity status, but because I got to see the real her – to see how ill-tempered, how emotional, and how caring she was. Once she dropped the pretense, I could the girl Adam carried the torch for.

I saw the person I thought I had to compete with to win his affections.

We were completely different.

She was controlled, she welcomed the chains with open arms while I wanted nothing more than to feel the breeze whipping through my hair because of the freedom I felt.

Turning around, I walked back to her dressing room. Adam didn't follow me, he savored the moment of watching his best friend perform. When I was about to reach for the doorknob, it suddenly flew open to reveal a fixed up Axel already out of his stage clothes.

"Not watching the show?"

I looked up at him, meeting those dark brown eyes and I couldn't read a thing from them. He was heavily guarded as well. With their lives right now, they were all keeping their walls up. I took great pride in being able to read other people, but with these two, I couldn't.

And a relationship with Adam equates hanging out with them as well.

I have to be stuck in a room with two people who would never show who they truly were because in their eyes, I was a stranger. I was an outsider who had no right to know because I met them after the fame, the beautiful glamor of stardom.

I completely understood why, they probably had people try to take advantage of them everywhere. But at the same time, I didn't like being with those who were like that.

Show me the truth.

When I started liking Adam, it was when he was stripping away all of his secrets. I got to see the real him, I stopped myself from overthinking what I was feeling.

"I just need to sit down for a while," I murmured, feeling sick to the stomach because of where I was. I should be out there with the audience, bouncing up and down in the crowd with Julia and Meg, unaware of how much these artists were faking it. I wasn't supposed to be back here, playing pretend with people who were masters of that art.

"Did he do something to you?" he asked when I weakly sank onto the loveseat. He was referring to Adam and although he had a contribution to this, he wasn't the cause of my uneasiness.

It never really settled down in my mind that even though he was just the best friend, my life would also change.

Axel released a heavy sigh and went to the mini-fridge, taking out a cold bottle of water and handing it to me, "Here, I can't leave with you like that."

"I'm fine," I lied through my teeth, "You were great out there."

He stared down at me intently before releasing another sigh, sitting on the chair right across from me, "That guy helped me get my girl so I think the least I could do is help him with his."

"I'm not his," I corrected, placing down the water bottle on the coffee table, "Not really and I'm not sure if ever."

"And why's that?"

Was I really going to open to this man?

For now, yes.

"Because this situation I'm in right now is just temporary," I told him, gesturing around the room, "I'm going to leave England after college, I'm going back home to New York to write a book, and being calm and composed is not something I am. Adam has a different pace from me, he's slower and carefully thinks of his movements before acting upon them."

"But isn't that better?" he fired back, stopping me from saying anything more, "If you're going too fast, you're going to crash. He could be the one to stop you from doing something dangerous."

Easy for him to say, his girlfriend was somebody like him – somebody who doesn't mind living a forced life.

"Look, that guy is a lot of things but one thing's for sure and it's that he likes you," he said, though he was biting his words because conversations like these doesn't happen often for him, "He hasn't shut up about you since we arrived so if you're going to break his heart, do it when we're already gone so I don't have to hear about it."

I gaped at his words and the harshness it conveyed, but what he did say after that calmed me down a bit, "But I don't recommend doing so because he doesn't deserve to be left like that and from what I've picked up, you like him as well. Don't you think it's a waste to stop something before it could happen?"

He left me with those words and I was alone to drown in my thoughts. Well, breaking something up before it could hurt was my schtick. I did it with Justin and the aftermath was worse than what could have happened if I didn't break up with him before we could have talked it out.

Yet if I didn't do that, I wouldn't have met Adam.

Then again, maybe it was better if I haven't met him, I wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Sienna!" Adam rushed inside the room, "I heard from Axel that you weren't feeling well."

He kneeled in front of me, cupping my face in his strong hands and taking a good look at my face.

Warm.

I closed my eyes and leaned in to his touch, my heart feeling heavier by the second, "You're missing her performance."

"I've seen her perform countless times," he told me, his thumb running across my cheek, "And right now, you're more important. Are you hurt?"

I am, by your words. They're too caring, too kind, too sweet. It makes me picture what it would be like to be with you and it's a contrast to every reason why I think we wouldn't work out.

Opening my eyes, I stared at his worried expression and I knew for myself that I was a goner, "Yes, but it's alright."

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Alright folks, this is going to be the start of the chapters that never got posted during this story's first run. Get ready to be frustrated, confused, and probably want to reach into your screens to strangle these lovely characters.

Question: Should we make them official or nah?

Of course, I'm not going to spoil my own story but let's just say there's a reason why I decided to completely rewrite this story.