superstar

"Oh, never, don't worry, I can hold my own. Basically made to do this. Plus, unlike a lot of them, I have actually fought people." Juliette had expected something different from Frankie. He had a reputation as an asshole, but he was down-to-earth and easy to talk to. She couldn't see where that had come from. "I am looking forward to it! Thank you, but I don't have much of a choice. The trust fund is dependent on a degree, preferably a master's in one of the approved family fields of business." She nodded her head at him. "Well, that's great. I bet it's rewarding. It's hard to find your way in something like acting or modeling."

"Don't mess with Juliette Vanderbilt," Frankie grinned. She wasn't really anything like he expected she'd be. He liked talking with her, though. She was blunt and honest, and funny. "Me too. Ah, I see... You always have to lookout for the strings attached, don't you? Read the fine print. Never sign anything without your lawyer present-," he said, mimicking his own publicist. "Tough gig. Yeah, you're right about that. I mean, I'm living my dream and I am painfully aware of how many people don't get to do that. You're totally killing it with modelling, though."

Beth beamed at his words. Praise was a hell of a drug and if it came any more from him, she could see herself become an addict. "I had a great teacher and an even better example." Who knew Sam's obsession would play out so well for her. That and the hundreds of articles, think pieces, opinions... Everyone seemed to have a strong opinion on every plot point of FNB. How they kept them straight was above her but she had always been a good student. Frankie's project wasn't going to change that. "Right. I like it that way." She like them that way. The them that didn't have to perform for anyone else. That could be honest between the whispers of the wind. Where no one else was listening. All she could hear was her heart pounding in her chest to fill the silence. What if he doesn't like it? What if she embarrassed herself by giving him a present he didn't ask for. Probably didn't want. Beth was stupid. Yep, she had made a fool out of herself. The spiral of thoughts paused as his lips met hers. A welcome surprise to the silence she had previously been met with. Little fireworks popped in te pit of her stomach. His lips were gone far soon. She cleared her throat, teeth sinking into cushion of her lips to prevent her smile from widening too big. "You're welcome. Really? And here I thought I'd be the only one surprising you." Her hand grasped his chin, pressing her lips to his. "Thank you."

Frankie would never get tired of seeing her smile like that. Most days he really couldn't believe that someone as smart and thoughtful, and beautiful, as her had given him a second chance. When their moms had agreed that a PR relationship would be good for everyone, Frankie should have protested. He realised that now as he looked at her and his heart squeezed in his chest. They should have had a real chance. Playing pretend was becoming a little too good now, he barely remembered to remind himself that this was fake dating. Fake dating, real feelings. There was a lesson here he should have been learning but he was too busy grinning back at her like a fool. "Give my best regards to my number one fan, Sam. I like it that way too." Whatever thoughts had been running through his head were momentarily quietened when she kissed him back. Frankie breathed out a laugh at her 'really', reaching out to brush her cheek. "Of course, it's Valentine's Day. I did play the 'I'm Frankie Vives' card with the delivery guy but he wasn't budging on the timeline." Frankie was surprised when she kissed him again, but he couldn't stop smiling. "Any time. Hey, let's wrap up our Cupid Matches as fast as we can, okay? Then we can get outta here, just you and me."

"Yeah, there is a horror movie that I am interested in. It has a very interesting female lead; the other ones are all like girlfriend characters. I actually read one that had a role I thought might be good for you. I could ask my agent to send it to yours." Sienna had a lot of ambition; acting was one of the only things that she had ever found passion for. Going to school for business was something to make her family happy, but she wouldn't ever use it. Acting is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. "Oh, about the rumors, I am guessing. Mine actually wanted me to ask you, too, but I told her no."

"That sounds really cool, you should totally go for that. You did? I would make a pretty good girlfriend character, you're right," he teased, trying to ignore the prospect of them working together on something new. "Thank you, though. I'd appreciate that. My agent-," his mom- "Would definitely appreciate it too." Frankie pressed his lips together as she mentioned 'the rumours'. Should he have told his one no? "Yeah, those. Mine, uh, thinks we need to do something together. The three of us, I mean. Getting papped at a restaurant or an event. Drinks, coffee. Something like that."

Sienna did enjoy working with Frankie. It had never been so easy to work with another actor. He just got her in a way that so many other people had failed to. "I think that's a fair deal, plus we can negotiate for more money if we go in together on it. I won't tell anyone else, but I will remind you next time you are ranting about him." She smiled, nodding her head. "Well, I guess we also have crushes on lions in common, too."

"Oh, absolutely. By the time we get to the 20 year reboot, they'll need a bigger cheque to fit all the zeros on it. Imagine what a big deal we'll be then, right? Fine, fine... Forgive me if I pretend I don't remember a thing about it," Frankie laughed. Truly, no one could get under his skin like Scottie Takeda. And yet, he still felt they were bonded for life. Forever interlinked. Like they were a part of something bigger than themselves. "A pretty big thing, you know."

"It is something you have to take care of." Dawson knew Frankie; he was pretty sure everyone in the city did. "An art gallery. Yeah, it helps the rumors about you and Scottie not being besties, not sure it helps with the rumors about Sienna." Dawson had been a little too honest, but it was what everyone was thinking. "Yeah, Jamie and I have been hanging out a bit. We matched up at Logan's birthday."

"Don't I know it," he laughed. What would he be without his talent? Frankie didn't even want to think about the possibility of it. An art gallery... Okay, that made even more sense now for why he'd seen him on Jamie's story. At his comment about the rumours, Frankie raised both eyebrows. Well, fuck. "You don't pull any punches, do you know? Right, that makes sense. She showed us the painting you did of her on set. Pretty high praise, y'know?"

Sienna could tell Frankie was avoiding her, despite their jobs forcing them together more and more. They had kissed again, nothing like the Kiss, but it had gone viral too, especially after the rumors everything was being watched more closely. It felt like something new was happening daily, either with the show or the rumors. She could only guess how bad it was for him, his girlfriend, and their relationship being called into question. All because they had great on screen chemistry.

Frankie felt his guilt weighing him down like rocks in his shoes. He watched her look down into her glass, kicking himself for acting like such an asshole. It wasn't Sienna's fault. And it wasn't like anything was going on. In fact, it wasn't like anything was going on with him and Beth either, it was all just show (right?). Even as he thought it - about both of them - he knew it wasn't true. Denial was a great friend to have, though.

"is there ever a ranvenwood without some sort of fire?" the clear answer was no on that front. the ravenwoods were as dramatic as they were beautiful to look at. "roni's window shopping waiters, rebecca is being picture perfect and roman is well...being roman. i can't complain, it keeps me employed"

"i couldn't comment on that," frankie smiled. he knew all too well that it was your pa's, publicists, hair and makeup (etc.) people who knew everything and anything about you. honestly, he dreaded to think. "a waiter? can't imagine that's going down well. 'being roman' could be the name of his docu-series. the more drama, the better?"

"well shit, i don't know frankie, would i have heard a whole phone call you've made within earshot of me smoking? let's give that a think over" she chuckled, shaking her head "you good?"

"no, you wouldn't?" he offered with a sheepish grin. frankie shrugged, letting out a sigh as he closed the very small gap between them to sit down. "yeah, i'm fine. it's just this... love triangle bullshit. not the show-," he quickly corrected (that was a love triangle he was all for)- "but me and beth. and sienna."

"Thank you. I–I know you..." Blythe smiled at him, but her eyes narrowed as she attempted to place this charming little face. "Oh!" She gasped, her free hand resting over her heart. "You're Diego from Friday Night Bites!" Suddenly she regretted only having watched half of season one–she had meant to continue it, but between wedding planning and wedding failure, television had fallen to the side.

Frankie chuckled as she recognised him from the show, still not totally used to watching other people go through the various stages of it. "Guilty as charged. Can I count on you being a Diego fan or you on Team William?" he asked, rolling his eyes dramatically. Scottie was somewhere in the room tonight, too. Probably charming the pants off whoever (American or British pants).

looking up from his coffee, he nodded to the younger guy. "frankie. i'm well, how are you?" he asked in return, more out of obligation of social construct. "thanks for the welcome. i'm looking forward to getting started, i picked up the scripts this morning. i was about to start reading through them"

"that's good- uh, great even. i'm doing well too, thank you. well... mostly good. i mean, well. the press- the tabloids- have been a lot lately about me and my 'alleged fnb love triangle'," frankie air quoted, rolling his eyes as he recalled the shirtless selfie they'd used of him beside sienna and beth's photos. "um, anyway. of course, any time. awesome. i won't keep you long, then. you've got such a cool intro coming up."

hot, confident and shameless were three qualities ravenwoods shared. "that's a good one. you're funny, i like you" she eyed the waiter across the room "you think he dyes his hair? i think he definitely dyes his hair."

"thank you," frankie laughed, feeling a little disarmed by her already. he followed her eye to the waiter and couldn't help getting caught up in her antics. "forsure, look at his roots. that's a hack job if i ever saw one. i think you could definitely do better here."

"that's cute that you think i get breaks when events like this run. there's always some metaphorical fire to put out" the goal was to have everything covered before it got it's way to jamie, by that point it would be handled to save her the stress. "hopefully you'll be able to grab some time with jamie and the rest of the cast tonight, a few others are around." she'd seen the brat pack around throughout the night "i'm alright, busy as always. by the way, i've kept some ginger ale and other snacks in back for you if you don't want the cheese and wine. i know it's not much your thing"

"i'm guess i'm a dreamer, ingrid," he joked. "or i haven't had a 'real' job in too long. well, here's hoping that nothing gets so bad the alarms go off. absolutely, that'll be great. yeah, i saw rebecca and roman ravenwood were here already. scottie and, ah, sienna too. i'm sure i'll run into them all at some point tonight. yeah, i can imagine. are you a fan of the art at least?" frankie paused when she mentioned the ginger ale and non-ancient cheese snacks, a very genuine smile tugging onto his lips. "you didn't have to do that. thank you, ingrid."

the gallery event was in full swing and it was fine. if it were anyone else hosting, iris would be less resistant to it's assault on the senses but this was jamie park's event. no matter, iris was here for her boss, rebecca ravenwood (and her family by extension).

frankie had been staring up at this one painting and feeling like maybe he was getting it. maybe. he had listened to jamie speak so eloquently about one of the collections she'd curated and it had been captivating, it had. but now frankie was wondering if he'd just been captivated by her. 'i don't get it' he thought at the same time he heard her voice say 'so ugly'.

the vanderbilt gallery was a thing of beauty and jamie park had somehow managed to make it grander and more beautiful than before. olivia had spent some time chatting with guests and catching up with her fellow actors before she decided it was enough and she snuck out back to steal a moment of peace to herself - mainly to have a smoke, but still, a moment of peace.

"then tell them 'no comment'. no, i'm not--- sorry, i just don't want to keep putting her through all this bullshit. no, i'm... yeah, that's fine. you can book it. thank you-," he added quickly, hearing the call click off. frankie let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair in frustration. it was then he realised that he wasn't strictly alone out here. "olivia? i- you didn't hear any of that, right?"