Runaway – Ch 19

Pairing: Jared x Reader
Tags: angst, rumours, secrets
WC: 2k

Masterlist

Y/N/N sat down heavily at dinner. Her feet ached from a long day running around after Jared and Quinn, who were doing a bunch of press junket interviews. They’d released the advanced trailer of Taking a Chance to the media and PR last week, and the requests had started pouring in not too long after. Y/N/N wasn’t surprised that most of them were from entertainment tabloids and gossip sites, but there were a couple more reputable publications in the mix too. 

The rumours about Jared and Quinn dating had been growing steadily amongst the public and the crew since that very first tabloid cover-story featuring the now notorious ‘horse photograph’, as it was being referred to more recently. Now, there were candids of them together outside of the set floating around as well: a snapshot of the two of them standing close together, drinks in hand, at a birthday party for the executive producer; photos of them walking down a main street in Napa; the video of the two of them exiting a black car with tinted windows and walking into a hotel together had caused quite the stir when it surfaced. 

Y/N/N was getting pretty fed up with all the rumour mongering, if she was being perfectly honest. Every single interview today had included questions about their relationship status, trying to get the stars to admit that they were dating. The whole thing was preposterous. Y/N/N could pull up Jared and Quinn’s schedules and find simple and perfectly innocent explanations for every shred of evidence the gossip sites were dangling out as bait, but nobody was interested in having their story refuted – that would be bad for business, afterall. The truth that Jared and Quinn were just two actors who were friendly with each other after spending nearly six months sequestered in the same hallway was much less interesting than a story about two up and coming starlets secretly dating and finding true love. Just thinking about it made Y/N/N want to hurl. The media would run away with anything if it was ridiculous enough. 

Cece wasn’t helping matters either. He seemed to have his heart set on proving the world right and discovering that Jared and Quinn were secretly dating. The constant digging around Jared and his private schedule was really beginning to grate on Y/N/N. If he asked her one more time if she had ever seen or heard anything that would insinuate their being together, she may actually push him down one of the vineyard hills next time the opportunity presented itself. 

The only problem was, the two actors hadn’t outright denied any of the rumours, either. Anytime Cece brought it up they would just laugh and roll their eyes. Anytime a reporter had asked them about it today they’d deflected expertly. They hadn’t confirmed anything, but until they denied it, there would always be rumours; and even then, a denial might just fuel the flames, which was probably why they were both sticking with ‘no comment’. 

For her part, Y/N hadn’t ever pressed Jared about the rumours. She felt like she would be able to tell if they were actually dating, and she was pretty confident they weren’t. As good an actor as Jared was, he had some pretty obvious tells when he was lying. For instance, when he’d been disappearing every weekend all on his own to ‘go for a run’. He never let Quinn, or anyone else, tag along with him, even though they’d asked plenty of times. He would take his car and drive out to the national park – apparently – to get some space and alone time. Except Y/N/N was almost positive that that was bullshit. 

She knew Jared didn’t like running outside: he’d told her that not long after he took her in, when they were back in his house in L.A. He liked being able to control his pace and watch his stats on a treadmill or another cardio machine, he didn’t like how endless things felt when he went on a run outside. So why was it all of a sudden such an important ritual for him? 

No, Y/N/N didn’t think Jared was going for runs every weekend, but he wasn’t spending that time with Quinn either, because she’d always been here at the villa. So he wasn’t lying about dating his co-star, but he was lying about something else. 

Y/N/N tried not to think about it too often. Everyone was entitled to privacy and secrets, Lord knows she had plenty of her own, but every now and then she couldn’t help her mind wandering to Jared and his secret road trips. Where was he going? What was he doing? Why didn’t he want anyone to know? 

“Hi there!” 

“Jesus Christ!” Y/N/N jumped in surprise, accidentally upending her bowl of salad. 

“Woah, apologies, darling,” Cece laughed, frankly unapologetically, sitting down across from Y/N/N at her table. “What were you daydreaming about so intensely?” he pried, spearing the contents of his own salad bowl on his fork. 

“Nothing much, just work I guess,” Y/N/N shrugged, scooping her dinner back into its bowl and beginning to eat, too. 

“Oh,” Cece simpered, and Y/N/N had a feeling she knew what he was about to say. “And by ‘work’ we mean Jared, I get you girl,” he winked knowingly, smirking at her lewdly across their food. 

“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t have a crush on Jared,” Y/N/N rolled her eyes. 

“Well, that’s probably good, considering he’s taken these days,” Cece allowed, which only riled Y/N/N up more. 

“And how many times do I have to tell you that it’s all rumours, Cece,” Y/N/N groaned. She was really getting sick of him harping on about this. 

“You hope,” he sniggered.

“I don’t like him, he’s my boss,” Y/N/N argued, visibly frustrated now. “What do I have to do to convince you I don’t think about him like that?” 

“Well, now you mention it,” Cece looked around conspiratorially and leaned across the table; Y/N/N stayed where she was. “I’ve got this friend, and he’s desperate for me to set him up on a date with you.” 

“Huh?” Y/N/N raised a brow skeptically, she hadn’t been expecting that answer at all. 

“Yeah, he’s uh, pretty shy, and he’s been too nervous to ask you himself, so he asked if I would put in a good word for him,” Cece explained. “I told him it was useless, you had your eyes on someone else, but if that’s not true…” he trailed off challengingly, waiting for Y/N/N to deny it again, or finally break and ‘admit her true feelings’. She scoffed, unbelieving. 

“Who is it?” Y/N/N asked curiously. If it was someone both she and Cece knew, they had to be someone from set, right? 

“I think it would be more fun to keep it a secret,” Cece smirked mischievously. “Oh, can you imagine the romance, you get all dolled up in a sparkly dress, stand by the bar, wait for your mystery man.” 

“Cece, I don’t want to go on a blind date,” Y/N/N grumbled, unimpressed. 

“Because you’re actually in love with Jared?” Cece wiggled his eyebrows teasingly, and Y/N/N came very close to chucking a cherry tomato at his stupid face. 

“No!”

“Then go on a date with my friend.” Cece pouted dramatically. “Please?” 

“No, I’m not gonna let you set me up with a stranger just so you can pretend we’re in some fairytale,” Y/N/N rolled her eyes in aggravation, pushing back from the table and picking up her mostly uneaten dinner. 

“Y/N/N, wait–” 

“See you later,” she called behind her, turning away quickly and making her escape, not in the mood to stick around and deal with his antics anymore today. 

Dumping her salad in the trash on the way out, Y/N/N decided to head up to Jared’s room. He hadn’t been down at dinner either, and it was closing soon. Maybe he’d want to order a pizza with her and hang out for a bit. It had been a while since they’d just spent some time together, not working. 

“Jared?” Y/N/N knocked on his door and waited for a moment or two, but there was no response. She tried again, calling a little more loudly, but still, nothing. She frowned to herself, trying to remember if Jared had had dinner plans tonight after all. If he did, she hadn’t known about them. 

Considering her options, Y/N/N didn’t really want to go back to her own room and just hang around – Cece might find her there – plus Jared had the nice big TV in his room… he’d always said he wouldn’t mind if she came in and used it, so she wasn’t stuck watching things on her laptop every night. She figured she may as well take him up on that, and maybe when he got back from wherever he was, he would join her.

Pulling out her key to Jared’s room, Y/N/N let herself in. There was no sign of Jared inside, not that she’d been expecting one, except that there was a noticeable draft blowing the curtains around. Further investigation led to the discovery that he’d left the French doors to his balcony open. Maybe wherever he’d gone to, he’d left in a hurry. She wondered if he had gone on another excursion to wherever it was he snuck off to every weekend. 

Y/N/N went to close the balcony doors, but a familiar laugh made her stop short. It sounded like Jared’s laugh, and it sounded nearby. But that didn’t make sense. 

Poking her head out the French doors, Y/N/N took in the view of the vineyard hills and the countryside beyond, great mounds of shadow set against an ever deepening sky. Even in the dark, the valleys were beautiful. Glancing around, she saw light spilling through the un-curtained windows of the adjacent rooms on each side. One balcony was empty, the room’s occupant shut safely inside for the evening, but the balcony to the left held two figures. 

From the height difference alone it would have been easy to tell that it was Quinn and Jared on that balcony. Jared’s laughter had ceased since Y/N/N had heard it a few moments before, for a very obvious reason – his mouth was otherwise occupied at the moment. 

Y/N/N quickly pulled back inside Jared’s room and delicately shut the doors behind her, trying not to make a sound. As soon as they were closed she turned and ran from the room, her feet carrying her swiftly back to her own room. 

When she’d made it through the door and slammed it tightly behind her, Y/N/N finally remembered to breathe. The air caught in her throat, shuddering horribly on its way to her lungs, setting all her muscles on the edge of convulsion. Unbidden, she felt tears welling in her eyes, and she tried to choke them back. A pained sob escaped her lips and she clapped a hand across her mouth, desperately trying to rein herself in. 

She had been so sure it was just rumours. She had thought… 

But it didn’t matter now. 

Pulling out her phone, Y/N/N scrolled through her messages and clicked on the conversation with Cece. 

Y/N/N: Hey, I’m sorry I was a bitch earlier, it was a really long day today

She hit send and took a deep breath, looking back at her phone with resolve. 

Y/N/N: Why don’t you go ahead and set up that date?