Young Adulting - Christina Benjamin Page 0,48

too.

I have to do this on my own. And that means I have to keep our relationships strictly professional moving forward. Given the circumstance, I think it would be best if you forwarded our correspondences to Henry so I can avoid any personal feelings jeopardizing the chances of your script making it to the next round.

I have a meeting with the development team tomorrow. I’ll share more then.

Thank you again for your understanding and for trusting me with your script.

I won’t let you down.

Isabelle.

The cherubs that had been circling moments ago went silent as they plummeted back to whatever place it was hope went to die. Because that’s what this felt like. All the hope in the world, being sucked out of me.

It didn’t matter how much she liked me if she wasn’t willing to give me a chance.

I probably didn’t understand? How could she even say that? I understood better than most. And that was the problem. Because I knew what it was like to have something to prove, to want to make something of yourself on your own, I would have to respect her wishes.

But that meant stay away when I knew that she felt the same way about that kiss that I did. Just the thought of giving up on that kind of potential gutted me.

Could I do it?

I started typing out a response, but it was impossible to think rationally when my heart disagreed with everything my fingers typed.

Groaning, I pushed back from my desk chair and stretched the tension from my neck. I needed to go for a run. I needed some space to clear my head. I needed…Izzy. But apparently that was no longer an option thanks to my impulsive lips.

I changed into my running shorts and laced up my sneakers, praying I didn’t run into any paparazzi in Griffith Park. This was their fault. I wasn’t an aggressive guy, but today, my limits were being tested. So help me if even one photographer tried snapping another photo of me.

I had the overwhelming urge to text Izzy and tell her that they’d be tailing her too, but her words echoed in my head like a warning.

Strictly professional…

Avoid any personal feelings…

No, she definitely wouldn’t be happy to hear from me, even if I was only trying to look out for her.

Gritting my teeth, I shook my head, grabbed my keys and headed out the door, hoping I’d find clarity on my run.

Breathing heavy, I bent over, resting my hands on my knees. Once I caught my breath, I stretched a bit to ease the lactic acid building up in my overworked muscles. I looked at my smartwatch to check my stats, amazed that I’d broken my record for the grueling run that led up to the Hollywood sign.

The sun was just setting and by some miracle, I had the overlook to myself.

Deciding to seize the moment, I took a seat on the bench and stared at the iconic sign that drew so many to LA in pursuit of their dreams.

Izzy was one of them.

Our talk from the other night had made me wonder if I would’ve been.

She was right. I was born inside the fortress. I had the keys to the kingdom so to speak. All the doors opened to me. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

That kind of power led many astray in this town and I was determined not to be one of them. That’s why carving out a career of my own making was so important to me. If I didn’t do it now I never would. It would be too easy to take a part in my father’s next big film, letting that catapult me into something else, and then something else, and before I knew it, I’d be so far away from the life I wanted that there would be no way to claw myself back.

And that was my dilemma.

Izzy had the same problem. If she failed at this internship, she’d end up back in Iowa, probably leaving her confidence to pursue her dreams behind. She’d end up on some path that her parents set out for her, back in Iowa where her creativity wouldn’t be free to blossom like it could here.

I’d meant what I told her. I didn’t think she was even close to peaking. This internship was only the beginning. But that was an easy thing for me to say. When I failed, I had my fortune to fall back on. Izzy didn’t. And right now,