"Would you tell me what happened last night?" Louis was furious, of course he was, his actress was being reckless last night. But Donna drank way too much last night to want to deal with Louis right now.
Donna rubbed her temples in hopes it would lessen the pain in her head. "I got carried away."
Louis let out a sarcastic laugh. "Carried away? What if it got leaked to the press, Donna? We don't need any issues right before premiere day! You're lucky Harvey was there to stop you."
Harvey. A person she'd like to speak to privately. She wanted to make things clear with him. What was in that kiss? Was it an invitation for something more? Was it to release the tension within them? Or was it closure for whatever this is they are forming?
"Look, Louis, I'm sorry. What I did last night was reckless and I swear it won't happen again. Would you please lower your voice? You're making everything else worse," she apologized, closing her eyes afterward to calm herself.
"What am I going to do with you?" Louis mumbled, but Donna heard it perfectly. She saw him shake his head in disappointment, thinking hard. Probably thinking about an appropriate punishment for her.
He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Okay, here's what you're going to do today. I'm grounding you, which means you can't hang out with Rachel today and no spontaneous errands. You'll go to your designer to fit your gown for the red carpet tomorrow. Make sure Stephen and Harvey are behind you at all times, we need to be careful. Do you understand?"
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. What am I? Four? Donna thought to herself.
Donna decided to nod instead of saying anything. That seemed good enough for her manager. Louis left her alone in her living room to get ready. With her hangover, she didn't really want to do some dress fittings today but the movie premiere was tomorrow, she had no choice.
She went to her walk-in closet to choose what to wear to the fittings. She settled on something lowkey. After all, she was still a celebrity. Paparazzi would still go after her. She wore a plain black sweatshirt, paired with tattered shorts and sneakers. She then grabbed her sunglasses and cap on the way out.
Donna took her phone from her sling bag and sent a quick text to her designer, Bertha, that she was on her way. She fixed her hair, wore her bag, and went outside. There, she saw Stephen and Harvey standing like they were robots.
"Stephen, would you please go ahead and tell Ray I'm coming down? I just need a few more minutes," she smiled sweetly. "Copy, Miss Paulsen," Stephen said before walking away, leaving Donna and Harvey alone in the hallway.
Donna stared at Harvey, wanting him to say something, anything. She hoped he didn't forget about the kiss. She hoped he would say something about it. "Everything alright, Miss Paulsen?"
That was not what she wanted from him. "Really? Harvey? Are we just going to pretend last night didn't happen?"
"No, we're not going to pretend it didn't happen. But we will not say anything about it," Harvey said, breaking character. Donna scoffed. "Are you ordering me now? I can do whatever the hell I want."
"Yes, you can. But for your protection, we must not let anyone know it happened. It would ruin your career,"
"But it was just a–"
"We need to go, Miss Paulsen. Your dresses won't fit themselves," Harvey said with no emotion.
Kiss. The word caught up in Donna's throat. It was just a kiss.
She had no choice but to follow him. She decided to let it slide, for now. The ride to her designer's was a short one. It was near her place. She has been with Bertha for almost half of her career. Whenever she was with her, she knew she was in good hands.
When she went inside the place, she was greeted right away. "Donna Paulsen, my muse. Welcome back! I already placed your dresses outside the fitting room, call me if you need anything."
It was their little tradition that Bertha would just give her dress options for her to try on instead of Donna telling her what she wanted. Donna would give every dress a chance, and if a dress clicked, she'd inform her right away.
"Thank you," Donna appreciated her efforts. She went ahead towards the fitting room when Bertha called out to her. "By the way, the new guy is hot! Details later please," she heard Bertha's faint voice.
Donna turned around to see Harvey following her. She narrowed her eyes. "Stephen is usually the one who accompanies me here," she stated. Harvey gave her no answer. And frankly, she didn't want to hear him speak.
She let him be and approached the dress rack right outside the fitting room like Bertha said. She saw dresses in the colors maroon, black, lilac, and mint green. Donna smiled. Bertha always knew what colors call her.
Her eyes were interested in two dresses. One was in maroon, the other was in black. She took off her cap and sunglasses, as well as her sling bag, and placed them on the chair beside the rack. She grabbed the two dresses that caught her attention and went inside the fitting room.
The fitting room wasn't that big. It was enough to fit one person and bring in at least five dresses. The room could only be closed using a curtain, no door. She hung her choices on the wall and inspected them both.
The maroon dress was a beauty. It had a long train and would clearly show off her curves. It had little flower decorations in the front, a perfect easter egg about her character in the movie. The only issue she had with this dress was that it was too revealing. She didn't really have any problem with dresses that expose a little of her cleavage but this dress showed a lot of it. Louis would go nuts if she chose this, but she tried it on to see how it looked on her.
She reached for her back to zip the dress up before looking at herself in the fitting room's mirror. She was right, the dress shows her curves perfectly. It kind of shows her character's personality due to the flower designs. But like she thought, the dress was too revealing. It showed her cleavage too much.
She looked hot, but it was inappropriate for a movie premiere. She glanced at herself again before deciding the dress would not make her top three. She'd like to wear it on another occasion though. She made a mental note to tell Bertha about the dress.
Donna reached for her back again to unzip her dress when it got stuck. Oh no. No matter how hard she tries to pull it down, it won't work. Shit. She looked around to see if there was something that could help her with her dress when it hit her. It should be someone she should be looking for.
She remembered that Harvey was the one stationed outside. As much as she didn't want to talk to him, she had no other choice. Then she thought of an idea. This could be a chance for them to talk about the kiss. Or not talk.
"Harvey?" She called out behind the curtain. This was really a bad idea.
"Miss Paulsen?" Harvey responded. Donna sighed in relief. He was still near her, good. She thinks that she's crazy. She could just ask Harvey to call her designer and let her fix the zipper on her dress but her mind has other plans. A plan that would make things more complicated than they are now.
"Would you come inside?"
"What?"
"My zipper. It won't budge. I need help taking it off," she told him. She could sense him hesitating. "I could call your designer if you want."
That won't do at all. "No, I want you."
If Harvey thought there was a double meaning behind that statement, he thought right. There's no point in denying it anymore. It's not like Donna wants him as her boyfriend. She just needs him to get him out of her system. Their system.
A few beats passed and felt the curtain open. Her eyes met his through the mirror. Harvey let himself in and closed the curtain again. For a moment, Harvey stood still when he saw her in that dress, unsure of what to do. Their eyes were still lost in each other. Tempting one another. Seeing who would break first.
Donna was the one who broke the silence between them. "I need it off. I don't like the dress. It's too…"
"Revealing," Harvey finished her sentence, struggling to not stare at the upper part of her dress and calm himself down. Seeing Donna like this was not in his expectations of how the day would go. He felt something tighten under and boy did he regret following her instructions now.
She smirked mischievously. "Do you like it, Harvey? Do you like the dress?" She was torturing him, they both knew that. And it was working on him.
"I know what you're doing, Miss Paulsen."
"I'm not doing anything, Specter. I'm merely showing you one of the options for my outfit tomorrow. So, do you like it?" she asked him innocently. Harvey glanced at her up and down, assessing her look. At that moment, she felt naked, vulnerable. But when she saw Harvey's eyes linger on her lips before meeting her gaze, she felt relieved to know it wasn't only her.
"You look good," he simply stated. Donna smiled and didn't say anything else. She was afraid of what she might say if she didn't stop herself. She felt Harvey's fingers reach her zipper on the back of the dress. Her breath hitched a little at the contact and tried her best to hide her reaction. "May I?"
Donna nodded at him, telling him to continue. Truth be told, she wanted out of the dress minutes ago. The second she tried it on she knew it wasn't for her. She loved the color, yes, but the design wasn't it.
She saw what Harvey was doing through the reflection of the mirror. He slowly pulled the zipper up and down so it would smoothly open. When the problem was clearly fixed, he met her gaze once again before continuing his work.
He went painfully slow, the sound of the zipper being the only thing heard in the room. Donna momentarily closed her eyes to feel the moment. This was a bad idea. She thought once again. He was being a tease. He's getting payback for what she pulled earlier. And she hated that she loved this.
Donna thought about their kiss again. How it was so wrong but felt so right. How even if she was wasted to the bones, the only thing she could remember tasting was his soft lips. How she would give up everything right now to taste it one more time.
She opened her eyes when she felt the zipper now dragged to the bottom and the dress now safe to come out of. But none of them moved an inch. Harvey was still holding her back like she was some delicate thing.
Donna saw Harvey biting his lip and she knew he was thinking about their kiss too.
The tension between them was so clear now that you could cut it with a knife.
Before anyone could interrupt them, before Donna could think she shouldn't be doing this, she let her impulsive thoughts get to her.
"Fuck it," she whispered, turning around and grabbing Harvey by the back of his neck, kissing him hard.