Author's note: This is my first time writing anything for the Hollywood U fandom, so I hope I did the characters justice and they're not ooc. The POV will alternate between MC and Hunt, but it will be mostly MC. I hope you like the story and don't forget to comment/leave a review!

In this story, MC is 24 and Hunt is 34. Unlike the game, in this story they actually went on a real date (the island one) before the dinner party. More about that will be answered on the next chapters so don't worry. Any other questions, just comment!

PS: English is not my first language, so if there are any mistakes I'm sorry.

"Look, I think I already know the answer to this, but… Do you want to be with me? Or would you rather be with Marianne?"

Hunt didn't face Isabelle. She wondered if he couldn't or if he just didn't want to. Maybe he didn't want to deal with her bursting into tears in front of him. Not that she would give him the taste of that.

Isabelle gulped and pushed the tears back. "That's what I thought. I guess this has all just been a waste of my time. See you in class, Professor…"

She turned to leave, heart aching with the thought of never talking to Hunt that way again, when he touched her waist. For a second, she had hope. Hope that he would say he would rather be with her, that it had always been her, but instead he just sighed and quickly took his hand off her body.

"Maybe I gave you the wrong impression, but if we're going to see each other for years to come, I need you to fully understand that I have no feelings for you." His tone was harsher than she had ever heard. "I got carried away in the foolish idea that maybe this could work, but it can't. You're not the one for me, Isabelle."

Her name in his mouth a week before – anticipating a kiss in their first official date – had been a sweet taste, but in that moment all it left her feeling was bitterness. What was even worse was that he looked impatient, annoyed even, by having to tell her that. As if he hadn't ever acted like he did have feelings for her.

"I wish I could be." Isabelle said; she could barely look at him. "I'm sorry that I'm not."

Then, without so much as a glance towards her, Hunt left his room. She felt the tears streaming down her face as he returned to his guests, to Marianne, to his life without Isabelle.

I'm sorry too.

Three Years Later

Isabelle woke up feeling especially excited that day. It was her first official table reading for "Alexis", this new drama movie that was supposed to finally get her the Oscar she had not won the previous year. She spent an extra hour on her makeup and outfit to make sure that her day was perfect; nothing too exaggerate, but enough to get a few looks. The press would have a full day if she didn't look the part of the famous movie star she had become.

Trashy magazines were scattered all over her bed; her guilty pleasure to read sometimes, especially when she was featured in a few articles. It was fun, even if sometimes hurtful, to read gossip about herself.

One magazine speculated if her new movie would be a success. Another accused her of getting plastic surgery on her nose. A third one talked about Addison's new collection and showed a picture of Isabelle and another actress wearing her designs. The last one had a picture of Chris Winters and the cast of his new movie with a big title: Romance on set. Is Chris Winters bored with his movie star girlfriend or is he loyal 'till the end?

Isabelle rolled her eyes at her own habit and picked all of them up. She was about to throw them in the trash when she caught a familiar name on another headline.

Thomas Hunt set to make his great comeback in new secret project.

"I feel for the poor soul that has to work with Hunt." She looked at the picture following the article. He was smiling and it felt weird seeing that; she hadn't actually seen him ever since she left Hollywood U, and he didn't smile much back then anyways.

She ignored the article and threw all of the magazines away.

Before leaving the house, Isabelle admired the 18–carat diamond ring shining on her finger. It was still weird getting used to wearing that enormous piece of jewelry and even weirder getting used to the idea that she was engaged – and to none less than the Chris Winters, one of the biggest stars of the 21st century. The memories of his proposal on top of the Eiffel Tower were still fresh on her memory and she smiled at the thought of them.

However, as much as she loved the ring, they had decided that they would wait a few weeks to announce the engagement, so she had to take it off. Chris had a press tour for a new movie and an engagement announcement would definitely overshadow it, which none of them wanted.

Leaving the ring on the nightstand of the penthouse she shared with Chris, Isabelle took her bag – checking to see if the script was actually there; she had made that mistake once and didn't want to repeat it – and left the apartment.

It didn't take her long to get to the production company's office. Ethan said he would be waiting for her in the conference room with the actors, producers and the other people involved with the movie. Isabelle stood outside the room to check her phone and noticed that she was a couple of minutes late, but she was sure no one would mind. She got a text from Chris just as she was about to put her phone away and decided to reply to it before getting inside. Once she was there, she didn't want any distractions.

Chris: Okay, remind me to take you to London at some point, because this is amazing and we didn't have time to really see it the last time. Anyways, press day is going fine and I miss you. But enough about me, I'm texting to wish you luck on your first table reading for the movie that's definitely getting you an Oscar! So, good luck and I love you. Go get them!

Isabelle: London seems like a nice honeymoon spot, doesn't it?. Haha okay, gotta get into the meeting. Thank you and have fun at your press day! Love you too.

As Isabelle put her phone back in her purse, after setting it to vibrate only, she opened the door to the conference room. It was a huge room, definitely fit for a multi–million dollar production. She felt special just by being in that place.

"So sorry for being late, I thought I had time to get a Cappuccino before getting here but apparently not." She smiled and sat beside Ethan, not paying much attention to the rest of the people. "So, what did I miss?"

Ethan opened his mouth to answer when another voice took over. "I see your tardiness hasn't changed."

That voice.

That goddamn voice. She could recognize it anywhere, even without hearing it in years, but it couldn't be. Isabelle had to be hallucinating or dreaming. What was on that coffee?

"But I'm glad you decided to join us. We couldn't start our table reading without the star, who apparently has no concern for everyone else who was on time."

Okay, that was not a dream. Isabelle looked over to the way of the voice and froze when she saw his face. Thomas Hunt.

He hadn't aged a day. Okay, maybe he had, but Hunt always looked a little younger than he actually was, so that was probably it. His sense of style hadn't changed; he still wore the same type of expensive suit he did when he was her teacher. Apparently, his eternal bad mood and dislike for her were still there as well.

Isabelle had imagined the moment they would see each other again before, but all the scenarios included her being getting a big award and him having to present it or him coming to her for advice, or anything that wasn't that. In all the scenarios, she had the power; she was on the spotlight. However, in that moment, all she had was half of a Cappuccino she shouldn't have stopped to get and an audience of twenty other people.

Ethan seemed to notice Isabelle's tension and stepped in. "Negotiations were finished yesterday. This is our new director."

Isabelle felt like throwing up. Not only was Hunt there, but he was also given all the power to boss her around again? She couldn't believe that out of all the thousands of directors in Hollywood, they had to choose him.

"Oh." Isabelle said, still finding the words and hoping they wouldn't be stuck. "That's... Good." She pulled Ethan closer to her. "I'm sorry, but I need a second with my agent."

Isabelle practically dragged Ethan out of the room, with him doing everything he could to make the situation less awkward and embarrassing. She let go of him once they were alone in the corridor.

"That's a thousand dollar Armani suit, don't do that!." Ethan brushed off his suit and looked at her with soft eyes. "Okay, say it."

"What the hell?!" Isabelle wanted to scream, but she kept her voice down. "Why didn't you tell me that Hunt was going to direct the movie?"

While she was mad about Hunt being the new director, she couldn't exactly blame Ethan for not telling her. As he saw it, Hunt was nothing more than a nightmare of an ex teacher to her. No one would ever imagine that someone like him would ever want to date someone like Isabelle. And, in the end, he really didn't.

"Like I said, negotiations were only finished yesterday. I didn't even think he was going to take it, Hunt is normally too pretentious to take on anything that he didn't write himself." Ethan looked down. "And, honestly, I thought you would freak out and back out on the movie."

"I... I wouldn't..." Isabelle started but seeing Ethan's glare she stopped. Maybe he was a little bit right. "Okay, maybe I would freak out a little. But it takes more than Pro–Thomas Hunt to stop me from doing something I really want to."

She had no idea where all of that confidence came from. While she was surely a confident person, when it came to Hunt she often felt powerless. He would always have some kind of weird power – or maybe influence – over her and she absolutely hated that.

"Good. Because it would cost us a lot of money if you did want to back out." There he was again, talking numbers like the good agent he was. Ethan looked at Isabelle a little impatiently. "Can we go back to the meeting now?"

"Yeah." Isabelle agreed, not fully sure that she was ready to go back in there. Facing Hunt for a minute was one thing, enduring him for months would be another.

Ethan entered first, and Isabelle followed behind. She made her best strong face and sat on the chair marked for her, looking Hunt right in the eyes.

"I'm sorry for my delay, I guarantee you I have the upmost respect for everyone involved in this movie and I would never make anyone wait on purpose." She said, sharply. A silent dare: you're gonna have to do better than that to take me, Tommy Boy.

Isabelle thought she saw a ghost of a smile pass Hunt's lips. "Don't let it happen again."

"I won't." She smiled delicately, as if she was daring him. Hunt was in for a ride if he thought she was just going to go down without a fight.

Isabelle couldn't tell if anyone else felt the tension on the room, but she definitely did. Hunt and she hadn't broke eye contact since she came back to the room, and it didn't feel like they would any time soon. She knew she wouldn't.

"Alright everyone, so let's start the table reading for Alexis." Emily Goldwin, the producer of the movie, called out.

Hunt looked at Isabelle for another second before turning his gaze away. She smiled victorious, knowing that it had surely been annoying for Hunt to have to let go. He always liked to be in control of every situation, as did she – she wasn't gonna hide that – and seeing him lose even such a stupid stare competition was rather pleasant.

Isabelle's co–star, a 28-year-old upcoming actor who had gotten himself an Emmy nomination the year before, started reading their first scene together. The scene took place at this exquisite Los Angeles party that Alexis, Isabelle's character, had crashed with hopes of meeting someone who would help her sinking career.

"It's a pleasure meeting you. I'm–"

"Alex Irons. I know exactly who you are." Isabelle interrupted him and a smiled passed through her lips.

"And may I know your name?" He inquired.

She hesitated. "I like a little mystery. If I just tell you, then what's the fun?"

As Isabelle said the lines, she couldn't shake the familiar feeling they gave her. She hadn't dared to think about those memories for a long time.

She looked at Hunt, not knowing exactly what she expected. Maybe a look, a little hint that he remembered it too. Nothing. His serious expression didn't change a bit. She took a deep breath and focused on the reading again.

"Tell you what: you let me up on that stage to sing a song and I tell you my name." A devious grin passed her face. "Do we have a deal?"

The table reading went on and on, and Isabelle was not even a little bit focused on that. A day before, being on that movie was all that she could think about but right in that second, it was the farther thing from her mind.

Stop.

"...And the end!" Isabelle's co–star, Jake, said overly enthusiastic. He started clapping alone and the rest of the people in the room joined him.

"Okay everyone; we'll see those of you who have the first scenes in two days." Emily announced. "Until then!"

As soon as Emily finished talking, Isabelle threw the script in her purse and left the room in a heartbeat. She cursed herself for wearing 7 inch heels that day as she tried to speed through the corridors to get to her car faster.

When she reached the parking lot, Isabelle sighed with relief. She had a whole new admiration for actresses who played action roles on high heels. Her heart was beating a little faster from running, but at least she had missed Hunt.

"Isabelle."

No, no, no.

She turned around and saw Hunt, standing near her as if he had been there the whole time. He looked impatient.

"We need to talk." His tone was the exact same tone he used on her whenever she got into trouble back in Hollywood U. "What you did there today was extremely unprofessional."

"I already apologized for being late." She knew that was not what he meant.

Hunt scoffed. "You know I'm not talking about that. What I am talking about is you acting like you saw a ghost when you noticed me in the room. And then pulling your agent friend out of there with no discretion at all..."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Isabelle was a bad liar and she knew that he could tell. Hunt could always read her so well. "I'll admit I was surprised to see you, but my talk with Ethan had nothing to do with that. You were the one who scolded me like we were in class or something."

"You keep forgetting that I know you. Three years went by, but your maturity remains the same." Hunt walked a little closer to Isabelle, as if he was telling her a secret. "I know that working with me is not something you want. And trust me, directing a movie starring you is not on my bucket list either. But we're going to have to be professionals."

"I'm very professional." Isabelle inhaled sharply. "And what happened on those three years is none of your business, Hunt."

She hoped he would notice her tone of indifference while saying his last name. If he thought she still had any feelings for him, she wanted him to know that even standing him again outside of work was not something she would ever do.

Hunt looked her in the eyes, and it felt like he wanted to say something else. "I wouldn't want our history to get in the way of this movie."

History. They had a lot of that, for sure. Isabelle couldn't tell if he meant their history as in their altercations and debates in his class or in a more informal way. She looked for a hint in his expression, but there was nothing. As always.

"Of course." She pressed a button on her car keys and opened the door; it couldn't be more obvious that she wanted to get out of that situation. "I'll see you on set, then."

"Until then, Isabelle." Hunt walked only a few steps to his car, which only then Isabelle noticed had been parked beside hers.

When he drove away, she finally let go of the air she had been holding. A long sigh came, followed by her hands covering her face. She knew she had no feelings for Hunt anymore, but the hurt from his rejection was surprisingly still there. The worst part was that he was the one scolding her, acting as if she had thrown herself onto him and professed her undying love. And he used to say she was the narcissistic one.

In her mind, flashbacks of Hunt's classes on Hollywood U kept appearing. Unfortunately, she had to face the facts: he was a good director and the movie would be great with him. She hated to admit it, but whatever bad feelings she had towards him would have to go away for good if she wanted them to work well together. A good connection between the actors and the director was a fundamental part of making any decent movie.

Driving back to her apartment, all Isabelle could think about were the things Hunt had said to her. Did he really think she was so unprofessional that she would let a couple of dates and a rejection get in the way of her career? Clearly, he did not know her as well as he claimed to.

Or, perhaps, he knew what she had hoped no one would: they had been each other's weaknesses once, and those have a way of coming back when you least expect it.

.