Afterward (A Veneer prison story)

Interview with Ritz

It had been a week since Veneer had visited Velvet, and he still didn't know what to think about her coming home. Her court trial was tomorrow, and it seemed like it would go well. His parents had visited her almost everyday this week, trying to figure out how to help her. 

At least he had Ritz to talk to, they had hung out a lot over the last week. Veneer was going to be on his show tonight, to talk about everything that they did. Ritz also wanted him to talk about Velvet getting out. 

Veneer's phone dinged, he picked it up. It was from Ritz. 

I'll be at your house in 20. 

Veneer figured he should start getting ready, but what do you wear to apologize for kidnapping Trolls?  

He walked over to his closet, he had bought some new clothes over the past week, but it still wasn't close to as many as he had when he was famous. After looking at everything, he picked out a black tank top and lilac shorts. 

He tied back his hair and put on some bracelets. He was nervous, no one had said anything to him, but what if things got worse after this interview? 

Veneer pulled out his makeup bag and put on lipstick and light eye shadow. He put his bag away and heard a car pull up, it must be Ritz. He walked into his room to grab his bag and then went downstairs. After grabbing a water bottle, he walked out to Ritz's car. 

"Hey Ritz." He smiled. 

"Hey Veneer, you ready for this?" 

"Yeah, I'm just a little nervous." 

"Okay, but you know that if you don't want to you don't have to." 

Veneer sighed. "It's not that, I'm just worried about Velvet. I mean, what if things go back to the way they were?" 

"They won't. Plus, now you have me." 

"Yeah." 

Ritz pulled out of the driveway and drove to the studio. They talked about what was happening around Mount Rageous until they got there. They drove by Veneer's old house, Veneer realized that he hadn't been above the clouds since he and Ritz went shopping. 

Ritz parked and they walked up to the door, Ritz scanned his key card and let Veneer in. The man working at the front desk waved at them. "Hey Ritz," he looked over at Veneer, "who's this you have with you?" 

"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Veneer. I'm interviewing him today." 

"Well have fun." 

"We will." Ritz smiled and they walked off. 

Veneer turned to Ritz, "Boyfriend, huh. I kinda like that." 

Ritz smiled. "I like it too." 

Ritz lead Veneer into a room, it was the same one they had their first interview in. Veneer sat down while Ritz got some things ready. 

A cameraman walked in, "Ritz, we're filming in five!" 

"Okay!" Ritz yelled back. 

Ritz sat down across from Veneer, "you ready to go?" 

Veneer smiled. "Yep." He was still nervous, but it wasn't as bad now that he was here. 

Some more people walked in and stood by the cameras. "Ritz, you almost ready?" one of them said. 

"Ready when you are." 

"Okay, we're on in 3... 2... 1!" 

"Today on the Bop On Top we have a very special guest, Veneer! Veneer's been out of prison for some time now, and we're here today to ask him how things have been going." 

Veneer smiled. "Things have been going good, busy, but good." 

Ritz grinned. "That's good, how have things been going with your sister?" 

"Really good, she'll actually be getting out soon." 

"That's great! Now Veneer, you had told me that you wanted to say a few things before we went on." 

Veneer sighed. "Yeah. I wanted to come on here and apologize for everything my sister and I did. I have separately apologized to Floyd and his family. But, that doesn't make up for the things that we did to him and what we put him through. I'm sorry that we lied to all of you and that our whole career was built on a lie. Thank you all for all your love and support. But yeah.. that's all I wanted to say." 

Ritz looked over at him, "wow, it must have taken a lot to say that." 

"Yeah, but thank you all for being so forgiving." 

Ritz smiled. "Of course, but up next we have some rapid fire fan questions." He pulled out some note cards. 

"Okay!" Veneer hadn't been expecting there to be fan questions, but he wasn't upset about it. 

"So first question, where have you been living since you got out?" 

"I've been living with my parents, it's been nice."

"Next question, have you been talking with Velvet?" 

"Yeah, I've gone to see her a lot." 

"That's good." He looked at the next card and blushed. "Next question, are you dating anyone?" 

Veneer felt his cheeks get hot, "umm.. yeah." 

"Okay." Ritz glanced over at Veneer "Lastly, what do you think about Crimp being put in prison?" 

"Good, I guess. I mean I did help put her in there." 

"Okay, well that brings us to the end of our show. Veneer, thank you so much for being on Bop On Top, and thank you all for joining us! Tune in next time!" 

 "Cut!" someone from the cameras yelled. 

Ritz stood up and looked over at Veneer. "That went well." 

"Yeah, I don't know why I was so nervous." 

"It gets better when you're actually here." 

Veneer nodded and got up. Ritz said goodbye to all the cameramen and then they walked out to his car. Veneer sat down and took a breath.

Ritz started the car. "Is everything okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm just worried about tomorrow." 

"It'll be okay, I can come with you if you want." 

"I'd like that." 

They drove back to Veneer's house and said goodbye. Veneer went inside and tried to not think about tomorrow.