by L. L Hunter
“It’s Harry. We need to talk, Kate.”
“Oh, okay. Just a minute.” I was in my underwear, so I grabbed a robe and tied it around my body before I walked to the door. I opened it to the angry face of Harry, our director.
“Is everything okay, Harry?”
“No. Not really.” And then he held up a glossy magazine, one of those fake gossip ones filled with made up stories, or so I was told. “Care to explain this?”
He stabbed at the cover with his pointer finger forcefully, and it was then I noticed.
It was a picture of Damian and me at his place in a compromising position. The photo was taken at night, so it was grainy, but it wasn’t hard to tell who was in the photograph.
“I–I can explain.”
Harry crossed his arms and stomped his feet. “You’d better. Start talking. This, whatever it is, could bring down our whole production and destroy our reputation before opening weekend.”
I tugged my robe tighter and tucked my long curls behind my ears. My hair had grown out since my makeover at the start of filming. I was allowed to keep it this way because my character had also grown out her hair. I stepped down out of the trailer, so I was level with Harry.
“I’m sorry, Harry. It just kind of happened.”
“What did? What is this? Is this real? Are you and Damian sleeping together?”
“Yes. We’re together, but we didn’t plan for it to come out this way. I’m really sorry, Harry.” I hung my head in shame. “Is there any way to fix this?”
“Yes. You have to break up. Now. According to the media and the world, you and Connor are in love. Now it appears as though you’re cheating on him with your writer. This is bad, Kate. Real bad.”
“I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this. Connor and I–there is no Connor and I. Not really. It was all for publicity. What Damian and I have is real.”
Harry sighed and swiped his hand over his face, then took off his baseball cap and pushed his hand through his thinning hair.
“I’m sorry, Kate, but for the sake of the film, this needs to end. Right now.”
A tear rolled down my cheek, and I let out a sob. “I’m really sorry.”
“Break up with Damian now, and go out with Connor. I want you to get photographed more together. We need to fix this before the premiere—which is in two months, by the way. I don’t want to see any more of these headlines. If I do see any, you and Damian are fired.” He turned on his heel and walked away, dropping the magazine at my feet. I bent down and picked up the object of betrayal, the thing that ruined everything.
How did my life, my career, my dream, end before it had barely begun?
21
I went home later that afternoon, after shooting my final scene and headed straight for the fridge. Thankfully, there was the bottle of champagne I had been gifted from the Teen Choice Awards gift bags. I grabbed it and popped the cork. Not bothering with a glass, I headed to my room and chugged the champagne from the bottle. I sat against the headboard of my bed and stared out the window.
What was I supposed to do? I really cared about Damian. Maybe even loved him. But to save my career and the film, I had to break up with him and continue to pretend with another man. I chugged and chugged from the bottle until I was drunk enough to forget my horror day. I didn’t want to break up with Damian, so I was avoiding talking to him.
I was avoiding my phone and social media, as well. I just wanted to get drunk and forget that day ever happened.
Sometime later, Bree found me along with an expected and unwanted guest.
“Sweetie, someone’s here to see you.”
I knew who it was from the scent of his deodorant alone. It smelled like a clean man and pure pheromones. I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my face.
“No!” I felt the bed dip as someone sat on the edge. Then a husky, deep voice spoke.
“Kate. Please talk to me. I know what this is about, why you’re not responding to my calls or texts. Harry called me.”
I pulled the pillow off my face just a little and peeked at him. “He did? Did he fire you?”
“No. He didn’t. No one is firing anyone. Where did you get that idea?”
“Harry said so. He said he’d fire us if we didn’t stop seeing each other.”
“Kate, that’s not true. I told him how I felt about you. And we came to an agreement.”
I tugged the pillow back over my face. “No, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Please, just hear me out.”
“No. I don’t want to.”
“Please, Kate.” He placed his hand on my hip, and I stopped breathing. His touch was fire. I was burning alive. I threw off the pillow and sat up, pushing as far away from him as I could on the double bed.
“This is my first big role. My first big break as an actress. I need this movie, Damian.”
“I need this as my career too. hence, why I have this proposition for you.”
Oh, my God, I was deathly afraid of what he was about to say.
“What is it?”
“Filming finishes on Friday. That’s only five days away. We can’t be seen together until after it finishes.”
“I can’t do that.” I hugged my pillow over my face, but Damian grabbed it and pulled it down.
“No, wait. Please let me finish.”
“Please, don’t say I have to continue to pretend to date Connor.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Wait. What?”
“Harry agreed, as did your agent and Connor’s, that this whole idea of you pretending to be together was ridiculous. We have a plan for you and Connor to out your relationship as none other than a working one, that your romance only happened on camera.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. Because the media saw straight through it. It was never going to work. So, after filming, you and Connor will do the interview, and then we’ll be free to be together.”
“Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe it, but what about the reputation of the film?”
“It’ll all be remedied after the interview. You have nothing to worry about.”
I stared at him, at the stubble on his face and his tousled dark hair and hazel eyes. He was dangerously sexy. I reached for his hand. He didn’t reject me. Our fingers twisted together.
“So, that means we don’t have to break up.”
He smiled. “No, we don’t, but we do have to remain unseen until the interview. No more secret trips to my house under cover of darkness. As you saw in that photograph, darkness doesn’t hide secrets.”
I crawled toward him and into his lap. I wrapped my legs around his hips and stared into his eyes.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He chuckled. “Why are you thanking me? What did I do?”
“You saved me.” I then kissed him like I hadn’t seen him in weeks when in reality it had only been a day.
22
The interview was slated for the following Saturday. On Friday, after we finished the final scene, everyone cheered. Harry announced there was a wrap party that night at a hotel downtown and that everyone was welcome. So, that night, I let down my hair and danced the night away with Damian in my arms. We no longer had to worry about keeping our relationship a secret. At least, until the following day when the TV interview aired. I didn’t drink that much that night because of the interview. Besides, I wanted to remember that night for the rest of my life. I had officially finished my first film and had my first official boyfriend.
I had officially been in Hollywood for eight months at that point, and my life was looking up.
After the interview the next morning, which was easy because Connor and I didn’t have to lie anymore, I went out for lunch with Bree to celebrate my first eight months.
“So, happy eight months. It feels like eight days,” said Bree, holding up a wine glass. I raised my glass and clinked it against hers.
“I know. It doesn’t feel like it’s been eight months at all
.”
“So, what’s next for you, other than going on more real dates with your sexy writer?”
I took a sip of my wine and set it down. “Well, I got a new script from my agent this morning. They want me to come in for a screen test for another film.”
“Oh, my God. That’s amazing! So, no audition?”
“Nope. The director said I would be perfect for the lead female part. My agent said they’ve already got their male lead in mind as well. An actor by the name of Jack Dean.”
Bree’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. “No way! Jack Dean is hot.”
“Yeah. He is. I had to google him, but apparently, he’s tipped to be the next Hollywood ‘it’ guy.”
“That’s huge.”
“I know.”
My reputation only improved from then on. After the interview with Connor aired, people stopped caring about whether Connor and I were a thing or not and started ‘shipping’ Damian and me. More photos came out in the media of us, but this time, they were less compromising. We went on a few real dates and spent more time together on our days off. We didn’t have to sneak around anymore. But of course, then came the rumours of marriage and engagement and pregnancy, which Damian and Bree told me to ignore.
I was getting better at ignoring the headlines and the gossip, but I still wasn’t used to people saying things about me that weren’t true and seeing my picture splashed across magazines and social media platforms.
I met Jack Dean soon after that when I was called in to screen test with him. He walked into the production studio’s office in jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt as well as a baseball cap. He was dressed pretty much like Harry and Damian. I came to realise soon enough that this was the customary uniform for anyone in the entertainment business with some notoriety who wanted to fly under the radar. I was scrolling through social media when Jack came and sat next to me on the plastic chairs in the waiting room.
“Hey, I hope I’m not too late,” he said.
“No. Not at all. They’re late.”
“Oh. Good.” And then he looked at me, I mean, really looked at me. His stare was intense, but not in a creepy way. It made me feel as though he could see inside my soul. I re-adjusted my sitting position, crossing my legs the other way.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you remind me of my girlfriend. You look a bit like her.”
In my research of Jack Dean, I had read about the girlfriend he was talking about. Chloe Vanderbilt was a journalist from Australia. She was beautiful. A picture of them taken at a private event had leaked online and gone viral, causing them to reveal their relationship.
“Oh, I saw pictures of her online. She is beautiful. I can see why you were drawn to her.”
“Yeah. She’s pretty special. I miss her. I had to leave her behind in Australia when I came back here for work. But she’s coming over soon for New Year’s Eve and the Golden Globes.”
“Oh. That’s exciting. I’m Kate, by the way. Kate Brooks.”
“Jack. Jack Dean.”
I laughed. “I know who you are, Jack. I’m actually a huge fan of yours and Chloe’s love story. It’s like a real-life fairy tale.”
“It is a bit. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, but I’m hoping we can make it work. It’s still so new.”
“Well, I’m rooting for you both.” The producer and director walked in then and introduced themselves. Jack and I followed them into a tiny dark room where we were instructed to go through a few different poses in front of the camera that was set up to see how we looked on screen, and as this was supposed to be a chemistry test, the director was specifically looking to see if Jack and I had any chemistry between us so that would effectively translate on screen.
The good news was, Jack and I did have on-screen chemistry, and the director and producer both liked us. He promised to call us back for a group table read soon.
“It was nice to meet you, Jack. I can’t wait to start working with you. Say hi to Chloe for me.”
“I will. And it was nice to meet you too, Kate.”
Jack was sweet and seemed like a genuinely hardworking, passionate person. In the coming months, Jack and I would form a close friendship, and he would become one of my rocks and mentors of sorts in Hollywood. I came to realise you needed your group of people, your team, around you in this industry because there were times when it wasn’t all champagne and roses.
There would be hard, soul-sucking moments that made you want to give up, moments that genuinely tested you. I would discover that quite soon.
23
My agent called me the next day and told me about a couple of auditions she thought would suit me. When I turned up for the first one, it was for a perfume ad, and I was required to strip almost naked. It definitely wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to strip nude and lose my dignity for money. What would my grandma think? So, I walked out. My agent blasted me for that, as well as Bree. They both told me not to turn down any opportunity, even if it meant losing your dignity in the process. The roles would come. I now had one film under my belt, and one due to start shooting soon.
“You have to take every opportunity that comes your way, because in this industry, you don’t know when the next one will come,” Bree told me over drinks one night.
“But I don’t want to be a playboy model or anything. I don’t want to do nude photoshoots. That’s not me.”
“You don’t know what is you and what’s not until you try.”
“I did try,” I said. “They made me strip down to my panties for the audition. I said no and walked out.”
“If you can book one of those perfume ads, you’re on your way. Those types of ads are huge!”
“But I don’t want to sell out.”
“You won’t sell out. Everyone does them at least once in their life. But they want petite girls. Girls without curves. Someone like you, with a natural look. They don’t want someone like me.”
“That’s discrimination! You’re gorgeous.”
“I know. But that’s the way this world works, unfortunately. I’ve been lucky with the roles I’ve scored so far. But as you’re just starting out, you can’t afford to be fussy. When you’re making millions, then you can be fussy. Please, promise me you won’t walk out on the next one.”
“Fine. I promise.”
The next audition was for an ad for a new brand of water. It was a fun audition. I was asked not only to talk about the way water made me feel, but I got to pretend to run and jump in front of a green screen. When I was finished, I was told I would get a call if I had been successful. Bree told me not to be too optimistic and not to set my expectations too high. So, I kept them at a medium level and hoped for the best.
The third audition was my favourite of the three and the most fun. I got to cuddle a bundle of adorable puppies. It was for an adoption drive for an animal shelter. I was told this shelter often had a lot of big-name celebrities as clients and ambassadors. So, after the audition, I signed up as an ambassador and promised to donate a portion of the money I earned from the ad, if successful, to the shelter. I loved animals, so it was a no brainer.
Life in Hollywood became a lot busier from then on. I was called in a few days later for the group table read for my second film with Jack. I got to meet the other cast members and the crew. They were all so sweet.
The table read was quite a learning experience. We mainly read the entire script during one session. Each cast member was present, so we read the scenes through in order, with each actor reading their part out loud. It was just a read through, so I didn’t need to appropriately act, but a few of the other actors added a bit of their character to the role, so it wasn’t a straight up boring read.
During this time, I got a better feel for my character. I could definitely relate to her. She was a small-town girl who falls for a millionaire, then when my character gets kidnapped, and Jack’s guy is held for ransom, Jack’s character must make some significant sacrifices to get me back. The plot was e
xciting, emotional and thrilling as well as a bit romantic at the same time. The film was due to start shooting the week after, so it was important that we finished the reading on that day. I couldn’t wait to begin.
24
The first week of filming was hectic to say the least. I went through more takes than I’d hoped, and made many mistakes, but thankfully, Jack was there to give me advice and make me feel at ease.
I was standing on my mark, waiting to say my line one day, and it was a particularly emotional scene where my character was planning to break up with Jack’s character. And then Damian walked onto the set.
I had been pretty busy since the filming of my first had wrapped up, and since our last date, that we hadn’t seen each other in over two weeks. The director called for quiet on the set, so Damian stood with his arms crossed and watched. I took a deep breath and tried to think of my character and what she was feeling. A makeup artist came and sprayed water droplets on my face to simulate crying, and then the director called action.
I sniffled and looked up past the camera to Jack. The camera flipped to show Jack standing near a window (a fake window) overlooking an artificial skyscape. He turned toward me and smiled, then his face dropped when he saw that I was crying.
“I was going to call you to see how you were. But I can see that you’re not okay.”
“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Jared. When I was kidnapped, I thought I would never see you ever again.”
“I know. But it’s okay. You’re okay. It’s over.”
“The kidnappers told me you had to choose one of my family members to sacrifice to get me back. That broke me, Jared. I couldn’t let you do that.”
Jack dropped his head in shame. “Kristy, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. You know I didn’t.”
“I know, but you did. You chose to kill my father instead of just handing over the money. For that, I don’t think I can forgive you.”