After forty-five minutes, Jake was beginning to become impatient. “Are you done already?” His irritation was obvious through the door.
“Almost,” Wendy called back to him. “Patience!” She leaned forward to zip the dress up in the back. She stepped back to admire her work. “Oh, you are going to make a scene at the premiere tonight. Seriously.”
I cocked my head, studying myself in the mirror. A slow grin crept up onto my face. “Now this is more like it.” No more classy, 1950s party dresses for me. I wanted to make a statement, I wanted to look sexy, and I wanted to make the front page.
“Any particular reason that you completely and totally switched style choices? And enlisted both mine and Adrienne’s help which you so graciously refused last time?” Wendy asked, amused, as she packed up her supplies into her ginormous bag.
“No reason,” I said, airily, admiring myself in the mirror, turning this way and that way to see the effect.
“I heard about your little spat with Andrea…”
I turned and glared at her, my hair smacking me in the face a little. I had to remember tonight to go easy on the head movements to avoid looking ridiculous. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t,” Wendy said, cheerfully. “And its absolutely no coincidence that you decided to show up to the premiere of Break in a dress designed all for sex appeal only days after getting into a confrontation with Jake’s ex-girlfriend.”
I continued to glare at her. “Maybe I just want to show the world that McKinley Evans is more than just a diner girl.”
“McKinley!!!”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god, Jake, I’ll be right there.”
Wendy smiled a half smile for me. “You are such a goner.”
“This has nothing to do with Jake,” I said, sharply, turning back to the mirror to check out my reflection. I pursed my lips, pleased at what I saw. “This is for me. The sooner you all realize I do everything for myself, the better for you.” I ignored the look on her face and walked to the door, pulling the door open and stepping through.
The look on Jake’s face made me grin; I had completely achieved what I was hoping to achieve. There was no way that people were going to be able to look away tonight. Not with my tight, curve hugging dress, my red hair in waves all around my face, my make-up fierce and dark and my heels making me at least three inches taller than I normally was. I was going to be unforgettable tonight. I smiled up at Jake, looking at him from underneath my eyelashes. “I think we should get going, don’t you?” I asked, brushing past him, careful to touch him lightly, carefully.
“Right, exactly,” Jake said, turning on his heel and following me.
After we had gotten home that night, and I was sure Jake had fallen asleep, I climbed slowly out of bed and crossed the room. I went downstairs and let myself into Jake’s office and immediately opened his laptop. I opened a fresh page to Google and typed my name. I hesitated and then clicked ‘search’. A few months ago, the only thing that would have come up was a super old article in the Orange County Register about the diner. Now there were several hits about me and the most recent were from tonight’s premiere. I smiled, as I read some of the headlines.
McKinley Evans makes a smashing hit at the premiere of Break tonight!
Jake’s new Girl looking sexy tonight!
I made a face at the title the media was giving me but this was a small thing when compared to the attention that was reeling in at the appearance I had made tonight. I spotted one headline reading Hollywood’s New Couple Scorching the Red Carpet at the premiere of Break! and saw a picture of Jake and I posing together on the red carpet. Jake’s hand was on my waist, lightly, and my body was angling toward him. He looked amazing and I couldn’t lie; together we did make quite the statement. We were making heads turn all night. I clicked on the link and scanned the article. I grinned when I came to a particular passage.
While Jake and McKinley were stealing the spotlights and screams all night, Jake’s ex, Andrea Tremaine was not. Dressed in a spangled dress resembling something like a disco ball, she caught more groans than compliments. To make matters worse, she hit the red carpet alone, sans her husband of one year, Scott McNeill. Rumors are abound that McNeill is in his native home of Scotland, far away from his wife, who films Crime Scene, here in L.A. In other news, we’ve heard that the new girl in town, McKinley Evans, will be making her acting debut in playing Charlotte Meyers, a new character on Crime Scene, set to stir a bit of drama between Mikey and Maggie. Here at StarStruck, we’re dying to see how this juicy drama goes down and we’re sure you guys are too!
I sighed happily, feeling immensely satisfied. I’d only seen Andrea once during the premiere, as we were taking our seats to watch the movie-which ended being as terrible as I had predicted. Our eyes had met and for a brief moment, she had looked astonished. She quickly changed to a look of attack and sauntered off towards her seat. Between the awesome reaction I had gotten at the premiere and the fact that I was going to be playing a pretty anticipated character on Crime Scene, things just couldn’t get any better.
* * * * * *
The next morning, I woke up and dragged myself out of bed, feeling super tired, completely feeling the effects of staying out way too late at the Break premiere. I glanced at the time and saw that I definitely did not have time to shower before I had to go downstairs to open the diner. I groaned, looking at my wild hair, still half way styled from the night before. It was unfortunately going to have to do. I sighed, running a brush through my hair before applying some light make-up and putting a pair of jeans and a diner shirt. Some days it was starting to really get to me; this waking up at five a.m. every morning to open the diner and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it anymore.
I was making my way downstairs when Luke stopped me. I nearly jumped when he said my name. I usually opened the diner on Friday mornings, giving Luke a chance to sleep in before he came down at ten, just in time to get ready for the lunch rush. “Luke, geez, what are you doing up?”
Luke yawned, stretching his legs out across the couch. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“And it couldn’t wait until later?” I asked, laughing. “It’s five a.m.”
“Well, I never really know when you’re going to be home.”
My smile slid off my face and I wondered whether this conversation was going to be a good one or a bad one. My instincts were screaming that it was bad. “Oh. Well.”
“Don’t look like that,” Luke said, a smile stretching across his face. “I’m just a concerned dad. Come sit with me.”
I walked across the living room and took a seat next to him on the couch. “Well, what’s up?” I asked, warily.
“I’m just a little concerned about how much time you’re spending with Jake,” Luke said, slowly.
I raised my eyebrow at him. “I’m not really spending any more time with him than I have with any other guy I’ve dated.”
“Yes, but not everyone you’ve dated has been a huge TV star,” Luke pointed out.
“Fair point,” I conceded. “The relationship isn’t really serious though, Luke, you know? Its me.”
Luke shook his head at the one. “It’s not really the relationship that concerns me, McKinley. I like Jake. You deserve to be in a happy and healthy relationship.”
I made a face at that.
“That’s a conversation for another time though,” Luke said, before I could interject. “I’m more concerned about the influence of Jake’s lifestyle on your life.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slowly.
“Look, McKinley, as long as you’re safe and healthy and happy, then I’m happy. And if you want to act, then I’m okay with that.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” I said.
Luke hesitated. “I just don’t want it go to your head, McKinley. You’re a good girl and you have a good group of family and friends. I don’t want you to forget where you came from.”
&
nbsp; “How could I…”
“Wait, let me finish,” Luke said, holding his hand up to stop me. “You’re getting this amazing part on Jake’s show and going to premieres and it’s just a lot for your old dad to take in. It’s hard to connect that world and you together. And yet, it fits you so well. I’m just worried that you’re going to let it get to your head.”
“I’m not,” I said, automatically. Luke raised his eyebrow at me. “I swear, I’m not.”
“McKinley, you’re all over the internet this morning. That dress was really something.” I felt my face blush at the thought of my extremely revealing dress. Sometimes I forgot that even though I was an adult and could do whatever I wished, I still very much wanted my dad’s approval. “And I know you, you thrive on attention. It’s not a bad thing.”
“No,” I said. “But it is true. And I’m having fun right now, Luke. This part is really crazy amazing and all but I’m not getting my head too wrapped up in this.”
“I really hope not,” he said, sitting up. “I’m so happy and proud of you but I don’t want to see you get knocked on your ass if it doesn’t work out for you. I’m not saying it won’t, but just don’t get too hung up on it okay?”
I nodded. “I promise, I won’t. Definitely not. My goal in life is not to be an actress.”
“Okay. I mean, it’s okay if it is,” Luke said. “But if its not…just make sure that you’re focusing on other things. I know you haven’t been going to any of your classes in months.”
I bit my lip, nervously, knowing that he was right. I had kept up with the schoolwork for a while until I had just stopped going in favor of going with Jake down to the set. “I know, you’re right.”
“I’m not mad; I know school has never really been on the forefront of your mind,” Luke said. “I just want to make sure you have goals and plans for your future. You’re twenty-five, you’re only getting more and more grown up.”
“I’m still not sure,” I said honestly. “I go to school but I’m unsure of what I want to do. And I like being on set and I like the idea of acting. I’m just still trying to figure stuff out.”
Luke nodded, covering his face with a yawn. He looked like he could use a cup of coffee. “And that’s fine. It’s only been a couple months since we last talked about that. I just want to make sure that no matter what happens, you don’t let it get to your head and that you stay humble.”
“I promise I will do my very best to stay humble,” I said.
“Good. That’s all I needed,” he said.
I stood up. “Great. I’m going to go open the diner now. Chris is going to think I left all the work to him.”
“Oh, hey, McKinley?”
“Yeah?” I asked, looking at him over my shoulder as I started to go down the stairs.
“You know, I really Jake. He’s a good guy. I’d keep a hold of this one,” he said, nonchalantly, picking up the newspaper that sat on the coffee table in front of him.
I felt my stomach clench at the words but rolled my eyes. “Yeah, no, Luke, we are definitely not going there.”
Chapter Nine
“You know, you look surprisingly not tired this morning, McKinley,” Wendy remarked, running a brush through my hair.
“I have to wake up way earlier than this to get ready to open the diner,” I told her, taking a huge sip of my coffee.
“Are you nervous?” she asked, taking a sip of her own coffee and barely concealing a yawn.
“Of course not,” I said, immediately. Wendy raised her eyebrow at my reflection in the mirror. “Yes, I am. I’ve never acted before. Ever.”
“You’re going to do just fine,” Wendy said, reassuring me. “You’ve been studying the script like crazy, you’ve been rehearsing with Jake, which is good since he is the actual counterpart to this part and Josh is a really laidback director.”
“Right,” I said, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the shaky feeling that had been creeping its way through my body ever since I had woken up that morning. “I can totally do this.”
Call time was at eight a.m. so after going through hair and make-up with Wendy and then heading down to the wardrobe trailer with Jake to get changed, we both headed down to the set. It couldn’t have been just my imagination, but I felt that people were staring at me as soon as I we walked into the room; that people were aware of how close we were standing together and were aware that I felt like I was going to throw up.
“All right, guys, you ready?” Josh said, striding up, clapping his hands together and looking excited. “Nervous, McKinley?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that? I’m not,” I said, sounding very, very grumpy. I immediately blushed. “I mean, I’m sorry. No, I’m not nervous.”
“She’s such a liar,” Jake said, laughing, “but that was pretty good.” I shot a glare his way, which he didn’t even seem to register. This guy was getting way too used to the way I acted and operated and I did not feel comfortable with it.
Josh laughed along with him. “Well, there’s plenty of time to get calm; we’re filming scene six first with Charlotte’s brother and then we’ll do scene eleven with you, McKinley?”
“Six and then eleven?” I asked, shaking my head, confused. “That doesn’t seem to make sense.”
“Well, when you film a show, or a movie, you don’t film it in sequence. It’s too time consuming and way too expensive. So you film a certain amount of scenes; say all the scenes that take place in a certain location so that way you don’t have to keep coming back,” Josh explained to me, walking with us over to the set.
Scene six, from what I could remember was between Jake, Cam and my character’s brother, David, in the jail cell where David is being held on suspicion of being a companion to a young girl’s murder. I was the concerned sister, taking care of an immature older brother who always managed to get himself into bad situations simply because he didn’t think and yeah, got involved with minor recreational drugs. Mikey Jr., played by Jake, was trying to get Charlotte to help him get David a lower sentence by convincing him to testify. Charlotte is obviously refusing, until Mikey gains her trust…and her affections too. I was pretty sure that I could handle this part; no, I knew I could handle this part.
After I had watched Jake, Cam and Alex Morrow, the guy playing David, finish their scene, we watched as the crew came out of nowhere and, after a little bit of switching and things, the jail cell set became the interrogation room. I hopped off my chair and crossed the room. There were a couple make-up artists there, ready at hand to freshen anything up. I looked to Josh for direction, trying not to feel like I was the biggest newbie in the world.
“Okay, so McKinley, you’re already seated and Jake is going to come into the room. Then the scene will start from there okay? We’ll run through it once, see how you guys manage and go from there.”
I nodded, not daring to open my mouth to speak. I was afraid if I did, my breakfast would suddenly be all over the shiny metal interrogation table and then we’d have a much bigger problem on our hands. I slid into the chair, crossing my arms across my chest.
Jake smiled encouragingly at me before walking through the door he was going to be coming through in just a moment. I tried to ignore the attraction I felt as I walked away and how good his butt looked in his police uniform and tried to focus on the lines.
“Okay, on my count, in five, four, three…” he mouthed the last two and pointed. Jake came bursting into the room, looking angry. I felt a small bit of happiness; he looked so different than the original pleading look he had had before.
“So Charlotte Meyers, I presume?” Jake asked, sitting down in the chair in front of me.
I felt my brain go blank, for a quick moment, and then the line came out as if my voice had a mind of its own. “And here I thought you knew everything around here, Detective,” I said, smirking, amusement coloring my voice.
A look of impatience crossed over Jake’s face. “Of course, I do. Which is why I know that you aren�
�t cooperating with Chief Matlock.”
“I didn’t realize that the chief needed his son to come in and do his dirty work.”
“Ms. Meyers…”
“Charlotte,” I cut him off. “I’d rather be called Charlotte.”
The corners of Jake’s mouth turned up a bit. “I actually heard you like to be called Charlie.”
“No,” I said, sharply. “No. Charlotte is fine, Detective.” I spat out the word detective.
“Look, Charlotte, I’m not going to put up with this shit, okay? I’m trying to do your brother a favor here, but I need your help.”
“And I’ve told you guys already, I have nothing to say.”
A Little Less than Famous Page 15