The Modeliser

by Havana Adams

  “Get a room kids,” a loud laughing voice yelled out and they sprang apart laughing. Talia watched as Alex ran his hand through his hair. He looked as dishevelled as she felt.

  “This is why we should have stayed in,” Talia said. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and her pulse beat an erratic frustrated tempo. She gave Alex a winsome smile; perhaps he might change his mind and get them back home to bed.

  “We have reservations,” Alex replied but she could tell that he was faltering that if she kissed him now, he’d drag her back to the apartment. “I want to do this right,” Alex blurted out. Talia stared at him curiously noting how he seemed strangely nervous.

  “Do what?” She asked.

  “This,” he said and dropped to his knee. Talia gaped at him, suddenly all too aware that they were exposed on a New York sidewalk and around them people were already starting to stare.

  “What are you doing?” She hissed. Alex let out a laugh.

  “That should be obvious,” he replied removing a velvet ring box from his pocket. Talia glanced around, already people had started to recognise Alex and one woman shamelessly held her camera aloft, filming the action.

  “Talia Blake, will you marry me?” Talia stared down at him in stunned silence.

  “Are you crazy?”

  “I’ve never been more serious about anything.”

  “We’ve not been together for a minute. And where did you even get that ring?”

  “I know this is right.” Alex said and Talia could see the stubborn set of his chin.

  “Alex, this is not the place, we’ll end up on youtube.” Talia pulled him up, relieved when he finally stood to stare into her eyes.

  “Is that a No?” He asked. Talia looked around embarrassed and shrugged.

  “It’s a let’s take things slowly. Remember that was your idea.”

  “Yeah, you’ve go me there.” Talia watched as Alex tucked the ring back into his pocket and sighed. She looked hopefully up at him.

  “So can we go back to bed?” Alex gave a bark of laughter.

  “Nah, reservations.”

  He clasped her hand in his much larger one and turned to press a kiss to her cheek.

  “I’ll convince you,” he said as they continued down the street. “You’ll marry me.”

  “How presumptuous of you,” Talia said not bothering to hide the smile in her voice.

  EPILOGUE

  1 Year Later

  They had brought London to a standstill just two nights before and now the Undone Premiere had reached Los Angeles. On the balmy summer evening Hollywood Boulevard was a din of screaming fans, awash with girls armed with large posters, photographers and the venerable might of Hollywood’s Entertainment press – E! Access, Inside Hollywood, TMZ… Everybody, just everybody was there.

  Tamara was in her element. Her first Hollywood premiere and even if she did say so herself she had hit it out of the park.

  “Tamara! Tamara! Tamara!”

  The pack of photographers screamed her name, worked up into a frenzy as she stepped out of the car in an eye-popping multi-coloured confection of Gucci Couture. From the minute that the first trailers had appeared, with Tamara in the lead female role as the vixen blonde, the word of mouth about her had been through the roof. The early reviews had been universally glowing in their praise and there was already Oscar buzz about her performance, which the New York Times had described as “assured and star-making.” It had taken a decade longer than expected but Tamara was finally having the career of her dreams. Avital had bent over backwards to sign her and she had offers coming thick and fast from film and television on both sides of the pond.

  Tamara paused on the red carpet facing the crowd with a sexy smile that made a groan rise through the gathered ranks of photographers. By Hollywood standards, she was practically at retirement age but unlike the never-ending stream of disposable twentysomething ingénues, Tamara had captured the imagination of audiences and critics. She was all woman and they knew it; her smoky eyes, her confidence and the dirty laugh that she had deployed to such devastating effect on her Letterman appearance had left nobody in any doubt that she was the real deal.

  From the back of a limousine with tinted windows that pulled slowly towards Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Talia watched the crowds her mouth going dry with nerves.

  “Oh my god,” she breathed. Next to her she heard a small chuckle from Alex and he leaned over to press a kiss to her bare shoulder.

  “They’re all here for you.” Alex said with a smile.

  “I doubt that somehow,” Talia said not hiding the amusement in her voice, which was laced too with awe. The Leicester Square opening in London had been incredible, the stuff of her childhood dreams come true but it seemed nobody did premieres quite like the Americans. Outside the din grew louder.

  “Alex, Alex, Alex.” The fans chanted.

  “Your public awaits,” Talia said. Even now, after almost a year together, she was still not quite used to being at the centre of the whirlwind that was Alex’s life. From New York to London and even to the isolated set of Defender in the wilds of New Zealand, there was always a fan, a photographer, someone who wanted something. And yet from Alex; his easygoing demeanour, the way he never seemed to let any of it faze him, Talia had taken her cue. The car slowed and once again, she looked out of the window at the screaming fans. Many carried cameras and mobile phones ready for the chance to snap a photograph of their hero. Even as they chanted for Alex, others waved homemade signs: Marry me Alex, I’ll be your Golden girl. Talia gave a small smile as she felt the car come to a halt. She turned to Alex who looked every inch the movie star in a bespoke Armani suit that he had chosen just that morning. She’d agonised about her dress for weeks, allowing the stylist that Helena had sent to her to help her whittle down the selection.

  “Ready?” Talia shook her head as she heard another roar from the assembled fans. Already the flashbulbs had begun to explode like lightning streaking across the early evening sky. How could anyone ever be ready for this, she wondered. She felt Alex’s hand close around hers.

  “You look great, everybody loves you and this is your movie.” Talia felt tears at the back of her eyes and rapidly blinked them away. The stylist would kill her if she let her make up run.

  “Our movie,” she said huskily. She watched the smile crinkle across Alex’s eyes and he smiled down at her. The private smile that was just hers – not the toothy, million-watt Hollywood smile that the world got but this small, serious smile that actually reached his eyes, which she’d come to realise was hers and hers alone.

  “Let’s do this,” she said firmly, watching as Alex climbed out of the car. The roar of approval from the fans was almost deafening and Talia felt the butterflies in her stomach trying to take flight. Alex had come around the car and in a moment, her door was opening and as carefully as she could, she climbed out of the car, to be greeted by a smaller cheer of her own. Slowly she let out the breath that she had been holding and allowed a tentative smile across her face. They really had made progress.

  In the early days after news of her relationship with Alex had first leaked – the fan girls had been savage and vitriolic. Everything from Talia’s height (too short) to her hair (too frizzy) to her weight (too fat), to the fact that she was just a nobody, everything had been critiqued and dissected in minute detail and in every respect she had been found wanting. Her dismissal from Encounters, unflattering beach pictures from holidays past, no stone had been left unturned but they had weathered the storm, Alex had been supportive, always by her side as he was now. He had been true to his word and had tried every way to get her to marry him, the proposals becoming more elaborate but Talia had been cautious determined not to rush into anything that they might both regret.

  Talia shielded her eyes from the staggering flashbulbs. She felt Alex’s arm resting gently against her back and she allowed herself to relax into the moment and enjoy the premiere, their premiere. Alex’s thumb stroked along
her spine, which was exposed in a backless fashion-forward Armani Prive shimmer of silver, that was exquisite against her brown skin and which Helena had pronounced fabulous. They moved towards the gathered pack of journalists and Talia looked on dazed, as Alex dazzled each reporter with his witty banter, making them feel, if only for a moment like they had his absolute undivided attention.

  Looking through the throng of people moving up the red carpet – celebrities, competition winners, industry executives and a few familiar faces too, Talia felt a surge of excitement. Somewhere in the auditorium, Sula, having made the trip from Paris, would be taking her seat. Since the release of the Époque Centenary issue, Sula had slowly been trying to build a relationship with Helena and in recent months, perhaps because of the ocean that separated them, Helena had started to thaw and acknowledge her mother’s overtures.

  Talia raised a hand to wave at Helena who was heading towards the auditorium. She gave her friend a wink, noting that Helena was wearing a directional Stella McCartney jumpsuit, with cutaway panels of laced webbing, a far cry from her conservative look of the last few years. But that wasn’t all that was different about her friend. Next to her was Haydn, a hot young male model who had been in great demand on the catwalks of Paris fashion week. Helena’s photo editorial of him for V-Man had put Haydn squarely on the map and Talia had every intention of quizzing Helena about the new relationship when she got a chance. Talia smiled as she caught sight of Tamara who still had the gathered photographers eating out of her hand. They would never be friends but during the filming of Undone, they had grown to warily respect each other. Marriage to Vassily hadn’t dulled Tamara’s edges but being in love and her newfound success had instead brought out a warmth that had previously been lacking.

  “So Alex, when are you two going to make it official?” Talia felt a shaft of heat wash over her cheeks as a forward journalist thrust a mic into their faces.

  As always Alex took the question in his stride, “I’m trying Christina, I’m trying.” He laughed as they continued up the red carpet.

  Talia felt Alex’s hand on her back again as he pulled her gently to his side for another photo-call. She stared up at him, her man and not for the first time, she couldn’t believe how lucky she was. In his every word, gesture and there were many grand gestures, Alex showed her that she was loved. He had said the words first, the day after the cameras rolled on Undone. Unable to stop herself Talia leaned up and pressed a kiss to Alex’s jaw. He looked down and smiled at her and suddenly she knew.

  “Yes,” she said. Alex’s eyes widened as immediately he realised the importance of her word. She was finally giving him her answer; she had finally agreed to marry him. Alex leaned down and grabbed his bride-to-be in a hungry kiss and the flashbulbs went mad.

  The next morning the image of them locked in a kiss made all the covers.

  Undone was released to critical praise and debuted at number one in both the USA and the UK, hanging on to the top spot for 4 weeks. The film was that rarest of things; a thriller that the critics admired and yet commercial enough to fill the multiplexes. It became the first production for Alex Golden’s newly formed Golden Productions.

  Gabe Tynan produced a collection of nude photographs of Sula, which briefly scandalized Paris and he returned to London soon after Sula ended all contact with him. His second film was abandoned after financiers pulled funding.

  Max Maguire's latest film a romantic-comedy was panned by critics and bombed at the box office. After a brief stint in rehab, he is currently shopping for a new agent and looking for opportunities to take to the London stage.

  Days after the premiere, Vassily and Tamara were surprised and delighted to discover that Tamara was pregnant. Tamara surprised herself and did not as expected succumb to Pregorexia. She and Vassily are now parents to twins Nikolai and Leo. Within days of the delivery at London’s exclusive Portland Hotel, Tamara was back at the gym. Her wedding, planned for next summer, is shaping up to be the hottest event of the season and Australian Vogue are talking about a cover.

  If Talia had thought that her career was hot, after the release of Undone, she watched it go supernova. After walking away with a screenplay BAFTA for Undone, the offers have been coming non-stop. Talia currently has two scripts about to go into production and true to his word Alex purchased the New York Duplex for her. They now divide their time between homes in New York and London.

  For Alex Golden: bad boy, philanderer, The Modeliser, the stellar opening of Undone cemented his return to the top. His pay cheque for Defender combined with his exec producer credit and profit share participation put him back at the top of the Hollywood pay list. With the building Oscar buzz for Defender and a focused new approach, Alex Golden is back.

  To mark the release of Defender, Vanity Fair ran a profile on the return of Hollywood’s legendary bad boy, beneath Alex’s cover photograph was the tagline - The Reform of the The Modeliser.

  As for Talia and Alex, they were married in a private ceremony in London surrounded by friends and family. Naturally Helena took their official wedding photographs and the happy couple are honeymooning around Asia.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my agent Rowan whose encouragement and feedback on the first few chapters spurred me on to finish the first draft of The Modeliser.

  A big thank you to the NANOWRIMO community, who every year give me the kick I need to sit down and get writing.

  Thank you to sexybookcovers.com for their great work on the cover.

  I’d also like to thank my friends, many of whom were the first readers of The Modeliser, for their continued support, pep talks and general awesomeness. Thanks to Destiny, Bryony, Monique, Jasmine, Karen, Vicky and Helen.

  Most importantly, big thanks to my family for putting up with me and for being hugely supportive of my efforts, listening to a lot of writing and ideas talk and always being there at GDIAK moments.