Shot Through the Heart

by Matt Cain

  ‘Is it me or is it hot in here?’ she managed, her voice cracking.

  ‘Yeah, it is kinda warm,’ offered Rosie, ‘maybe you should take off your baseball cap?’

  She pulled a face. ‘I know but I’m trying to avoid attention,’ she explained, beginning to fan herself with the menu.

  Rosie nodded with a smile of understanding.

  While Ronnie ordered the Slurp and Burp special, Mia fanned herself more and more energetically. As far as she could tell his meal choice consisted of every cut of meat imaginable and a huge portion of fries; from the picture it looked like it could feed a family of four for an entire week. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel a disorientating sound like white noise filling her ears.

  Leo followed but thankfully only asked for a plain turkey steak with coleslaw and a baked potato. Hmm, she thought, maybe this isn’t going to be such a nightmare after all.

  And then good old Rosie made a joke about the men being greedy as usual and ordered a grilled chicken salad without any dressing. Mia relaxed as she felt her anxiety start to wane.

  The waitress finally turned to her and there was a moment’s silence as everyone listened to hear her order.

  ‘Erm, I’ll have a lean steak please,’ she stammered. ‘Just with a salad – no fries.’

  To Mia’s immense relief, nobody even commented on her order, apart from the waitress who asked how she’d like her meat cooked. She breathed out and felt her heart rate begin to slow down.

  As the waitress took their drinks order, Mia told herself that her food choice for tonight probably represented the best dietary approach for her to follow in general – a happy middle ground between her usual twin extremes of rabid asceticism and rampant indulgence. It was quite obvious really. So why did she find it so hard to get it right?

  ‘Man, I’m starving!’ drooled Ronnie.

  ‘Me too,’ chirped Mia. ‘I’m really looking forward to my steak.’

  The Western-themed food prompted Leo and Ronnie to tell the girls about the time they’d hidden out on a cattle ranch in Texas for a whole week to try and nail the first shot of the almost decrepit Western actor Bolt Stephens and his teenage fiancée, an oil company heiress who’d appeared in a sex video and become an internet sensation, during their brief and now almost forgotten fling. Ronnie joked about how he’d been left without a single picture after they’d been caught up in a stampede of cattle, he’d dropped his camera onto the ground and it had been trampled to pieces. The next day Bolt and his fiancée had posed in the grounds of their ranch for an ‘at home’ special in a glossy magazine, ensuring that even if Leo and Ronnie had managed to get any pictures, they’d have been worthless anyway.

  By the time Mia was on her third beer she couldn’t think of a time when she’d laughed as much and had almost forgotten that she was a star. She realized how stupid she’d been to feel miffed that nobody had recognized her earlier, however momentary the feeling. It was nothing short of incredible to experience a night off being famous. And she knew one thing for sure – she was going to make the most of it.

  *

  Leo was thrilled the evening was going so well. He’d never seen Mia as relaxed as this and her laughter was so beautiful that it reminded him of sunshine. His only worry was that the venue was starting to fill up quickly. A crowd of rowdy jocks had just come in and were knocking back shots and playing a raucous game of pool. And a gaggle of out-of-town old boilers on a third-time-lucky hen night were cackling loudly as they eyed up the bucking bronco. He hoped that nobody recognized Mia or gave her any hassle.

  When they’d finished the meal and their plates had been cleared away, Leo listened as Rosie steered the conversation onto a topic she’d clearly wanted to bring up all evening. ‘So Mia,’ she began with a twinkle in her eye, ‘Ronnie tells me you’re making a movie with Billy Spencer . . .’

  Leo felt his heart sink.

  ‘Yeah, it’s all done now,’ breezed Mia. ‘In fact, it’s opening quite soon.’

  Rosie’s whole face lit up with glee. ‘Man, I know this is really uncool and everything but I’m such a big fan – I’ve seen all his movies.’

  ‘Well I hope you like this one – he’s very good in it.’

  ‘So what’s he like? In real life I mean.’

  ‘Oh he’s adorable, a total sweetheart.’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve known him for years – we’re really close.’

  Good old Billy, thought Leo. Who everyone seems to love – except me.

  ‘Man, that’s so cool!’ Rosie gushed on. ‘You know, I saw him on Oprah once and I thought he looked like a nice guy. I said to you, didn’t I, Ronnie, “That Billy Spencer looks like a real nice guy”?’

  ‘You did, babe, you did,’ croaked Ronnie. ‘Listen, no offence or anything but do we have to talk about Billy Spencer?’

  Hear bloody hear, thought Leo.

  ‘Oh shut up, Ronnie,’ smirked Rosie. ‘You’re just jealous, that’s all. And with good reason. I bet Billy Spencer knows how to treat a woman. I bet Billy Spencer wouldn’t tell a woman her ass looked big.’

  Ronnie rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer. Leo knew just how he felt.

  ‘So does he actually have a girlfriend?’ Rosie went on, by now blatantly trying to goad Ronnie.

  There was a knowing look from Mia. There it is again, thought Leo. What’s all that about?

  ‘No, no,’ she smiled. ‘I guess you could say Billy’s happy being single. He does get a lot of attention from girls though.’

  ‘You don’t say. Man, what I’d give for a night with Billy Spencer. I bet he’s dynamite in the sack . . .’

  ‘Enough already,’ moaned Ronnie, the tips of his sticky-out ears starting to burn bright red. Leo couldn’t have agreed more. ‘Can we change the subject please?’

  Unfortunately Rosie paid him no attention. ‘So do you have a love scene with him?’ she pressed Mia. ‘In the new movie I mean.’

  ‘Yeah, we do actually. It’s kind of raunchy for a period film.’

  ‘Man, that’s so cool! He has such a hot body – I bet he works out all the time.’

  ‘Well he has to really,’ smiled Mia. ‘It’s kind of his job.’

  ‘Yeah but even so – that six pack is something else. You know, the last time my Ronnie went to a gym was the week before our wedding. He says he used to have a six pack but I don’t know what’s happened to it now – it’s all gone into one barrel.’

  ‘OK, I’m done with this conversation,’ said a rather beleaguered Ronnie. ‘Who fancies a game of pool?’

  ‘Me!’ shouted Leo, practically jumping out of his seat.

  Mia and Rosie looked unsure.

  ‘Oh come on,’ pleaded Leo. ‘It’ll be a laugh.’

  ‘How about boys versus girls?’ suggested Ronnie. He knew just how to entice Rosie.

  ‘Hmm,’ she mused, an eyebrow raised. ‘Sounds like a challenge.’

  ‘Well I’m in if you are,’ said Mia.

  Rosie stood up and clapped her hands. ‘Let’s do it. And we’re going to whip your ass.’

  *

  Rosie took aim at the white, bounced it off the side of the table and onto the blue striped ball, which dropped straight into the pocket in front of her.

  ‘Nice shot,’ chirped Mia.

  ‘Thanks babe.’ She raised her hand in the air and they did a high five.

  The girls were beating the boys hands-down and loving every minute of it. Rosie took another shot, positioning the pink striped ball directly in front of a pocket for Mia’s next turn.

  As Leo took to the table and she watched him take aim, Rosie realized she was actually still hungry. She’d known when she’d placed her order that a measly chicken salad wouldn’t fill her up but she’d heard the story of how Leo had met Mia and hadn’t wanted to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. Rosie’s work colleague Patty had a serious binge-eating problem and she’d often find her standing in a pile of
crumbs, troughing her way through huge bags of Cheetos in the privacy of the staff room, only to burst into tears when she was discovered. It sounded like Mia suffered from something similar and Rosie hadn’t wanted to do anything to upset her on their first night out. Unfortunately it was Rosie who was suffering for it now.

  Thankfully, once they’d finished eating Mia seemed perfectly relaxed – and she’d surprised them all by being a really mean pool player. She’d explained that her dad used to take her to the local pool club when she was little and that was where she’d learned to play, although she’d protested about being rusty and not having played for years. It didn’t seem to affect her performance though and Rosie watched as she potted the ball she’d lined up for her and then another for good measure.

  Rosie couldn’t help noticing that Mia didn’t seem remotely bothered now about being recognized, even though the bar was by now completely packed. One of the jocks at the pool table next to them kept looking over as if she’d caught his eye but he couldn’t work out how he knew her. Once the game was over, Rosie was going to suggest moving across the bar to the bucking bronco to get out of his way.

  Unfortunately she wouldn’t be able to have a go herself – not only were she and Ronnie trying for a baby but there was a small chance she might even be pregnant. Her period was due tomorrow so she couldn’t do a test yet but she did feel different this time. Her boobs had gone harder and this morning she was convinced she’d felt the first stirrings of morning sickness. And after six months of trying to get pregnant she wasn’t going to risk anything by jumping onto the back of a bucking bronco.

  Ronnie would have a go though – and probably fall off after just a few minutes, as usual. Then Leo would get up and be brilliant as ever. It was a shame she couldn’t jump on herself but she and Mia could stand at the side and cheer on their men. She might have shown that she was good at pool but Mia obviously wasn’t the bucking bronco type. So Rosie would be ladylike for once, just like Mia.

  *

  ‘Yee-haa!’ Mia was straddling the bucking bronco and gripping it as tightly as she could between her thighs. It was much harder than it looked but she was actually doing well and getting into quite a rhythm.

  ‘Giddy up, cowgirl!’ shouted an over-excited Rosie.

  She spotted a group of drunken middle-aged women on some sort of bachelorette party, hollering and cheering in encouragement. ‘Whooo!’

  For a few seconds the bronco slowed slightly and Mia felt confident enough to lift one arm in the air and wave it above her head. This was really good fun and she’d surprised herself by how much she was enjoying it. Being off-duty and off-camera was liberating. This must be what life was like for regular girls all over America.

  ‘Yee-haa!’ she howled again.

  Just when she thought it was getting easy, the bronco gave a tight jerk to the right and she had to tense all the muscles in her legs to hold on. Finally Cole’s workouts were coming in useful.

  The bronco then swerved to the left and she dangled off for a few seconds, her head almost touching the floor before she managed to pull herself back just in time. Unfortunately she’d lost her baseball cap in the process. But she didn’t worry about it – right now she was totally focused on hanging onto the bronco. And loving every minute of it.

  Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a group of drunken jocks gathering around and jeering from the sidelines. Before she had a chance to react, the bronco jerked upwards and she gripped the rope as tightly as she could to cling on.

  ‘Keep going Mia!” shouted Ronnie. ‘You’re doing awesome!’

  As the bronco tipped forwards a camera started flashing in her face and she couldn’t see properly. She shielded her eyes with her hand just as the bronco gave a double jolt to the right. With only one hand holding the rope she didn’t stand a chance and came tumbling to the floor, her hair everywhere and her face flushed. There was a huge round of applause from the bachelorette party but the camera carried on flashing and seemed to be getting closer.

  ‘Give me that camera!’ she heard Leo shout.

  ‘Fuck you, asshole!’

  She struggled to her feet and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She could see Leo standing in front of one of the jocks and holding out his hand for what she now realized was a camera phone. The rest of the bar had come to watch what all the fuss was about and were standing around staring.

  ‘Leo, just leave it,’ she begged, dusting herself down.

  ‘Don’t worry, Mia. All I want is those photos back.’

  ‘And you ain’t getting them,’ taunted the jock. His friends gathered round him to back him up.

  ‘Look,’ Leo said, calmly but with authority, ‘I’ll give you one more chance. You give me that phone or—’

  ‘Or what?’ mocked the jock. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

  ‘You’ll see.’

  ‘Oooh, I’ll see, will I? Well—’

  Before he could finish his sentence, Leo punched him square in the face. The jock slumped to the floor, dropping his phone, which Leo deftly moved forward to catch. As the jock’s friends fussed around him, Leo quickly went into the phone’s menu and deleted all the photos.

  ‘OK,’ yelled a loud voice pushing its way through the crowd. As its owner emerged from the ranks of the bachelorette party, Mia saw that he was wearing a sheriff’s outfit; he must have been the venue manager. ‘Come on, I want you guys outside now!’

  ‘What, us?’ bleated Ronnie.

  ‘No – them.’ He pointed at the group of jocks. ‘You guys are always causing trouble. I’ve told you before – any more and you’re barred.’

  The jocks helped up their friend and Leo handed him back his phone.

  ‘Come on,’ snapped the manager. ‘Outside now.’

  ‘This place is a total rat-hole anyway,’ shouted a particularly ugly one as they slouched their way to the door.

  ‘Yeah,’ shouted another, ‘and don’t be surprised if we sue your ass!’

  ‘Hmpf!’ snorted the manager. ‘Sue? After all the months of shit you’ve given me?’

  ‘Just you try suing,’ chipped in the leader of the bachelorette party from behind her veil. ‘We witnessed everything tonight, didn’t we, girls?’

  ‘Yeah!’ they chorused drunkenly.

  ‘Look, just get out!’ barked the manager, moving over to open the door for them. ‘And don’t ever come here again!’

  As she heard the door slam behind them, Mia felt a strong hand touch her arm.

  ‘You OK, princess?’ asked Leo softly.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ she gulped. She looked into his eyes and was lost for words. He’d been absolutely brilliant and she didn’t know how to thank him. Nobody had ever done anything like that for her before – nobody. And it was all so romantic; it even reminded her of a fight scene she’d filmed for her movie The Princess and the Pauper. She could feel herself welling up with emotion and her chin started to quiver. She looked him in the eye and knew that from now on there could never be any question, Leo was the man for her and she couldn’t just trust him; she could trust him with her life.

  Just then the emotion became too much for her and she started to cry.

  ‘Come on, princess,’ he soothed, stroking her chin. ‘Let’s get you home.’

  *

  Leo pulled up outside Mia’s front door and brought the car to a standstill. It had been a long night.

  Once the dust had settled after the fight, Mia had chatted with the bachelorette party and signed autographs for them and then they’d spoken to the manager and thanked him profusely for sticking up for them. Before jumping in the car home they’d said their goodbyes to Ronnie and Rosie on something of an emotional high and promised they’d all go out together again soon.

  The drive to Mia’s house had taken them half an hour and now that they were there Leo was starting to feel totally shattered. His hand ached too although he didn’t like to say so as he didn’t want Mia to feel bad. It had all been wort
h it anyway. And although it had been an eventful night there was one thing that stood out for Leo above all others; after looking for someone to love for so long, he now knew he’d finally found her. Even if she wasn’t remotely the kind of girl he’d imagined himself falling for.

  ‘So,’ he smiled, switching off the engine. ‘Is this when I give you my phone number?’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ she grinned. ‘I’d forgotten about that.’

  There was a nervous tension in the air as they looked at each other. More than anything else, Leo wanted to lean forward and kiss her.

  ‘But did I pass your test tonight?’ she butted in, before he had the chance. ‘Or did I blow it when I accidentally caused a fight?’

  ‘Not at all,’ frowned Leo. ‘You were amazing all night.’

  There was another pause and the space between them almost buzzed with an energy so powerful it took Leo aback. He might have spent his entire career chasing excitement but this was like nothing he’d ever experienced.

  ‘Well in that case,’ Mia went on, ‘let’s not end the night just yet.’

  ‘OK,’ he nodded. ‘What are you suggesting?’

  She gave him a penetrating gaze. Without saying anything she slipped out of the car and reached into her bag for her keys.

  He watched as she stepped into the porch, under the roof that had sheltered her from his camera lens. As she opened the front door and turned to face him, he knew that he’d changed so much recently he almost didn’t recognize the Leo who’d straddled the branch of a tree to try and pap her just a few weeks ago.

  And something told him he’d never be the same again.

  9

  ‘Let’s see sassy.’

  ‘And sultry.’

  ‘And smouldering.’

  ‘That’s sensational.’

  Billy and Mia were being photographed for the cover of a prestigious monthly magazine to promote the release of War of Words. The photographer was Astrid Jensen, a Danish rock chick with Tina Turner hair and terribly obvious capped teeth. But she had a fantastic reputation and Billy had wanted to work with her for a while now. So far he hadn’t been disappointed.