by India Lee
“Tyler…” Gemma closed her eyes tight, hoping to see why she didn’t think the idea was perfect. “Why didn’t you ask me first if I wanted to do this?”
“I mean, I…” Tyler trailed off, standing up again. “I couldn’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t want to do this. It’s a great way to shove it in Oro’s face, isn’t it? They thought they took your job away from you but you got one just one week later.”
“You’d be the one who got it for me.”
“What does it matter?” Tyler asked, crossing his arms. “No one needs to know.”
“Come on, Tyler,” Gemma said incredulously. “Is there anything left in our lives that people don’t know?” she sighed. “Like you said, it’s only been a week since I left Oro. I just need more time to myself. To think for myself.”
Tyler scoffed. “Everything is to yourself. Why are you even in this relationship if you don’t want to share anything with me?”
“How can you even say that?” Gemma exclaimed. “We’ve been in a relationship for how long now? Aren’t we living together? We share a house, we share a bed, we share a life.”
“No, I share my life. You know everything about me. You know my history, my past. There are no secrets. The only thing I’m not currently sharing with you is Carbine but I just offered you the chance to and you don’t even give a damn.”
“Of course I give a damn. I know how big this is for you, which is why I could even let go of the fact that you’d be working with Madison. This is big enough for you – for us – that I didn’t even need to think twice about the two of you working together.”
“I offered to leave.”
“I know and I appreciated that gesture but I never wanted you to.”
“You know,” Tyler exhaled. “I thought at the very least, you’d want an excuse to be on set to keep an eye on her.”
“Excuse me?” Gemma leaned away from Tyler, her eyes wide with shock. “What does that mean?”
“Look, I know she was a force to be reckoned with when you guys were in Beauford. I work with her now, you know? I get a sense of the type of person she was. She’s two-faced, manipulative, jealous.”
“Really? How?” Gemma furrowed her brows. “I never thought she’d let that side of her out in front of you.”
“It’s just obvious.”
“Is she…” Gemma squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing hard before she could continue. She knew what she was about to ask would make her appear to be something she didn’t want to be. “Is she like, coming on to you at all? Is she flirting with you?”
“No,” Tyler shook his head. “I think she’s too afraid of you to try anything.”
“Afraid of me?” Gemma scoffed. “Why would she be afraid of me? What can I do to her?”
“She’s always been jealous of you, you know that.”
“Tyler, she didn’t know I was Queen Bee when we knew each other in high school. There was nothing to be jealous of.”
“No you know, not that. I mean everything that happened with Lucas.”
“What?” Gemma bit her lip, struggling to remember just how much she shared with Tyler. She had remembered making an effort to leave Lucas out of her backstory with Madison, not wanting to explain the complicated beginnings of their relationship. “What with Lucas?” Tyler frowned, clearly realizing his mistake in mentioning him.
“No, you know,” he stammered. “I just get a sense that Madison, like, was maybe into Lucas too or something.”
“What did she tell you?”
“Nothing,” Tyler stood up, backing away from Gemma. “I think I’m confused.”
“What did she say about Lucas?”
“Nothing! I told you, I just suspected she had a crush or something.”
“You suspected this?” Gemma questioned, crossing her arms. “Based on what information? What did she say to make you think she had a ‘crush on Lucas.’ What could have possibly come up to make you feel that way?”
“Fine, Gemma,” Tyler sighed. “Fine. She told me about how she and Lucas were dating when you moved in and how you clearly liked him and that the two of you spent a lot of time together without her.”
“He was my next door neighbor and my brother’s friend! What did she want me to do? Move to avoid him?” Gemma demanded, springing to her feet. “What else did she tell you, huh?”
“That’s it!”
“When did you have the time to even get on this subject?”
“Just between takes, during lighting changes. She just mentioned it, Gem and that’s all.”
“Oh, right. This very specific subject just randomly came up. I have a hard time believing that.” Gemma covered her mouth with both hands, wanting to scream. “I can’t believe you actually talked to her about this. This is ridiculous. How long ago was this? That she told you all these things?”
“Just a couple days ago, it’s no big deal,” Tyler took her by the hands, pulling him into her. She pushed him away.
“So for a few days, you just kept it in? That you knew Madison had these feelings about me and you thought I was messing around with Lucas behind her back.”
“Were you?” Tyler looked immediately regretful as soon as the words left his mouth. Gemma’s eyes widened as she tried to take in the question. She couldn’t believe her ears.
“You’re going to take her word over mine?”
“No,” Tyler shook his head, covering his face. “No, that’s not what I’m doing. Gemma, I just want to understand what the whole situation was.”
“You actually think I could do something like that?”
“I mean, Gemma, when you and I started… seeing each other, you…”
“Yeah?” Gemma challenged, stepping closer to Tyler now as he struggled for his words. “I, what?”
“You were still with Lucas.”
Gemma closed her eyes, sucking air in through her teeth. “We’ve talked about this. You and I never actually did anything when I was still with Lucas. I’m sorry things started that way and I’m sorry I ever did something so stupid. How could you still bring this up?”
“That’s a really questionable definition of ‘not doing anything,’ Gem. It certainly wasn’t nothing to me. If I were doing this type of ‘nothing’ with someone while in a relationship with you, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be too happy either.”
“Is that your way of saying you are?”
“No!” Tyler grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her tight. “You know that’s not what I’m saying, I could never do anything like that to you. I can’t even imagine it. Nothing and no one else in this world could keep me from loving you the way I do. You’re all I ever think about and everything, everything I do is for you. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“Then why did you lie to me just now about talking to Madison?”
“I didn’t want you to take it the wrong way.”
“Okay, so tell me exactly what happened so I don’t take it the wrong way,” Gemma said, raising her eyebrows as she pulled herself from Tyler’s grasp. “When did you talk to her about this? How long was the conversation? And how did it come up? Tell me the truth.” Gemma watched him carefully as Tyler rubbed his neck, exhaling before he looked her in the eye.
“We talked on set, just by the craft table, after we wrapped one day. We talked for maybe… an hour.” Tyler flinched as Gemma’s jaw tightened.
“Okay,” she said, breathing steadily to keep calm. “And how did this subject come up?” Tyler squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip so hard that it began to turn white.
“I asked her.”
~
Tyler didn’t push for Gemma to come with him to the Carbine set. He knew full well what his admission meant. Gemma didn’t even feel bad as Tyler struggled to come up with an excuse on the phone with a producer, explaining why Gemma wouldn’t be joining the cast after all. She pulled on a comfortable, green silk maxi-dress and whipped her brown curls into a low, messy bun.
“Where are y
ou going?” Tyler asked, following her at a safe distance. She grabbed her car keys, not looking back.
“Out,” she replied.
Despite the newfound freedom without Andro and James at her tail, she had yet to take advantage of being out on her own. The week to herself at home was so mind-clearing, so enjoyable, that she had nearly forgotten the world beyond the confines of their house in the hills.
Gemma drove aimlessly, taking whatever turns she felt like with no real purpose or destination. Occasionally, she would glance in her rearview mirror looking for the black SUV that she had grown accustomed to seeing. Every once in awhile, the car directly behind her would in fact be a black SUV. But when Gemma lowered her sunglasses and squinted to see who was in the driver’s seat, it was to her pleasure, never Andro or James.
She was still beyond livid over what Tyler had done but the anger had actually settled into a strange numbness. Gemma’s mind was focused solely on whatever she could see out the windshield of her Audi R8. She realized how little she had used the car, noticing now that it still had its new car smell and the default radio presets the car dealership had put in. The clock either hadn’t been set or was reset and was blinking continuously at “12:00.” Gemma wasn’t even totally sure how to use all the functions it offered, remembering that it was a hardtop convertible only when she spotted the button to put the top down.
Without exactly knowing how she got there, Gemma found herself driving along the ocean. In her wayward twists and turns, she had somehow gotten onto the northbound Pacific Coast Highway. The Pacific Ocean sprawled out into the sky, looking endless in its peaceful grandeur. Tourists and motorcyclists had pulled over along the way, gazing out into the horizon, seemingly unaware of the cars zipping by behind them. Gemma decided to try her luck, pulling over and stepping out towards the guardrail above the coast. Even if the people around her had recognized her, they seemed too distracted by the beauty of The Pacific to say anything. Though any person with basic knowledge in geography knew that the waters would eventually lead to other countries, it felt as if the shimmering surface of the ocean was infinite. Gemma could hardly imagine what was beyond the vast body of water before her, but she could see that everything leading there would be beautiful.
The view sparked a hunger in her. As she got back into her car, Gemma knew she wasn’t ready to go home. Her phone was lit up with the alerts of unanswered calls and messages. Tyler had been checking in with her, telling her that he had arrived on set and missed her. A part of Gemma wanted to text him back, telling him just how angry she was and how betrayed she had felt. But instead, she shut off her phone and threw it onto the passenger’s seat.
She continued to drive up the PCH with the top down and the radio off. The sounds of the ocean and the cars humming beside her were enough to keep her content. Without her phone and the unset car clock, Gemma had no real way of keeping track of time. She knew that hours must have gone by because her gas tank was at half of what she started with and the sun was moving closer to the ocean. Her stomach was growling from hunger but she didn’t feel like stopping. She had reached a strange feeling of peace as she drove and didn’t want to break it until she absolutely had to.
~
Bay Area. Oakland. San Francisco. Until now, Gemma’s eyes had merely scanned the signs she passed. Oh shit. She hadn’t realized just how far she had gone. The sky had gone from the radiant, cloudless blue of Southern California to the moody grey of the Bay Area’s impending rain. As the sun began to set and the breeze began to pick up, Gemma regretted not bringing a cardigan or a sweatshirt. She pressed the button to put the car top back up. A few drops of rain landed on the back of her hands as it closed.
It was as if the slight contact with the rain had woken Gemma up from her daze and in a matter of seconds, she was suddenly very aware of what she had done. She could feel her fatigue and the cramps in her legs from driving for so long. Gemma pulled into the next exit, soon finding herself driving through the steep, winding streets of San Francisco. She felt tense as the rain began to beat down. She flicked on her windshield wiper and ducked her head to look for a place to pull over.
Gemma could see that she was likely in the downtown area. Tall buildings and parked cars lined the street that she was driving down. There didn’t seem to be many places she could just pull over and orient herself. She could feel the fatigue in her body, an insistent tiredness that beat between her eyes. When she saw the open, grand entryway of a high-rise hotel, Gemma pulled in without a thought.
A valet approached her with a welcoming smile on his face as he opened her door for her. She swung her legs out the door, stretching them forward before placing her feet on the ground.
“Can I take your bags for you, miss?” A porter had approached her, gesturing towards the trunk of the car.
“I don’t have any bags,” Gemma said, blushing.
“You forgot your phone, miss,” the valet said, taking Gemma’s phone from the passenger’s seat and handing it to her through the driver’s side window.
“Oh, thank you,” she replied, taking it and slipping it into her clutch. She skipped towards the front entrance. Gemma wondered if her behavior appeared strange. She let her hair down to cover her blushing cheeks. As she walked into the lobby, she spotted two young, teenaged girls waiting for their parents to finish checking in. They waited idly, looking bored as they flipped through their phones and sat on their suitcases. One of the girls glanced up lazily, eying her. A few feet from them were two guys in their twenties. They too seemed to have taken a slight interest in her entering the room. The moment Gemma caught them looking, they quickly looked down at their phones, tapping away at the screen. She turned her face from them, hoping to remain inconspicuous.
She approached the front desk, resigning to the idea of just getting a room for the night. She was exhausted and was in no shape to make the drive back. Besides, the thought of awkwardly sharing a bed with Tyler while she was still seething with anger was more than she was willing to handle tonight.
“Good Evening, miss. Do you have a reservation?” the man at the front desk asked. His gold nametag had the name “Scott” engraved on it.
“No,” Gemma shook her head. “But I was wondering if you had any rooms available.”
“Our regular rooms are actually all reserved or filled tonight,” he said, apologetically. “All we have left is the Penthouse Orchid Luxe Suite.”
“That’s fine,” Gemma replied. Scott flashed his eyebrows, seemingly surprised with her quick answer. It was clear he had no idea who she was.
“Okay, well then,” he said. “I’ll just need a credit card and ID and I’ll get that going for you.” Gemma rummaged through her clutch, realizing she hadn’t brought any of her own credit cards. She hadn’t intended to be gone for long and had only stuffed a few twenties in with her license.
“Ugh, hold on,” she said, running her fingers through the folds of her clutch. Her fingernail ran along the edge of something plastic. She pulled it out. It was a joint credit card that she had opened with Tyler after they first moved in together. “Okay, here.” Gemma handed the credit card and license to Scott. As he put in the information, she struggled to stuff all the contents of her clutch back in. Gemma could hear whispering behind her. She turned to see the two teenaged girls continuing to eye her.
“Okay!” Scott said. “How many room keys will you be needing?”
“Just one,” Gemma said, turning back to him. She could still hear the two girls talking under their breaths.
“Well here you go,” he said, sliding the card to her. He leaned forward, gesturing to show her the way. “You’ll just need to go straight down this hall past the bar, the elevators will be to your left. Have a good evening, Ms. Hunter and please let us know if we can do anything we can do for you. Enjoy your stay!”
“I knew it!” one of the girls yelled. “Oh my God, oh my God!” She jumped to her feet, shrieking as she ran towards Gemma. “I knew it was you, I knew
it was you!” Gemma smiled, reaching a hand out to shake hers. The tiny girl pulled her in for a hug, crying as she held onto her. Gemma laughed, feeling warmed by the girl’s love and emotion. She hugged her back, smiling despite feeling a little sad. Before she could wonder what it was that was upsetting her, the girl continued to talk. “I had tickets to your show in Cleveland. That’s where I’m from.”
“Oh,” Gemma frowned. “I’m so sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” the girl shrugged, wiping happy tears from her eyes. “I’m meeting you now which is so amazing. But my friends will never believe me.”
“What’s your name?” Gemma asked.
“Samantha,” she replied.
“Samantha, do you want to take a picture together?” Gemma gestured to the other teenaged girl, sitting on her suitcase and looking unimpressed. “Is that your sister? Maybe she can take one on your phone for you.”
“Jenny?” Samantha said, looking over to her. Jenny got up, taking Samantha’s phone and snapping a couple photos. They exchanged places, giddily checking out the photos as Gemma looked over their shoulders to make sure they got what they wanted. It was then that Gemma heard the commotion outside. The porters and the valets were gesturing towards security guards. Dozens of girls were pushing their way past them to get in through the lobby doors. Lights flashed. There was a string of paparazzi leaned up against the glass entrance.
In a quick, sudden burst, the security was pushed aside and the throngs of people on the other side of the glass were suddenly surrounding Gemma. A window was shattered and those who couldn’t make it through the front entrance or revolving doors jumped through it. Fans pulled at her, grabbing her hair and dress as she tried to back away. She could see Samantha get knocked to the ground, her phone being kicked away from her.
“Hey!” Gemma yelled, pushing the bodies near her aside as she bent to retrieve the phone and help Samantha to her feet. Samantha looked confused and frightened. “Go to your parents!” Gemma ordered, pushing through the crowd to make an escape route for Samantha. She tried to follow only to get pulled back by the strap of her dress. Gemma tried to pull herself free. Paparazzi and fans alike recorded the incident. She tried again to get past the crowd, a security guard pushing inward to grab her hand.