A Starlit Summer

by Kate Frost

  She finished her morning’s filming and went back to base on her own for once. She got a coffee and sat in her car, leaving the door open to let in what little breeze there was on the humid and overcast day. She thought back over the events of the past few weeks and her reaction to Milo. She was angry with him now, believing he was harassing her, and yet in the beginning hadn’t she encouraged it? She fancied him the same as everyone had – Lily, Amanda, all those extras who’d been lusting after him. She’d felt special when he paid her more attention than anyone else. Nothing untoward had happened then. He was a tactile person; he put his arm around everyone: the costume ladies, the assistant director, the caterers. He chatted with everyone too. Jenna had warmed to him because he was friendly with everyone, whatever their job. He didn’t act like a diva, like he was more important than anyone else because he was the star of the film.

  And then, at the hotel and at the party back at the cottage, hadn’t she wanted him to kiss her? Wouldn’t she have welcomed it? She’d enjoyed flirting with him. He was good looking and seemed a decent bloke, regardless of his fame. She remembered feeling confused when he didn’t kiss her that night on the landing, but by then she’d seen him kissing Timothy. Her feelings towards Milo became muddled from that point onwards, but was he completely to blame?

  She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and gazed across the base. The place had been drenched by a huge downpour and now the dampness was evaporating in the muggy afternoon sun. More people had arrived at the base since she’d been sitting in her car, and it was now busy with actors grabbing a drink or heading to the tent for a costume change. Then she caught sight of Milo, striding across the flattened grass, a coffee cup in his hand as he headed to his trailer.

  Jenna downed her cold coffee and got out of her car. She took the long way round, up along the top of the car park in an attempt to avoid anyone. Now was her chance to talk to him again, in private. She stormed up to his trailer and knocked before she could change her mind and bottle it. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say to him but she knew she needed to say something.

  The trailer door swung open. Milo stood with his coffee cup in his hand, the top few buttons of his shirt undone so it flapped open, giving a glimpse of his toned chest.

  ‘Hey, I wasn’t expecting you, seeing as though you’ve been avoiding me.’

  Jenna folded her arms. ‘I, uh... Yeah, well, with good reason.’

  ‘Don’t just stand out there, Jenna. Get your arse in here.’

  She was about to glance behind her, but then figured what the hell. Did it really matter if anyone saw her go in? She closed the trailer door behind her with a bang.

  ‘You look pissed.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘The Heidi thing, right?’

  ‘You even have to ask?’

  He wandered over to the seating area of the trailer, sat down and patted the space next to him. ‘Let’s talk then.’

  She sat down opposite.

  ‘Whose idea was it to go for the love triangle angle? Yours or Heidi’s?’

  ‘To be honest, it’s been a happy accident.’ He sipped his coffee and placed the cup on the table between them. ‘You aren’t interested in being a part of “Milo and Jenna”, but Heidi seems happy enough. The story kinda played out by itself.’

  ‘Yeah right. You honestly expect me to believe you didn’t have any part in orchestrating those photos?’

  ‘Jenna, hun, I thought you’d be happy to finally not be with me.’ He rested his arms on the back of the seat and watched her intently with his mesmerising hazel eyes.

  ‘I’m not out of it though, am I? I’m still in the papers; my face is still being splashed everywhere, just part of a different lie this time. And not only that, you’re leading Heidi on. You flirted with me; but you’ve taken it further with her.’

  ‘Why do you care? You two don’t even like each other.’

  Jenna looked at him sharply. ‘Has she told you?’

  He shook his head. ‘I have no fucking clue what happened between you two, but it’s pretty bloody obvious you don’t like her, Jenna. You’re civil enough when you’re working together, but you both go out of your way to avoid spending time with each other. I’ve tried talking to Heidi about you but she keeps saying there’s nothing to talk about.’ He picked up a lighter from the table and twisted it between his fingers. ‘From your face I’d say you think otherwise.’

  ‘You ever had someone hurt you so badly that you can’t stand the sight of them?’

  ‘Wow, that bad, huh?’

  ‘I can’t trust her, not after what she did.’

  ‘Was it over a bloke?’

  Jenna shook her head. ‘No. If only. That might have been less of a betrayal.’

  ‘If she hurt you that much, why the hell do you care if she gets hurt now? Why would you care if I’m using her? Surely from your point of view it’s a little bit of payback?’

  ‘It’s true, I don’t really care about her.’

  ‘Then what’s the issue?’

  ‘You do realise she’s using you just as much? Whether she has real feelings for you or not, she’s all about her career, and trust me, she’s ruthless about it. Maybe I’m naive, not playing the game, but think about it. She had her sights on you from the moment she got here – straight in there flirting with you even though, like everyone else, she thought you were with me.’

  ‘I’m well aware of what she’s doing, Jenna. I’ve encouraged it; it works to my advantage. To be honest, I expected you to lap up the attention, but you’re different. Not ruthless like Heidi is. Works out fine for me though, so don’t go feeling too sorry for me. Seriously though, you two have quite the competition going, don’t you?’

  ‘Except I don’t want to be in competition with her, I never have done. She’s my friend.’ Jenna looked sideways at Milo. ‘She was my friend.’

  ‘What do you want me to do, Jenna?’

  ‘Leave me out of it. All this shit you’ve got going on. Tell the press you’ve dumped me – or even better, tell them there was never anything going on between us and it’s always been Heidi. I mean, that’s if you’re happy to continue lying to them. You could just say it’s only ever been about Timothy.’

  Jenna didn’t wait for an answer. She got up and battled with the trailer door until it swung open. She clambered down the steps, letting the door bang closed behind her. She stormed off across the base, relieved that she’d already been wrapped and all she needed to do was get out of her costume. She had a welcome distraction with a night out with Lily and Amanda later, although she knew their choice of pub was made in the hope that they’d bump into Finn. Jenna wasn’t convinced that bumping into Finn when he’d been drinking would be a wise idea. Either way, an evening spent with cheerful company rather than wallowing in self-pity on her own was preferable.

  ~

  After spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden, Jenna took her time getting ready. She scrubbed away the dirt and sweat with a leisurely shower, painted her toenails, straightened her hair and did her make-up. She tugged on skin-tight jeans and a short-sleeved sequinned top. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and wondered who she was trying to impress. Nobody, she realised, she was only trying to make herself feel better. She tucked her sleek blonde hair behind her ears. Her silver earrings flecked with blue were flattering against her lightly tanned skin. She’d always thought her deep blue eyes framed by naturally long eyelashes were one of her best features, but she had high cheekbones and full rosebud lips too. It was all skin deep, all meaningless in the end. She was a look, a commodity, a pretty face that could gain attention because of how she looked and who she associated with. She’d done enough work as an actor and a model to know that an awful lot of the time looks came before talent, but this last couple of weeks had been even more of an eye opener.

  How vain was she staring at herself in the mirror? She left the bathroom and booked a taxi to pick her up at eight. She nee
ded a drink tonight. While she waited, she made a chicken salad and picked at it on the cottage step. She watched blue tits flit between trees and fat wood pigeons waddle across the lawn.

  It was a much cooler evening than the last time they’d been to the pub. By the time the taxi picked her up it was overcast and threatening to rain, so Jenna headed inside and found Lily and Amanda tucked away at a table in the corner. It was a week night and not as busy as the balmy evening when Finn and his friends had turned up. How had everything gone so wrong in such a short time?

  She hugged her friends and sat down, a gin and tonic clasped in her hands. ‘Let’s not talk about work, or men or anything related to what’s happened over the past couple of weeks.’

  ‘Oh God, Jenna,’ Lily said, laughing. ‘What on earth’s there left to talk about?’

  ‘I don’t know, holidays?’

  ‘Being down here is like being on a permanent holiday.’ Amanda raised an eyebrow and sipped her wine.

  ‘A working holiday, maybe,’ Jenna said.

  Lily folded her arms on the table. ‘Okay, how about this. Let’s do some quick one-word answer getting-to-know-you questions. Jenna, Amanda, then me.’ She grinned at them both. ‘Favourite ever holiday?’

  ‘Rock-pooling in Cornwall when I was a kid.’

  ‘Croatia with my boyfriend last year.’

  ‘New Zealand road trip after I graduated from uni.’

  ‘I’d love to go to New Zealand,’ Jenna said. ‘Knocks my childhood holiday out of the park.’

  ‘Okay, next one.’ Lily clapped her hands. ‘Film role you would love to have had. Jenna first.’

  ‘Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.’

  ‘I could totally see you playing her,’ Amanda said. ‘Would have to dye your hair though. Katniss is totally dark-haired. Kick-ass role though.’

  ‘How about you, Amanda?’

  ‘Oh, there are so many amazing roles to choose from... Princess Leia, Hermione in Harry Potter, or Rey in Star Wars.’

  ‘Lily?’

  ‘I’d definitely go for a period film like Elizabeth – the Cate Blanchett version – anything where I can get my hair and make-up done and have incredible costumes.’

  ‘You wouldn’t get fed up of having to wear a corset?’ Jenna asked.

  ‘Probably, but I just love the theatrics of it.’

  ‘I can see you as Elizabeth with your stunning red hair.’

  Lily smiled and tucked a stray red curl behind her ear. ‘You ask one, Amanda.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said slowly, drumming her fingers on the table and looking at Lily. ‘Love of your life?’

  ‘Easy. My boyfriend, hands down. You?’

  ‘Matt Tulsa, a boy I met on holiday when I was thirteen. I fell completely head over heels in love with him.’

  ‘Not your boyfriend?’

  Amanda laughed. ‘He comes a close second.’ She looked across the table at Jenna. ‘How about you?’

  While listening to the others, Jenna had been trying to think who was the love of her life so far, and had come up with no one.

  ‘I’m not actually sure. Perhaps I’ve not met him yet.’

  ‘You’ve been in love though, right?’ Lily asked. ‘Had butterflies in your stomach when you see someone, want to spend every minute with them, your thoughts constantly consumed with them.’

  ‘That could be seen as just lust, though, couldn’t it?’ Amanda said. ‘Love is that feeling when you just know. It’s hard to explain; I guess it might be different for everyone.’

  Jenna bit her lip, realisation flooding through her that the only person who’d ever affected her in that way was Finn.

  ‘Greatest acting ambition?’ Lily moved the questions swiftly on, meaning Jenna had no time to dwell on the fact that Finn meant more to her than just a fling.

  ~

  ‘By the way, Timothy and Ade should be here soon,’ Lily said, once they’d exhausted their one-answer questions. ‘We invited them, hope you don’t mind?’

  ‘Well technically they invited themselves.’ Amanda sipped her wine. ‘We saw them back at the hotel and were itching to do something this evening.’

  ‘Is Milo coming?’

  Lily shook her head. ‘Don’t think so.’

  ‘Ah, yes of course.’ Jenna sat back in her seat. ‘Silly me, he’ll be with Heidi.’

  ‘Do you mind?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘You have to ask?’ Jenna immediately felt the earlier tension return. ‘I’m not with Milo, I don’t want to be with him and I couldn’t care less what Heidi gets up to.’

  ‘Okay. Sorry for asking.’ Lily folded her arms.

  ‘It’s just what it looks like, that’s all, Jen. Lily wasn’t meaning anything by it. We’re just checking that you’re okay.’

  ‘Sorry, yes.’ She gave Lily a weak smile. ‘I didn’t mean to snap – I’m just fed up with the whole situation. I attempted to talk to Milo this afternoon, but he’s enjoying the attention too much to be bothered about how I’m feeling.’

  ‘You know what you need to do...’ Amanda placed a cool hand on Jenna’s arm. ‘Get laid, but like for real.’

  ‘Amanda!’ Jenna playfully slapped her arm.

  She held her hands up. ‘Sorry, it’s just with all this gossip of affairs and “hot sex” with Milo, and you not actually getting any, I figured you might be a tad sexually frustrated.’

  ‘Well, I lost my chance, didn’t I, to do anything about that.’

  ‘You’ve not spoken to Finn?’ Lily asked.

  ‘If you count arguing with him, then yes.’

  ‘That bad, huh?’ Amanda gave her a sympathetic look.

  ‘He doesn’t want to listen; and he doesn’t believe me. He’s been shown up in front of his friends. I think he’s been hurt by a woman in the past and just saw red. The whole thing’s a mess.’

  ‘He’ll calm down eventually, I’m sure. He’ll see the truth and then it’ll be fine.’ Lily slid her arm across Jenna’s shoulders.

  ‘And by then we’ll be done filming and leaving Cornwall for good. Realistically it was only ever going to be a one summer thing, so maybe I should just forget about him and move...’

  ‘Hey ladies.’ Timothy appeared by their table with a pint in his hand.

  ‘You made it.’ Lily smiled at him. ‘Where’s Ade?’

  Timothy motioned across the bar. ‘He’s got a larger table over there, if you want to join him. I just need a minute with Jenna.’

  Lily glanced at Amanda, then Jenna. ‘Yeah, of course.’ She patted Jenna’s shoulder as she and Amanda picked up their drinks and headed across the bar.

  Timothy sat down next to her. He clasped his hands around his pint and stared across the pub.

  ‘Lily and Amanda said this was a decent place. They also said you bumped into that builder of yours here the other week.’

  Jenna leant back against the cushioned seat. ‘He’s certainly not mine any longer. Milo put paid to that. And if you’re here to threaten me into silence, then don’t worry, I’m not going to say a thing. I don’t bloody care what you and Milo get up to in private. What I do care about is being dragged into the situation and being lied about.’

  Timothy placed his hand over hers. ‘Jenna. I came over here to thank you. You have every right to go to the papers and spill the beans and put the story straight, but you haven’t. Who knows if they’d believe you or not, but as you well know, once gossip gets out there – whether true or made-up – it takes on a life of its own.’

  ‘Do you mind? Milo behaving like this? Hiding your relationship, flirting with every girl he can lay his hands on?’

  ‘If I want to be with him, that’s just the way it is. On his terms.’

  ‘It’s sad, you know.’

  ‘I know. A lot of things are sad. It’s sad he feels the need to hide he’s gay for fear of ruining his career.’ Timothy picked up his pint and knocked it gently against Jenna’s glass. ‘Are me and you okay?’

  ‘Yeah.’

&
nbsp; ‘I never wanted you to get hurt, and honestly, Milo had the best intentions for you. Yes, you were unwittingly helping him, but he genuinely thought it would raise your profile and open up all sorts of opportunities. He hadn’t factored in that you might be into someone.’

  ‘It’s not your fault, Timothy.’ She touched his shoulder. ‘And yeah, it’s brought me opportunities but it’s messed up my relationship with the first person I’ve really cared about in a long time. Without the truth – and trust me, he doesn’t believe me – I can’t see how I’m ever going to get him back. But like I just said to them.’ Jenna indicated to where Lily and Amanda were talking to Ade on the other side of the pub. ‘Maybe it’s for the best; if I was with him I’d only end up with my heart broken by the end of the summer.’

  ‘I’m really sorry, Jenna. Truly I am. The one thing I’m happy about though is that you’re not shallow – I mean, Milo had you pigeon-holed as a blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful actress with a modelling background and figured you’d jump at the chance he was offering you. But you don’t play by the rules, do you?’

  ‘So, because I’m blonde and pretty he figured I’d sell my soul?’

  ‘Heidi has.’

  Jenna folded her arms. ‘Yeah, well, I’m not Heidi. She sold her soul a long time ago.’

  ‘I heard there was bad blood between the two of you.’

  ‘Nothing stays a secret, does it?’ Jenna downed the rest of her gin. ‘If you’re truly sorry, then tell Milo to back down about me – leave me out of everything. If Heidi’s willing to be gossip for him, then let her. You don’t need me.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It felt like the longest week since she’d got to Cornwall. Jenna hated wishing time away but with most of Friday off, she decided to go home and visit her parents. She’d not seen them since filming began and she was craving normality and home comforts.