by Natasha West
‘Oh, err…’ Emily said, taken aback. Her first day in LA alone. What would she do?
‘I can just take you back to mine if you want?’ Ruby said, opening the door.
‘No, I should probably see… Something.’
‘Something huh?’
‘Yeah. I have to have something to tell my brother when I get back and I don’t think ‘I pretended to be married’ is going to cut it.
‘So he doesn’t know?’
‘Would you tell anyone about this?’
‘By it’s nature, I’m not allowed to’ Ruby said with a thin smile.
‘You know what I mean. You could discuss this with your mum, if necessary.’
‘We don’t really discuss things’ Ruby said, her face falling into a light frown. ‘She tells me what to do and I pretend I’m not going to do it and eventually she wears me down and I give her what she wants.’
‘So we’re both on our own with all this, then.’
‘Not exactly. I mean, we’re in the same boat. You can’t really be alone in a fake marriage’ Ruby said quietly as a woman nearby got into her car. They both waited for her to drive off.
‘Hey, if you want something to tell your brother, you could come with me to work’ Ruby said.
‘What? No’ Emily said. ‘I couldn’t do that. Could I?’ she asked. She’d never been to a set before. That would count as a real LA experience as much as anything else.
‘I mean, it’s boring as shit but…’ Ruby said.
‘Yes, I’d like that’ Emily said quickly.
‘Yeah, you’ll come?’ Ruby asked, and Emily could have sworn Ruby was a little pleased. And then Ruby said, ‘Because that’ll really help sell the whole thing, if we came to the set together. We could act like we can’t be apart for a minute. I could post about it, get some pics. My mom’s been texting about social media presence all morning. It would get her off my back.’
Emily’s smile dropped a quarter of an inch. ‘Then let’s do it.’
Suddenly it sounded a lot less fun. Because she was still just on the job. She probably never wouldn’t be. Anytime Ruby was nice, it would be for this. She hated how disappointing that realisation was. They weren’t dating. They weren’t even friends. Matter of fact, after this was done and Emily flew home, she would never see Ruby again.
She was suddenly hit by jetlag like a slap. She wanted sleep. But she’d agreed to go to the set now.
***
Emily watched from a chair in the make-up trailer as someone lathered foundation onto Ruby. Emily thought it was too much. Ruby was a natural beauty. Make-up only took from her. But this was apparently how you looked on TV. Emily was glad no one ever looked at her. She was just a pair of eyebrows over a stack of books most days and that was how she liked it.
A guy walked into the trailer. He had classic actor good looks and a cocky air. ‘So I hear congratulations are in order. Which is weird. I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.’
Ruby said, ‘Yeah, we... We’re private.’ She gestured for Emily to come over. Emily did as she was bid. ‘Sweetie, I want you to meet my co-star, Rock.’
‘Rick?’
‘Rock’ he corrected.
Emily had no reply to that. She’d never met anyone named after a pebble before.
‘So you guys got married in Vegas?’ Rock said, barely trying to hide his sneer.
‘Yep.’
‘Were you drunk?’ he asked.
‘We’d had a drink, but it wasn’t like that’ Ruby said, which was the agreed party line. Anyone who took even a brief look at the snap would know they weren’t sober. ‘But we’d been wanting to do it for a while. It was just the right moment.’
‘In… Vegas?’ Rock smiled.
‘It doesn’t really matter where you do it, Rock. We just wanted to get married.’
‘But you guys could have had a big wedding here. You could have invited the press.’
‘What makes you think I would want press there’ Ruby said through a tight smile.
‘Because I keep hearing about how you had this tiny wedding. Yet everyone’s talking about it. Just seems funny.’
‘Then I guess we didn’t need a big wedding, Rock. Did we?’
‘I guess you didn’t. Well, better get into costume’ he said, flashing his teeth at Emily and walking out of the trailer, not quite slamming the door.
***
Later, in Ruby’s private trailer, Ruby checked her lines while Emily flicked through Buzzfeed, looking for the brunch snap. It wasn’t up yet.
‘That little prick’ Ruby suddenly said to herself.
Emily knew immediately who she meant. ‘Rock? You guys don’t get on, do you?’
‘He hates me. I hate him. It’s a thing. He’s second billed. Drives him nuts.’
‘Are you a couple on the show?’
‘On again, off again. I prefer it when it’s off again.’
‘So you have to kiss that guy?’
‘Don’t remind me’ Ruby said, rolling her eyes.
‘Now I see what you mean about kissing without feeling anything.’
‘Oh, I do feel something. Disgust’ Ruby moaned.
‘I’m guessing it would be bad if….’ Emily looked through the window and there were crew members everywhere lighting a school set a few metres away. She dropped her voice. ‘He figured out…’
‘Yep. Bad. He’d expose me in a heartbeat because he secretly hopes I get fired so they can make the show about him. And he knows I’m up for the big one. It’s killing him’ Ruby said, her smile wide. ‘I kinda hope I get it just to see his reaction.’
Emily laughed.
‘But seriously. If he ever gets you alone, keep it simple. We’ve been dating for six months. We met on a flight.’
‘On a flight?’ Emily said. They hadn’t discussed this part of the story yet. ‘Where did you come up with that?’
‘Well, we’re from different continents. It makes sense.’
‘Except you’d be in first class and I’d be in economy’ Emily reminded her.
‘Oh’ Ruby said. ‘Well, in the departure lounge then. And I was immediately smitten. So I downgraded my ticket to economy so I could talk to you some more. That’s romantic, right?’
Emily raised a cynics eyebrow. ‘I mean, I can imagine something more like a delay, where you were forced to spend hours with me and I sort of grew on you. But I don’t think anyone would believe you lost half a foot of leg room to talk to me.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you’re fancy and Hollywood. I’m a bookseller from Oxford.’
Ruby didn’t answer for a moment. And then she said softly, ‘That was plenty when we met.’
Emily’s mouth fell open a fraction of an inch.
There was a sharp rap at the door and a head popped in. ‘Miss Knight?’ We’re ready for you.’
Emily looked at the guy and said, ‘Sorry! Monopolising the missus! I just love her so much!’
‘Alright’ the guy said and left.
‘You might want to take it down. Just a notch’ Ruby said and stood. Emily was all at odds. Ruby was right. That had been weird. But she’d been in a weird moment. What Ruby had said had been confusing. Why would she say it? They should never talk about that, wasn’t that clear by now?
‘Come on’ Ruby said, and Emily followed her out to the set, where a young woman gave her a chair. Ruby was taken away from her by the young woman, delivered, almost hand over hand, to the director, who immediately began to talk to her in a stream of words, broken only by the odd nod from Ruby. Rock appeared, and the director turned to him and said a few words which were immediately interrupted by something said by Rock to which the director nodded and smiled. It was clear to Emily, even from a distance, that Rock was a lot more demanding than Ruby. Rock talked while Ruby listened. It was interesting to see Ruby in this context. They’d spoken a lot about Ruby’s job but seeing her on set was a reveal. Emily was intrigued to see what would happen when the dire
ctor shouted action.
‘Action!’
The scene started. Ruby (or ‘Elise Wolfwater’, descendant of a long line of Wolfwaters who’d lived in the town since the Mayflower rolled in – oh and also, they were werewolves) was at her high school locker, when Rock (Zachary Drinkington, nearly as old a family and yes, as you’re probably able to guess, vampires) came over. He wanted to know if Elise was coming to his party. Elise gave Zachary short shrift. It seemed they were not on good terms because Zachary was dating Elise’s former best friend after Elise had broken his unbeating little heart some time back.
Emily had to admit that everything Ruby had said about the show was absolutely correct. It wasn’t good. It was an amalgamation of half a dozen other shows, and they had combined into something deeply mediocre. But there was something else that became obvious during the scene.
Ruby was good.
Whatever that ‘It’ quality was that people talked about, Ruby had it, but then Emily had already known that just from being around her. The surprise was that Ruby took her work very seriously, and did not give the big, scenery chewing performance Rock was giving. Hers was subtler, stiller, you had to look for the emotions. But they were there, alright. Just underneath the surface. It was no wonder Rock hated Ruby, Emily thought. He must have known on some level that he was playing out of his league.
As the scene went on, Emily nearly felt sorry for Rock. But then came the cry of ‘Cut’ and the director scuttled over, and Emily heard him say something to Rock along the lines of maybe pulling his performance back a bit. He smiled and said, ‘Sure’ but it was obvious he didn’t like that. What he also didn’t like was the director telling Ruby to keep doing what she was doing. So the next take of the scene went even worse. Because Rock was putting his anger directly into the scene, talking to Ruby not like someone who he was still in love with, but rather a lot like someone he wanted to kick in the throat. The director yelled cut and the scene went around again. And again. And again. Finally, the director called lunch. Emily was amazed. They’d barely started.
Ruby rushed over. ‘Hey, wanna eat?’
‘Already?’
Ruby lowered her voice. ‘Yeah, I think the director’s giving Rock time to calm down.’
***
Ruby and Emily ate in Ruby’s trailer - that seemed in line with privacy seeking newlyweds - a runner taking their orders and bringing them what they wanted. Ruby was back on salad. Emily had a burrito. ‘So what was all that about?’ Emily asked, unwrapping her food.
‘I don’t know. He’s not usually so bad as that’ Ruby frowned.
Emily bit into her burrito. ‘You were good though.’
Ruby regarded a cherry tomato. ‘Anyone would look good next to Rock.’
‘Maybe. But I still thought you were…’ Emily stopped, trying to think of the right word. Trouble was, all the ones she thought of were a bit much. She didn’t want Ruby to think she was paying her a false compliment. She only wanted to tell her the truth.
But Ruby looked up, expectantly. She awaited the word Emily would choose. So Emily couldn’t do anything but use the word she really wanted to, hyperbolic as it was. ‘…Fantastic.’
‘You don’t have to say that’ Ruby said. ‘There’s no one around.’
‘That’s right’ Emily said. ‘So you know I mean it.’
Ruby looked away, embarrassed. Emily was astonished to see it. She’d thought Ruby was tough. But all it took was one little compliment and she was unravelled. Emily was surprised by how delighted she was. ‘Are you not used to compliments?’
Ruby got her blush under control and said, ‘Have you met my mother? I was ranked third in affection to two Pekingese dogs. The closest she ever came to saying anything nice was, ‘At least that haircut’s growing out.’
Emily frowned. ‘Christ.’
‘What about yours?’ Ruby asked.
‘My what?’
‘Parental units. They nice to ya?’ Ruby inquired, pushing a rocket leaf into her mouth.
Emily took a deep breath. ‘I suppose, in their way. They said nice things. There was always a ‘But’ with them.’
‘A but?’
‘Yes. ‘Wow, you got an A in your maths test? That’s great. But the best thing about it is that next time, you can see if you can get an A+.’
‘That’s shitty.’
‘Doesn’t sound as bad as yours’ Emily said quickly. She didn’t want to steal Ruby’s crap parent thunder.
But Ruby tutted. ‘That’s just a different flavour of suck to me. But it’s suck all the same.’
‘Maybe it is’ Emily admitted. It felt nice to have someone tell her that. She’d always felt like she had to feel grateful for her parents, who had fed, clothed and loved her pretty well, all things considered. The odd undermining compliment felt like nothing she could complain about. But the truth was, those words had hurt. She’d always felt just shy of adequate. She wondered if that’s why she kept picking the wrong women. Look at Katie. She’d always managed to make Emily feel like she was punching above her weight. But why? When you broke it down, why was Katie such a catch? Sitting here with Ruby, she wondered if she hadn’t been tricked. Katie was slovenly, lazy. She had talked over Emily all the time. She’d hardly ever asked about Emily’s day. She was stupid with money, constantly having to borrow from Emily at the end of the month.
And the big one. She’d cheated on Emily for six whole months, only telling her when she was ready to make the permanent leap to her next girlfriend. That was newer information, but it spoke to Katie’s general character.
So why had Emily thought Katie was someone to hang onto? And why, oh bloody why, was she only realising right now that it wasn’t true? Because she was talking to someone who listened to her, heard her. And somewhere along the way, Emily had forgotten to expect that. She’d become a side character in her own life. The dutiful girlfriend. In the end, all she’d had left was to organise Katie’s life, because she was barely in it. No wonder Katie had gotten bored. She’d reduced Emily to her maid and personal assistant.
Thinking about it that way, Emily was starting to feel that getting cheated on and left might not be the worst thing that could have happened to her. In fact, maybe it had been a lucky escape.
Emily was suddenly left with the clear knowledge that Katie would do the same thing to her new girlfriend, Alison. The smallest smile began to creep onto her face at the thought. She wasn’t the problem. Katie was the problem. Emily wasn’t some lifeless, dull, rigid bore. For god’s sakes, she’d flown to the other side of the world and immediately gotten embroiled in the most absurd situation, filled with drama, intrigue, lies, all against a Hollywood backdrop. So it wasn’t that Emily couldn’t be crazy when she set her mind to it. She’d just chosen not to be. And if she decided not to again once this madness was done with, that would be alright. Because she’d know that everything Katie had said was wrong, wrong, wrong. Emily could be anything she wanted. She could have a quiet life and know that it was her choice.
And in the meantime, she should enjoy this for what it was. A moment in time. With Ruby, who was not the worst person to be glued to for a while. Far from it. All this was finite, yes. But that could be a good thing. Emily could throw herself into this, let it be whatever it was going to be.
‘Hey, you still want to get that shot for your Instagram?’ she asked Ruby, feeling a sudden lightness. Because she was free of Katie. Free of her hurtful words. Just free.
‘Sure’ Ruby said. ‘How do you want to pose?’
‘We could use one of the three kisses’ Emily said, trying not to sound suggestive about it.
‘Let’s save them’ Ruby said. ‘We might need them.’
‘How about you look at the camera and I kiss you on the cheek?’ Emily amended.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. ‘Alright.’
Emily sidled up to Ruby as she got out her phone, putting the camera on selfie mode. ‘Ready?’
‘Ready.’
E
mily leaned in and pressed her lips to Ruby’s warm cheek, looking at the camera out of the side of her eye. Ruby’s smile was wide. She hit the button and snap, there it was for posterity, another record of the fake marriage. Emily swore to herself as she watched Ruby upload the shot to Instagram that she would cherish this photo. It represented a time and a place and an Emily who existed only for today, a mayfly who could be dead tomorrow, becoming whatever else she wanted.