“No,” I mumble. “Comfy like this. Those elephant marshmallows are nice.”
I think I make out a quiet laugh, but I’m not totally sure. “They are.”
There’s a little rustling, and then I’m away from the warmth, but tucked into pillowy softness.
“Thank you,” I say, hoping someone’s around to hear it.
There’s a dip in the bed, and my hair gets brushed away from my face. A soft kiss on my forehead followed by stubble.
“Goodnight, Skye,” he whispers.
I drift off into sweet dreams.
Chapter Six
I wake up sprawled across my mattress with my skirt hiked up, still wearing River’s jacket. When I sit up and blink, I notice that one eye is crusty with smeared mascara. I pull a little off, hearing my mother reprimanding me for damaging my eyelashes from a continent away.
A buzz coming from my dresser grabs my attention. My purse is vibrating on the nightstand. I fish my phone out to see about 100 unread texts.
Two are from my parents hoping that the premiere went well, a few are from other friends, one is from my sister-in-law Macy, who attached a copy of a picture of River and me on the red carpet last night that she must’ve pulled off of Twitter or Instagram.
Just looking at us together makes my heart skip a beat, because we’re staring at each other like we both think the other one hung the moon. I wasn’t sure I was carrying my weight last night in terms of our bargain goes, but we really do look like two people freshly falling in love.
I’m actually impressed with myself. Claudia had tried to show me these pictures, but I’d shooed her away, not really wanting to focus on them, but seeing them now? It takes my breath away.
Beneath the picture, Macy wrote:
Your brother says this isn’t real. You sure about that?
I ignore that, not really sure how to answer it at the moment.
The next one is from River.
Carried you in last night, you were too tired to walk. Mentioned something about elephant shaped marshmallows. Hope it was a good dream.
A rush of warmth unfurls in my belly. I type out a reply:
I had great dreams. Thanks for taking care of me last night.
Kendall’s message asks for me to call her, so I do that. She answers on the first ring.
“Your dog had me up at five this morning, and I’ve been waiting for you to call me back ever since.”
“Sorry,” I say, stifling a yawn.
“Sounds like it was a good night,” she singsongs. “Anyone else there?”
I sigh. “Nope. Just me alone in my bed.”
“Well that’s a damn shame. Did you see those pictures of you and River last night? You expect me to believe anything about that is fake?”
“It’s called acting,” I tell her, only halfway sarcastic.
“No offense, sweetie, because you know I love you and your work, but I don’t think you have it in you to produce such a high-level deception. And I’ve seen his movies, he definitely doesn’t.”
“It’s just a picture,” I argue.
She tuts into the speaker. “You know I sat here last night and watched every single one of your interviews. It’s a thousand pictures and a handful of videos, Skye. You two have chemistry. He likes you.”
“He told me as much. And I like him too. And I’ll keep liking him until March until this thing is over and we both move on.”
“Skye,” she sighs. “This doesn’t have to be fake.”
This is what she doesn’t understand. “It does have to be fake, it is fake. Because when it’s not fake, he decides he likes kissing his costar offscreen. When it’s not fake, pictures of it happening get splashed everywhere, and I get my heart broken and humiliated. I’m not doing that again.”
“Sweetie, not everyone is Cam.”
I play with the edge of my blanket. “Yeah, well…some people are.”
“Okay, have it your way for now. I’ll get through to you someday.”
“But not today,” I say, hoping she’ll take the hint to just let it go for now. “I’m gonna take a shower and then I’ll come over to pick up the pup, alright? Should I bring you a coffee?”
Gigi barks in the background. “Yes, please. One that’s as big as my head. This one has more energy than I know how to handle.”
Ain’t that the truth.
I end the call, and against my better judgment, scroll back to the picture. I stare at it for a long while, getting lost in something that can never be. Then, for reasons that I’m not sure I want to examine or admit to, I save the pic.
Just to have it, for memory’s sake.
Chapter Seven
Over the next couple of weeks, River and I continue our fake relationship and our real…friendship? Whatever it is. I try not to think about it. We meet for lunch a few times, once scheduled by Claudia as a photo-op, and the others not. The pictures are met online with a frenzy, which I try not to look at too much so that I don’t get too lost in other people’s feelings about us, good or bad.
The only time I fail at that is when fans interrupt us for pictures, but that’s only happened a handful of times and Claudia’s always ecstatic when it does.
When we’re together, I find that I don’t think about the cameras all that much.
We spend time together with absolutely no pressure, and I don’t know how River feels about it, but I find that I want to spend time with him more and more of my own volition, and not to perpetuate for some sham that we’re presenting to the public to advance our careers.
Apart from the lunches, sometimes we meet for a walk in the park with Gigi, or just to hang out and watch movies together. He really does have a deep breadth of knowledge and his beautiful brain is a storage cabinet for tons of movie trivia. I learn more about my profession after an afternoon with him than I have on my own in
