He has to come back to do promo when the movie hits the UK. I just don’t know how much time he’ll get at home.
“How do you feel about that?”
My heart falls. Stop talking about this! “I’m so proud of him.”
She raises her ginger eyebrow. “Really?”
“I am proud of him.”
I also miss him so much that I feel like I’m walking around with a hole in my heart.
Two
Spencer
I wake with, what feels like, a mouth full of sand, and Metallica rocking away in my skull.
Last night was awesome, but I wish I’d stopped drinking earlier. A lot earlier. Jesus. The movie was wrapped a while ago and is now ready to go. I’m doing a lot of pre-release appearances. I don’t know if I’m more exhausted from being on set all day or from being on every second I’m outside my apartment, shouting about the movie.
There’s very little time to block everything out or have a bad day. I love my job. I wouldn’t want to do anything else, but it can be mentally exhausting. That part, I wasn’t prepared for. There was no easing into it. I had a baptism of fame fire, and I can’t pretend that I’m not a little bit burned.
Back home, if I was having a shit day, Indie would come over and we’d watch TV together and eat snacks. I’m so far from home now that Indie feels like a memory. I haven’t seen her in almost year. We didn’t used to go a week without her staying over. I’ve been desperate for her to come here and visit for so long, but every time I ask, she says she’s busy with uni. I get it. I’m flat out, too.
It sucks that our schedules conflict. There’s nothing I want more right now than to sit on a sofa with her.
Rubbing my face, I roll onto my side and get out of bed.
My apartment in LA is nice. It’s close to the beach in a part of town you want to be seen in. According to my agent Denny, anyway.
I crick my neck and walk into my kitchen for Tylenol and coffee.
As nice as the apartment is with open plan, white tiled floors, and a fancy granite kitchen, it’s not home. I could decorate it to my own taste, but I know that wouldn’t help. I need Indie to make it a home.
Being away from friends and family is hard but, fuck, I love what I do. The buzz of bringing a character to life and being a part of something that will be around forever is indescribable. I don’t even mind the long hours. Not really.
My phone is on the kitchen counter. I have over fifty messages. I don’t even want to know about social media yet. Fuck looking at texts and WhatsApp right now. I scroll quickly, making sure I’m not missing anything or anyone important before I make my coffee.
I have two TV appearances left, and then I’ll be on a plane home for a week. The plan was to take longer, but there’s an audition Denny got me, and I desperately want the part. The movie sounds even better than the one I’ve just done. It’s an apocalyptic, end of the world gig, and the part I want to play is a real arsehole.
Those are the best roles.
Two and a half years ago, no one knew my name. Now I’m getting job offers and auditions for major movies and adverts. I have more money than I know what to do with, and I live in LA by the beach.
It’s fucking awesome.
I take my coffee to the sofa and flick the TV on. I tend to stay away from entertainment channels and websites. I learnt pretty quickly that people can be dicks. The paparazzi are good at making something out of literally nothing.
Indie used to read all that tripe, scrawling through articles and reading about the sins of every celeb. Most of the pieces written are probably untrue.
She could be reading about me right now. Maybe she stopped. I haven’t asked.
I turn my phone over. It’ll be late afternoon in England. She might be at work, and if she’s not, she’ll definitely be studying.
I might be a household name, but Indie is going to change the world.
Unlocking the phone, I ignore messages from everyone else and scroll to her name. I wince. Shit, I haven’t replied to her last two messages. I only just got home from New York yesterday.
I’m an arsehole in real life, too.
“Spencer,” Ella groans, walking out of the spare bedroom. “Your guest bed sucks.”
I lower my phone and spin around. “You stayed?”
She laughs and ties her blonde hair up. “You forgot me? Way to make a girl feel special.”
I don’t even remember getting home myself. “There’s fresh coffee. Help yourself.”
Ella pours herself a cup before she joins me on the sofa. “So, apparently we’re a thing.”
“Good to know,” I reply, rolling my eyes.
“It’s all over Twitter. People are so obsessed with us making this movie, they’ll see anything. It’s happened with every movie I’ve made.”
“All three of them, then.”
She narrows her eyes. “Fuck off, newbie.”
It’s probably closer to thirty. She’s been in the industry since she was a kid. I chuckle and drink my coffee. Ella and I might have killer chemistry on set, but it’s all acting. There’s nothing between us. However, she took me under her wing when I arrived, and I really appreciate that. She’s my best friend out here.
“Did we climb a rock wall last night?”
She laughs. “Yeah, you paid the owner to open late for us.”
That sounds like me. Now if I want to do something, I have to pay more to do it alone. Jared has to come with me because I cannot do anything without a manager-come-PA now. Denny hired him when the world started wanting a piece of me.
He has an apartment in the same building. Thankfully, he’s a decent guy.
“How
