Reese looked far away for a moment and then nodded. “We’ll give him a bigger part going forward.”
“But that goes away from the original script,” I said, thinking of angry letters and comments online from fans of The Black Castle. They’d say I ruined the show, that my character was there for no reason, that I took away from the plot…
But all of these thoughts were put to rest as soon as Reese put his hands on my shoulders.
“We’ll weave you into the story, and by the end, every fan will want more from you,” he assured me. “They’ll wish you were written into the main script in the first place.”
I was lost for words. Warmth was flooding through Reese’s hands through my shoulders, and there was this strange tingling in the air.
Reese seemed to pick up on it too, because he removed his hands from my shoulders and looked away.
“Well, when am I needed next?” I asked. “And am I still going to do Alina’s hair?”
“That’s up to you,” Reese said. “As for when you’re needed next, just watch your inbox. I have a meeting with the production company over VC tonight, and we’ll get things figured out.”
There was an unhinged giddiness coming off of him as if he were a small boy who’d unwrapped exactly what he’d wished for on Christmas morning.
As the rest of the day wore on, I could barely contain my excitement. I was going to be a bonafide star in The Black Castle.
Hazel was right. My life was changing big time.
Though, there was still plenty of room for things to go wrong. Oliver, who I previously thought was my ally, was out to sabotage me. He saw me as an enemy. When Mason found out about this, I could only predict how he’d react to the news: He’d see me as encroaching on his fame; he’d see me as a threat.
Leo… I couldn’t think of how he’d react. He was very hard to read. But there was a part of me that longed to tell him; that longed to tell him everything. I thought of how we were alone together in the bathroom yesterday, and how he’d given me that bandaid.
He was more observant than most. Hell, he probably already knew what was going down by watching Reese’s face.
Reese... He was over the moon, since he’d orchestrated the whole thing. However, he was acting weird today. Maybe he’d change his mind and take this opportunity away as quickly as he’d given it to me?
But I knew in my gut that he wouldn’t. Just like that first night on the beach, he’d found something that he liked, and was reaching out to snatch it with his hand. On some deep level, I knew that he’d do everything in his power to keep me on the set.
Even if he saw something in me that was probably just a mirage.
Could I replicate the performance I gave earlier without Mason? I mean, I wasn’t that good of an actor, I thought. All I was doing was repeating what me and him had done last night, going at each other like animals.
Without him, could I pretend to be something I wasn’t?
Then I thought of Alina. I couldn’t wait to tell her the news.
It only took a few minutes to locate her and her stark white hair on the set. She stood out like a beacon; not only because of her hair, but because of that glowing star quality about her that was impossible to miss.
Did I have a fraction of that? Is that what Reese had seen in me?
Alina was getting ready to shoot a scene, sitting with her legs crossed in a chair while another stylist braided her hair.
“Alina!” I cried, making a beeline to her.
The hesitation in her smile when she looked at me told me that her head was already under some type of storm cloud.
“Charlie!” she said, her face brightening. When she smiled it was like the sun came out.
Unable to resist anymore, I told her everything.
To my surprise, her face fell. “Wait, so, they’re doing a rewrite?” she asked, her black eyebrows coming together.
My smile faltered. Couldn’t she be happy for me? “I guess so, or at least, that’s what Reese was getting at,” I said.
She looked down at her hands. “That’s great and all for you Charlie, but this might completely change around my scenes.”
My brow knitted in confusion. This wasn’t the reaction that I was expecting from her.
This wasn’t my Alina.
“Boo, what’s up?” I asked.
Alina looked up at me, then glanced at the stylist braiding her hair.
The stylist took the hint, nodded, and excused herself.
Alina looked around, made sure the coast was clear, then said in a low voice, “She’s here.”
“Who?” I asked, matching her volume.
“Rachel,” she whispered back.
I made a conscious effort not to look around for her. “So? Aren’t you two a thing?”
“We are,” she said, the stress making a small line appear between her eyebrows. “But she brought her husband.”
“No!” I said, my eyes going wide. I remembered the conversation at dinner last night — how Rachel’s husband had completely lost it last season and punched Leo in the jaw. “But didn’t she promise not to bring him? Isn’t he not allowed on the set?”
Alina nodded. “He’s not allowed on the set, but he’s still in the town somewhere…” she said.
I sighed.
“You’ll see her. Act like nothing is up. Please do this for me, Charlie,” she begged, her eyes wide.
I squeezed her hand. “Anything for you.”
“And still, please don’t tell anyone. We had… some kind of fight. Things are sorta weird between us now,” she said, her eyes darting around.
“How so?” I asked, though on some level I already knew.
She raised an eyebrow at me and said, “Come on, Charlie, put two and two together! She brought her husband!”
I sighed through my nose. “And let me guess, you’re trying to convince her to leave him, and she won’t do it, right?”
Alina’s face shifted to a
