Crim rolled off of me as I sat up suddenly. “What?!”
“You heard me,” Reese said, running his hand through his hair, then covering the lower half of his face. “Get dressed. We all need to have a discussion.”
My heart was racing as I tried to comprehend what Reese was telling all of us. Me, Oliver, Mason, Crim, and Leo were all in a deserted cafe, crowded in a booth in the back.
Alina was missing.
Reese wore a grave expression as he told us that someone— likely Rachel’s husband — leaked a sex tape of Alina. It was all over the internet, and it didn’t take long for people to check the dates and find out Alina wasn’t legal when it was filmed.
“It’s a bloody mess,” Reese said, looking like a part of him had died. “The comments online about her are… they’re awful. They’re accusing me of sleeping with her too.”
“I thought you were public about being gay,” Oliver said.
“I am, but it doesn’t change the amount of scrutiny I’m under. The public hears about something like this and they draw their conclusions. The production company is freezing everything so they can investigate.”
“What does that mean for us?” Mason asked, his jaw tight.
“They’re flying you back to L.A. They might resume filming, they might not. Right now we’re in limbo,” Reese said, his voice hollow.
“That’s bullshit,” Mason hissed as he stood up. “We signed a contract!”
“There’s a clause in all of your contracts for a situation like this. In the case of a police investigation, they can put production on hold indefinitely.”
I was sure my face was going white. Just when I was starting to live the movie star life, it was all taken away from me. I was watching my dream float away right before my eyes.
But despite what happened to me, one thing was certain: I had to talk to Alina. I had to make sure she was all right.
“Where’s Alina now?” I asked, the voice that left my lips sounding so different than my own.
“She’s with the police. They’re asking her questions about the first director she was with, and interrogating her about me.”
“When will she be back?” I asked breathlessly. “She’ll be back, right?”
“She should be back sometime this afternoon,” Reese said carefully.
Something was hiding in the spaces between his words, but I was too shaken to ask any further questions about it.
I saw there in the booth feeling more alone than ever, hearing each starboy ask questions about details and logistics. It all faded into the background.
All I knew was that I felt… different. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me, and strangely, I felt cold. It was as if the promise of fame wrapped around me like a warm security blanket, making me shine with confidence. When I was still chasing that dream, when it seemed like it was just around the corner, I felt invincible. Now that it was gone, I felt ordinary again. I felt small.
I went quiet as their words washed over me, discussing their options. Once the conversation shifted to what each of them was going to do next — how they’d pivot their careers, I felt more alone than ever. All that lay in front of me without my upcoming part in The Black Castle was returning to what I was doing before: Being a hairstylist.
“We should all exchange numbers,” Leo said, pulling out his phone. “So we can stay in contact with each other.”
“I second that,” Mason said quietly, pulling out his phone.
“What’s your number, Charlie?” Crim asked.
My mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear my own voice tell it to them. I was too shaken by the earthquake that had just shifted my life.
The dream was over.
I was sitting on the plane next to Alina, headed straight back to L.A. She looked like a shadow of her former self, like she was a stranger in a very good cosplay of Alina. Every time I tried to start a conversation, she responded with a “huh?” and I’d have to repeat myself three or four times before she’d give a lackluster response.
I knew her mind must have been swirling with what was waiting for her back in the city. Now that people knew she’d traded her body for fame when she wasn’t even old enough to consent, her career was pretty much over. Even though she was the victim in this scenario, we both knew that the audience wouldn’t see it that way.
I put my hand on hers and squeezed it for the rest of the flight.
She squeezed it back, staring wistfully out the window.
When we landed in LAX, I periodically saw the guys around the airport. We exchanged promises of staying in touch, but something fundamental among the entire group had shifted. I couldn’t help but wonder; was it only the show that was holding us all together? Was I nothing if I wasn’t an actor in it? Was I back to being a mere mortal while the others moved on to their next projects?
I stayed with my former coworker Scott for two weeks, holding out hope that the dream wasn’t over. The last thing I wanted to do was start building a life here in L.A. when the stars might align and I’d be invited back onto the show.
But as the days dragged on, my hope waned. Production was paused indefinitely, and I felt sadder and sadder, having to face the reality of returning to a normal life.
One day after Scott went to work, making passive-aggressive comments about me intruding on his space, I pulled out my phone to dial the salon. Maybe I could talk my manager into giving me my old job back.
As I scrolled through my contacts list, my eyes landed on Hazel’s name. It had been… it had been a long, long time since I’d talked
