“Thanks.”
He clinked his glass against mine. “We finally snagged Lara Abernathy for our leading lady.”
“I was hoping for an opportunity to work with you.” A line, straight out of my last movie. I smiled and looked him in his eyes and counted: one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, the way my agent had suggested when she first signed me. “You come off as unapproachable, love, and I don’t want you to miss out on key parts,” she had said.
He smiled and stepped closer to me. He droned on about a sequel to the movie, which I wouldn’t be doing. Hopefully, a schedule conflict would appease him, and I’d skirt any reprisals. My agent said his kids had been fans of my first TV series. Pretty sure, that was the only reason I got the part.
“Ready for some action?” He winked.
“Ten days.” And six hours. I tightened my fingers around the rings at the top of my purse and braced myself for the wandering hand, the filthy whispered words meant to blindside while he brushed my breasts or my butt to gauge how far he or I would go.
Nicky poked her head around the poster. Her eyes widened and her face reddened. “Oh hey.”
He leaned forward and put a clammy hand under my elbow. Here we go. He leaned in and placed an ear-popping smooch near the corner of my mouth. Scotch sloshed over the rim of my glass.
As he turned to leave, Nicky beamed at him like she didn’t have a new boyfriend. That used to be me before I woke with bruises on my inner thighs and a spotty memory in a stranger’s guest room.
When he left, I blew out a deep breath. “Let’s get the heck out of here.”
“Finish your drink first,” Nicky said, craning her neck around the poster.
“I am finished.”
“One sec.” She took the glass from my hand and lifted it to her mouth.
I stuck a hand between her lips and the rim. From my clutch, I took out a test strip and then dropped it into her drink.
She grinned and swirled it around. “It’s the same color, as usual.” She drained her glass. I linked arms with her, and we weaved through masked members of the cast I would soon spend way too much time with.
On the other side of the living room at the bar, my agent surrounded by people who wanted a spot like mine on her list, blew a kiss at me. A waiter dressed as an orange alien with gold tentacles topped off Nicky’s glass on our way to the elevator. If aliens existed, they didn’t look anything like any of brightly colored costumes in the room.
Nicky gushed all the way from the penthouse to the lobby. In the vestibule of the producer’s condominium, we waited for our rides while she rehashed the evening.
“I can’t believe they invited us to come with them this weekend. I’ve never been more than ten feet from a VIP table and never to a members-only club. They don’t take these from you, do they?” She kissed the two laminated passes with the mockup for the movie poster on them and clutched my gift bag full of expensive goodies. Thank God the us she was talking about didn’t include me.
“Don’t know, Nicky.” I shrugged and knotted the wrap across my bare shoulders. I hadn’t needed a pass to anywhere in years.
“You get to wear all that cool beauty queen shit,” she said. She lifted the tiara, a costume-jewelry replica of the one I’d wear on set, from my head and placed it on hers. Even in her silver shimmering catsuit and spiked pink mohawk, she looked more like a beauty contestant than me in my burnt orange halter dress, which only looked dressy because of my three-inch designer heels. It was really just a glorified ankle-length silk sundress. I had five others I’d be rotating through on set. Even with my hair up in corkscrew curls my stylist had diligently placed just so with the perfect balance of hair products and skill, I barely looked like I belonged among Hollywood’s elite.
“Yeah, real cool.” My smile waned at the thought of all the hours it was going to take to get into costume and makeup. Neither one of my parents would approve of my new role. For the amount of money they were paying me, though, I could produce my next project – an independent film.
“I got everyone’s autograph, even the ones I didn’t recognize in case they become somebody.” She unrolled a mockup of the movie poster. “Except Lara Abernathy’s.” She dug a pen out of her purse with a sheepish smile. “Is it weird?”
“Yeah,” I said, but signed it anyway.
“Come with, this weekend,” she said, with no conviction at all as she carefully rolled the poster.
“Can’t. The countdown until I’m on set begins as soon as I cross my threshold and put on my lucky bedroom slippers.”
“You only missed one cue while we were rehearsing. You can take the night off.”
She didn’t get it. I had to know my lines as if I was getting ready to go onstage for a play. It was the only way I could master the non-speaking parts, which had nothing to do with lines and everything to do with what a specific director wanted.
“While you’re schmoozing with the rich and famous, take off your rose-colored Dior’s long enough to check your drinks.” I gave her the vial of strips from my purse. “I have another at home.”
For my efforts, I got one of her indulgent smiles. “A bit of danger is a necessary ingredient for a little fun in a girl’s life.”
“Be careful,” I said. “They aren’t like the people at your office.”
“Hell.” She giggled. “I hope not.”
“Seriously, Nicky.”
“Sure, okay, girly,” she said. “What are you going to do tonight?”
“I’m staying in my pajamas the entire week. I’m not going any further than my
