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“It has, Ashley. And now we’re finally here on the red carpet...”
The actress’ eyes flicker from my fake boyfriend straight to me.
“And who is this?” she asks enthusiastically when she spots me.
I can tell her tone is fake. It’s so very trained.
Underneath her charm she’s direct. I can tell she’s harder than she makes out.
She’s not some dumb starlet trying to impress a load of male producers – she is a professional who has worked tough and harsh in this cutthroat industry and has risen to her position because of her skills and talent.
And I can already tell she doesn’t like the look of me...
“This is my girlfriend, Ashley. This is Josie.”
She offers out her hand for me to shake.
“Lovely to meet you, Jodie.”
“Sorry, it’s Josie.”
I don’t want to correct her, but when I do, I see a sliver of something flash across her eyes. Violence. Hidden aggression.
“Yes, my mistake. Josie. So, you’re Victor’s new squeeze. You’re an actress too?”
“No,” I blush. “I’m just a barista. Making coffees.”
Ashley’s eyes flicker back from me to Victor.
“Oh.”
She’s processing what I’ve just told her. She’s figuring it all out. Her mind is reacting very fast to this new information. She’s smart. She’s thinking things through like a coiled snake.
And she clearly holds some sort of disdain for me.
She’s probably wondering why this famous actor is going out with some dumb barista and not a big-shot celebrity. To be fair, I would ask myself the same question in her position.
“I’ll see you inside,” Victor tells her, oblivious to the interaction the actress and I are having. “Interviews to do and important people to meet. You know the drill.”
“Of course.”
His hand is still around mine. He starts to make a move, and I am carried along the carpet.
Once again, Ashley’s eyes trace down my body before I go. I have the suffocating feeling of being intensely judged by this famous woman. I quickly step away, following my fake boyfriend.
What was that?
I don’t even want to reflect on that. It seems like Ashley has it out for me.
But there is still so much to do – so many people to meet and the whirlwind of being dragged through the rest of the red carpet – that I totally forget about the actress and her strange reaction toward me.
Finally, we get to sit down in the movie theatre and actually watch the movie we’ve come all this way for.
There are speeches from the director and screenwriter before the screening starts, and that takes a long time, but then it finally begins. The giant cinema screen lights up...
And when the movie starts to play, I am taken out of the room. Out of the city. Out of this world.
And I am transported into Victor’s own world. A fantasy land. A movie that takes my breath away.
