Alex’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. Grateful for an excuse to leave this awkward conversation, he took it out and glanced at the caller ID. ‘Sorry, my mom is calling. Is that everything?’
Russell seemed more concerned about keeping his mother waiting then annoying Alex, and waved him away. ‘Of course,and, if she ever fancies treading the boards in London, let her know our doors are always open. Wide open!’
Alex strode away, not entirely sure if he’d left one awkward moment simply to jump into another far worse one. ‘Hiya, Mom.’
‘Hello, darling, so glad to get a hold of you.’ His mother’s voice skipped down the line with forced joviality, as if she hadn’t heard from him in months. Granted he’d ignored a couple of calls from her, but that was normal; their family was always busy and often in different time zones.
Alex rolled his eyes. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Sure…’ She paused. ‘Your plus one for the wedding. What’s her name again?’
‘I never gave you her name, and you won’t know her anyway.’
There was another pause, and then a deep exhale. ‘Alex. I would like to know the name of the person coming to stay in my own home. Security will want to do their usual checks, and there’s the jet to organise, and the seating plan for the wedding breakfast and rehearsal dinner.’
Alex stiffened, reluctant to give her Ellie’s name. As soon as he did, his family would know all there was to know about her, and that felt like an invasion of her privacy. ‘I am not entirely sure of her legal name, but I’ll email it over as soon as I can,’ he lied. He knew Ellie’s full name; he’d needed it for their deal, to sort out the flat and payments.
Eliza Dorothy Jones. He thought it the cutest name on the planet, as adorable as the woman who owned it.
Appeased, his mother replied, ‘If she’s using a stage name that’s fine, just give us both names for the checks.’ Of course she would presume he was dating an actress. ‘Let me know as soon as you have it, there’s still so much to do…’ She sighed, as if it was her swansong, and Alex chuckled. He suspected she loved the party planning. Savannah didn’t have much family, sohe supposed his mom was doing all of the heavy lifting when it came to planning the wedding.
‘It’ll be fine. I’ve gotta go, speak soon,’ he lied again, and quickly ending the call.
He ducked into one of the rehearsal spaces and took a moment to check through his emails. The mention of a security check had got him thinking about the press. He should probably check what the latest gossip magazines and sites were saying about him.
Richie had set up an automatic alert for his name, so that whenever he was mentioned online it would send him an email with the links. Long ago he’d set up an inbox folder that immediately filed all of the alerts. There were thousands, mostly unread, but occasionally when he needed to check something, like now, he would go into that folder.
The last ones he’d opened were from a couple of months ago when the story about Savannah and Liam’s engagement had first broken. At the time, he’d only managed to read a few lines before he’d felt physically sick. Thankfully, when he opened the folder today, his stomach no longer lurched at the headlines.
ALEX KING’S BRUTAL HUMILIATION!
TWO KINGS, ONLY ONE QUEEN
THE TRUTH BEHIND ALEX & SAVANNAH’S TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
LIAM KING SAVES SAVANNAH FROM HIS TOXIC BROTHER – ‘She just couldn’t take it any more,’ says Liam’s close personal friend.
Alex snorted. Most of these supposed journalists made up their own quotes. He looked at the recent alerts and clicked on one that had been published the day after the party.
HAS ALEX KING FINALLY LOST IT?
Alex King spotted leaving an East London florist after a drunken night at his play’s opening night afterparty. Mr M. Jones of Jones Floristry stated, ‘He’s on my sofa, never seen him before – at least not in real life. But it’s definitely him. Think my sister brought him home, just like her to bring in a stray…’
A close source informed PAPPED: ‘Alex forgot his hotel details, and was taken in by a kindly nurse, who happens to be a sibling of Mr M. Jones.’
PAPPED can’t help but wonder if Alex King is drowning his sorrows, after poor sales of his theatre-directing debut of The Great Gatsby, and his recent split—
Alex closed the alert. He didn’t need to read PAPPED’s opinion on his split with Savannah; it was the usual click-bait. He was just relieved that there’d been no mention of Ellie. Thekindly nursemade her sound elderly. Alex, on the other hand, sounded like some drunken loser – which wasn’t completely off the mark, but he didn’t mind that if it saved Ellie’s family from further scrutiny.
Even the photos were mostly of him looking stupidly confused, or the back of Ellie’s bath-robed figure as they ran back inside. He suspected she’d been too close to the photographers while opening the gate to be distinguishable in the photos, which was a relief – he imagined Ellie wouldn’t appreciate them publishing clear images of her in her bathrobe and bunny slippers.
He opened the next alert. It was the grainy photo from the theatre.
IS ALEX KING FINALLY PULLING HIMSELF TOGETHER?
Alex King was spotted with an unidentified woman at a recent performance of his theatre-directing debut, The Great Gatsby. Onlookers described Alex as unable to take his eyes off his date throughout the performance. In a recent interview with the Arts Review, Alex described himself as ‘optimistic for the future’. Perhaps Alex’s new mystery lady is leading him towards a more hopeful future? Sources close to Alex have informed us that he is even considering purchasing a home in London.
Speculation and half-truths. Alex could cope with that. What he was most concerned about was how Ellie would cope with the inevitable press attention when her name broke, which it certainly would after the Olivier Awards.
