6
Final Rehearsal
The knock at her dressing room door couldn’t have come soon enough, but Olive didn’t dare turn around.
‘Come in!’ she said feebly, making herself look busy by tidying away the contents of her make-up bag that she’d left strewn across her dressingtable.
‘Just me,’ Oscar said, poking his head around the door.
‘Hi,’ she said, glancing at him in the mirror, but even seeing his face for that brief moment made her stomach churn.
‘You disappeared last night.’ Oscar closed the door behind him and leant against it.
Olive shrugged. ‘Did you really expect me to stay?’ She hadn’t wanted to leave Oscar’s flat but when he’dleft her, naked and alone, in his room, she’d never felt more vulnerable and exposed. After waiting for him to come back for twenty minutes she’d had a sudden urge to get out of there as quickly as possible, so she got the Tube back to her home on the other side of London before midnight.
‘You know I had to speak to my agent. We had to figure out how bad the situation is.’
‘Damagecontrol.’ She nodded.
‘Exactly.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever been considered as “damage” before,’ she said, rubbing a hand over her heart, almost as if she were trying to ease the pain he’d just absentmindedly inflicted.
‘You know that’s not what I meant. This is a difficult situation that needs to be handled… delicately from now on.’
‘How bad is it?’ She leant on herelbows and covered her mouth with her linked hands.
‘Could be worse.’ He shrugged. ‘But it’s not ideal. Zadie’s furious. She retweeted the photo along with some pretty harsh comments.’
‘I know,’ Olive sighed.
‘You’ve seen?’
‘I’ve had to delete Twitter from my phone. Just for a little while. I’m not really accustomed to death threats from teenage strangers.’ Despiteknowing there would be a lack of notifications, Olive still pressed the home button on her phone, just to make sure no more hateful words had wheedled their way onto the screen.
‘Oh, Olive,’ Oscar groaned.
‘Why is Zadie so angry anyway? You’re not together any more. Who you kiss and who you’re in photos with isn’t any of her concern, is it?’
‘Have you never seen pictures ofan ex with someone else quite soon after a break-up and felt terrible?’
Olive thought back to when pictures of Jason and Rosanna had surfaced. They hadn’t even been kissing, but even so, the pictures had made Olive’s stomach tie itself in knots.
‘Yes, I suppose I get that. I just don’t think I’d ever… tweet about it.’
‘That’s why I’m now stood in your dressing room tryingto make things up with you and I’m very glad I’m no longer with her.’
‘How’s it been for you? You’ve got triple the amount of followers I’ve got.’
‘Fine. No death threats. Just a lot of questions.’
‘Funny how you’re the boy caught in the middle of two women and yet it’s me who gets the backlash. Like I’m some home wrecker.’ Olive tried to laugh but she suddenly realised whatshe said hadn’t been a joke. That’s exactly what she’d been made to feel like.
‘Zadie and I aren’t even together.’ Oscar moved further into the room but still kept his distance from Olive.
‘I know, but your fans seem pretty loyal to her.’
‘It’s because we were an on-screen couple for years. You must understand why they feel that way?’ Oscar leant against her dressing table,his back towards the mirror.
