Celebrity is a status most of our clients desire to remain in. We can’t take away the illusion of it no matter how far the star has fallen.
“Smart-ass.” The words roll off his tongue playfully, leaving an amused expression on his face.
I double down. “You would be good in a movie like that. A serious leading man.”
He coughs on his sip of beer, saying, “Yeah, right. Tried it once—got fired.”
“No, I am serious. We can make it happen again.” I nod profusely.
It was just him and me on his back patio. No bosses. No managers. No press. Just a girl from Newark, New Jersey hanging with Holden Strauss. A man that had represented a sense of nostalgia for me growing up.
A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth, knowing nobody would know about this moment.
We both sit there, content as I unlocked my phone screen. Purposely navigating to my notes app as I reread what I wrote earlier.
I’m not sure why telling him how he should go about his career is leaving a pit in my stomach, but it does…
I had written several proposals to Chris in the past for his clients.
At the end of the day, he hasn’t even signed with us yet. My presence here is purely to be observant of his habits as requested.
In the corner of my eye, I see a crackling crimson growing rapidly in the yard in front of us. I can’t seem to bring my feet to move or do anything about it.
My smile falls as I remain hypnotized by the red, roaring flames. The same immobilizing feeling from the night of the fire.
“Are you okay?” his voice cuts in. I shut my eyes tightly, only to reopen them to see the flames no longer there. Stupidly forgetting for a brief moment that my mind is playing tricks on me. Refusing to let me drift too far away from what happened the other night.
I shift my focus back to him, braving a smile. “Great. Good—I am swell.”
“Swell?” He repeats it back to me in a chuckle.
“Yep, swell is a word that only cool people say.”
My internal panic button is sounding off and all I can do is smile and be extra cheerful. Two things that clearly indicate I am definitely not okay.
“I must’ve missed that memo.” He says as he looks away from me and a small pang of disappointment hits me. A sudden switch from him that makes me disoriented.
“So, why did your last movie you were filming go south?”
Once again, he is tight-lipped. I’m losing time. I clutch my shiny new pendant, waiting for some stroke of genius to hit me.
“I get it. I probably wouldn’t want to talk about it either.”
A new chant pops up in a different tone than how the shadow talks. It feels almost ancestral as it reverberates through the room.
“Duas almas incompletas.”
Her shadow pops out from the wall and glides closer behind him. I watch her with wide eyes.
“Probably being a diva that nobody wants to work with is what happened.”
“That’s not true!” My words bubble to the surface. Holden’s face is staring blankly at mine, begging for an explanation for my outburst.
“What’s not true?” The drink that was resting on his lips is now set down on the floor. I have his attention again.
“What everyone says about you…” I say, trying to recover fast. I can’t help but sound apprehensive, my focus solely on the shadow behind him.
“And that is?”
