“The makeup team has done such a good job of hiding the bruising from the other night too.” Laura cuts me a sideward glance before lifting Brian’s chin to study the mark underneath.
I’m not going to lie. Of all the people my character seeks revenge on in this film, Laura’s character Cassidy will be the easiest. Laura’s behavior is eerily similar to Rita’s, though after I rebuffed her advances during the roundtable read through back in LA, she immediately went from overly flirtatious and nice to ice cold.
Connie and Paul had berated me for not playing along and leading her on. They said it would help with publicity to have rumors of a romance on set and it would quench any remaining embers of speculation about the leaked video of Christopher and me.
But I won’t get caught up with some fame-hungry C-list actress who’s trying to use me to get ahead in her career. Especially not one as erratic as Laura.
“Sorry again about that,” I say, catching Brian’s gaze.
“All good, brother. These things happen. And hey, it’s not everyday my name makes headline news.”
All of a sudden, the energy shifts in Laura. I can almost smell the desperation wafting from her. Her ice-cold demeanor toward me thaws as she seems to sense an opportunity.
“We’re planning on hitting up the Thirsty Eye Brewing Company, just down the road from the hotel, to celebrate Brian wrapping on the film, if you wanted to join us?” Her arm squeezes Brian tightly and her hip nudges the top part of his upper leg.
“Yeah, you should join us, bro.” He places a hand on my shoulder, revealing another piece of brain matter dangling behind his ear. My stomach immediately starts to churn again and I take a sip of my slushie to push the sickness down.
I get a sense where this is all heading. Laura missed an opportunity to get papped coming out the hospital with Brian. If she can convince me to go out with them tonight, and then calls up some local paparazzi, it will do wonders for her profile.
In some ways, I admire her tenacity. But in others, she’s justanother person to add to the long list of people who have used me over the last decade to further their career.
“Do they do karaoke there?” Alfonso asks, pulling himself away from Brian and me.
“Not that I’m aware of.” Laura’s eyes are still locked on me.
“Scrap Thirsty Eye, we should hit up Punky’s Place. They’ve got karaoke and bowling. Ivanna, can you call up Punky’s Place, get them to reserve us a table?” he asks.
Alfonso’s ever-faithful assistant director nods from afar and heads off to make the call, as Alfonso squeezes Brian’s shoulder.
“We’ve gotta give you a proper send-off Bri-Bri,” Alfonso says. Brian’s face scrunches up at the nickname Alfonso bestowed upon him.
“What do you say, bro? You in?” Brian reaches for my shoulder to shake it.
I catch another glimpse of the brain fragment dangling precariously behind his ear, swaying back and forth with every successive shake of my shoulder.
The vomit churns again in my stomach.
“We can take it in turns to do karaoke, do duets.” Laura’s eyes light up.
I take another sip to avoid acknowledging Laura’s ridiculous idea. She sounds like a strangled cat whenever she sings on set between takes. I’d rather not be tortured even more than I already have to be.
“Maybe you should stick to acting,” Brian says, his hand rubbing her back.
Alfonso stifles a laugh, but I have no such luck. The blueberry slushie leaves my mouth and splashes all across Laura’s white crop top.
Her face is a mix of disgust and sheer terror as she lets out an almighty scream.
I’d hoped to make it an early night, heading back to my hotel room to watch an old episode ofGame of Thronessince filming wrapped up surprisingly early. But after spitting my drink all over Laura, the guilt changed my mind.
Thankfully, I needed to jump on a call with Paul to go over my schedule, giving me an excuse to tell them to go ahead without me, and there was just enough coke left in my trailer to snap me out of my mind before joining them.
“We’re here,” the driver says as we pull into a parking lot.
The nondescript red-walled building doesn’t exactly scream karaoke bar to me. But then I notice two guys standing up against the wall, cigarettes in hand, long lens cameras round their necks, and I immediately know we’re at the right place. My suspicions about Laura are all but confirmed.
“Thanks, Sharon,” I say to the shuttle van driver. The lovely retired war veteran has patiently chauffeured us between the hotel and our filming locations ever since we began shooting four weeks ago.
Rob exits the front seat next to her and comes round to my side, sliding the door open and guiding me inside the bar as the two paparazzi guys stub out their cigarettes and snap away.
