Chapter Seven
For the rest of the evening, we kept away from the topic of my engagement and mainly discussed our upcoming film.
“Thanks for dinner,” I said as I climbed out of his car on the road in front of both our houses.
“No problem.”
“Do you want to come in for a drink?” The air between us had changed since Sonny had brought up Cal.
“No, I better not.” Billy looked across the street to his house. “I have to talk to Elena about threatening to have you thrown off my movie.”
“Is she at your house now?” I asked, in a pitch a little higher than I intended it to be.
“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to this conversation, but it has to be done.”
“She’s at your house right now?” I asked again in shock.
“Yes, I said.” Billy turned to me as I leaned into the passenger side window.
“Was she there waiting for you the entire time we were at dinner?”
“No, I texted her when you were in the bathroom at the restaurant and asked her to meet me here.”
“She has a key to your house?” I was panicked. I was finding it hard to breathe. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Fuck no, my security guys let her in.”
“Oh, thank God.” I sighed deeply, relieved to hear his response.
“What difference would it make to you if she did?” There was a slight angry tone in his question.
“No difference,” I answered innocently, utilizing my acting ability to not expose how I had truly felt. “I was just wondering, that’s all.”
“Oh okay.” The angry tone was gone. He obviously was oblivious to my panic of Elena having access to his house. “Have a good night.”
“Let me know how it goes with her,” I called as he pulled the car through his gate.
I was grateful he had accepted my lame excuse for questioning him about Elena. As I walked up my driveway to the front door, I convinced myself that the only reason I was worried about Elena moving in with him was because I didn’t want her as a neighbor.
***
The next morning as I sat drinking coffee on my back patio overlooking the pool, I found myself thinking about Billy and wondering how his conversation with Elena had gone. I had texted him earlier, but he hadn’t responded. I would have checked to see if Elena’s car was still in his driveway, but because of the high security fences and big trees that lined both our properties, it was near impossible to see anything. Which was good for keeping strangers out, but it was bad for me snooping to see if she had spent the night with him.
I was jolted out of my thoughts when my phone began to ring.
“I’m emailing you an itinerary of public appearances over the next few days,” Al instructed as soon as I answered the phone.
“What appearances?”
“We are in the middle of a campaign to get your reputation back to the way it was before this mess started. Remember?”
“I thought the children’s hospital was enough?”
“No, it wasn’t. We need you in front of the cameras looking happy, showing your charming little personality. We need people to believe that, under normal circumstances, you would never hit a model.”
“I didn’t hit her.” I was getting tired of people accusing me of doing something I didn’t do.
“Almost hit her then, is that better?” Yes it was as it was more truthful.
“You know I hate making these appearances,” I whined. “How many do I have to do?”
“There’s a movie premiere tonight, a fundraiser tomorrow night, and a birthday party on Saturday night.”
“A birthday party? Seriously?”
“Yes, George Clooney is having a birthday party at the After Eight bar in Beverly Hills Saturday night and you will be there.”
“My God, a birthday party at a bar? How old is he?”
“I don’t care,” Al bluntly retorted. “All I know is that there will be lots of cameras around to catch you being friendly and joking with other celebrities.”
“All right, I guess I’ll go to them,” I begrudgingly agreed.
“I wasn’t asking,” Al pointed out. “A car will pick you up tonight at five-thirty. You must be at the premiere before six-thirty. That gives you plenty of time on the red carpet in front of the media.”
“Is Billy meeting me here?”
“No, Billy is going with Elena. They’re taking a different car.”
“What? Billy is going with Elena?” I asked, with more disgust in my voice that I had planned.
“Yes, he is, and you’re going to be nice to Elena.”
“We’ll see about that.” It was pretty doubtful I would be nice to her.
“Elizabeth,” Al scorned.
I sighed loudly as my acceptance.
“Good, now, your stylists will be there around three to help you get ready.”
“Which stylists? Clothes, hair, or makeup?”
“All three.”
“Jesus, Al, it’s not the Academy Awards.”
“I’ll meet you on the red carpet when you get there.” Al, ignoring my sarcasm, hung up.
I immediately punched in Billy’s number. His phone rang twice and then cut to voicemail as if he had ignored my call.
“What the? Fine,” I angrily said after I hung up on his voicemail.
I aggressively dialed Cal’s number into my phone.
“Hey, baby, where have you been?” I sweetly asked when he answered the phone.
“Hi, baby,” he responded. “It’s about time you called to apologize.”
“Apologize? For what?” I asked, confused, my sweetness had all but disappeared.
“For acting like a crazy bitch in public and embarrassing me.”
I rubbed my forehead. I was starting to get a headache.
“Fine,” I spat out. “I’m sorry for whatever it is you think I did wrong.”
“That’s all I was waiting to hear.” He obviously hadn’t caught my sarcasm, but then again, Cal wasn’t all that bright.
“Glad you’re happy,” I bitterly responded. “Listen, I have to go to a movie premiere tonight, want to join me?”
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m in Miami. I start filming next week.”
I almost dropped the phone.
“You’re already in Miami and you didn’t think to tell me or come see me before you left?” I lost it and yelled at him.
“Calm down, I was angry and embarrassed because of you. Why would I come see you?”
Was this guy for real?
“Oh, I don’t know.” I went back to sarcasm. “Because we’re supposedly engaged to be married and you are an adult.”
“I can’t talk to you when you are like this.” His arrogance was really starting to piss me off. “When you calm down, call me back.” He hung up.
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled into the dead phone.
I was so angry I threw the phone down onto the glass table with a thud, thankfully not breaking the table.
Only two stylists arrived just before three o’clock. One stylist oversaw hair and makeup and the other was in charge of clothes. They did an amazing job making me look beautiful on the outside, even though inside I was still raging with anger.
My dark hair was dyed with light strands to give me a more sun-kissed look with some added waves. The new locks were left down, touching my shoulders.
My makeup was done to match the hairstyle. It was a minimalist style with only some eyeliner, light eyeshadow, and dark pink lipstick. Everything was done to appear as if it hadn’t really taken over an hour to get ready.
I was wearing a beautiful dress. It was a tight-fitting, spaghetti strap black dress that had a slit all the way up from my right ankle to mid-thigh. The shoes were magnificent. They were a four-inch heel sandal with straps crisscrossing along the top. They showed off my perfectly manicured feet. The entire ensemble made me feel glamorous and I used that to push all negative thoughts about Billy and Cal away-at least I tried to.
The car arrived on time and whisked me away, alone, to the theatre on Hollywood Blvd in Beverly Hills.
“Where’s Cal?” Al asked as he met me at the car when the driver opened the door for me to get out. “I thought you would have come with him.”
There were hundreds of people lining the red carpet, most with cameras; some were fans looking for autographs.
“He’s in Miami,” I answered while smiling for the cameras.
“Miami? What the hell is he doing there already?”
“Who knows?” I kept my eyes on the cameras and barely moved my lips while responding.
I was led over to the fans. I happily signed a few autographs and took pictures with some of them. That was always my favorite part of these events; in fact I would’ve preferred to have stayed outside talking to the fans than standing in front of the cameras.
Once I was done, I began to walk down the carpet again, stopping every few feet to have pictures taken from the media. The cast of the movie was centered at the half-way point to have their photos taken with arriving guests.
“Mark Wahlberg,” I said, as I approached the handsome actor. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
“Elizabeth.” Mark kissed my cheek. “Thank you so much for coming.” He pulled me into a hug. “You realize Brianna Thompson is here, right?” he whispered, into my ear.
“What? Why?” I had not been expecting her to be there and I was stunned when he said it.
“She had a part in the movie.”
I pulled away from him and we stood together posing for the cameras.
“I better make my way down the line,” I reluctantly said.
“Try not to get any blood on the carpet. Wait, it’s red, you should be okay.” Mark laughed at his own joke.
“Funny, Mark, really funny.” I answered, dryly.
I went down the line of cast members each time, hugging and then posing for pictures. At the end of the row was Brianna.
I stepped up to her and, although she was smiling, I could see there was worry in her eyes.
“Brianna, darling, congrats on the movie,” I said, loudly, in my sweetest fake voice as I gathered her in an embrace. Beside us, the cameras flashed like crazy.
“You’re not going to hit me again, are you?” she quietly asked, in my ear.
“I didn’t hit you,” I replied into her ear while still in the embrace. “I almost hit you, and I won’t do it again unless you piss me off.”
I pulled away from her and smiled. We didn’t speak again, but stood side by side, arms around each other’s backs, posing for the cameras.
I said a cordial goodbye to Brianna and walked into the theatre, alone.
Inside the doors, in the lobby, I saw Billy and approached him.
“Hey, there you are,” I cheerfully greeted him, even though I was still upset he hadn’t answered any of my calls.
“Hey,” he replied in a somber voice, and gave me a less than enthusiastic hug.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.
“Where’s Cal?” He looked around. “Al said he was coming with you.”
“Miami.”
“Miami?” He perked up. “Cal’s in Miami?”
I nodded in response.
“What’s he doing there already? I didn’t think he started filming until next week.”
“That’s true.” I tried to not let my anger show as there were a lot of people milling around.
“Then why did he go early? Did he come see you before he left?”
“Nope,” I responded, curtly, as Elena joined us and put her arm around Billy’s waist. Her simple action made my insides scream in anger.
“Elizabeth, good to see you.”
“Is it?” I bluntly asked.
Elena smiled in response but said nothing.
“Wait a second.” Billy ignored the exchanged between Elena and me. “How long is Cal gone for?”
“Six months.”
“He’s gone for six months and he didn’t see you before he left?”
“I really don’t want to discuss this right now,” I told Billy, meaning I didn’t want to talk about it in front of Elena.
“Okay, then after the movie, you and I are going to get dinner and talk about this.”
“But Billy, darling, we were supposed to have dinner together, remember?” Elena sweetly said, but the desperation in her voice was quite audible.
“It’s okay, Billy.” I gave him an out. “I’ll be fine, go for dinner with Elena.”
“Nonsense” Billy pulled away from Elena. “She doesn’t mind, do you?” he asked her, straight out.
“I guess not,” Elena responded, sounding deflated.
“We can do dinner another night.” He was either dismissing her feelings or he hadn’t noticed her tone.
“Absolutely.” She smiled at him, then glared at me when he turned his back on her.
“Billy, really, it’s okay.” I felt a twinge of guilt at him ditching her for me, and yet I also felt happy about it.
“That was fantastic,” Al exclaimed, as he came through the door and joined us. “That little display with Brianna was perfect.”
“Did you know she was going to be here?” I demanded of Al.
“Of course, why do you think I booked you to be here?” Al answered, ignoring my tone.
“You could’ve warned me. I wanted to punch her, for real this time.”
“But you didn’t, nor did it looked like you wanted to,” Al gushed. “The press bought every second of it.”
“You were nice to Brianna?” Billy asked.
“I should get another Oscar for the performance I just gave out there with her.”
“So, I guess Elizabeth is America’s sweetheart again?” Elena scowled.
“Not yet,” Al responded, rubbing his hands together, no doubt silently congratulating himself on a job well done. “But we’re getting there.”
***
“Billy and Elizabeth, can you pose together for the media outside?” one of the promoters asked as we exited the theatre once the movie ended.
“Of course,” Billy responded in his cool, calm voice.
We left the inside of the theatre together with Al and Elena trailing behind.
As soon as our feet touched the red carpet, the cameras began flashing and the photographers began calling our names, again.
We stood side by side, arms around each other’s waists in front of a sea of flashes. After about five minutes of constant picture taking, Al stepped in and thanked everyone. He ushered us to the waiting car.
“No, wait.” I pulled back from the group as were about to get into Billy’s limo. “I have my own car waiting.”
“Oh.” Billy looked around. “Well, why doesn’t Elena take that one so it can take her home? That way you and I can go to straight to the restaurant.”
“Excuse me?” Elena demanded, sounding quite offended at his proposal. “You’re not even going to come to drop me off at my house?”
“No, that’ll be a total waste of time,” Billy responded. “Al, can you stay with Elena until the other car arrives?”
“Yes, I can do that,” Al responded.
“Great, problem solved.” Billy smiled.
The attendant had the door open and Billy gently nudged me into the car.
“Billy?” Elena questioned as Billy sat next to me inside the limo.
“Elena.” His tone sounded aggravated. “You’ll be fine. Al is here to make sure you get in the right car.”
Billy then shut the door and told the driver to take us to La Vida Dolce.