Kate

Unlike our last two cities, we would only be in Beijing for a day. With television being highly government controlled in China, there wasn’t a need to travel around to talk shows in Beijing. Our main press opportunities would take place at the large-scale press conference and within our visit to the Due North promotional mall installation at Sanlitun Tailoo Li, a giant monstrosity of a mall in central Beijing.

Cam, Matt, and several other members of the cast were meant to appear at the mall and strap-on harnesses that would allow them to scale a massive indoor climbing wall that was open to the general public and had been fashioned into a replica of Mount Rushmore at the center court of the mall. The giant monument was a shout out to an iconic scene in the original Hitchcock film that had been reimagined for modern audiences in Due North. While the concept had been brilliant, watching these highly bankable Hollywood stars dangle precariously from the climbing wall with thousands of shoppers looking on and cheering was nothing if not nerve-wracking and had Megan and the rest of the studio team of publicists sweating bullets just from pure anxiety.

The coverage that we would garner from media outlets and influencers on social media, however, was priceless and would not only make a massive difference in terms of the awareness of the film in China, but the photos of Camden Atwood racing Matt Castell as they scaled the wall would likely make their way to entertainment outlets around the globe.

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Despite the fact that the film’s ingénue, Alexis Hathaway, had beaten both Cam and Matt handily in a race to the top of the climbing wall and back down again on her first try, Matt and Cam opted to continue competing against one another indefinitely to see who could ascend the wall the fastest. First, it was best out of three, and then of course, best out of five. Boys.

I, however, stood on the ground below the wall, watching the moronic sporting event take place with Megan, whose pits were now visibly sweating right through her Due North promotional tee. James soon joined us.

“When can I get in there?” James asked as he stared up at Cam, clearly longing to take the man on himself.

“Umm…well…ah…shit,” Megan whispered as she rushed over to the man controlling Cam’s harness. He had been momentarily distracted, sending Megan’s blood pressure sky high as she ran over to him. He was likely about to get reamed out.

“I think Megan would rather we try and get Cam down from there at this point. We got the shot,” I laughed as I watched Cam and Matt slipping and sliding on the wall, all while shit-talking with one another. Guys are so easily amused. I could, however, feel James’s eyes on me and slowly tore my gaze away from the drama unfolding on Mount Rushmore to regard him. “What?” I asked a bit annoyed.

“Can I ask you something?”

“If you must,” I said trying to keep one eye on Cam as he rappelled down the wall slowly.

“Any chance I can get an ETA on when you two are finally going to do the deed?”

Well, that got my attention. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, he’s obviously hooked already, Katie. Time for you to get some,” he said as he eyed Cam, who was still out of earshot. “Everyone says he’s a good lay. You should get in there, girl!”

“What the hell, James!” Amber said as she returned from a round of retail therapy with an armload of shopping bags. She had caught the tail end of our conversation.

“What?” James asked as though he hadn’t done or said anything out of the ordinary.

“You’re out of line,” Amber said, surprisingly coming to my defense.

“Are you kidding me? She’s fucking Yoko-ing us on this trip, Amber. We’ve barely seen Cam since we left LA. If you ask me, these two need to bang and get it out of the way so he can get back to more important shit.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, James. Have a little class,” Amber stormed.

James was all fired up now and turned on me. “Look, I get it. You want it to be special or to mean something. Well, fuck all that noise. He’s not the boyfriend type, okay? You are not ‘the one.’ Don’t be naïve. Get yours, put it in your fucking mental scrapbook, and let’s move on.”

I was literally shaking now. My pulse was racing as I narrowed my gaze on him. Amber was about to step up to James, but I brushed her aside gently and stepped to him, tempering my anger with a penetrating gaze that caused him to deflate ever so slightly.

“James, we’ve got about two weeks left on this godforsaken tour. You don’t look at me. You don’t talk to me. You don’t even breathe near me, or so help me God, I will make sure that your name magically falls off the jet manifest for the rest of this trip. Good luck getting home.”

“You can’t do anything to me. I was here long before you got here and will be here long after you’re gone, sweetheart.”

“You wanna try me?” I asked as I became infinitely more enraged.

James grinned at me smugly and crossed his arms defiantly as the two of us stared each other down. “Okay. Game on,” he said, just dripping with irritating confidence, drawing a smug smile from me.

In an instant, I whipped up a believable set of tears and a heartbreakingly sad face courtesy of my short-lived career as a Broadway hopeful. Thank you, Theater Kids. I sniffled and made brief eye contact with Cam in the distance, who immediately stared over at me in concern. After a moment, he motioned for someone to come and release him from his harness and jogged toward us, sending a wave of panic over James’s face. Amber was laughing quietly as she enjoyed the proceedings.

“What are you doing?” James asked, rapidly beginning to freak out and rightfully so. I relished the color leaving his face as he looked over his shoulder to find Cam fast approaching behind him.

“You okay, love?” Cam asked as he arrived alongside me and rubbed my back gently.

I let the storm cloud lift from my face and smiled up at him. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just got something in my eye, I guess.”

“You scared me. You looked dreadful for a minute, Kate.”

“No worries. I’m all good,” I said sweetly.

“Brilliant, I’m gonna do the wall one more time. Do you want to give it a go, Kate?”

“No. I’m good. Enjoying my conversation with James here,” I said, giving Cam my pearliest of pearly whites, causing him to furrow his brow as he regarded me dubiously.

“Okay. See you in a bit, I guess,” he said, seeming a bit confused by our trio, but nevertheless ran back to Mount Rushmore while I shifted my attention back to James in all seriousness.

“I don’t look at you. I don’t talk to you. I don’t breathe near you. I got it,” James said, holding his hands up in surrender. “You know, you may have your hooks in him right now, but just be aware that it doesn’t change anything. The minute he gets what he wants, he’s going to move on, just like he’s done with all the rest.”

James headed off, presumably to join Cam and Matt on the wall. While I knew that I had won the battle where James was concerned, his words had landed just as he had hoped, feeding all of my insecurities and doubt.