Chapter Ten
Not long after the movie ended, my team was filing into a swanky nightclub for our after party. Colton’s mood had elevated since we left the theater. Now that ‘work’ was complete, we could all celebrate and enjoy ourselves. On the way over to the party, we took a few celebratory shots. Alyssa and Melanie had taken rides in a different vehicle. So with Ethan on one side of me and Colton on the other, we laughed and laughed the entire seventeen blocks to the nightclub. Even Mason cracked a few smiles at our antics.
“Elena, stop!” Colton cried out in laughter, clutching his side as we followed the studio executive leading us into the party. “Your impression is horrible!” I was giving my hand at a British accent, imitating my former co-star Mitch. When the movie ended, we overheard Mitch talking to one of the producers, saying things like ‘jolly good!’ and ‘bloody brilliant!’ It got our whole row snickering because whenever something really caught Mitch’s eye, his accent somehow always got more British.
Ethan looked around the room as we walked in, still chuckling about my awful impression. His eyes locked on something or someone across the room. Without hesitation, he glanced at me saying, “I’ll be right back,” before taking off across the room, people parting for him as if he were royalty.
“Jolly good!” I said after him, though he probably couldn’t hear me. “Cheerio!” Colton doubled over in laughter again, as our studio executive showed us to our table. Alyssa and Melanie were already seated at the table, along with Mitch and his entourage that consisted of his agent, publicist, personal assistant and a couple of women I didn’t know.
We sat down and I said to Mitch, “Bloody brilliant film, yeah?” Mitch looked at me quizzically, his disheveled blonde hair falling down in front of his face. Colton slapped his hand on the table laughing again.
“Oh my god,” Colton said. “Elena, I’m going to go get us some drinks. I’ll bring us a round.” He stood up, shaking his head, a giant smile on his face. It was good to see him relaxed after a long couple of days.
“Elena,” Mitch said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table. “What was that about?”
“Oh nothing, Mitchell,” I said, reaching across the table and grabbing a shrimp from his plate of shrimp cocktail. “Don’t worry your pretty little head.”
We continued to chat about our upcoming vacation plans. While I was considering going to Aspen to ski, Mitchell would be heading off to Cannes in France. Ethan finally rejoined us about an hour later, after Colton and Mitch had already refilled our drinks a few times.
“There you are!” I said, feeling more than a little buzzed at the moment. “Where have you been?!” I latched my arm through Ethan’s and beamed up at him.
"I saw a friend,” Ethan said dismissively, grabbing a full glass we had set aside for him earlier. “But it looks like the real party is right here at this table.”
“That it is, mate!” Mitch said. “Though I must go make the rounds. before I get too pissed. I can see my manager giving me the evil eye from across the room. I’ll catch you all later. Elena, say goodbye before leaving tonight!”
“Of course!” I said, still holding on to Ethan’s arm. Colton was deep in conversation with Alyssa and Melanie so I turned to face Ethan more directly. He was looking across the room distractedly. “So who was it you were talking to?”
“An old friend. Someone I didn’t expect to see here,” he said quietly. The new Imagine Dragons hit came on over the sound system and the noise level increased in the nightclub. Ethan turned his green eyes towards me and winked, “What are we doing sitting here? We should be dancing.”
My face lit up and I perked up straighter in my seat. "Really!?" I squealed. "You never want to dance!" I always wanted to dance but Ethan rarely joined me. Usually, I had to pull Colton onto the dance floor or one of my other celebrity friends.
Ethan laughed, and pulled me up out of my seat, leading me to the dance floor. We spent the next hour busting out our best (worst) dance moves, only stopping when Will Smith decided to bust a move near us and upped the playing field. With sweat beading on my neck, we went out onto the terrace of the nightclub that was still pretty packed. Since it was the first of December, several heat lamps heated the terrace, and guests were scattered around several high top tables and lounge sofas.
We stopped at an empty high top, flagging a server to bring us a couple drinks. As we waited we discussed our impressive dance moves, “I swear,” Ethan was saying while chuckling, “You should do one of those dance movies. Like Step Up Seventeen or whatever number they are on now.”
The server returned with our drinks and I raised mine, looking up at Ethan through my eyelashes, “Only if you do it with me!”
Ethan shook his head, smiling, “Did you see me out there, Elle? I can’t cut it, but you can!”
I smiled and was about to continue convincing Ethan when a cold, icy liquid crashed down across my exposed back and gown. I straightened and shrieked; turning around, blue liquid dripping down my arms. A woman about my age with long bleached blonde hair stared me down with an icy glare and holding an empty glass in her pointy manicured hand. “Whoops,” she said in a raspy voice that sounded like she smoked cigarettes since she was ten years old. “Sorry E. I must have slipped.”
“What the hell, Kiya!” I yelled, catching the attention of everyone out on the terrace. Kiya Akam played a supporting role in the Monument trilogy, and since our very first meeting, she had it out for me. I don’t know why exactly she targeted me, but I tried to keep my distance so I could keep it professional in front of the big wigs.
The first movie together, she had messed me up a few times by somehow getting Colton the wrong call times, so I was late a lot. Finally, Colton was able to get the production assistant that distributed the wrong call times fired.
You could also count on most bad tabloid stories to be from Kiya, though it was always quoted as an anonymous source. A few months ago at our Destruction wrap party, Kiya had told the tabloids that I had gotten hammered drunk and told everyone that I was the only reason the franchise was as successful as it was. As if I would ever say something so egotistical. Humility goes a long way in this industry. Melanie absolutely hates Kiya. Probably more than I do, since Melanie is always the person cleaning up the messes Kiya creates for me.
Kiya pulled an innocent expression across her face and placed her hand on her chest, “E, it was an accident! I must have tripped on the train of that hideous gown.”
“You didn’t trip,” Ethan said matter-of-factly. He stared at her coldly, but never took his eyes off of her. His face showed no emotion, which somehow made him look colder. “We all saw you come over here on purpose and dump your drink on the back of Elena’s head.” A flash from a nearby photographer lit the area
“It was an accident,” Kiya said again with more emphasis. She looked back at me, “E, tell your little lap dog to calm down.” A hush covered the crowd of on-lookers at her insult to Ethan. Ethan was a legend. You don’t ever insult Ethan.
Ethan remained calm though and didn't even react. Instead, he looked down at that cuff of his sleeve, as if Kiya wasn’t even worth a glance and said, “It’s Kiya, right? You should leave now.”
Kiya straightened up, glancing at her posse that I hadn’t noticed right behind her. Like a group of mean girls, they tended to follow her everywhere and she barked orders at them all the time. I had no idea why they stuck around. Maybe they were on her payroll. “Excuse me?” she said, offended.
Ethan didn’t respond, instead looked around the terrace, spotting someone and waving him over. Next thing I knew, Adam Scott, our executive producer was next to Ethan. “Ethan!” he said in a friendly voice. He shook one of Ethan’s hands and clapped his other hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “How have you been? I’ve got some projects up my sleeve I’d love to run past you sometime,” Adam said encouragingly. Adam turned towards Kiya and I. “Kiya. And … Elena! What happened to you?”
Kiya opened her mouth to speak, but Ethan talked over her. “Kiya poured her drink on Elena. I think she’s had enough fun for the night, don’t you?” Ethan never took his eyes off Adam, as if they were the only two in the room. “She should go home before she does something that makes us all look bad instead of just herself.”
Adam’s faced reddened a bit. He turned to face Kiya, “Go home, Kiya. Don’t make me call security.”
Kiya scowled, “Adam. Come on. You can’t believe this. It was an accident." She crossed her arms over her chest, making her cleavage more pronounced.
Adam sighed and glared at Kiya. “Go. Now.” He turned and waved towards the wall, where a security guard began making his way towards us.
“Whatever,” she growled. “I didn’t want to stay at this lame party anymore anyways. I’m so glad this is the last time I have to work with her.” Kiya nodded her head jerkily in my direction.
Back atcha, I thought. She turned without another word and stomped towards the exit, her posse of lookalike wannabes following her with identical scowls on their plastic faces.
“Elena,” Adam said to me. “I’m so sorry this happened. Why don’t you go upstairs to the Green Room and clean up?”
I nodded and looked over at Ethan who still looked icy and angry. His face softened as he looked at me, “Go on. I’ll go tell Colton and Melanie what happened and send them up there.”
I felt disgusting with this sticky liquid drying in my hair and on my back. Without lingering any longer, I turned and followed a security guard down a back of house hallway and upstairs to the green room, which is like a waiting room for musical artists or VIPs. With Mason following me, I tried to avoid looking anyone in the eye. Still, most people were too distracted to notice the mess that I was. Once upstairs, the security guard let me and Mason in the green room, which was actually a pretty large room with deep blue walls, filled with sofas and lounge chairs.
"You alright, Elena?" Mason asked as I took in my appearance in the lit mirror across from the entrance to the room. A profound, dark blue stain soaked into my gold gown and dripped from the ends of my hair.
“Despite my pride being a little bruised, I think I’ll be okay,” I said meeting Mason’s sympathetic eyes in the mirror reflection. I spotted a hair dryer on the wall above the sink. “I think I’ll just try to hand wash this gown and dry it. I’ll just need a moment of privacy.”
Mason gave a curt nod, “Sure thing, boss.”
“Thanks, Mason,” I called as he exited the room.
I had enough time to strip off my gown and fill the sink with warm water when a knock sounded at my door. Before I even had the chance to cover myself, Melanie, Colton, and Ethan all invaded the room. Colton and Melanie barely noticed I was half naked since they saw me like this more often than you would imagine. Ethan, however, stopped in his tracks, his eyes raking down my body, pausing at my lacy strapless bra and lacy underwear, before turning his head, a warm flush creeping up his neck, mumbling his apologies.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Melanie said loudly to me over Ethan’s embarrassment as Colton tossed me a black garment bag. I held it up in front of me looking at them, questioningly. “That dress is a spare I had ordered for you a long time ago,” Melanie was saying, sitting down on a sofa and pulling out her phone to tap away on. “I always keep it with me in case there’s an emergency. Thank God I do.”
Ethan cleared his throat, still averting his eyes, “Elena, get changed and cleaned up. I’ll meet you back downstairs when you’re ready.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before backing out of the room.
“Good thing they kicked Kiya out,” Colton said angrily. “Or I’d spill the whole damn bar on her head.”
I just nodded while Colton continued to vent his feelings about how much he hated Kiya. Colton helped me put on the new dress – it wasn’t as eye-catching as my original, but it would do the job, I guessed. It was a long silky or satiny fabric, with a green and blue tropical vibe, the straps crisscrossing over my back. It fit me perfectly.
“I can’t imagine how negatively this will affect Kiya’s career,” Melanie pondered to no one in particular. “I mean, can you imagine if you got thrown out of the premiere after-party of a movie you were in by your producer after purposely spilling your drink all over the lead actress in the movie! It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! Of course, she’s also one of the dumbest people I’ve ever met, but…” Melanie continued to mumble insults about Kiya while continuing to mess with her phone.
With the dress on, Colton began fixing up my hair and makeup. Luckily for me, Colton had taken a year of theater at a college near home in Alabama before joining me in LA. One semester, he studied makeup art design and learned the basics. After about twenty minutes of pulling, cleaning and clipping, I finally looked presentable again.
I'd kept fairly quiet through the whole process, only speaking when necessary. Colton and Melanie had realized I didn't feel like talking and didn't pressure me to make conversation. As we descended the stairs, I noticed the party hadn't died down in the slightest since we disappeared. In fact, it looked as if it had increased in size. It was nearly two in the morning and the place was packed wall to wall. I didn't even want to be here anymore, let alone fight through a growing crowd. I decided I needed to find Ethan and get out of here before something worse happened tonight.
Melanie took off once we reached our table saying something about meeting Jennifer. Who knows which Jennifer she was talking about, most of the famous Jennifer’s were her clients.
I sat down next to Colton who slid over right next to me. “Lenny,” he said using his old nickname for me. “What’s wrong? This isn’t still about Kiya, is it? You can’t let her get to you. She’s just a …” A slew of curse words flew out of Colton’s mouth causing me to gasp.
“Colton!” I said. “Language! My virgin ears…”
“Oh, shush your virgin ears,” Colton said. “Your ears have heard much worse. Usually from your own mouth.” He stood up. “I’m going to go find us a waitress. Again. Service sucks here.” He turned and walked away leaving me alone at the table. I sighed and leaned back in my chair watching the partygoers around me, enjoying the temporary solitude, knowing it wouldn’t last long. I could never be alone in public for long.
“Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice spoke out above the music pulsing through the club. I turned to my right where the voice came from and spotted Anthony making his way around a nearby table to sit next to me. I sat up straighter as I took in his appearance, catching my breath. The way the club lights danced around us made his skin look tanner and his smile whiter. “Surprised you’re actually alone.”
I smiled and tried to look at him in a way I hoped was coy and alluring. “Well, I’m not alone now. Have a seat,” I invited him. “Colton’s just gone to get us some drinks.”
“I’d love to,” Anthony said, sitting down and scooting his chair right next to mine. He lifted his own glass up in the air to bring attention to it. “I’ve already had plenty of my poison tonight.”
“Oh really?” I said reaching for his glass. “And what is your poison, Anthony?” I sniffed the glass, a strong scent of whiskey hitting my nose. I pretended to cough. “Oh wow. Is that straight whiskey?”
“Only the best,” he said putting his hand over my fingers gripping his glass. He lightly tugged it back towards him, but I wouldn’t let it go.
"Not so fast," I said and pulled the glass out of his reach. "I need to try this." Anthony raised one eyebrow and smirked. I brought the glass to my lips and took a large drink while maintaining eye contact with Anthony. I lowered the glass and swallowed, the whiskey burning my throat and lighting my torso on fire as it traveled down to my stomach. He raised his eyebrow even more as if challenging me not to make a face or shudder. "Tasty," I said handing the glass back towards him without a grimace.
“Your acting really is exceptional, Elena,” he said and chuckled, placing his arm that wasn’t holding his drink along the back of my chair. “I almost believed you actually enjoyed that.”
“Hey!” I said suddenly. “We never got to finish our game!”
I felt Anthony’s hand lightly caress my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was the feather soft touch that made my head spin or all the drinks I had finally catching up with me. “Yes, I know,” he smiled. God, that smile was intoxicating. “I think because somebody liked to cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat!” I shouted. He laughed and took a sip, making no response. “Ok, we’ll start over. Truth or Dare, Anthony?” I leaned a bit closer to him, getting a hint of his delicious cologne.
“Truth,” he said, leaning even closer to me.
“Okay,” I said feeling mischievous. “What is your sexual fantasy?” Anthony raised his eyebrows and gave me a sexy, surprised smile.
“Oh, wow,” he said. “Right now or ever?” His hand continued to caress my bare shoulder, sending electricity through my body, my heart thumping loudly in my chest.
“Hm,” I said quietly. “Right now.”
“Well,” he leaned closer, whispering into my ear, his breath tickling my skin. “If I could do anything right now, I’d take you upstairs and take off this dress.” His other hand flicked the strap across my shoulder. My heart hammered. “Then I’d spend the rest of the night making you scream my name.” He looked me in the eye and I held my breath.
“Oh,” I said speechless. His words caused my insides to twist, a wanting need spiking straight to my core. Anthony traced his fingers up and down my arm.
“Elena,” he said quietly, still whispering in my ear as my head spun and my body felt magnetized towards him, his lips barely brushing my earlobe. “Your turn. Truth or dare?”
I gulped and turn to face him dead on so his face was maybe an inch from mine. I could see golden flakes in his chestnut eyes. “Dare,” I decided.
“Kiss me,” he said without hesitation. “Right here. In front of everyone. I dare you.” His breath was a mixture of mint and whiskey. Even with warning bells going off in my head and knowing it could end up on the cover of a tabloid, I leaned forward closing the short distance between us.
His lips touched mine softly at first, then increased, his tongue coaxing my mouth to open and enveloping mine. My head spun, my body was on fire, and I just wanted to steal him away and make his fantasy a reality. His hands abandoned his glass of whiskey, brushing up my arm, his fingers threading through my hair. A soft moan escaped me as I slid to the edge of my chair to get as close to him as I could.
“Ahem,” someone nearby interrupted us, making us separate instantly. I leaned further away from Anthony and looked across the table where Colton glowered at me.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Colton said. “But we need to move. Say goodbye, Elena. I’m going to find Ethan, Mel, and Alyssa to see if they need rides.” He narrowed his eyes at Anthony adding, “I’ll be quick.” With that, he turned and disappeared into the drunken crowd.
“Well,” I said turning back to face Anthony. “That was interesting.” Anthony smiled and traced his finger down my arm and grabbing my hand into his.
“A great end to an unbelievable weekend,” he said, running his thumb softly across the top of my hand.
“It doesn’t have to end,” I said boldly pulling my cell phone out of my gold clutch that clashed badly with the dress I had on, but at this moment I didn’t care. I opened up my contacts and selected the button to add a new contact, handing the phone to Anthony to put his number in.
“Wow,” Anthony mumbled as he typed in his digits. “If someone had told me how this weekend would play out, I never would have believed them.” He handed the phone back to me.
“Well, I should be going anyways," he continued. "I left Izzy with her grandmother at the hotel.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips along my cheek. “Call me, Elena.” He stood and turned to walk away, winking over his shoulder before disappearing, leaving me sitting there, already missing that devastating smile.
∞∞∞
“Completely reckless…tabloids will have a field day…don’t get paid enough…not a babysitter…” Colton was mumbling under his breath as we rode in the limo back to the Plaza Hotel. I was leaning against the door, feeling a little nauseous now that there wasn’t an attractive man around to distract me. Alyssa had gotten a ride with someone else and Colton said Ethan had gotten a ride back to the hotel already. That just left me, Mason, Melanie and Colton in the back as Marcus drove us across town.
"Colton, give it a rest," Melanie snapped. "There's no point stressing about it now. She's too drunk to care right now anyway." I wanted to speak up and tell her how sober I actually felt, but at that moment my stomach lurched and I dove for a small wastebasket, filling it with all the alcoholic drinks I had that night. Colton sighed angrily, reaching forward to pull my hair away from my face.
When I finally stopped getting sick, I lay down along the seat, moments away from passing out. Melanie, Colton, and Mason were all very quiet, just the sound of the radio playing softly. Before completely passing out, I heard Colton whisper, “Did you see Ethan’s face when he saw them?”
“No, but I can imagine,” Melanie whispered back.
“You know the only reason he left with that woman was because he saw Elena making out with that guy,” Colton said.
“Poor Ethan,” Mason murmured. The car got quiet again and I welcomed the silence and darkness as I finally passed out.