Chapter 18
18
KARA & OLLIE
Glasgow Airport – 2014
‘Kill me. Kill me now. Put me out of my misery,’ Kara groaned. ‘I’ll miss my twenty-first birthday, but at least I’d be spared this eternal embarrassment.’
Ollie was finding the whole thing hilarious. ‘I would, but then I’ll have no one to call if it all goes to shit. Besides, my ego is loving this.’
They both turned their focus back to Jacinta McIntyre, who was speaking to both the people in front of them, and the people behind them in the check-in queue at Glasgow Airport. ‘Yes, he’s my nephew. Ollie Chiles. Remember the name because he’s going to be a huge star. He’s off to Los Angeles to audition for a part in a movie. I can’t say what it is – confidential. Isn’t that right, Ollie?’
Standing a few feet away, he watched all eyes fall on him and he felt himself blush.
‘That’s right,’ he said, practising his best actor-like grin.
Beside him, Kara was still in a state of high-grade embarrassment. ‘She’s a beamer, she really is. Why does she have to make herself the centre of attention every time? It’s mortifying. I’m really sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise. This might be the closest I ever get to stardom. If I don’t land this part I’ll be back in a week looking for a job.’
A shudder went down his spine as he said that, and he immediately regretted even vocalising the thought. The truth was, he had to get this job, because he had nothing else. No other options. No plan B. He’d just completed four years of drama school – he’d got accepted at sixteen because he had aced his Highers and given the best audition of his life – and the roles out there for a twenty-year-old, six foot two Scotsman with a Glaswegian accent, were pretty few and far between. Besides, he’d been living in Aunt Jacinta’s box room since his mum left to take up her job on the cruise ships, and it was the size of a large cupboard. It was going to be worth going all the way to America just to get a couple of nights in a proper bed, at someone else’s expense.
The casting scouts sent over from the USA had auditioned just about every Scottish aspiring actor his age. The role was a small part on the latest movie in The Clansman series, based on the books that big shot Hollywood writer and producer Mirren McLean had written and adapted for screen. They’d all become huge global hits, a bit like Mission Impossible or Bond, but set in sixteenth-century Scotland and with a lot more blood and gore. It was a pretty small role, but the rumour was that the studios had decided to break the books down into a spin-off TV series, and if that went ahead, they’d go into production in the next couple of years. To get a part on a recurring TV show was what Ollie had been dreaming about his whole life, and he’d be one step closer if he at least got his foot in the door with the studio and the production team and especially with Mirren. If she liked him, she might keep him in mind when she was casting the new show. Anyway, that was a pipe dream for the future. He had to get this part in the movie first. He already knew that he was one of three actors who were being flown over to the Clansman production offices for a final interview. A 30 per cent chance of getting his first decent step on the ladder.
He was excited about every single aspect of this, except leaving Kara. It would be like losing a limb. Or, say, his DVD player. Or his original signed Guns N’ Roses poster.
They finally reached the front of the queue, and of course, Jacinta led the way. ‘Ollie, hand over your passport and ticket and put your suitcase on this belt here,’ she said, before turning to the airline agent. ‘This is my nephew, Ollie Chiles. He’s on his way to America…’ and there she was, off again.
Kara dropped her head onto his shoulder and groaned. ‘I can’t take any more. Save me. Take me with you.’
That made him laugh, mostly because he absolutely knew she was joking. Kara was in her second year at The Royal Conservatoire, studying costume design, but she’d already landed a part-time role as an assistant in the wardrobe department at the Clydeside Studio. It was an entry-level role and didn’t come close to utilising her talents, but he knew his mate – she’d work her arse off and she’d win everyone over and by the time she graduated and needed a full-time role, they’d definitely offer her a job. He was sure of it.
The woman behind the check-in desk handed back his passport with his boarding pass and an encouraging smile. ‘There you go. And good luck in Hollywood. I hope we’ll see you in the cinema soon.’
She was just being nice, but Jacinta loved every second of it. ‘Oh, you definitely will. You remember this face!’ she said, pointing to his cheeks.
Okay, so he was beginning to think Kara was right, and Jacinta was mortifying, but she meant well.
They took the escalator up to the departures floor. Drea had already been despatched to the café up there to save a table.
‘Right then, I need to go to the ladies’ and then I’ll meet you both in the café. I told Drea to get cans of Coke and some crisps for you two and make sure she remembered that I want three Sweetex in my tea.’
With that, Jacinta swanned off in the direction of the toilets, her floaty kaftan wafting behind her.
Kara took his hand and dragged him over to the floor to ceiling windows that over-looked the runway and the tarmac that currently housed at least a dozen planes. ‘Which one do you think is yours?’ she wondered, aloud, while Ollie got slightly distracted by three stunning flight attendants who were walking by, one of whom gave him the most beautiful smile.
He felt a punch to the side of the arm. ‘Yo! Can you at least wait until you’re on the plane before you start flirting? This is supposed to be our big sad farewell and you’re already distracted. Honest to God, you’re like a puppy with too many shiny new toys.’
Of course, it was Kara, so she was just taking the piss and laughing as she said it. And she wasn’t finished.
‘You do know it’s 2014 and you’re no longer allowed to objectify women like that?’ she said, with an arched eyebrow.
‘Objectify? I was just being friendly. Last time I checked, that was still allowed.’
‘Only today, and only because you’re leaving and only because I’m going to miss you soooooo much. But I know you’re going to do great. Do you want your pep talk now or will I just write it all in a note, so you don’t forget it?’
‘A note. Definitely. That way, I can read it every time I get a door slammed in my face.’
‘That’s not going to happen,’ she said, with such conviction it was impossible not to believe her.
Ollie was going to miss her too. She’d been his number one supporter for as long as he could remember and if someone’s belief in you could make you successful, then he was destined for big things because she’d been telling him he was great their whole lives. And he’d been doing it straight back.
His mates had always given him stick for having a best pal who was a girl, but he couldn’t care less. Besides, although they weren’t actually related, they were family, so she counted as more of a sister than just a friend.
‘But come on…’ his mate Ross said at least once a month. ‘You must have got off with her at least once. Or even just thought about it.’
Ollie shook his head and told him to stop being a tosser every time. He just didn’t think of her that way. And she didn’t think of him like that either.
‘I think that one’s yours,’ she said, pointing to a British Airways plane to their right. He was flying BA to London, then on to Los Angeles. ‘Oh, I meant to say, I met your pal, Ross, today. He said to tell you goodbye, and that he was taking your place as striker on the football team, and that he still doesn’t believe you and I never hooked up. He tells me that every time he sees me.’
‘He thinks we’re weirdos,’ Ollie told her. ‘He’s probably right.’
It would be the easiest thing in the world for them to have got together in that way. They’d even talked about it a few times over the last few years, usually when they were drunk after too many snakebites at the student bar.
‘Never going to happen,’ Kara said, every single time. Sometimes she’d elaborate. Last time they’d discussed it had been a few months before, when he’d been hanging out with her at a pub in the West End near her uni, and she’d gone into fairly incontrovertible detail.
‘And I’ll tell you why,’ she’d said, before chugging back another drink.
‘Tell me,’ he’d replied, amused.
Her snakebite – a potent mixture of lager, cider and blackcurrant – was getting dangerously close to tipping over the edge of the glass, because she was talking with her hands, as always.
‘Well, because… a) I don’t fancy you. Sorry. Will I scar you for life if I say that because it questions your firm belief that there isn’t a woman on earth who can resist that face and that charm?’
He’d feigned devastation. ‘I might never leave the house again.’
That had made her chuckle, before she got back to the point.
‘Okay, well… b) I know all your bad habits.’ She’d ticked that off on her fingers. ‘And c) – brace yourself because this is major.’ She did a drum roll with her hands on the pub table. ‘We could never split up. Never ever. Because if we did, we’d lose our best mate and that’s just not worth it.’
Even thinking about that prospect made him feel a bit sick inside.
‘And did you hear the bit where I don’t fancy you?’ she’d checked, teasing him while finding herself highly hilarious. Snakebites did that to her.
A quick glance at the huge clock on the wall to the side of them jolted him back to the present, and the busy departures area at Glasgow Airport.
‘Shit! I’m boarding in fifteen minutes and I’m not even through security yet.’
Kara’s chin dropped. ‘Noooooo! We didn’t even make it to the café.’
She threw her arms around him. ‘I love you, Ollie Chiles. You’re going to be brilliant. A huge, big, massive success. And then you’ll come back to Glasgow and scoop me up so that I can design all the costumes for your movies. Not that I’m making it about me.’
He squeezed her tightly and that was normally the point where he’d come out with some daft comment to make her laugh. Not today.
‘I love you too, Kara McIntyre. Don’t get swept off your feet by some smart bloke and forget about me.’
‘Oh, I’ll have done that by tonight,’ she teased him, just as her mum and Drea came rushing over. They both smothered him with hugs and kissed. Even Drea. ‘The café queue was a mile long and just when I got near to the front, I realised it’s time for you to go.’ she wailed.
‘No worries, I’ll get something on the plane. Okay, time to shift.’ He put his arms around Kara again.
‘Thanks for being you, and thanks for… you know, always being team Ollie.’
‘Team Ollie? Will your head be okay going through that door?’
He was still laughing when he released her and picked up his carry-on backpack. With a final wave, he turned to go, and that was when she body slammed him with another hug.
‘You take care, Ollie Chiles,’ she said, her voice husky. ‘And come back safe and in one piece, because you never know… Maybe one of these days I’ll fancy you.’
‘And maybe one of these days I’ll fancy you too,’ he shot back, grinning, before turning, and walking away.
But he was pretty sure that neither of them could ever imagine a day when that would be true.