14. Charlie
14
CHARLIE
I get to the office late the next morning.
Merlin hogged the bathroom for a good forty-five minutes to give Jasper his ‘monthly bath’. I stood there pounding on the door in my boxers, but he didn’t hear me as he had his earbuds in, listening to a podcast about the Mary Celeste. Merlin, that is, not Jasper. As far as I know, snakes don’t have much interest in nineteenth-century ghost ships. Actually, I’m not even 100 per cent sure snakes have ears.
Anyway, the Tube was screwed too – of course – so by the time I’ve sprinted through the main office entrance and out of the lift, I’m panting and sweating like I’ve just run a marathon. I head straight for the writers’ nook, hoping that Bishi won’t be too pissed off with me. She seems like the kind of person who does not tolerate tardiness. As I turn the corner into the nook though I see that the whole place is completely empty. I peer into the writers’ room: the Post-its on the wall have been jumbled about since yesterday – some taken down, some new ones stuck up. They must have pitched Lina their sketch ideas, and she’s clearly had her say about which to keep and which to cut.
I head back down the corridor to the little office kitchen for a much-needed glass of water. But as I’m filling a cup from the tap, I hear a voice from behind me:
‘That’s my boss’s mug.’
I turn around to see a very attractive girl standing in the doorway. Not Nell – another one. Is this building exclusively populated by attractive women?
‘Oh. Sorry.’ I tip the water out and hand the mug to her, wishing I wasn’t quite so sweaty.
‘That’s OK. My boss loses her shit if anyone else drinks from it.’ She rolls her eyes as she takes the cup from me. ‘She’s super-anal like that.’
‘So, why does she keep it in the shared kitchen?’ I ask.
She shrugs. ‘I think mainly as an excuse to lose her shit.’
I laugh as the girl reaches past me to pick out another mug from the cupboard. Maybe she’s . . . very, very attractive, actually. There’s something kind of Anya Taylor-Joy-ish about her. Like she could be a hot elf extra in Lord of the Rings.
‘OK, noted,’ I say, grabbing myself a new cup. ‘Never touch the mug with the blue flowers on it.’
‘Thank you.’ She switches on the kettle. ‘So, has your boss got a mug I should avoid?’
‘How do you know I’m not the boss myself?’ I shoot back cockily.
She gives a surprised laugh and I notice her cheeks flush as her smile widens.
I’m about to ask her name when three much older blokes walk in – actual bosses, I assume – all talking very loudly about some presentation they’re due to give this morning. The chance for any further casual flirting seems to have evaporated, so I just nod at the girl and say, ‘Nice to meet you,’ as I head back out.
That smile is still on her lips as she murmurs, ‘You too.’
I’m grinning all the way back down the corridor. After getting the cold shoulder from Nell all yesterday, it’s nice to be reminded that I haven’t entirely lost my game.
When I get back to my desk, there’s still no one else in the nook. But I notice my computer has a Post-it stuck to it:
Hi, Charlie – come down to the edit suite when you arrive – we’re all down here.
And FANTASTIC work!
Bishi
A little jolt of pride shoots through me. They must have seen my vox pops from yesterday. Maybe a few of them will even get played on the show tonight.
As I step out of the lift on the lower-ground floor, I realise I’ve not been down to the studio level before, and for the first time it feels like I’m actually in a place that makes TV shows. The offices upstairs look like pretty much every other office I’ve ever seen – but down here it’s all windy little corridors littered with half-built pieces of set, boxes of complex-looking camera equipment, and people hurrying back and forth carrying ridiculous costumes and wigs. As I traipse towards the edit suite, I spot a couple of the actors I’ve seen on the show walking past me, talking in low voices about how Lina is already in the building.
I ask a burly bloke emerging from a door marked ‘PROPS CUPBOARD’ where the edit suite is, and he points me down to the very end of the corridor. I knock on the door and hear a muffled ‘Come in!’ I step inside to see an entire wall of computer screens, all of them showing the Punching Up logo. Everyone’s already in here – Bishi, Nate, Noah and the rest of the writers. And Nell. She’s standing a little apart from the rest of them. And she’s the only one not grinning at me.
There’s a smattering of applause from everyone else, which feels weird, but good weird.
‘There he is!’ Nate bounces across to fist-bump me. ‘Legend. Absolute legend. You smashed it, Charlie.’
‘So good,’ says Rich. ‘Amazing work, man.’
‘Cheers!’ I’m actually glad it’s so dark in here – no one can see my cheeks flush.
‘We’re just putting the finishing touches to your piece now.’ Nate nudges the guy sitting in front of all the computer screens. ‘Junior, mate – can you whizz it back one more time to show Charlie?’
Junior hits a button and I wait to see which of my vox pops they’ve decided to open with. But none of them come up. What does come up is a face.
Ed Sheeran’s face.
Ed Sheeran, sitting in a recording booth, holding an acoustic guitar. Ed Sheeran smiles into the camera and says, ‘Hey, Lina! I’m not sure if you know this, but I’ve been a fan of yours for the longest time. So when the guys at Punching Up got in touch to say you were hosting, I thought I’d film something as a little tribute to you. I hope you like it.’
He begins plucking at his guitar and singing Lina’s biggest hit. I stare at Nate and the rest of them dumbly, hoping somebody will explain the mix-up. Surely Junior has just hit the wrong clip? But everyone in the room is beaming back at me. Except, as usual, for Nell. I notice Talia glance over at her, a concerned look on her face.
What the hell is going on?
‘Your dad sent it over late last night,’ Nate says. ‘He said it was all your idea.’
‘Oh, erm . . . yeah.’ The words fall out of me automatically. My stomach clenches like a fist as the realisation begins to sink in. This is no mix-up.
‘Lina’s already seen it,’ Anna says. ‘She’s going nuts – she loves it!’
‘That’s awesome,’ I offer meekly. I suddenly want to get out of here. Have they watched any of my actual videos – the clips I spent all of yesterday collecting?
Have they even watched Nell’s?
I glance at her again, and she mutters something about needing to get some air. She brushes past me, and instantly I turn to follow her. I feel like I have to explain. And then I have to talk to Nick.
But as I duck out into the corridor, I hear voices behind me. I spin round to see a face I’ve only previously seen on TV and in magazines. It’s actually surreal seeing her up close, in real life.
‘Lina! This is Charlie, our intern.’ Nate clasps me by the shoulders from behind. ‘He’s the one that sorted the Ed video for you!’
Lina is surrounded by an entourage of smartly dressed, slightly intimidating-looking women, all clutching iPhones and Starbucks cups. As soon as Nate introduces me, she squeals and breaks out into a huge smile. ‘Oh my God, thank you!’ She steps towards me and hugs me. She smells incredible – sort of lemony and coconutty. ‘Ed is my absolute hero!’ she says. ‘I can’t tell you how amazing that video is!’
‘Erm, yeah, no worries,’ I mumble. ‘I’m really glad you liked it.’
One of her entourage snaps a picture of us. ‘For her Story,’ she explains. I nod, but I’m not massively keen on that. Isn’t Lina going out with some famous rapper? Not sure I want a famous rapper thinking I’m making a move on his girlfriend.
She pulls away, and I take a quick glance behind me to see Nell disappearing through another door down the end of the corridor. She clearly heard the whole thing. Lina is still giving me the full power of her 100-watt megastar beam though, so I can’t exactly go and chase after her.
Luckily, Nate steps in. ‘Cool, so, Lina – if it’s OK with you, we were thinking we’d do a quick run-through of the sketch running order for tonight?’
‘Of course.’ She nods, before giving me one more flash of her superstar smile. ‘Thanks again, Charlie.’
‘No problem.’
As Lina turns, Nate raises his eyebrows and shoots me a you’re-in-there-mate leer, which seems a bit inappropriate, but I smile back regardless. He and the writers head off towards the stage with Lina and her team in tow. My face still flushed from all the attention, I bolt in the opposite direction to see if I can catch up with Nell. I don’t even know what I’ll say to her if I do find her. I’m still trying to process what actually happened in there. I just feel I owe her an explanation – even if I don’t know exactly what that explanation is.
When I push open the doors I saw her go through though she’s nowhere to be seen. This corridor only leads to some toilets, a staircase and the lift.
‘Shit,’ I mutter.
I’m trying desperately to get my head around the situation. I told Nick about the vox pops assignment. He knew I was out collecting clips for it – he knew I had it covered. So what the hell is with this Ed Sheeran thing? Is he trying to one-up me? Or was he so sure I’d screw up that he sorted me a back-up? I flush with shame. Turns out we don’t even need to be in the same room for him to make me feel like a useless little kid. I go to pull out my phone to call him, but the distant ‘ding’ of the lift stops me.
He’s right here, in this building. Top floor.