Chapter 12 #2
I dashed out of the office and strolled to the rehearsal space in the most casual gait I could manage. Kathleen and Michael were in the middle of one of their scenes when I walked in, so I sat down next to Henry and Ashlee and did my best to look regular. Just an average member of the cast.
“Are you OK?” Ashlee whispered, so it seemed I had not nailed it.
Yes, I sometimes whined when Erica summoned my styling team, but the truth was that occasionally I loved it.
There was nothing like a room full of experts taking care of me.
It was a good way to spend time, and when I emerged from the lounge, I felt the most centered I had all day. In no way feral at all.
Neil and Stephanie were already in the lobby, and they waved me over when I stepped off the elevator.
Neil was in a jacket and button-down with jeans, and Stephanie was in a patterned jumpsuit, so my stylist had absolutely struck the right note with a cashmere sage-green maxi dress with silk platform sandals that were just a touch more badass than they were pretty, my absolute sweet spot whenever I could get away with it.
If it were a Pantheon event, I’d be in my usual palette of neutrals and sweet pastels, but greens were my go-to the rest of the time.
I preferred how I looked in blacks, grays, charcoals, but when I’d mentioned this, early on, to Erica, she’d snapped What do you think you are, a goth? and that was that.
“We clean up well,” Stephanie said with a grin.
“You two do.” Neil shook his head. “I just threw this jacket over regular clothes.”
“I was going to say that men have it so easy,” Stephanie said, “but this is a knit one-piece. I know it looks nice but I feel like I’m wearing pajamas.”
“The dream,” I said. “I love a jumpsuit!”
“Do we have any intel on these donors?” Stephanie asked. “I’ve only done a few of these, and it’s always so awkward. Should I admit that?”
“It’s extremely awkward,” Neil said, “but you don’t have a job like mine without getting used to them. No intel really. The nice thing is that everyone in this group loves the arts, loves getting unrestrained access to us, has already donated a ton. We can head over as soon as Rebecca’s here.”
I nodded casually, wondered if Rebecca was in Gertie and Leroy’s office now, still in her jeans and striped T-shirt or slipping into that black suit, or some state of undress in between.
Also wondering how casual I actually looked, given the images flashing in my mind’s eye.
It wasn’t as if I’d never worked with someone attractive before.
I literally worked in Hollywood. Everyone was attractive!
It was easy to pretend to wonder why this was different.
“Am I late? I’m sorry, my session with the team ran over and—”
All of a sudden the elevator doors opened and Rebecca was striding toward us, perfectly tailored suit over crisp white button-down finished off with a patterned Hermès scarf knotted like an ascot.
Her hair was loose, and fell casually past her shoulders.
I’d never seen her in heels in person before, and they put her over six-foot tall.
“Damn,” Neil said in a manner that was somehow respectful and not leering. “You look like James Bond.”
“James Bond wishes,” I murmured as Rebecca thanked Neil, but from the way they turned to look my way, it was apparent my murmuring was louder than I’d planned—thanks, weeks of play rehearsal!—and also why was I murmuring my thirsty thoughts to begin with?
“Way to make my jacket look like shit,” Neil said, hopefully erasing all lasting memories of whatever that was.
Rebecca laughed. “I told you that all you need is a good tailor, Neil.”
“Touché,” he said with a laugh, as the DTA events coordinator guided the four of us outside to the DTA courtyard.
The complex’s fine-dining restaurant, Sylvie’s, had set up a rearranged patio dining room with two large tables near a podium.
Even though it was Los Angeles, a city that did not favor punctuality, older crowds tended to show up on time, and the tables were already mostly full of patrons in cocktail attire.
“We won’t talk long,” the events coordinator said, leading us over to the podium. We? “Everyone really wants to focus on drinking, eating, meeting all of you. So just say a few words.”
“Sorry,” I said, pausing for a moment. My team definitely did not care about theatre, considering that this hadn’t merited a prepared speech or even a mention. “I must have missed that I’m speaking tonight.”
“I’ll do the heavy lifting,” Neil said with a smile. “Then Steph will say something brilliant about her script, Rebecca will impress everyone with her tailor’s work—”
“Thank you,” Rebecca said with a little bow.
“—and since you’re a beautiful movie star, you literally can go up there and say anything and it’ll be great,” Neil said, again, in a way that wasn’t disrespectful. He was very good at compliments.
“I don’t think I can fully communicate how rarely I speak in public without having my words written by a team of PR professionals,” I said. “I’m—well, to say out of practice implies there was a time I did this often.”
“So here’s how it’ll go,” Rebecca said, even though the events coordinator’s mouth was open to say something.
“Neil will do the heavy lifting, thank you to Neil. Steph will say something brilliant and heartwarming about her script that’ll make the donors itch to give more.
I will say how thrilled I am to work on Steph’s beautiful show with an incredible cast, including you, and you can literally just thank me and thank the DTA donors, and then we’re all done. ”
“That sounds great,” the events coordinator said, though I could tell she was annoyed that Neil and Rebecca had taken the reins. “After that, you can get seated. Neil and Stephanie, you’re at table one, Rebecca and Tess, you’re at table two.”
I glanced at Rebecca, who made eye contact with me before I could dwell on the statistical probability that I’d make it through this evening without another truly bananas moment. It had to be low, though, of that I was certain.
The speeches went exactly as Neil and Rebecca had outlined, and it was easy to say how grateful I was to be there and how much I loved being a part of the show. Rebecca eyed me as I stepped down from the podium, and I wondered if it had only felt easy because I’d messed something up.
“What?” I asked, sounding more panicked than I’d intended, and Rebecca held up her hand as if to say Calm down, Gardner.
“It was only that you seemed so nervous,” she said. “And you were great.”
“Thank you,” I said, in what I could tell was a too-grateful tone, as the events coordinator moved in to usher us to our tables. Unfortunately Rebecca and I were seated directly across from one another. There was nowhere to hide.
As expected, the dinner started off with both salad as well as requests from almost everyone for a selfie for their kids or grandkids.
I genuinely never minded in situations like this, where my fame was the draw and this was my job.
Princess Platinum knew how to deliver. It was also very difficult to accidentally stare at Rebecca while continuously standing up for photos.
“So, Rebecca,” an older man said, and Rebecca turned from her quieter conversation with the woman seated next to her. “Your career seems very impressive. How did you get started as a female director?”
I made eye contact with her, unintentionally, but I saw the twitch of a smile in her brown eyes and held her gaze. In this moment it was hard to be annoyed at how gorgeous she was. In this moment I let myself enjoy it a little.
“I actually started out as an actor,” Rebecca said, and took a sip of wine.
“That path wasn’t going great for me, and I’d gotten a gig assisting with the theatre program at a private school in Manhattan.
It sounds silly, I know, but I was honestly having a much better time helping kids master their monologues and learn about stage combat than any acting gigs I was able to book. ”
I felt myself storing this away, a fact about Rebecca I’d never heard before, into a curated collection of everything I knew. It reminded me of therapy, when I’d be desperate for whatever tidbits I could glean about my therapists’ personal lives, before time ran out and I fired them.
“The lead of the program asked me to AD their next show—assistant direct, that is,” Rebecca continued, “and by the next school year, I’d started directing.
I love kids and how earnest and excited they are, but I figured if I was having that much fun that maybe I should think about a new career goal and see about working with adults. ”
“And that was that,” the woman next to Rebecca said, leaning in as if no one had ever said something so interesting in her presence.
I didn’t know why I was surprised by this; Rebecca wasn’t only extremely hot, she was a name.
Imagine walking around looking like and being Rebecca Frisch!
Good for Rebecca! Why would it matter if she weren’t single? How would it affect me at all?
“Not quite,” Rebecca said with a smile that didn’t entirely reach her eyes. “But close, sure. What about you, Gardner? How did you get started as a female actor?”
I held back a laugh and told the table about that production of Alice in Wonderland back in grade school.
“You must have been Alice,” an older woman said. “Perfect casting, with your blonde hair.”
“I was Alice,” I said, trying not to notice that the woman across the table from me was now talking softly to Rebecca, their own private conversation. “Though I wanted to be the Queen of Hearts.”
“No,” the older woman said quickly, as if I’d suggested actually taking off someone’s head. “You’re too pretty for that.”
Rebecca turned back to the table with a grin. “Oh, come on. Who doesn’t love a pretty villain?”