51. Aspen
Chapter 51
Aspen
P iers and Julie are hilarious, and they fit in perfectly with my family.
The big, blended group of us chats and laughs for what must be an hour, albeit the time quickly slips by, before we hear a loud tinkling of glass. Everyone turns in the direction of the sound in unison, which turns out to be Jack Mack, standing on a table clinking a butter knife against a champagne flute.
“Wow, I’ve never actually done that before. It’s surprisingly effective,” he says to scattered laughs.
“This party is for all of you, and I’m sure the last thing you want to hear is me talking at you, so I’ll keep this short. I just wanted to sincerely thank everyone in this room for the role that they played in Golden Hour ’s production. Whether you contributed directly by being an actor or crew member, or indirectly by supporting our actors and crew members, you helped make this film a reality, and I’m so grateful.
“If you know me well, you know that I’m living in fiction more than reality. I finished my first story at the age of twelve—which sounds pretty normal, until you hear that it was a two-hundred-thousand-word epic about anthropomorphic woodland animals who fight against a tyrannical human king.”
Murmurs of surprised “ohs” pass through the crowd.
“I know. Those little animals, as weird as they were, lit the spark that led to the fire of today. Since then, I’ve written several novels and hundreds of screenplays, although only a tiny fraction of those actually make it to this stage. I wrote the entire screenplay for Golden Hour in three days about two years ago when I had the flu. I didn’t intend for the project to go anywhere, and, in fact, it wouldn’t have gone anywhere if not for my wife, Gertrude.”
“He has a wife?” Grey whispers to me.
I shrug. “I guess so. How did we miss that?”
“I just assumed he was single,” Grey says.
I stifle a laugh before tuning back in to the speech.
“—Never expected it to get picked up. When it came to the early stages of casting, I knew I needed to have Aspen Jordan and Grey Aldridge. It’s imperative for you guys to know that the night before I started writing the movie, I was binging Fairview Ridge —a masterpiece, by the way—so it was never a question to me that Rosie needed to be played by Aspen. Grey was the inspiration for Declan, because my wife was reading a magazine next to me with his face and washboard abs on it. Not that I looked. Anyway, I thought I’d be lucky enough to cast one of them, much less both. So, can we all take a moment to recognize Aspen and Grey for not only inspiring me, but also literally turning my fever-dream-induced story into a reality?”
Everyone turns to look at us and I feel my face flush. Grey squeezes my waist and beams proudly, waving to everyone. My family—and Piers and Julie—cheer with their whole hearts, Willow applauding louder than anyone.
“We love you, Macky,” Grey shouts.
“Thank you, Grey, and everyone. Anyway, I’ll shut up now. Just wanted to let everyone know how grateful I am, and how special this entire experience was for me. I’ll open the floor to anyone else who wants to say a few words?” he says, ending in a lilting tone to make it sound like a question.
“I’ll go,” Grey projects.
“Grey Aldridge, everyone,” Jack says before downing his champagne and nimbly hopping off the table.
“I’m not standing on a table, though,” Grey says to scattered laughter. “I just wanted to throw in my own words of thanks to everyone here. Most importantly to Jack, who not only wrote and directed this film, but also introduced me to the most wonderful girl in the world?—”
The crowd “aws.”
“—Leslie Thrower,” he finishes, referencing one of the sound techs. Leslie is a sixty-something-year-old woman who single-handedly keeps the tobacco industry afloat.
“Amen,” someone shouts from across the room in a raspy tone that sounds suspiciously like Leslie herself.
“Sadly, Leslie denied my many advances, so I had to move on to my second choice, the lovely Aspen Jordan.”
The crowd erupts in laughter. Grey sneaks a look at me and winks, smiling broadly with pride in his own joke.
“I think I’ll say a few words too,” I say, surprising even myself. I already feel color rising to my cheeks as everyone’s attention turns to me, but I ignore it. “First of all, Grey begged me to go out with him, just to make that clear.”
The crowd laughs again.
“But on a more serious note, this was the first film I’ve ever been in, much less starred in. As you can imagine, walking onto set on the first day of filming was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience. But everyone here, whether cast or crew, was so nice and welcoming that the Golden Hour set quickly felt like a second home. Well, except for Grey, who put fake snakes outside my trailer and scared me half to death. Must have been during his Leslie-phase. Anyway, thank you all from the bottom of my heart—I'll never forget this experience. For the rest of my life I will be grateful to have played the part of Rosie, and this film will always be special to me. So, I'd like to raise my glass to Golden Hour and every single person here tonight.”
Everyone raises their glasses along with me, whooping and cheering.
Grey leans in and kisses me on the cheek as the crowd roars around us.
I whisper to him affectionately, “I’m also happy to have played the part of your girlfriend.”
“Are you breaking up with me right now?” he jokes.
“Of course not. Well, at least not until I’m contractually obligated to start dating my next costar.”
“Fuck.”