Epilogue
Helena
“Yes, I’m coming,” I said irritably over the phone, as Linyue chattered about the ride pulling up outside. I covered the mouthpiece and shot a smile at my stylist Lydia and a quiet thanks as I pushed out the door towards the lobby. “I’ll be there in one second.”
“You’re not famous enough to be fashionably late, Ms. Warrick.”
“Then pray you don’t make me late, Linyue. I’m hanging up now.”
“Oh, one more thing—”
“Text it. Talk later,” I said, and I hung up, slipping the phone into my clutch as I turned the corner to the lobby and found my heart jump at the sight of Julie standing there by the doors, looking extremely smart in a well-fitted tuxedo, her makeup done beautifully, talking and laughing together with a woman from the studio team who she seemed to promptly forget about as soon as I walked into the room.
I was never getting tired of that. Julie looked at me like it was the first time she’d ever seen me, and she stared wide-eyed with a growing smile, only realizing after a second that she’d missed something her friend with her had said.
She laughed nervously, finally actually responding, but the staffer gestured to me with a joking comment that had Julie slightly red-faced, waving her off as I crossed the room.
“And what’s this?” I said, my voice a low, playful tease as I slipped the lapel of her jacket between my fingers. “You look nice. Nice enough even the staff can’t keep their hands off you. You wouldn’t like me when I’m jealous, darling.”
“She wasn’t hitting on me. Although you getting jealous is really good for my ego, especially when you look like that. Maybe I should be pretending she was.”
“Let’s not play dangerous games. Sadly, we don’t have enough time for me to stake my claim.”
“Ah—um.” She coughed into her hand, suddenly very red.
She knew full well I had fucked her in a studio before and that I would do it again, and that with the way she was looking at me—and the way she was looking—I would absolutely do it again right now, if the driver weren’t idling outside. “Maybe, er, maybe later.”
“Oh, I plan on it,” I laughed. “I’m going to have quite a bit of pent-up energy.”
“Well. Whatever will we do with that, I wonder?” She let her eyes glide down and up my body, looking over the long, sleek silver dress I was wearing, clearly appreciative. I dropped my voice.
“Miss our ride, if you keep looking at me like that.”
“Shit, I forgot the car. And the event.”
I laughed, and I kissed her cheek, light and swift so as not to ruin anyone’s makeup.
I took her hand—a bit of a reach, with my sky-high heels and Julie’s flats exacerbating our height difference—and we stepped outside to the cold November wind, where the car was idling in the front.
Julie stopped, and I turned to laugh at the look on her face.
“Try not to look too starstruck over a limousine, darling. The cameras are brutal at these events, and it doesn’t do to be caught out looking impressed.”
“Ah, just… Kingmaker is going to be so smug.”
“Kingmaker? What’s he got to do with this?”
“Back when we first met, he insisted on my goal of riding a limousine drinking champagne with my… hot… supermodel girlfriend.”
I laughed, tugging her towards the car. “Well, we’re not having champagne quite yet, but it will be at the afterparty, so you’re taking things one piece at a time. You can report back to Kingmaker another time.”
“Maybe let’s swing by Tasty Slice on the way back and see if he’s there scheming something.”
“Hm. Maybe the driver will be amenable. I’m curious what Tubman’s up to.”
She joined me in the limousine, and I settled in against the side, letting out a shaky breath and trying to relax once we were moving. Julie squeezed my hand, moving closer to me.
“You’re going to kill it.”
I smiled tiredly at her. “Not much to kill. I’m not one of the big stars, and most people are going to be looking past me. But it’s been a while since I last had a movie premiere. And I’ve never brought a partner to one…”
She laughed, pressing closer into my side. “Relax, Freckles. You could trip and fall right there on the red carpet, and still nobody would notice anything from the shots of us except how tiny your girlfriend is. I’m there to make you look tall and sexy and imposing.”
“Being short does not make you any less sexy and beautiful and absolutely red-carpet-worthy, but yes, I do imagine people will be commenting on that.”
“I know you’re only just easing back into it, but you’re a really good actor. And you’re really good at press events. You always have been.”
I kissed the side of her head. “I’ll just feel better once this is done,” I said. “And you? You’re not too nervous? I mean, I’m pretty sure this is your first, unless I’ve been sleeping on the film industry out of Benley, Missouri.”
“I mean, Benley’s got Hollywood on its knees, I’ll say that, but you know me, I’m just on the business side, so sadly I must say this is my first time attending.
” She shrugged. “I’m chill, though. I’m just walking in there with my incredibly hot girlfriend who I love and obsess over, and I get to watch everybody else confirm that I have the hottest girlfriend ever. ”
“You’re going to be watching everyone think the leads are much hotter than me.”
“Then I’ll dive into the press crowds and beat them all up, but I feel confident about the fight. Lower center of gravity, you know. I can get their legs.”
I laughed. She had a way of getting through to me, and eventually, I did relax.
It’d be fine. Just like everything always was with Julie there. Houdini really did have a few magic tricks.
The event was already alive with activity once we arrived, the press crowding in all around, and I gave Julie a loaded look, are you ready without saying a word.
She gave me that easy, confident smile that said I’m ready for anything without saying a word, and I kissed her once before they opened the limo door, and I stepped out and helped Julie out after me, cameras flashing.
More of them than I’d expected, actually.
I hadn’t expected my… professional dalliances over the last two years to spill over to increased interest in the modeling and acting world, but I guess Shiyun was big enough people noticed me.
I minded my angles while I walked, and Julie kept up well next to me, having gotten rigorous training from Linyue on being red-carpet-ready.
I could only imagine Linyue had been preparing that rigorous training ever since she’d given me the call that I was cast for this movie, or probably even since she booked me the audition, or honestly, probably from the moment I told her I’d like to go back into acting.
I’d had a few smaller things to ease me back into it, lower-profile roles for TV, but this movie had been my long shot, and I made the mark.
I wasn’t the lead actress, and frankly I didn’t want to be—for right now I was very content, enough of the main cast to get the red carpet treatment and the afterparty, but not so much that managing the professional aftermath would be a full-time job.
Specifically, I’d gotten the part of the crazy ex-wife who threatened to kill her ex-husband with a knife. Julie had been bouncing with excitement for weeks now to see me threaten to stab a man.
Julie and I both handled the event well, going through the entry smoothly and then working with the staff, coordinating how we moved through the event.
I got pulled into interviews, tugged into live feeds to say hello, got an interview together with the lead actor who I’d threatened to kill with a knife where we all joked about it with the interviewer, and Julie did a good job of orbiting without being affixed to me, staying close to me and managing herself in the space when she needed to.
She chatted with some of the industry figures as well, and even made friends with one of the interviewers who wanted to ask about our relationship, and we weaved together through the course of it, reuniting for the occasional joint appearance, checking in with the event staff, on and on until finally, at last, we were in the theater for the showing.
Normally I felt awkward in a showing. I’d only had a couple of movie appearances before, but it was always strange seeing my face on such a big screen and knowing all my colleagues were also looking at my face and actively judging my performance.
I never looked quite like me on the silver screen, and it was never actively bad, just strange.
But this time, I got to sneak a glance in the low lights of Julie’s excitement next to me seeing me come on the screen, and that was enough that I actually started looking forward to my face showing up.
And she looked like a kid on Christmas morning when the scene finally arrived where I cornered my ex-husband with the knife gleaming in my hand. I guess I was glad to have a girlfriend who would support me if I decided to start murdering people.
“That was so hot,” Julie said, once we were out of the screening and on our way to the afterparty. “Can you threaten to stab me, too?”
I squeezed her hand. “Absolutely not, dear.”
“I’m not asking you to actually stab me. You’re just hot with murder in your eyes!”
The afterparty was electric, the tension of the premiere finally dissolved out of me and leaving me in the celebratory mood of the space around us.
It was a beautiful rooftop venue that took me back a little bit to when Julie and I had first met, and we mingled with the rest of the industry figures there, sipping champagne and clinking glasses to people who, predictably, Julie had eating out of her hand in no time.
Of course, also predictably, Julie spent the entire evening nursing a single flute of champagne. She was still a lightweight.