Chapter 10 The Game You Play #2
‘You really are trying all the lines tonight, aren’t you, Alex?’ His name is heavy on my tongue, and I love the way it rolls around my mouth like a smoothie on a hot day.
‘Is it working?’
I push the tumbler against my bottom lip and breathe out a smile.
‘Ask me again when I’ve finished this.’ I tip my head back and pour the entire thing down my throat, like a shot.
As soon as it hits my stomach, the world spins even more than it was before.
The lights all blur into one and I can’t make out any of the people anymore.
The floor is moving – a sea and I’m a boat. I slam the glass down on the bar.
‘Is it working?’ Alex asks again, seeming not to notice what state I’ve found myself in.
I get up, trying to find my footing on the moving floor without falling over and seeming as drunk as I am. Alex jumps up and takes my arm, I put my weight on him.
‘You coming with me?’ he whispers, his breath hot against my neck. He nods in the direction of the exit. ‘I need to get this cover taken off my phone on the way out.’
My instinct is to follow him, but Jess’s words are under my skin. Tour tickets go on sale in a few weeks, and we need to completely turn this around before then.
They burn against my desires.
We’ve already committed to venues which means we need bums on seats in stadiums… breaking contractual obligations.
Luc’s leg against mine under the table, the smile on his face when he told me I could do anything I wanted.
I don’t want to be one of those singers whose career ends on a flop: performing to near-empty stadiums, being dropped by their label, or a final album that doesn’t even chart.
Alex Pauls pulling on my hand to drag me towards the exit brings the whole room into focus, my senses sharper than they’ve ever been. The room stops spinning, my head clears. I pull backwards and it all happens so fast.
The clasp around my neck holding my dress in place snaps and I try to catch the front before it exposes me. I think I mostly manage it, but I’m glad for Renée’s no-phone policy all the same.
‘Oh shit,’ Alex gasps.
He doesn’t try to help because realistically what can he do?
I’m not entirely sure whether it was his fault or simply the way I moved.
I hold the straps together behind my neck but there is no stretch in the material to tie it in a knot.
Kareem should be arriving in – I check my watch – ten minutes.
‘Here.’ Alex pulls off the infamous leather jacket he’s never seen without and hands it to me. ‘Zip it up and no one will know any difference.’
He grabs us two glasses of water from the bar and two of those strong coffees they serve so that guests can sober themselves up before leaving and facing the cameras.
I throw both beverages down my throat, the heat from Alex’s leather jacket prickling my skin. I’m too hot. I need to get out of here.
The man at the cloakroom takes the cover off my phone.
‘Can I at least give you my number so I can get the jacket back?’
I shake my head. ‘I’ll have my people get it to your people.’ The cover clicks off my phone and there are responses from Luc sitting on my screen. ‘Twenty-five minutes before you leave, please,’ I ask.
Alex nods. ‘You’re really cool, Sienna Martin.’
Is being called cool still a compliment? It makes me sound like I’m a kid.
The door opens and Dennis meets me directly outside the door, ready to escort me the ten necessary steps to Kareem’s car. Most of the cameras are blocked by the venue’s security but I can still see those tell-tale flashes. I’m in the car as quick as I can.
All of the messages from Luc are sent within a few minutes about two hours ago.
LUC
SORRY. Today has been mental
I’ve only just seen those photos
Fuck
Sienna, you have to believe me
That’s not what it looks like
The girl in the photo is Leia, as in Leia my sister’s wife Leia
We were planning my sister’s 30th birthday surprise
I didn’t even think how it would look I’m so sorry
I swing my legs out of bed, the offending broken dress in a heap on the floor.
My voice is sore, but I try to ignore it as best as I can before my doctor’s appointment next week.
I leave my phone on the sink when I get in the shower, and it vibrates against the ceramic.
When I get out, there’s a missed call from Jess.
My stomach sinks. I know what that means.
I open the news app and there it is in black and white.
ON THE OUTS? SIENNA SPOTTED LEAVING RENéE ROSS’S PARTY IN OSCAR WINNER’S JACKET.
It’s insane that the connection can be made so fast. A wild leap claiming me wearing a jacket must mean I’m in a relationship with its owner, or that I’ve slept with them.
I didn’t even kiss Alex. He’s not even in the photos. Why does that damn leather jacket have to be so famous?
At the bottom of the story there’s a box with all the men I’ve been connected to over the past fourteen years – most rumoured, very few ‘confirmed’ by anonymous sources.
I zoom in on the photo. Me clutching the bottom of Alex Paul’s jacket like my life depends on it, the gold skirt coming out of the bottom with those tiny clock sequins. The dress now in a pile on the floor, which will need to be dry cleaned, fixed and sent back to Kendra Heath.
I open the windows and the slight breeze through the house clears my head. It starts to remove the putrid stench of a person hungover on whisky.
Jess arrives and immediately spots the coat at the end of the bannister. She points at it. ‘What are you doing with that?’
‘Could you somehow get it to Alex Pauls’s agent?’
‘Yeah, of course, but I need to give the papers a comment, so why do you have it?’
‘He really saved my ass.’ I pause. ‘Well, technically my boobs.’
‘Was he here last night?’ Jess questions.
‘No, my dress broke and I borrowed it to come home in.’
‘You’re full of shit,’ Jess shakes her head with a laugh that doesn’t reach her eyes. ‘Luc is pictured with a woman you don’t know, and your first reaction was to try to get a rise out of him, to get him back, I take it?’
‘Jess, I swear to you. Alex did not come here last night.’ What state have I got my life in if even my best friend doesn’t believe I haven’t had a one-night stand? ‘We had a chat. About what kind of alcohol we like to drink if you must know – very PG.’
She laughs.
‘Do you want to count the condoms left in my box?’ I interrogate and then cringe at my tone.
‘Okay. Okay.’ Jess holds her hand up. ‘Where’s the dress now?’
‘On my bedroom floor.’ I flush, feeling a heat rising through my body and pooling in my cheeks.
‘I’ll make sure the articles reflect what really happened.’ She rubs my arm. ‘You and Luc okay?’
I nod. ‘Yeah, he texted me. We’re good. Still on for the charity gala.’
‘Alex has already been on Instagram Stories,’ Jess smiles. ‘He said – and I quote – that the world is “clinically insane”.’
‘He’s denying it outright, right?’ I bite my lip.
‘Of course.’
‘So, no harm done then.’
‘You and I both know that being a woman doesn’t work like that.’
I unlock my phone so I can text Luc before he wakes up and sees the photos.
SIENNA
If you see these photos this morning, it’s not what it looks like
I somehow managed to snap the clasp on my dress and Alex gave me a jacket so I didn’t bare my breasts to the world
Apparently that makes him my ‘new man’
See you in two weeks x
‘No, seriously, what was he like? Alex?’
‘Really, really kind, actually. I like him.’ I take a sip of my tea. ‘I mean I guess he did save me from showing the world my boobs.’
‘The rest of the world will hate him for that.’