Chapter 41
41
With only three more nights to go, the film festival might be drawing to the end but still the hype continued to build excitement around which film would win the coveted Palm d’Or on Sunday evening, and which actors would personally win awards as people tried to second guess the panel’s decisions before Sunday evening.
Zazz stood at the beginning of the red carpet clutching Dominic’s hand as they waited their turn to begin making their way along the carpet and up the steps into the Palais des Festivals. ‘I can’t believe I’m here,’ she whispered. The paparazzi, four or five deep in places, were everywhere, shouting at celebrities walking up the famous twenty-four steps to ‘give us a smile’ or ‘look this way’.
‘Believe it.’ Dominic squeezed her hand. ‘You’ll be blinded by flashlights as soon as we start to walk. You’re looking so lovely tonight everybody will be wondering who you are.’
‘Thank you, but look who is in front of us,’ Zazz said. ‘Isn’t that the teenager currently at the top of the charts with her hit song? Nobody will notice me after her. Which will be quite a relief. I can’t imagine living life in the public eye like she and all the other stars do.’
‘Here we go,’ Dominic said. ‘Shoulders back and smile. It’s our turn to walk the walk.’ Zazz took a deep breath and strolled as confidently as she could at Dominic’s side on to the red carpet where the two of them were greeted by a salvo of flashlights going off from all directions.
‘Told you,’ Dominic muttered. Zazz gulped and tried to smile. What was it everyone was supposed to want? Fifteen minutes of fame? Maybe this was hers.
Once they were seated in the packed auditorium Zazz breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well, that should make your day,’ Dominic whispered. ‘Look at who’s sitting over there. George and Amal.’
‘I can now claim to have been in the same room as them,’ Zazz giggled. As the lights dimmed Dominic’s hand claimed hers and they settled back in their seats to watch the film.
Two hours later, as the lights came on, Zazz wriggled in her seat and looked at Dominic. ‘Please don’t ask me if I enjoyed that.’ She sighed. ‘If only George had been in it.’
‘Come on, let’s follow the crowd and get out of here,’ Dominic said, laughing. ‘I think we both deserve a drink after sitting through that.’
By the time they were descending the red carpet, the crowds were smaller but the paparazzi were still hanging around, waiting for the last of the celebrities to appear. Nobody took any notice of Dominic and Zazz though as they stepped off the red carpet onto the pavement and disappeared into the streets of Cannes out of the limelight.
‘Are you pizza hungry?’ Dominic asked.
‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Zazz said. ‘Will anywhere be open at this time of night?’
‘Festival week they open all hours. Come on, my favourite is this way,’ and Dominic held her hand as they crossed the road and began to walk towards the Allées de la Liberté where Zazz could see the restaurants were still open and busy.
Sitting there sipping glasses of red wine while they waited for their pizzas, Zazz looked around her. ‘This place is truly something else during film week, isn’t it? It’s lively and buzzy at other times but for the ten days of the festival it seems to take on an extra vibrancy, almost a magical air about it. Dreamlike and romantic, it feels surreal to me. I love it.’
‘Monday morning, it will be back to reality,’ Dominic assured her. ‘There are other very busy festivals and conferences throughout the year, but they do lack the glamour of this one. I like to travel to see other places, but I love coming home and honestly, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,’ Dominic said.
Their pizzas arrived at that moment and they both tucked in and it was a moment or two before Dominic said. ‘Mel is thrilled you’re going to share her apartment from September.’
‘Not half as thrilled as I am,’ Zazz said. ‘It’s such a lovely place.’
‘So, you’re planning on living down here for the next six months? Or longer?’
‘If everything goes to plan – and please don’t tell my mother this – I’m not planning on going back to live in the UK any time soon. I love it down here. Of course it does depend on me really upping my followers on Instagram and YouTube by several thousand to survive. I’ve got a bit of a cushion but you never know what the future is going to bring.’
‘My future is suddenly looking a lot brighter hearing that you are staying,’ Dominic said. ‘We can really get to know each other, if you want to.’
Zazz smiled at him. ‘I’d like that a lot.’