Sixteen
Now
Molly lay on her sofa and stared at her phone screen, wishing she could use telekinesis to set the entire internet on fire.
It was barely nine in the morning, and her face was plastered across every single corner of the digital world. It wasn’t the sophisticated, ‘rising dramatic actress’ look she had envisioned when she signed up for this fake-dating nightmare. No, it was pure, unadulterated idiocy.
The Daily Mail had gone with the headline: FALLEN IDOL: Sitcom Star Molly Sullivan Takes a Spectacular Tumble, exposing Pop Princess Ashley Malone’s breasts!
That was an exaggeration. Her breasts had stayed in their housing.
At most, people had seen her stomach and some admittedly nice cleavage.
On TikTok, a slow-motion video of her mid-air flail, set to a ridiculous techno remix of Ashley’s biggest pop hit, already had three million views.
The top comment, with fifty thousand likes, simply read: She fell for her. Literally.
Molly groaned, burying her face in her sofa cushions. The embarrassment was a physical sensation. She had wanted to show the industry she was ready for serious, dignified roles, not prove that she was a walking health hazard.
But as she replayed the memory of the disaster, her mind didn’t stay on the blinding camera flashes or the sting of her scraped knee. Instead, it kept drifting back to Ashley.
Molly had been braced for the absolute worst. She had expected well-deserved anger.
Instead, Ashley had laughed.
It hadn’t been a polite, fake smile for the cameras, either. It had been a deep, snorting laugh that had completely shattered the tension.
It had been so fucking graceful.
Her phone began to buzz violently in her hand, shattering her thoughts. The caller ID flashed: USELESS AGENT. She really ought to change that one of these days.
Molly swallowed hard and swiped to answer. ‘Karen, I am so, so sorry. The dress, my heel—’
‘Molly, shut up and listen to me,’ Karen interrupted, her voice uncharacteristically breathless.
Molly braced for the firing squad. ‘Okay. Go ahead. Tell me I’m dropped.’
‘Dropped? Are you insane? You’re a genius!’ Karen cackled into the phone. ‘The BBC casting directors for Freshly Laundered just called my office. You’re officially in the running for the drama, Molly! You’re on the longlist!’
A massive, overwhelming wave of relief washed over Molly, leaving her weak-kneed. She sank deeper into the sofa. ‘Are you serious? They don’t think I’m a joke?’
‘In this industry, bad press is only bad if people look away,’ Karen said pragmatically.
‘Right now, everyone is looking at you and Ashley. The ‘klutzy but lovable girlfriend’ angle is working wonders. But—’ Karen’s voice dropped into her business tone.
‘—we can’t coast on a viral trip forever.
We still need to do more to keep this momentum going before the casting finalises. ’
Molly frowned, her brief bubble of joy deflating. ‘More? Karen, I almost broke a photographer’s camera and semi-exposed Ashley. What am I supposed to do next? Drive a car through a storefront?’
‘Ashley’s tour is kicking off soon. It starts all the way up in Scotland and works its way down, finishing with a massive three-night run in London. I think she’s touring Europe after that.’
‘Right...’ Molly said slowly. ‘Good for her.’ She really didn’t see where Karen was going.
‘Good for you,’ Karen corrected sharply. ‘I’ve already been on the phone with Simon this morning, and he agrees with me completely. We’re sending you on the road. You’re going on tour with her, Molly.’
Molly sat bolt upright on the sofa. ‘What? No. Absolutely not.’
‘Think about the optics! You’re the doting, supportive girlfriend, sacrificing your own comfort to sit on a tour bus and cheer her on from the VIP boxes every single night. You’ll be spotted in Edinburgh, Manchester, right up until the finale in London. The paparazzi will go feral for it.’
‘Karen, I’m an actress, not a groupie!’ Molly protested, her voice rising in panic. ‘Plus, Ashley and I barely know each other anymore. We had one decent laugh in a cinema lobby; that doesn’t mean I want to live in her pockets while she plays arenas!’
‘Do you want this BBC role or not?’ Karen asked, her tone cutting through Molly’s protestations like a scalpel.
‘Because right now, the only thing keeping you in that casting director’s mind is the fact that you’re attached to Ashley Malone.
You stay visible, you stay in the headlines, and you could well get the part.
And you would kill it, I know you would, however you get there.
You bow out now, and you go back to auditioning for corpses on daytime crime dramas.
A few weeks, Molly. That’s all I’m asking. ’
Molly looked back at her phone, at the picture of her and Ashley tangled on the red carpet. She was deeply unhappy at the prospect of trading her comfortable flat for life on a tour bus.
But the terrifying threat of career obscurity? That scared her a lot more.
‘Fine,’ Molly groaned, rubbing her temples. ‘But if she plays her own album on loop in the bus, I’m throwing myself out of the window while it’s moving.’
Five Years Ago
‘To you!’ Ashley said, raising a glass of the second-cheapest wine on the menu. Molly clinked back.
She was having dinner with Ashley. The location wasn’t fancy.
It was a Mexican place around the corner from Molly’s flat that couldn’t decide whether it wanted you to sit down and relax or take your food and get the fuck out.
It did, however, have a licence to serve booze, which nudged it just far enough into ‘sit-down restaurant’ territory to justify lingering. For broke people, anyway.
And Molly was still one of those people. She might have an acting job now, but the first proper payday was still ahead of her.
She hoped Ashley would still be around when it arrived.
She’d take her somewhere better then. Somewhere with white tablecloths and escargot.
It sounded disgusting, but that was sort of the point.
Molly had never been in a position where she could afford to find out for herself how fucking gross it was and what massive phonies wealthy people were.
She’d signed the contract. Shooting started in a few weeks. A real job, on a real sitcom. About four grand an episode. A figure that, to anyone properly established, might sound pathetic. But to Molly it was a lot of coffee shop shifts.
Still, she wasn’t counting it. It still felt like the sort of thing that could vanish. It was all too easy to imagine getting fired on her first day, quietly steered off set before she’d even learned where the toilets were.
‘It’s happening,’ Ashley assured her.
‘I didn’t say anything,’ Molly said.
‘You were biting your nails. I just thought you might…’ Ashley smiled. ‘Sorry, we haven’t known each other long enough for me to properly read your mind yet.’
Molly was immediately remorseful. ‘No, you read me right. I just didn’t want to talk about it.’
Hmm, bit harsh? Hard to say. Ashley wasn’t nearly so readable. She pushed a tortilla chip through a small puddle of sauce. ‘So tomorrow you go to the set?’
Molly nodded. ‘Yes. The set.’ Her pulse jumped. She didn’t have much experience. She would not be able to match the rest of the cast. She was going to be bad.
Should she say that? No. Molly didn’t like to talk about fears. It was like saying, ‘Hey, here’s my heart! Wanna stand on it?’
A pause settled between them, and it was awkward.
We started too strong, Molly thought. And now we have to catch up.
Ashley leaned back in her chair, finishing her soggy chip. ‘I’m meeting the guy tomorrow.’
‘The completely legitimate one?’ Molly said.
‘According to my best googling.’
Molly studied her for a second. ‘And you still think it’s going to go nowhere?’
Ashley hesitated, just briefly. ‘I think it’s safer to assume it won’t.’
‘Man. We are pessimistic for a couple of winners,’ Molly said.
Ashley laughed. ‘You’re a winner. I’m… I don’t know yet.’
Molly hummed, unconvinced, then took a sip of her drink. Her eyes stayed on Ashley a fraction too long before she realised and looked away first.
Ashley shifted slightly in her seat. ‘You keep looking like you’re about to say something and then don’t.’
‘I’m not.’
‘You are.’
Molly gave a short laugh. ‘You’re weirdly observant for someone who’s only known me a week.’
‘Five days,’ Ashley corrected automatically.
‘Five days,’ Molly conceded.
Ashley picked up her glass, then put it down again without drinking. ‘It’s just a lot, isn’t it? All of it suddenly happening.’
Molly nodded once. ‘Yeah.’
Another pause. Molly wondered if she should initiate a bit of footsy?
No. She didn’t want Ashley to think she was trying to make everything physical.
Because they had slept together the first night they met.
Ashley might think Molly was just about that.
And she wasn’t. The fact was, Molly didn’t quite know what she was about.
But Ashley was something special. That much she knew.
Fuck, dating was hard when you cared.
Ashley ate another chip. ‘You’re going to be fine, you know.’
Molly laughed. ‘You don’t know that.’
‘I do,’ Ashley said simply.
Molly examined her. Ashley looked like she believed it. It made Molly nervous. ‘You say that like you’ve got insider information.’
‘I might,’ Ashley said lightly.
Molly looked up again, eyebrow raised. ‘Oh yeah?’
Ashley smiled. ‘Some people just seem like they’re going somewhere. That’s you.’
Molly laughed. It came out a bit mocking. ‘How can you see that?’
Ashley shrugged.
Molly actually knew exactly what Ashley meant. Because she looked at Ashley and saw that quality. Ashley seemed destined to make it.
But Molly didn’t believe that could be her. She felt she was essentially a jester. She didn’t see a big future for herself. Even now.
Ashley reached for her glass again, and this time drank. Molly watched her, not eating.
When Ashley put the glass down, she caught Molly still looking. Neither of them commented.
And neither of them said what they were thinking. That it suddenly felt like something was beginning, and they didn’t know if they were ready for it.
Any of it.
‘Umm, just in case it’s not obvious, I want to tell you that I really like you,’ Ashley said suddenly.
Molly froze.
‘Oh, sorry,’ Ashley said, pinkening.
‘No, no… I’m not… You didn’t say anything wrong,’ Molly said. ‘I like you too.’
Ashley frowned, which was not quite the response Molly might have hoped for. ‘Oh no,’ she whispered.
‘What?’
‘You had to say that because I said that. I should have kept my mouth shut.’
Molly laughed. ‘Someone had to say it first.’
‘It’s too soon, though.’
‘You didn’t propose, Ashley,’ Molly said with an eyebrow raise.
‘I’ve scared you.’
‘I’m not scared,’ Molly told her with a smile and all the sincerity she possessed.
Ashley was briefly assuaged. But then the panic seemed to set in again. ‘I want you to know, I don’t rush into things. Ever. I’m careful.’
‘I don’t rush into things either, but because I’ve never wanted to. Before now,’ Molly admitted.
Ashley went very still at that. ‘Before now,’ she repeated.
Molly gave a small shrug, trying to make it all lighter. ‘Yeah. Before now. It’s just… I like you. And I’m glad we met. That’s all.’
Ashley nodded, not quite able to meet Molly’s eye. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘Good. That’s… good.’ She groaned. ‘I’m not used to this bit.’
‘Which bit?’ Molly asked.
‘The bit after you decide you like each other,’ Ashley corrected. ‘That’s never really gone anywhere for me. It feels like it’s going well and then suddenly, she’s trying to move in on the fifth date.’
Molly watched her quietly. ‘Right.’
‘Or she’s deciding we’re a creative partnership,’ Ashley continued, staring down at the plate. ‘We’d been seeing each other for a month, and she wanted to write a duet about our connection. Am I mad? Is it me? Is that all normal?’
‘I’d have run a mile,’ Molly assured her.
‘So we’re not moving too quickly?’
Molly took a moment to unpack that. ‘Are you worried I’m moving quickly?’
‘No. I’m…’ Ashley collected herself. ‘It’s just… I think when people jump into something, it’s just as easy to jump back out. Speed unnerves me. Mine as much as anyone else’s.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m saying too much.’
Molly smiled at her, liking her even more after her verbal cliff dive. ‘You’re not.’
Ashley smiled back. ‘It just feels like this has to go wrong.’
‘Yes, of course it does,’ Molly agreed.
They laughed together and then reached across the table and took each other’s hands.
For a moment they just sat there with their hands still joined, neither of them quite remembering to let go. The Mexican place hummed around them with its indifferent fluorescent confidence, a couple of chairs scraping somewhere behind them, a fryer hissing.
Eventually Ashley shifted first, not pulling away exactly, more like loosening her grip reluctantly.
‘So,’ Molly said after a pause. ‘This legit guy you’re meeting tomorrow.’
Ashley groaned.
‘It’s gonna go somewhere,’ Molly smiled.
‘Because you’re good. But I just want you to know…
’ Molly considered saying something serious.
But in the end, she went another way, like she always did.
‘When you do blow up, there’s gonna be a lot of people throwing themselves at you.
I just want you to know… we’ve only slept together once.
I haven’t even done half the stuff I know. ’
Ashley gave a shocked laugh.
‘I’m serious. We’ve barely touched the sides of my repertoire. So don’t leave me for a hot groupie until you’re sure you’ve exhausted my skills.’
Ashley smiled at her. ‘Well, when you put it like that.’
And for a brief stretch of time, it really did feel simple. Talking about their attraction, the deeper pull that they were both sort of terrified by. It made it manageable.
Molly watched Ashley as she reached for another chip. ‘Do you want to come back to my place after this?’ Ashley asked abruptly, almost panicked, eating a chip directly afterwards.
‘You don’t want to get a good night’s rest before the gig tomorrow?’
‘No,’ Ashley grinned.
Molly grinned back. ‘Okay. I accept.’
‘Full disclosure, my dad might be in.’
Molly's smile dipped a bit.