Chapter Six
I stood in the passageway behind the venue and just let the sounds of the Central London backstreets wash over me.
Further down the alley, one of the cocktail waiters from the party was having a cigarette.
I took a deep breath. The lack of people talking to me and looking at me and wanting to see my reaction to Darcy felt like a holiday.
Unfortunately for me, the peace was almost instantly broken by an all-too-familiar voice through the darkness. ‘Hey, Squirt! Is that you?’
There was only one person that called me that.
The cocktail waiter wasn’t a cocktail waiter at all but .
. . Josh Sacco grinding the butt of his cigarette under the heel of his expensive Japanese trainers.
Of course. The one person I didn’t want to see right then.
I think I would rather have encountered Darcy in this dark alley than him.
As much as I disapproved of meeting him here like this, it must be said that I very much approved of his outfit: a crisp white T-shirt tucked into black linen trousers with those brightly coloured sneakers and an embroidered satin bomber jacket.
Money might not be able to buy you taste but it could clearly engage the services of a stylist.
‘Hi, Josh,’ I said, pointedly. ‘Would it kill you not to call me that?’
He nodded at me in greeting. We didn’t hug. I tried to avoid physical contact with Josh as much as humanly possible. ‘Why? There’s no one around to hear it.’
‘I’m around to hear it!’ I protested.
‘Ah, you don’t count, Squirt,’ he said. ‘I would ask if you’ve come out here for a sneaky smoke but we both know you’re above that. So, what’s up?’
I shrugged. ‘Nothing’s up, just taking a minute away from all the noise and the people. I wasn’t sure if you were even coming tonight.’
‘Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’
‘I didn’t know you were such a fan of gaming,’ I said, as if I really thought that was what he meant.
‘Come now,’ he said, dropping his chin and looking at me very intently. A lock of dark curly hair flopped annoyingly over his forehead and under the overhead glare of the street light, his cheekbones looked even sharper than usual.
‘What?’ I feigned ignorance.
‘Darcy Jackson joining the party? Literally and metaphorically?’ He leaned against the wall of the party venue. Josh was always leaning against something, ever so casually, as if standing up seemed too much like hard work and he had to outsource it to a wall or a table or a counter.
‘Oh, that.’
He threw his hands up. ‘You’ve got to give the people what they want, and the people really wanted Darcy. My parents have been saying it all along.’
‘It’s going to be great,’ I said, flatly.
‘Really? You really think that? Or you’re just saying that because it’s what you think you’re meant to say? You are allowed to rock the boat a little from time to time, Montgomery.’
This was how conversations with Josh generally went: me, always on the back foot, trying not to come across as pathetic or boring, him saying out loud the things that other people were thinking.
Not for the first time I wondered how on earth we were ever going to make a romance storyline between Rowan Clearwater and Linderley Jones convincing.
‘I really think that. It’s clear that Darcy Jackson is going to give Wonderwick that extra little boost to cement its status among fans.’
Josh winced, his dark eyebrows almost meeting in the middle. ‘Yikes! Did you copy and paste that from the press release or come up with it all by yourself?’
‘Words all my own, I assure you.’
‘Darcy was looking pretty spicy in that leather combo, right? Those abs made me want to put in a double session with my trainer tomorrow. The outfit should be more than enough to get people talking.’
‘I should think so,’ I said, trying to resist being drawn into a conversation about how sexy and exciting Darcy is.
‘She went through her whole workout routine with me when we had brunch last week, it’s intense as fuck.’
‘You two have been hanging out?’ I asked, almost involuntarily. Sometimes it felt like there was a whole world happening somewhere near me but just out of reach, a party taking place in the room next door.
He shrugged. ‘She was in LA recording something at her dad’s studio, I knew she was going to be in the next movie, so I sent her a message. We got pancakes. No biggie.’
‘Sounds delicious.’
‘So, uh,’ he said with a smile, sensing that we’d come to the end of that particular conversation.
‘What have you been doing with yourself since the press tour? Learning all your lines for the next movie, I guess? Plus maybe everyone else’s too?
Or have you dreamed bigger and started writing another Wonderwick book for Sylvara so the franchise never has to end? ’
‘I’m not even going to ask if you’ve read the script, I assume you have people to do that for you. Such a shame you can’t outsource the acting part as well.’
‘Ouch, Squirt!’ he laughed. ‘You’re really rattled by this whole Darcy thing, aren’t you?’
‘I’m not rattled, everyone is just being annoying about it,’ I muttered, darkly.
‘Annoying? Moi? Never. Anyway, I can tell you’re rattled because you haven’t even mentioned the kiss. I think it’s a good idea to take it steamier, don’t you?’ he asked, nonchalantly.
‘It doesn’t seem like it matters whether I do or not when you and your parents are making these decisions without me,’ I said, pausing for breath, during which he clutched his chest with a mock-wounded expression on his face.
‘But for what it’s worth I think it’s a decent idea.
It certainly seems like the direction the fans want everything to go in. ’
‘You gotta be careful with fans, though. Give them this and it’ll be full-frontal nudity and XXX-rated shit in the next movie.’ He saw the expression on my face. ‘I’m kidding! Jesus, learn to take a joke. Anyway, tell me how Emily fills her hiatus.’
I tried to come up with an answer that didn’t make me sound completely insufferable, because I already knew what Josh thought of me.
I could already see his face if I said, I’ve been learning French and reading lots of books and going to fashion weeks – the perfect mix of nerdy little good girl and utterly predictable.
‘Oh, this and that,’ I said, lightly.
‘Wow, dark horse much?’ Josh laughed and took a sip from his glass. ‘Way to overshare!’
OK, he had a point. ‘I’m sorry!’ I covered my face with my hands. ‘I just worry that everything I do sounds really boring to you, like I haven’t been windsurfing in Sri Lanka or scaling the side of a mountain in Yosemite!’
Josh arched his eyebrows. ‘For someone that claims to have no interest in what I do, you have a surprisingly detailed understanding of what I’ve been up to and where I’ve been up to it.’
I could feel my cheeks heat up and hoped desperately the lighting was sufficiently gloomy out here that they weren’t visibly beetroot red.
I should probably have chosen less specific examples of ‘adventurous activities’, shouldn’t I?
It was hard to miss Josh’s big, splashy social media presence.
He was always posting live from parties, beaches, clubs, taking photos with fans, being present and available and relatable in a way that just felt so alien to me.
I waved him away. ‘Oh, you know what I mean. So, when did you get into London?’
He thought for a moment, the disorientation of long-haul travel whirring away in his brain. ‘Yesterday morning, I think? I just checked into the hotel, did a bit of shopping, had dinner at Di Angelo’s. You been?’
‘I have actually, I went with Edgar Malek a couple of weeks ago,’ I said, unsure if he would either know or care who Edgar was. ‘I thought the amatriciana was incredible.’
‘You went for dinner with Edgar Malek?’ His eyes were wide with delight. ‘Like the Edgar Malek?’
I laughed, taken aback by his enthusiasm. ‘Why, are you a fan?’
‘Wow, yeah, a little bit. I only think he’s the most exciting director working today?’ The enthusiasm coming off him was infectious, almost charming.
‘Me too!’
‘So, you two are hanging out now? What, is he your new boyfriend or something? Maybe you could put in a good word for me?’
I frowned at him, annoyed that was his first thought. ‘No, he’s not my boyfriend, don’t be ridiculous. He’s married.’
‘Never stopped a lot of people in Hollywood.’ He shrugged. ‘So, this was a spot of professional networking?’
‘Well, yes, actually,’ I said, clearing my throat, conscious that I had to play it a bit cool so as not to seem like I was showing off. ‘Anyway, what am I putting in a good word for you about?’
He seemed a little sheepish all of a sudden, an expression that I wasn’t used to on him. I waited for him to speak. ‘Like, I would love to work with him on something, some day. When the time is right, of course.’
‘Oh!’ I finally got what he meant. I can’t say it had ever occurred to me that he would be interested in working with Edgar Malek. ‘Right, yes, of course.’
‘Unless you think I wouldn’t be up to it,’ he said, so quietly I almost didn‘t hear him.
I was genuinely taken aback by this. As long as I had known him, Josh only seemed interested in not only being in, but also watching, films with huge budgets and big, exciting sets, preferably with explosions or magic.
‘No, no, it’s not that, I just didn’t know you were so interested in his work that’s all.
Well, I’ll let you know how it goes if I end up working with him – maybe everything will fall apart before I sign the contract. ’
‘You’re actually working with him?’ he asked, not quite incredulously but more awestruck.
The pride and excitement I felt at being offered the role now felt a little embarrassing, like I needed to play it down for Josh’s benefit.
I nodded, quickly. ‘Well, yes, I think so . . . If I do then I’ll be shooting it after we finish the next film.
It’s filming in Ireland. I’ll be leaving as soon as we wrap on Wonderwick. ’
‘Shit, that’s huge, congratulations, Emily,’ he said, pulling me into a hug, like he had forgotten we didn’t do that.
It was in his nature: he was a touchy-feely American type, and he squeezed me so tight I could feel the muscles in his chest. ‘Tell me all about it?’ he asked as he relaxed his grip on me.
‘Well, it’s a bit of a change from Wonderwick,’ I said with a grimace. ‘It’s a kind of weird, uncanny, speculative thing . . . I’m still not entirely sure what it is but I’m excited to find out.’
‘And are you the lead?’
‘Not exactly, it’s split quite evenly across three parts. So I’m the third of a lead,’ I said with a shrug.
‘You could have walked onto pretty much any big-budget movie you wanted but you had to go for this. I gotta say, I admire it.’
I smiled, almost against my will. ‘Thank you.’ I didn’t want to let my guard down too much but I couldn’t look a gift horse (Josh being nice to me) in the mouth.
‘But seriously.’ He fixed me with an intense gaze. ‘This is fucking cool and I hope you know it. Really fucking cool, Montgomery. This is real acting. Real shit. Not that what we do isn’t real or isn’t important or isn’t good, but . . . this is something else. And I’m proud of you for it.’
Before I could figure out what I wanted to say in response to Josh’s unexpected kindness, the door swung open and a few actual waiters – not actors looking for an improvised smoking area – poured out into the alleyway for a break.
‘I guess this is our cue to rejoin the party,’ I said.
He nodded and held the door open for me. ‘Back to reality.’