Chapter Seven
I milled around the party, chatting to various cast members and people from the studio, occasionally checking in with Chloe.
Someone high up at the gaming company made a speech, and I did a good job of pretending to listen while my eyes scanned the room for Darcy and/or Josh.
Just to see what they were up to, you know?
I couldn’t spot them, which meant they could be off somewhere together.
That was the last thing I needed, them forming a cosy little twosome or worse, dating.
That’d really confirm my redundancy on Planet Wonderwick.
Finally, the speech was finished, and when Max tried to wave me over to have another drink with them, I shook my head and mouthed, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘I think I’m going to head off,’ I told Chloe.
‘You want me to get you a car?’
‘No, it’s fine, I can get my own,’ I told her, requesting a driver on the fancy car service app we use. ‘Look at me being all self-sufficient!’
‘You’re a strong independent woman, Emily Montgomery,’ she said, placing her hands on my shoulders. ‘Let me know if you need anything from me while you’re on set, yeah? But you’ll have Carrie and all your little mates so hopefully you won’t get too lonely.’
It was all starting to feel very real, that filming for the next Wonderwick was just over the horizon.
‘My guy’s nearly here,’ I said, looking down at my phone. ‘I’d better go outside.’
‘Love you!’
I headed out to the street where the official red carpet had dispersed but in its place was a swarm of paparazzi waiting to capture C-list celebrities or, if they were lucky, one of the Wonderwick cast, stumbling out of the party.
I was greeted by a chorus of ‘Emily!’ ‘Over here, love!’ ‘All right, Ems!’ and a glittering of flash bulbs.
I shouldn’t have come out until my driver was actually here, but I was starting to feel a little partied-out.
As well as the paparazzi there were a few fans waiting with phones outstretched for selfies, and of course I obliged while I had time.
Sometimes it was necessary to engage the services of a private security company but I tried to do as much as possible in the ‘real world’.
I gave the horde of photographers my sweetest smile and strode off purposefully in the direction of a couple of waiting cars in the hope one of them was mine.
It wasn’t. I felt exposed, having to loiter here with the paparazzi so close by, but almost instantly the doors behind me opened again and—
Josh and Darcy emerged. Not hand in hand, not with his arm around her waist, nothing like that.
But they were together. Leaving together.
If the photographers were excited to see me, it paled in comparison to the absolute chaos that erupted when they realised it was Josh and Darcy.
Although they weren’t making physical contact, there was something so .
. . conspiratorial about the way his head was bowed towards her, the little smirk on his face as she was saying something into his ear.
In the bright outdoor lighting, her outfit was even more striking, her bleached hair even more icy, her body even tighter, her eye makeup even smokier.
Fortunately, neither of them noticed me and in an instant my car pulled up.
As I slid into the back seat and greeted the driver, I hoped and prayed that the sight of the two of them leaving the party was so thrilling to the photographers that none of them thought to turn around and capture my reaction.