Away From the Spotlight (33 page)

When Will returned, I watched how he interacted with Katherine carefully and it was just as he had described.  H
e treated her like a kid sister and she treated him like a big brother.

While Mark and Will
engaged in what appeared to be a continuation of a long-standing
and
good-natured debate about which London area soccer team was the best, Katherine took the opportunity to speak somewhat privately with me.

“It really is nice to meet you at long last.  Will talked about you a lot
when we were on the road for
Midnight 3
.  He seems so happy.  You’re good for him.”

“From what I’ve heard, you’re a pretty good friend to him.”  I tried to sound sincere and not jealous.

“Most of the time, I’m like the little sister he looks out for, but there have been a few times whe
n
I’ve had to look out for
him
.”

“
Will
told me a little bit about that.  He’s lucky you were there for him.”

“He would have turned it around on his own sooner or later.  He wasn’t happy and wasn’t living a lifestyle that
w
ould ever make him happy.  It
just
wasn’t him. 
T
his business
can
screw
you up
.  Sometimes
actors
need
someone to stand up to
them
and tell
them
how it is
, b
ut not many will do that because
either they have
some
vested interest in keeping the party going or they’re on the payroll and are afraid of being fired.  I finally realized that I was in the best position to do that for Will.  It worked, which was a good thing, but it was
brutal
.”

“What do you mean?” I was curious and hoping to hear some detail that I hadn’t heard before.

“I can say this because Will told me you know.  Kayla wasn’t good for him and getting involved with her was a bad idea.  It was pretty clear almost from the outset that all four of the
Midnight
films would be shot.  Relationships in our business don’t tend to last beyond the shooting of a film.  You’re kind of in a bubble during the film and you end up pretty close to your
cast-mate
s, but it’s unreal and hard to translate into real life.  So, knowing that he was going to have to work with her for years, it
was just a bad idea.  Plus she partied a little harder than him.  He may have a few too many drinks from time-to-time, but he really is pretty straight and narrow for the most part. 
Regular
r
ecreational drug use was perfectly in character for
her
, but out of character for
him
.”

I was thinking
that
this was too much information for me, but continued to press, “How is she now?”

“You mean is she still a partier?  Yes.  Or
do
you mean how is she when it comes to Will
?
S
he’s
fine I guess.  It was years ago now.  Not that I think she’d
complain
if
Will
changed
his
mind and wanted to get back
with her
.  He tries to be
sensitive to her feelings
.  He only gushed about you when she wasn’t around.  He didn’t want to rub her nose in it.  Anyway, I don’t think you’ll be seeing her today.  She knows you’ve moved in with Will and she’s probably a little bent about that.
”

Will leaned in at this point, “What are you two talking so intently about?”

“Nothing
, j
ust unraveling the mystery that is Will MacKenzie,” I replied with a mischievous smile.

He gave Katherine a look that s
aid, “What have you done now?”

Katherine smiled innocently in response.

After making tentative plans to get together in September when Will and I returned from England, Katherine and Mark said their goodbyes and left for a party at the house of one of Mark’s brothers.

After
they had left, Will pulled me close and kissed me.  “What were you two talking about?” he asked again.

“Nothing much.  But I do realize what a good friend she is to you. 
I
f I didn’t believe you before, I really believe you now that there is nothing between you two.”

“I’m glad.  I
told
you.”  He kissed me again.

“It’s not in my best interest
to say this
, but what are you
thinking
?  She is absolutely gorgeous, smart and
genuinely nice.  How could you
not
be interested in her?”

Will appeared shocked by my questions.  “I don’t know.  It’s either there or it’s not and, for Katherine and me, it’s not. She’s not my type.”

“What’s your type?”

“
You
are.”

I dramatically rolled my eyes and then kissed him.  “I’m glad.”  I had to pull away after a few minutes because I was envisioning that someone was going to tell us to “get a room.”

By the end of the evening, we had migrated to one of the sofas surrounding the roaring fire pit.  The crowd had thinned and it was just those of us who lived or
mostly
lived there along with a few of the guys’ closer friends.  I was sitting next to Will with my legs across his lap
,
and leaning into him with both my
arm
s
wrapped
around
his left arm
.
 
Sitting there, I realized that i
t
had been
the perfect summer
so far
.  I didn’t want it to end.

About a week after the Fourth of July
p
arty, Will took me to a birthday party for one of his
Midnight
cast-mate
s, Taylor Harrison, who played the older brother of Katherine
Sullivan
’s character.  It was a surprise party held at Taylor’s house by his girlfriend, an up-and-coming young actress.  I was as nervous as I could be.  I had never really hung out w
ith any of Will’s actor-
friends before and the only people I would know other than Will were Katherine and Mark, who I had met
only
briefly
the week before
.  I was never particularly good at small talk and tended to be shy with people I didn’t know well.  The thought that I would stand out as being utterly ordinary in this crowd of beautiful
people made me feel even worse.

I decided to
make myself feel better by
purchasing
something new to wear despite the fact that I knew that, no matter what, I would not be able to compare to any of these trendsetters whose pictures at red carpet events graced many magazines and whose outfits would cost multiples of anything I could afford
even if I did splurge a little.

I
ventured
to Bloomingdale’s at
Santa Monica Place
, and found a casual dress that I thought was trendy enough to be seen in, but didn’t look ridiculous on me.  Of course, it also required new shoes, so I spent money on those as well.  I would just have to cut back on
my souvenir budget in Europe
.  I then
stopped by
the makeup counter and had one of the makeup artists that always seemed to be there play with my
light
eyes a little to make them stand out more.  It worked.  I was glad that the party was t
hat n
ight because I doubted
I
could redo what the makeup
artist had done.  It would
require
only
a little touch-up before the party.
Maybe Kate could help me if she was home.

I
returned
home and touched up the fake tan on my legs so that they would darken before we had to leave
for the party.

I didn’t let Will see me until I was com
pletely ready, which was
inconvenient for him
since
he had to get ready too.  I was nervous as I walked out into the living room where he sat, waiting with Stephen and
Colin, and watching television.

“Wow
!
” he
exclaimed
as I walked into the room.

“So I won’t embarrass you?”

“Why would you
ever
think you would embarrass me?”

“Come on
.  C
onsider who we’
ll be
with tonight.  I
’
m going t
o stand out like a sore thumb.”

“I think you’ll stand out, but not in th
e way you mean.”

“What do
you
mean?”

“My male friends are going to be jealous of me and my female friends are going
to be jealous of how you look.”

“
Please
.”
I made a face.

Colin looked at Will and asked,
“Is she always like this?”

“Yes.  God knows whe
re the insecurity comes from.”

“What do you mean?  I am
not
insecure.”
Of course, I had already admitted to as much once before.

“Not when it comes to most things, but you seem to be under the misconception that you
’
re ordinary looking.  You are far from ordina
ry looking.  You’re beautiful.”

“You’re biased and blind.”

“I’m not, am I
Colin?  Stephen?  Help me out.”

“He
’s not wrong,” Stephen replied.

Colin nodded in agreement.

“Hmmm.” I said simply.

“She doesn’t take compliments about h
er appearance too well,” Will added.

“You don’t like it when people focus on your appearance either I seem to recall.”  I decided to use the tactic of
“
the best defense is a good offense.
”

“No, but that’s because that’s all some people think I am
, a
pretty face and nothing more.  No one would ever accuse you of that.  You’re too obviously intelligent for anyone to think there’s no depth
to go along with your beauty.”

“Speaking of insecurity . . . “

“All right.  I get your point.  Backing off now.  Give me a few minute
s and we’ll head off.”

Kate walked in the house at that moment.  “Yeow
!
  Wow
!
  Look at you
!”

“I look okay?”

“Beautiful.”

“We already told her that.  She doesn’t b
elieve us.” Colin informed her.

“It’s just that I get to hang out with a bunch of ordinary girls tonight, you know, Katherine Sullivan, Kayla Roberts, people like that.  You can’t blame me fo
r feeling not quite up to par.”

“They’re men.  They don’t understand.  I understand what you’re saying
, b
ut don’t worry
.  Y
ou’ll be able to hold your head high.  You’re every bit as beautiful as they are. 
Y
our dress is perfect.  It shows off your legs.  In fact, I think you’ll look better than m
ost, if not all,
of them.  Remember, some of them are
really
skinny in person.  The camera and the wardrobe they wear in films add weight.  In
person
, they can be p
retty scary
-
looking sometimes.”

“Kate’s right about that,” Stephen added.  “I’ve noticed it myself.  Anyway, if they’re not jealous of you for the way you look, they’ll be jealous that you can go there and eat.  There won’t be one among them who
’
s not on some radical diet.  So find the most fattening thing you can and eat it in front of them.  I’d like to see that.” 
Stephen, Colin and Kate
all laughed
in unison
.

Will
returned at that moment
, looking gorgeous as ever like the movie star he was.  How it didn’t occur to me when
w
e met that he was
a movie star, I’ll never
know because it was so obvious.