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Sandra sighed and thought about her life. She had some of the success she wanted, was close to her special silver button, but it wasn’t what she truly wanted. One day, she wanted her name in lights, wanted it to be said in the same breath as someone said Coppola (either of them) or Scorsese. At the end of the day, she was still famous for mocking other people’s work…well, as famous as one could be on the Internet, and was stuck spending her days cleaning toilets and scrubbing dishes.
“I think you should be the best too,” she echoed as they entered into the cathedral up its mountain of steps. “Sometimes, though, I think life can derail you.”
“Well, you’re the one with the entertaining-as-hell video channel.”
She paused as they entered into the nave. “You saw my channel?”
“You told me about the Mistress of Shlock, so I had to look it up,” he added casually. “The review I saw was funny, well written, had great editing and a cute skit at the end.” He winked at her. “Bonus, the outfit you had on was amazing.”
Sandra wanted to groan. Her getup for Mistress of Schlock wasn’t pornographic, but it wasn’t exactly work appropriate either. The thought of Xavier seeing her like that was mortifying. Well, the current boss version of Xavier.
“Which one?”
“The I, Frankenstein one.”
She did groan that time. The red number had been Tonya’s idea the last time she’d gone costume shopping. The design had been a bit more risqué than her usual fare, so it made complete sense that it was also the episode Xavier had seen.
“You, uh, liked it?” she said as they walked in line with the crowd deeper into the church.
He smirked down at her, a look that made her want to cross one leg over the other to keep her pearl from throbbing with need. “I loved it.”
Sandra was about to say something else when the main view of the church came into focus. It took her breath away. Arching her neck up to the ceiling, she had to rely on Xavier to lead her through the crowd and to usher her safely to where she needed to go. The honeycomb feel continued inside as the mass of columns twisted in and out to create cubbies in the ceiling. The sandstone of the building gave the entire cathedral a light, refreshing look and served as the perfect backdrop for seemingly endless colors to splay across. One corner turned a bright crimson, another was bathed in butter yellow, and a third was the darkest, royal purple she’d ever seen.
“It’s like being inside a kaleidoscope,” she whispered, awe filling her voice.
“Like I said, the outside scared me as a kid. I always felt like the statues might actually be alive. I used to tell Javier when we’d visit from America that they were really alive, and if he weren’t careful they’d reach out and grab him.”
“That’s devilish.”
“True,” Xavier said, his grin playful. “But in here? I always felt it was magical, like maybe I’d landed on an alien planet or something. Like I was an explorer to a brave new world.”
“This would be an amazing place to set a movie,” she whispered as they got in line to light the white candles at the altar.
He quirked his head at her as he approached the altar and picked up a small alabaster votive. “I was wondering about that.”
“About what?”
“Well, you clearly love film. You can hear it in the enthusiasm you have even for bad ones. Besides, I heard the names and dates you were dropping just for I, Frankenstein. You know the history of it better than I bet my dad remembers all the history of Catalan Food Industries.”
“And?”
He pressed the wick of his candle to an already lit one at the altar and placed it down. “Did you ever want to make your own?”
“You know I do.” She picked up her own candle and then flinched when she remembered that, no, actually, Xavier didn’t know that about Jules the valet. He’d only heard it from Sandra, the girl at Atlantis.
“Huh?”
“I mean, it’s kind of obvious, right? I would love to, but it takes the right schooling and connections and equipment and capital. So many things I don’t have right now, so I write screenplays, and I save what I can. One day, I know I’ll do something, but today’s not yet that day.” She placed the candle beside his as her shoulders slumped. Suddenly the energy felt as if it had been drained out of her.
Xavier took her hand in his and squeezed it. “I think that’s noble of you. People never admit their deepest desires or their secrets. They’re always afraid that they’ll get laughed at. I think what you want to do sounds amazing, and I’m glad you shared something so private with me.”
She swallowed hard. Of course, if I were honest, I’d stop the Sandra-Jules charade and let you know that it’s easy to tell you because I already did. No wonder it always looked so hard in the movies when Superman and Clark Kent had to deal with a dual identity. In reality, it kind of sucked, and it was super hard to keep track of what you were supposed to know and not have heard yet.
“Maybe it’s this place. Harder to be dishonest, even with myself, when we’re basically camped out in the gumdrop kingdom. It’s so overwhelming and awe-inspiring here. Plus, you know, the religious part. Maybe I just needed to be honest while I was here.”
He squeezed her hand. “I understand that. Come, I have another place to show you, and it’s going to rock your world.”
***
