Chapter One
Lila
The clatter of footsteps on the stairwell outside, along with the buoyant voices of crew leaving the production offices for the weekend, only made Lila more aware of how quiet it was in the makeup department.
Sibyl, Lila’s temporary boss as of this week, sat at her desk in the corner, back turned, hitting the keys of her laptop intermittently with her gel tips and sipping from a steaming cup of tea, which smelt like damp earth. Perhaps brewed from the freshly turned soil of the last junior makeup assistant’s grave.
Apparently, Sibyl had lost three members of staff over the last six weeks of pre-production as it geared up ready to move onto location in Sicily and now they were desperate. Lila knew that was the only reason she was being considered. Not through intuition. Sibyl hadtoldher. If there had been more time to recruit, she wouldn’t be considering someone like Lila, fresh off an evening course, regardless of the glowing references from her tutor, who happened to be an old friend of Sibyl’s.
It was understandable really, if a touch demoralising.
Lila collected the strewn powder brushes from the dressing tables and glanced over at her boss’s hunched shoulders. Should she be instigating a conversation? Was that the normal thing to do in this moment? Ask Sibyl what plans she had for the weekend or…or something?
Click, click, slurp…huff.
No. Sibyl was concentrating and wouldn’t appreciate Lila disturbing her. She took an antibacterial wipe and cleaned the soft bristles of each of the brushes, dropping them back into their drawer. A flash of something shiny reflected in the mirror closest to her and she glanced up to see a young woman with short silver and purple hair pushing the door wide open. Ruth’s gaze took in Sibyl and skipped right over to land on Lila.
‘Hey.’ The other makeup artist strode over to her, fastening the belt of her pink and black polka-dotted mac. ‘Are you almost finished up in here? A bunch of us are heading to the pub. Wondered if you fancied coming?’
‘Oh.’ Lila turned to face her, hand clenching around the dirty wipe. The usual contradiction of thousands of words in her head and none coming out of her mouth, assailed her. She glanced over to Sibyl whose back was still turned and swallowed. ‘Err…I’m nearly done. Are you going now?’
‘Yeah, it’s the one on the corner. The Turnball – no that’s not right—’
‘The Turnpike,’ Sibyl muttered just loudly enough that she wasn’t talking to herself, and then exhaled heavily out her nose.
‘Yeah, that’s it. Thanks, Sibyl. You’re invited too of course, boss-lady, but I know you’ll say you’re too busy.’ Ruth grinned over her shoulder at Sibyl’s stiff shoulders.
‘Correct.’ The one-word sentence was punctuated by a particularly hard impact on the laptop keypad.
Ruth pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows a little at Lila, then nudged her arm gently. ‘So, what d’you say? We’re all dying for a chance to get to know you better. Shall we wait for you, or will you meet us there?’
Butterflies swarmed into Lila’s stomach. Nothing else Ruth could’ve said would’ve made her less eager to go than the prospect of a group of people she didn’t know, eager to ply her with questions. She might’ve tried to force herself; she knew she needed to push herself out of her comfort zone when it came to this sort of thing… But between flying across the Atlantic on a whim and discovering her boss was somewhat less than welcoming, she was just about done with this week. An evening at the pub with curious work colleagues was more than she could cope with tonight. But how could she explain that without sounding like the complete weirdo that she was?
She couldn’t. So, she’d do what she usually did. Lie.
‘No. I mean—’ She cleared her throat as her voice came out hoarse. ‘I’ll meet you there. Just need to finish up here.’
‘Great! It’ll be nice to have a chat outside of work before we all fly off next week.’ Ruth gave a small smile, her eyes lingering on Lila’s face just long enough that the scrutiny made a blush crawl up her cheeks.
‘Definitely,’ Lila said, knowing she sounded anything but definite. It wasn’t like Sibyl had confirmed that Lila was going to be joining the production in Sicily. This week had been a trial – in all senses of the word. But pointing that out in front of Sibyl seemed pushy – not to mention how embarrassing it would be if Sibyl announced that Lila hadn’t got the job.
Ruth spun on her heel and headed back out the way she had come. Silence descended again as the door closed.
Lila bit the inside of her cheek hard and scrubbed at the dressing table with another wipe. The counter only had a couple of smears of foundation and powder, but she approached it with a methodical up and down and across rhythm, until she managed to make the shiny Formica squeak. Sibyl half turned her head at the sound but didn’t get her chin past her shoulder before she returned her attention to her screen.
Lila threw the soiled wipes in the bin and snuck a look at the clock. Fifteen minutes until she could leave. Oraskto leave, if she could pluck up the courage. Oh, God. How on earthwouldshe cope with a six-month shoot, working closely with Sibyl, if she couldn’t summon the gumption to speak to her?
And what was she going to do when she did knock off for the day? Walk into the pub and face a committee gathered, waiting to interrogate her? No. She was going to run home and hide. And then they’d ask her why she hadn’t turned up. And she’d have to lie again.
Ifshe ever saw them again. She might’ve taken some comfort in that thought if that outcome didn’t mean she’d failed at yet another profession.
This was a disaster. Her mom was right. She was completely out of her depth.
Lila swallowed, her throat like sandpaper. That prickly, hyper-aware feeling that her every move was being watched and judged crawled over her skin. She concentrated on breathing slowly and her downcast gaze fell on a box tucked beneath the counter. It had been half opened after it was delivered earlier that day. She dived for it and hefted it up onto her hip.
‘I’m just going to put these down in the store cupboard,’ she announced and took a tentative step towards the door. At least that would show some initiative, wouldn’t it?
‘Hmm?’ Sibyl glanced over her other shoulder and eyed her. ‘Oh, yes, fine. You can go after that.’
