“Aura, so good to see you. Come on in.”
She waves me in and sashays back over to the little sitting area. Shayla looks up at me from her spot on the little wood-framed couch with the orange cushions. Her smile is a little tight and again, I wonder if this is a terrible idea.
“You brought wine? Perfect. You want to me to open this now, or do you want to try some of the sangria Shayla made?”
I tilt my head, glancing at Shayla again. “I’ll take some sangria, if that’s okay.”
“Perfect. I’ll grab you a glass.”
I perch myself on the edge of a chair, pressing my hands into my thighs while we wait for Sav to reappear.
She walks back in placing an overly large wine glass full of the ruby liquid in front of me then plops into the seat beside Shayla.
“Delaney was supposed to come but she wasn’t feeling well, and I would have invited you but I knew you had plans with Quint today. How did that go?”
I start to relax a little when she doesn’t immediately launch into interrogation mode. “We played Dungeons and Dragons. It was fun, actually.”
Shayla leans forward in her seat. “Wait, you were playing D&D with Quint and his friends? How’d he get you to do that?”
“He asked.”
“No coercion or bribery?” She sounds incredulous.
“Nope. Willing victim here, and like I said, it was surprisingly fun.”
“Wow.”
“Don’t sound so shocked. It’s basically just playacting, which is fun for me, and it’s nice to do it in a way that doesn’t feel like a job. Plus, I like hanging out with him. When you actually like spending time with someone, anything can be fun.” And that’s the thing that’s killing me the most here. I do like spending time with Quint. I like everything about him. Which is why it’s so hard thinking of leaving him, but staying in his life would probably hurt him more.
Sav picks a slice of orange out of her drink, taking a bite and discarding the rind on a cocktail napkin on the coffee table.
“Now for the reason you’re really here,” she says. “Sorry I sent you that message. I wasn’t trying to disrupt your time with Quint. Just thought you should know about the fake-dating leak, and I thought you might be too busy with the cowboy to see the news. Turns out you were, just not the way I was expecting.” She bobs a coppery eyebrow at me.
“It’s totally fine. I appreciate the heads up. And I’m sorry for not being honest with you about it being fake. The paps took photos of us and started spinning this story about us dating, and my publicist thought we should lean into it, try to get a good story about me in the news for a change, after the last few months of them shitting on me. The family knew it wasn’t real, but we didn’t want to risk telling anyone else.” I look at Shayla. “And I’m sorry I dragged your brother into this mess. He never asked to be in the spotlight like this. I shouldn’t have put that on him.”
She studies me, head cocked to the side, brushing a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. “Look, I don’t blame you. It’s on him. He’s an adult, he gets to make his own decisions. Is it what I would have chosen for him? No. But he made a choice.”
“I’m still sorry about it. He didn’t know what it could be like. I tried to tell him.” I turn back to Sav, knowing she’ll understand.
She nods. “But you really can’t explain it until you experience it, right? Seeing your picture in the paper, your name, the things people say about you.”
“Exactly. So, I’m going to have to do my best to protect him from the fallout. I’m sure I’ll take the brunt of the criticism anyway, I’ve always been the villain in their eyes. I’ll talk to my publicist to see if she can spin it in a way that he comes out looking like a hero.”
“You’re not the villain, and don’t let them convince you otherwise. People do this in Hollywood all the time, and we’re the ones who take the fall, even if we had nothing to do with planning it. We’re just cogs in the fame machine. They push us to the top, worship us, look up to us, until we falter like the humans we are. Then the press can pounce on us and make bank off our scandalous lives.” Sav take a long sip of her sangria, and I do the same. It’s good—really good—and I make a mental note to tell Shayla that once the conversation isn’t so heavy.
“Yes, but that’s kind of part of the gig,” I point out. “We sign up for this life, and have to accept the shitty parts of fame along with the perks. But Quint didn’t sign up. He just got caught in the blowback.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Shayla says, and it’s like a blow to my chest. I jerk back. “You didn’t sign up to be harassed and have your life splattered all over the news. Knowing it could happen and signing up for it aren’t the same thing. You signed up to be an actor. You should be able to speak out against reporters prying into your private life. You punching that reporter was honestly amazing. Stand up for yourself.”
Sav gives me athat’s what’s uplook. “She’s right. You need to talk to Quint and decide whether you want tomake this legit or not. Because I’ve seen you together and seems to me like you actually like each other.”
“Thanks. I do like him, I’m just not sure a real relationship with the press gabbing about us is what either of us needs right now.” Her advice is great. The trouble is that I can’t decide if I want to date him for real and expose him to all these problems. Expose his family to the scrutiny and paparazzi waiting at the gate even when the ranch hasn’t been taken over by a film crew. Or if I want to let him go.
Either way, it feels like we’re all going to end up suffering.
Chapter 29
Aura
