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Margot keeps her lips rooted upward and tilts her body ever so slightly toward me. “Leighton.” In that single word, her tone brooks no room for discussion or ambiguity. I must fall in line and smile.
In one last attempt, I hesitate and glance around the mass of people, but Tom isn’t here. Or more to the point, if he is here, I can’t possibly find him. Why didn’t I have him meet us at the house?
Oh, yeah, because my father could have kicked him out, refused to let me be seen with Tom Raine.
Sick to my stomach and too defeated to do anything about it, I force my tight lips to curl up at the corners. I won’t cause any discord in front of what seems like a thousand camera bulbs flashing around us.
Reporters shout my father’s and Felix’s names, and some even say mine and my mother’s, many tagging on the customary question, “Who are you wearing?”
Everyone vies for us to look their way.
Rupert Price tears himself from the wall of lights to cast his sharp gaze on Felix and me. “The two of you look simply magical together.”
The image he creates feels too much like a punch in the gut, and my chest constricts. What he’s doing right now reminds me of how he is on set. Always the director, setting the scene and instructing his actors where to stand, how to look, and what to say.
This is what Felix and I have always been to him. People to play with, arrange to suit an image, a narrative. The urge to pull away is compelling, the desire to find Tom fierce, but neither is enough to quiet the lonely little girl inside of me who so desperately wants her father’s approval and love.
This is the first time in days that my dad knows I exist. He beams at me like I hung the moon. And like Hollywood, it’s likely fake, all smoke and mirrors for the show of it. Even still, how do I shatter that? How do I turn my back on the one thing I’ve craved all my life?
“Shall we?” He motions for the four of us to keep moving, keep posing.
Felix leans in close, his lips brushing the shell of my ear and I freeze, suddenly very aware of his presence. My skin crawls with how near he is to me.
“Leighton, let’s just do this, and after the movie, we can grab a drink and catch up before the after-party.” He pulls back to look me in the eye, all warm and sincere. Shit, he’s a good actor. “I’ve missed you.”
I open my mouth to object, but my father, in his element, calls over a reporter fromVariety. Rupert pulls us in close, making jokes about how cute Felix and I are, and of course, the reporter, ravenous for anything, laps it up.
When we’re inside the hall and the lights dim, my father, Felix, and another leading actor take to the stage. I make a point of taking the aisle seat and tune everything out, mentally devising a plan. My escape route.
The second Tom shows up, we’ll leave. My parents might be shocked and angry, but they don’t deserve to meet Tom like this nor do I owe them an explanation. Then the movie starts and I fidget in my seat, hoping to see a slash of bright light behind us with an usher leading Tom to our seats. But this never happens.
As the film closes in on the end, my hope and courage wither and all but die. Tom isn’t coming. My thumbs tap out a quick text while the audience gets to their feet in a standing ovation.
“Get up.” Mom drags me to my feet and snatches the phone from me. “I’ll take this.”
“All right. I’m standing.” I hold out my hand, palm up. “Give me my phone.”
I never had a chance to hit send.
“No.” She drops it into her clutch. “He told me what you said. How could you do this tonight of all nights? You will clap and smile. People are watching. This is your father’s night.”
My father. Of course. He’s the only person she cares about. I’ve no doubt she loves me. Even with her problems, I believe she cares. But the most important person in her life is Rupert Price. How dare I not celebrate him like everyone here so clearly is.
Were it not for my phone—the only way for Tom to contact me—I would have left after the premiere. But my mother refuses to give me the phone. Without it I also have no way of arranging a ride home. Grudgingly, I go to the after-party and keep my distance from my parents and Felix.
There are times during the night where I catch the movie star looking for me, like a lost puppy, and I snicker. I wonder if this is what Felix did to me back in LA. Watched me from afar when I’d show up at whatever function or party, expecting to see him. In those early days after the emergency landing, I’d wanted to talk to him, desperate to connect and commiserate with the only other person who had experienced the same thing.
But he ignored me, and the more isolated I felt, the more I wanted to go home. It was only when I tried to fly home alone that I realized I’d made a grave mistake. I wasn’t ready to face my fear no matter how upset I was with Felix, or how much I wanted to go home.
Oh, how things have changed. Now Felixneedsme.
He’s at home with this crowd, and for tonight, I am part of his persona. One of Hollywood’s hottest leading men is taken. He loves to see men and women cast dirty looks at me when I stand next to him. It gives him perverse pleasure how others covet him. Well, this time, I’m the one getting pleasure out of our arrangement.
He stands alone. And that’s how it’s going to stay.
At a little before midnight, I meet my parents by the limo, my mother returns my phone, and we remain silent on the drive to our home. But once inside, as my parents turn their backs on me, ready to head to bed, I pull the ripcord on our little charade of life.
“I will no longer go along with fake dating any actor to suit your needs.”
