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His ex.
Not just hisex, though, but his most significant ex. The girl he met when he was 19, and they starred in their very first movie together, thus becoming overnight stars, and the nation’s golden couple; until, of course, they broke up.
The nation never really got over it.
And judging by the way Violet’s standing as close to Jett as she can get, staring adoringly up at him, I have a feeling she didn’t either.
“There you are!” says Jett, spotting me hovering awkwardly behind the group, and coming to give me a kiss. “I was wondering where you’d got to.”
“I could say the same for you,” I reply, wishing I didn’t sound quite so whiny. “You didn’t reply to any of my messages.”
“Sorry,” he says sheepishly. “I didn’t have my phone switched on while we were doing the screen tests, and I lost track of time. You look amazing, by the way.”
“Lexie, darling,” says his mother, coming forward for a theatrical air kiss on both cheeks. “You look gorgeous. Like a tiny little doll.”
I smile. She’s a complete space cadet most of the time, but I can’t help but like Gabriella. Her husband, on the other hand, simply nods vaguely in my direction, as if he doesn’t quite recognize me, before suddenly brightening as he remembers something.
“Have you told Alexandra the good news, Jett?” he asks, strolling over to Violet, who’s wearing a blood red dress that makes her look like a beautiful vampire. “We’ve found our Lady Macbeth.”
He puts an arm around her and smiles fondly down at her. It makes me want to gag.
“Jett?” I look at him questioningly, my heart hammering like it’s the main character in an Edgar Allan Poe story.
“Um, not yet, no,” says Jett, looking embarrassed. “I haven’t had a chance to tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
I smile pleasantly, but I already know what he’s going to say. Or whatCharlesis going to say, rather, because, as usual, the slimy old git doesn’t miss the opportunity to pull focus.
“Violet is going to be playing Lady Macbeth,” he announces, loudly enough that the people at the next table all pause mid-conversation to look around at us. “She accepted the role this afternoon.”
I somehow manage not to react to this. I should win the Oscar for that alone. It’s almost as if I was expecting it, though; as if Violet and Jett being cast as husband and wife in a movie was the inevitable end to this fairy tale life — orlie— I’ve been living for the last few months.
“Lexie, I can explain,” says Jett, his eyes pleading as he turns to face me. “I genuinely didn’t expect Violet to be the one forthis role — I really didn’t. But we saw so many actresses. Dozens. And none of them were right.”
“This one’s perfect, though,” says Charles jovially, looking at Violet as proudly as if he personally conjured her out of thin air. “You two are perfect together. Everyone agrees.”
Well, not quiteeverybody…
“Lexie,” hisses Jett urgently as we take our seats at the table, my body so rigid with tension that it feels like it might snap in two if anyone touches me. “Seriously, I was going to tell you. Dad’s been in Duval’s ear right from the start of this. He’s putting up so much finance for this movie; he wanted to have a say in it.”
“And you?” I whisper back, trying not to allow my voice to give away how shaken I am by this latest development. “You didn’t get a say?”
Jett stares down at the place setting in front of him.
“She’s a great actress, Lexie,” he says at last. “I know you don’t trust her, and I get that; I do. But we have to put our personal feelings aside when it comes to work. We have to think about what’s best for the movie, not —”
“I don’t trust her because she’s your ex-girlfriend who once tried to split us up, so she could get back with you, Jett,” I point out, a little louder than I intended. “Or did you forget that bit?”
“That’s not true,” he insists. “I mean, itistrue that she was messaging me all the time, and I know she did some stupid stuff. But it wasn’t to get back with me. Violet doesn’t care about me, I promise you. She just did it because she wanted the part. She knows as well as I do that this movie has the potential to be huge, and she wanted in on it.”
“Oh, well, that makes it all absolutelyfine,” I reply, a little hysterically. “Got to make sure Violet gets whatever she wants, don’t we?”
“Please, Lexie,” he says quietly. “Please don’t be mad, baby. This is …. this is why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you’d get like this, and you have no reason to. I swear to you, you have absolutely nothing to worry about with me and Violet. This is purely a working relationship, nothing more. You’re the one I love. You’re the one I’m with. Not her.”
“Shhh!” hisses Charles from the seat next to me. “It’s starting.”
We’re seated in couples, with me sandwiched between Jett and his dad; an arrangement that only someone who truly hates me could have come up with.
