A Little Less than Famous (21 page)

“I’m in,” I said, automatically.

Jake smirked. “I knew it. You’re jealous of Andrea.”

I choked out a laugh. “Um, no. I’m definitely
not
jealous of Andrea, Jake. This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the fact that I love winning. And winning that part would be awesome thing to throw in her face. It
’
s obvious she doesn’t like me.”

“And you want to make her like you even less, don’t you?” Wendy asked, leaning against the wall, her arms folded across her chest.

“But of course,” I said, flashing a dazzling smile.

“That’s my girl,” Jake said, standing up. “Your audition will be after we film today, probably around six.”

“Today?” I yelped. “That’s hardly any time to prepare!”

“You’ll be fine, McKinley, I promise,” Jake said, rubbing his hands on my arms as he leaned forward to kiss me on the forehead. “Just do exactly as you did when you were practicing with me and you’ll do just fine.”

“Of course I will,” I said, taking a deep breath and smiling. “Much better than you.”

Jake rolled his eyes but refrained from answering as we walked out of his trailer and onto the set.

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“Now, McKinley, we normally don’t do things like this, you do know that, yes?” Josh said, looking up at me, from his desk. When I had walked in, he had introduced himself as Josh Callum but insisted that I call him Josh b
ecause Mr. Callum made him feel
old. He was not exactly old though, but old enough to have been directing a hit TV show for over a decade.

I nodded. “Of course.”

“As it were, Cam recommended you highly, said you showed promise and I’m scrambling right now to find a Charlotte,” Josh said, tossing the stack of papers he was looking at on the top of his desk. “And I’m not going to lie, your popularity right now is very appealing.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said, honestly. “ I think I would be surprised if you wanted
me
for my acting prowess, which I didn’t even know existed until a week ago.”

Josh laughed out loud at that. “I like your honesty, Miss Evans. Now let’s see how you do with a script.”

He handed me a script from the show Jake and I had been practicing only the week before. We tossed a few lines back and forth and I tried immensely not to be nervous about it. I spent most of the audition pretending Josh was Jake instead. After we had gone over a scene multiple times, he thanked me and excused me, telling me that he would give me a call later if he felt
that
I was going to work out. I left feeling relieved; it was over and either I got the part or not, no big deal either way. I walked back to the trailer, ignoring the looks I was getting from various people.

“Did you get it?” Jake asked, as soon as I walked into the trailer.

“I don’t know, do I?” I said, rolling my eyes. “He said he’d call me.”

“He’d call you? Seriously?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Yes, he said he would call me,” I said. Dread immediately seeped into my veins. “Oh, god, is that a bad thing? I totally blew it, didn’t I?”

Jake shook his head. “It’s completely not a bad thing at all. Josh doesn’t call anyone because he is crazy notorious for losing cell phones. What he meant is, you got the part and I want to freak you out.”

“You are so lying to me right now,” I grumbled, sitting down on the couch and grabbing the TV remote. I felt a buzz in my pocket and pulled out my phone.

“It’s a text message from Josh’s assistant, Mary Beth, guaranteed,” Jake said, lazily. “Go on, check it.”

I frowned at him and read the text message on the screen.
McKinley-Mr. Callum’s assistant Mary Beth-you have the part. Filming starts Monday.
I looked up at Jake. “I hate you.”

“Oh, shut up, no you don’t,” Jake said. “And you got the part! That’s awesome, McKinley!”

“Yes, awesome,” I echoed. “I’m going to be on TV. Like I’m not getting enough unwanted attention as it is.”

“It’s going to be fun, I promise,” Jake said. “Now come over here and let me show you how comfortable this couch can be.”

“Maybe later,” I teased. “I’m hungry. I’m going to go get something from crafty. Want anything?” Jake shook his head, looking a little disappointed.

I pranced down to craft services, feeling lighter and happier than I had felt in months. There was something about being with Jake that made life more relaxing and more fun. I smiled happily at the man behind the counter and ordered a sandwich. I was just turning to leave when I heard my name from behind me, said in almost a hissing way. I turned and saw Andrea standing there, hands on her slim waist.

“Hello Andrea,” I said, cautiously, my defense immediately up. “What’s up?”

“Oh, don’t bother with the niceties,” Andrea said, her blue eyes glaring down at me. What was with all the blue eyes around here? I thought blue eyes were uncommon, though my own green eyes weren’t common as well.

“Fine. I won’t,” I said back, shrugging. I took my sandwich and moved to walk past her. She reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me. I tensed up. “I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Is it true? That you somehow managed to land Charlotte?” Andrea asked, her face mere inches from mine.

“Wow, news travels fast in this place,” I remarked, dryly, feeling bored.

“Just because you got this part doesn’t mean suddenly everything is changed,” she spat out. “You’re still a diner girl. This is
my
show.”

“Okay, sure, it’s your show,” I said, easily. “I don’t really want it.”

“Oh, the way you lie,” she said, her arms folding firmly across her chest. “I’ve seen the way you’ve charmed everyone on set and the media adores you. And Jake is certainly is on your leash.”

“Is that what this is about?” I asked, looking at her. “Jake?”

“Jake? What do I care about Jake?” she scoffed. “I just hope you realize that you are a nobody and soon, everyone will forget who you are, even Jake.” She reminded me so much of Amanda when she was angry, sharp and calm.  She was obviously able to keep her temper where I was coming closer to losing it. Well, she
was
a Golden Globe winner.

“Oh shut up, you,” I snapped at her.

“Oh, struck a nerve, have I?” Andrea grinned at me. “You know as well as I do that you won’t be here for long.”

She wasn’t wrong. But it wasn’t Jake that’d be moving on… “Okay, enough,” I said, my temper flaring. “I don’t know what your problem is…”

“My problem is you!”

I ignored her. “If this is about Jake, then you need to get over it. You dumped and for god sakes, you’re married!”

“Its nothing to do with Jake!”

“Well then, let me make this perfectly clear,” I said, standing right up in front of her. “I am not going anywhere. So you better get used to me.” Andrea stared at me, speechless. “You just can’t stand that he got over you and chose me.”

“Oh, get over yourself,” Andrea snapped and, turning on her heel, stalked away. I took a couple deep breaths before shrugging and walking away.

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I glanced over at Jake, tapping my fingers nervously on my thighs. I was supposed to be studying my script. I had a very short amount of time to learn my lines before I had to start filming as Charlotte and I was finding it extremely hard to concentrate on my script. Even though I probably wasn’t going to tell anyone about the fight-though, realistically, people would find out about it-it had rattled me more than I was letting on.

I was no stranger to dealing with ex girlfriends, especially since sometimes I had been the mistress long before they had become the ex girlfriends. The story was just usually the same: the girl wasn’t ready to let go and didn’t want to see their ex with me. Simple, clear-cut. However, Andrea Tremaine was very different. She had broken up with Jake, she had cheated on him and she had married someone new and yet she was keeping him hanging on a thread. She was constantly hovering around him, trying to get him to notice her and trying to get in my face at every opportune moment. I had no idea what her deal was and that really bothered me.

“Jake?”

“Hmm?” he asked, barely looking up from his own script. Sometimes, when he was reading the script for the newest episode, or a script for a movie that Adrienne had sent him, he was nearly impossible to talk to.

“What happened with you and Andrea?” I asked.

That caught his attention. He set the script aside. “You know what happened between Andrea and I. I told you at that party.”

“Oh. Right. I know,” I said, nodding. I paused and then continued. “I just feel like I’m missing something there.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, warily, folding his hands in his lap.

I knew I should stop the conversation before it even started. I should just let it go and move on. It wasn’t even important. “Jake, the girl doesn’t leave me alone. She doesn’t leave you alone. When she’s not throwing herself at you, she’s making snide remarks and threatening me about staying away from ‘her show’. That doesn’t really seem like a person who is happily married.”

Jake frowned. “Wait, she threatened you?”

I waved my hand, dismissing it. “She found out about me landing the Charlotte part and was none too happy about it. It’s not a big deal. I’m just wondering why she cares so much. She’s Andrea Tremaine and I’m McKinley Evans.”

“Okay, being a McKinley over an Andrea is a lot better than you make it sound. And…things with Andrea are complicated,” Jake admitted.

“What do you mean, they’re complicated?” I asked, setting aside my own script. “God, you’re not still in love with her, are you? Because you need to stop that.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “I’m not still in love with her, I can promise you that. The thing is…when Andrea and I first began dating, it wasn’t real.”

I stared at him, not sure if I had heard correctly. “Excuse me?”

He sat back in his chair, stretching out his legs in front of him. “It’s not unheard of, you know. When Andrea was first cast as Maggie on the show, she was a no body, a newcomer. Nobody knew who she was. So Adrienne and her publicist, Lori, suggested that we attend events together and maybe go on a few dates. It would help the ratings for the show, which were hurting at the time.”

“Wait, wait,” I said, holding my hand up. “So your relationship with Andrea wasn’t even real?”

“Well, not at first,” he said, shrugging. “I took her to a few movie premieres; we appeared on the red carpet together at different events together. We popped out on some coffee dates. All for the cameras. But eventually, we realized that we actually enjoyed doing these things together. We had a ton of fun together.”

“You had fun…with Andrea?” I asked, flatly. I couldn’t imagine Andrea Tremaine having the sort of fun that I now associated with Jake. She didn’t seem like that kind of person at all.

Jake smiled slightly. “Andrea didn’t used to be the way she is now. She’s from South Carolina, and she had the cutest accent when she first came out here. It wasn’t long before she got a speech therapist to help her get rid of it, which was a bummer. But she was so…wholesome. She enjoyed her work and she was always taking advice from Josh, and thanking people all the time for the opportunity to work on the show. It was almost
strange
how she acted. But I loved that about her.”