Dazzled (20 page)

Some time later, I nudged her with my shoulder.

“Hey, we have to get up.”

Lilia groaned and pulled the sheet more tightly over her body. “No, I’m staying here.”

“Nah, we got to. It’s the wrap party.”

“Oh, that,” she sniffed. “Those things are always a waste of time – everyone stands around drinking and making small talk. Duh – bor-ing!”

I shrugged. “Sounds alright to me. Besides, everyone’s leaving in the morning – it’s our last chance to see the crew together.”

“Whatever,” she yawned.

“Come on, baby,” I said, kissing her hair. “It’s my first time – you just gotta promise to be gentle with me.”

She brushed me off and rolled over.

“Okay, not forcing you,” I said, but inside I was irritated.

I showered quickly and hunted around for a clean pair of jeans in the hotel’s laundry bag.
God, I loved room service
.

“Where are you going?” said Lilia, as I pulled on a t-shirt.

“The wrap party.”

“What? I said I wasn’t going!”

“And I said I wasn’t forcing you. But I want to go and see everyone.”

“You… you’re just going to leave me here?”

I could tell she was really angry. Well, that was tough.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“If you walk out of that door, don’t expect me to be here when you get back!” she hissed.

Ah, hell.

“Lilia, I don’t know why you’re making a big deal about this. I just want to go and have a few drinks and say thanks to all the people who’ve helped me.”

“Oh, stop being so goddamn
nice
,” she snarled.

Like I hadn’t heard that before
. Did women
want
guys to act like pricks? Did they
want
to be treated badly?

“Come with me. I’ll wait for you.”

“Fuck off, Miles!”

Fair enough
.

And I opened the door and walked out.

Huh. That didn’t feel so bad
.

Everyone from the cast and crew was in the hotel lounge when I came down the stairs. I felt like a bit of a dick for not being there sooner.

Polly staggered over, hooked her arm around my waist and put a beer in my hand. From the way she leaned against me, I could tell she was well on her way to a grade ‘A’ hangover in about 10 hours.

“You’re so pretty,” she sighed. “Why are you so pretty?”

“How are those beer goggles working for you, Pol?” I said, with a laugh.

“Noooo!” she wailed. “You’re beautiful. Let’s have babies. Lots of pretty,
pretty
babies.”

I couldn’t help going a bit red, but I eased her into a chair and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t forget me when you’re famous,” she slurred.

Jo-Anne gave a huge laugh. “Trust me, Polly, he won’t forget you in a hurry.”

Which was true.

How could I forget any of them? They’d been with me on this amazing ride.

I scanned the room, feeling uncharacteristically sentimental, and then Clare’s eyes met mine. She raised her glass in an ironic salute, and I took my beer and went to sit next to her. She was at a table with Mildred and Leon.

“Where you been, like I couldn’t guess,” she said, answering her own question and rolling her eyes at the same time.

I winked at her and chugged half the bottle of beer.

“Young love,” sighed Mildred, and Clare pulled a face. She was so cute when she did that – it made me smile.

“What about slightly less young love?” Clare shot back, raising an eyebrow.

I caught the embarrassed glance that bounced between Mildred and Leon.

“Oh, wow! Are you guys together? That’s great! Really something to celebrate,” I said.

“Yup,” nodded
Leon, “she’s it for me. Does things with a brush that I’ve just never seen before.”

“Oh, God! Too much information!” snorted Clare, making me laugh – even though I had to agree.

But it was pretty cool seeing them together, holding hands and all that loved-up shit. I mean, they were knocking on a bit, like 40 or something, but they hadn’t given up on love. I hoped I’d be like that. Except I didn’t want to wait until I was 40 to meet The One.

Hell, maybe I already had, I just didn’t know it yet.

Even as I was wondering if Lilia would bother to make an appearance, I saw her walk into the room.

In just a plain t-shirt –
huh, one of mine
– she was beautiful. I crossed my fingers that she was in a better mood, but then she gave me this huge smile and small shrug, so I relaxed.

“Hi, guys,” she said, to the room in general. “Drinks on me tonight. Go crazy.” Then Polly’s slumped form caught her eye. “Looks like someone already did.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve been here for a couple of hours,” said Clare, pointedly.

Oh, great
.

Luckily, Lilia ignored her. Instead, she leaned down and kissed me full on the lips. Guess that meant I was forgiven.

“Mmm, I like this seat,” she purred, pouring herself onto my lap.

It was kind of sweet, but it made it hard to talk to anyone else.

“Can I get you a drink, baby?”

“Yeah, a bucket of cold water,” Clare whisper-shouted, and a few people laughed.

Lilia gave a little hiss of annoyance, and I stifled a groan.

I sent up a quick prayer of thanks when Jo-Anne interrupted whatever was going to be said next.

“Well, as we’re all together, I’d like to just say a big thank you to everyone. This has been one of the best and easiest shoots I’ve ever been on. You know, except for the floods, hurricane, car wreck, actor getting arrested – all of that.”

“Thanks for reminding me, Jo-Anne!” I grouched.

“Aw, honey, it was a cute mugshot!”

I took a swig of beer and smiled sheepishly, as everyone laughed.

“But seriously, you guys, you’ve been great, and it’s been a pleasure working with y’all. Let’s hope this movie
dazzles
them at the box office. Mazel Tov!”

Lilia swiped my beer, and everyone joined in the toast.

“Here,” said Clare, passing me another bottle.

Even that seemed to irritate Lilia.

I turned the conversation back to Mildred and Leon, before the evening was spoiled.

“So, when are you guys going to do the deed?”

Mildred blushed bright red, and I choked on my beer.

“I mean, um, when are you getting married?”

Clare laughed out loud, and even Lilia cracked the ghost of a smile. Oh well, at least they weren’t sharpening their claws on each other.

Yeah, spoke too soon.

Because then Clare downed her Corona and stood up. “Anyone want another – seeing as Lilia’s buying?”

“Did you know beer makes you fat, Clare?” sniped Lilia. “Or maybe you just don’t care.”

Uh oh.

Clare smiled sweetly. “I could lose weight, but how would that be fair to all the skinny girls if I was this smart, funny
and
thin?”

Mildred coughed and tried to hide her smile.

But Lilia wasn’t taking that lying down. “Intelligent and funny? That would be okay, but how would
you
know?”

“Well, gee, Lilia, probably because you’re about as funny as a case of herpes.”

Lilia narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but I’d had enough.

“Stow it – both of you.” I pushed Lilia off my knee and stood up. “This is a party – try and behave like fucking ladies.”

And I headed off to find someone to talk to who wasn’t going to give me grievous bodily harm of the ears.

Clare

He was right, of course. It was probably the four bottles of beer I’d had to drown my sorrows, but I’d just had enough of Lilia’s bullshit.
And the way she’d sat on his knee, letting everyone know that she was staking a claim on her property.

I hated to admit that I was impressed, too, because she’d batted my snarkiness right back at me.
Miserable harpy.

She sashayed off to sit with the producers, and I wandered away to talk to the rest of the crew.

Half an hour later, I found Miles shooting pool with Merv. His arse looked bitable bent over the pool table like that. Miles’ arse, not Merv’s. I liked Merv, but his backside could have covered the national debt.

I wished I was in between Miles and the pool table, bent over it, while he lined up his cue. Phew, it was getting hot in that room.

He stood up and fixed me with a look.

“Why d’you have to piss her off? You know how I feel about her.”

“She started it,” I said, guiltily.

“Bloody hell, Clare! We’re not in kindergarten now!”

He had a point.

“Um, sorry and all that.”

He blew out a long breath and sighed. “Yeah, well, don’t worry about it.”

Then he dragged his hands over his hair and threw me a small smile. One thing about Miles, he couldn’t hold a grudge.

I, on the other hand, I was the queen of grudges. Flippin’ spectacular at holding them.

“I am sorry. Really. I don’t want to screw things up for you,”
but I really hate your girlfriend.

“I know. Forget it, like I said.” He shook his head and his smile got wider. “Life would be bloody dull without you, Clare.”

“Yeah, you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”

“I will,” he said, and I could hear in his voice that he was serious.

“So, when do you think you’ll come home?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Rhonda wants me to audition for some other roles. I guess I’ll stay out here for a while, see what happens.”

“But you’ll be home for Christmas?”

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

He glanced in Lilia’s direction, and my heart gave an unhappy little sigh.

“Your mum will miss you.”

“Yeah, I know.” He frowned.

“She’ll be okay. My mum and dad are keeping an eye on her. I’ll drop in and say hi when I get back.”

He leaned down to give me a quick kiss.

“Thanks, Clare. You’re a good friend. Pain in the backside, sometimes, but a good friend.”

The next two weeks were fantastic. And awful, too, because I was counting down to saying goodbye. And this time I didn’t know for how long.

Miles rented a car and we took the long way back to LA. We had a couple of days in
San Francisco, and Miles laughed while he drove us over the Golden Gate Bridge, and I closed my eyes and refused to look. We stayed one night in a tiny lodge on the coast road, and even saw a school of dolphins playing in the surf while we watched from the beach.

It was perfect.

Almost.

I tried to ignore the times he got calls from
her
, or the way his phone buzzed constantly with a stream of texts. I couldn’t really blame Lilia. I mean, I knew that Miles was 100% trustworthy, but she didn’t. It must sort of suck to have a boyfriend whose best friend was a girl. You’d always wonder, wouldn’t you? But not Miles, no matter how much I hoped. He didn’t have a cheating bone in his body.