Stars Collide

by H. P. Munro

  “No, you don’t get to treat me like crap and then storm off,” Freya raged. “I don’t deserve that. All I did was offer you a hug to warm you up.”

  Jordan yanked her arm from Freya’s grip. “Please Emily go back,” she turned and started to walk away again swiping her hand angrily at the tears falling down her face.

  Freya tensed her entire body trying to show the frustration practically oozing from her, “No! Tell me what I’ve done to offend you.” She moved quickly positioning herself in front of Jordan, “I don’t get it. Is this because I’m gay because I…I thought we were friends?”

  Jordan felt her breathing increase, this was the point in the script that they were meant to kiss. She looked at Freya whose green eyes were scanning her face looking for the answer to her question, while knowing from the script what that answer would be.

  Without forethought, Jordan felt her hands start to rise. She placed them quickly on Freya’s cheeks and pulled the smaller woman towards her clashing their lips together. She allowed all the frustration that she had been feeling towards the woman pour into the kiss.

  Freya was stunned. Their conversation had been that they were not going to do this, but here she was.

  Jordan was kissing her.

  The tension that she’d built up in her body during the scene drained from her muscles as she felt Jordan’s soft lips on hers. She closed her eyes relaxing into the moment as the frantic nature of the kiss slowed and became tender. Then as suddenly as it started, Jordan pulled away. Freya’s head moved forward slightly as if her body understood her need to continue without her brain telling it.

  Opening her eyes, she looked into Jordan’s brown eyes, which were still glistening from crying.

  “I don’t want to be friends with you,” Jordan murmured softly, she exhaled and turned leaving Freya standing with a look of confusion on her face that was only in parts an act.

  Jordan let out a slow breath before turning and walking back towards Freya, “I’m sorry, I know we agreed, I just got caught up in the scene.” She hoped the Freya didn’t see through her lie.

  “No, no it’s okay, it was…good…definitely explosive,” Freya answered, still a little dumfounded from the kiss. She glanced over to where Toby was talking with Steve and Lesley, his hands motioning around as he spoke, “I think it may have been a bit too cable for Lesley.”

  “What?” Jordan turned to look over towards the small gathering assembled around the chairs. “Too much?”

  She berated herself for getting carried away. The moment that their lips had met she had become only partially aware of the others in the room. If it hadn’t been for a noise from one of the crew snapping her brain back into professional mode she probably would still be kissing Freya now.

  Freya shrugged, as she shifted from foot to foot, needing desperately to take her mind off her libido which had been raging after she’d gorged herself into the early hours of the morning reading fiction describing them together. Jordan reading it aloud had almost tipped her over the edge. But the kiss…the kiss was the end for her.

  Toby walked over to where they were standing, “That’s what I had in mind. We may need to downplay the kiss a little for the network though and Steve has asked could you put your head the other way for the shot?”

  Jordan nodded and watched as Toby walked back to join the others.

  “Downplay how?” she whispered.

  “Guess he means no tongues,” Freya whispered back.

  “I did not!” Jordan hissed loudly her eyes wide in horror.

  Freya scrunched her nose. “Yeah you did,” she smiled. “But just a little.”

  “Ready to go?” Toby asked.

  They both looked over towards him, back to each other, and then took their places to repeat the scene.

  Two hours later and they had rehearsed the scene numerous times. After kiss number one was described as ‘too hot for primetime’ by Lesley, kiss number four as ‘I’ve kissed my gran with more passion’ from Toby, which caused some stunned looks around the room, they finally agreed on kiss number eight as the winner for the scene. With that decided, the two actors agreed to skip the kiss until they came back for blocking and dress rehearsal.

  “Okay let’s call it there and have a break,” Toby said. “Good work Jordan, Freya,” he nodded in their direction.

  As they collected their scripts, Sarah-Jayne called Jordan over to discuss something in a later scene. Reluctantly, Freya watched as Jordan and the writer poured over the script. Realizing they could be some time she left and headed back to her trailer alone.

  She pushed the door to her trailer open and climbed the steps. She was almost inside when she gasped in surprise, as sitting on her sofa studying his Blackberry was Dominick. He looked up at the sound of Freya entering.

  “Why the hell does your trailer have a cooker in it? You don’t cook at home, never mind at work.”

  Freya looked over towards the cooker which, to be fair, she had also wondered about, “The cooker is meant to be in the trailer, unlike you Dominick.” She held the door open waiting for her former agent to leave, “I fired you remember.”

  “Please hear me out, you’ve been ignoring my phone calls and I’ve been trying to speak to you.” Dominick sat forward on the sofa, he placed his phone down on the table and clasped his hands in front of him, “I’m sorry Freya, I was wrong. I will do whatever you want me to do.”

  Freya looked at her agent’s apologetic expression and knew that it was genuine, for all his bluster Dominick was a good guy at heart. She also suspected that either her mother or grandmother may have given him a flea in his ear. She closed the door and walked over towards him. “Saying that was bound to have hurt,” she joked. Then fixing him with a serious stare she continued, “I don’t want to hide anymore Dominick.”

  “I will go all out, I promise. We can do it properly, announcements, interviews. You could write a book,” Dominick said, hopeful that Freya was going to forgive him.

  “I don’t want to make a big deal out of it Dominick, I just want to be me,” Freya sighed. “I don’t want it look like I’m ashamed anymore.”

  “Absolutely, anything you want,” Dominick replied.

  “Anything?” Freya asked raising an eyebrow.

  “Anything.”

  “Cupcakes delivered to me for a week,” Freya frowned as she calculated how much she was pissed at him, “and ten thousand dollars donation to a local LGBT charity.” The fact that Dominick was also her mother’s agent gave Freya unusual advantage over him, which she used only sporadically and usually for altruistic reasons.

  Dominick nodded relieved as he had expected twenty thousand. As the last time they had fought to this degree and Freya had fired him it had cost him ten thousand dollars to a children’s charity.

  “Aaaaand ten thousand for Jordan’s Future Arts Foundation.”

  Dominick groaned.

  “Dominick! It’s tax deductible, quit bitching.”

  Dominick smiled as he stood up and held his arms out, “Done.”

  Freya grinned and walked over to hug her agent. Despite their differences over her being out publicly they had always had a good relationship and sometimes Freya thought that Dominick knew her better than she knew herself. She was relieved that this meant that she would not be looking for new representation, never mind the cost of trying to get out of the contract they had.

  “That’s why God invented lawyers!” Dominick murmured as he hugged Freya. “I’m so stealing that line.”

  ***

  Jordan walked over towards Freya’s trailer. She had wanted to speak to her after the rehearsal, but the episode’s writer had caught her to go over notes. She bit on her thumbnail nervously as she walked. They really had to talk because Jordan was fairly positive that Freya wasn’t acting during that kiss either. As she raised her hand to knock on the door she heard a man’s voice on the other side and hesitated.

  “So now that you love me again, dinner later?”
r />   Jordan tried to place the voice but could not work out to whom it belonged.

  She heard Freya laugh, “Okay but you’re paying.”

  “Of course I am, only the best for my girl.”

  She heard the voice get louder and realized that the owner was coming to the door. Panicked that she would be caught eavesdropping, Jordan leapt from the steps and hid round in the shade of Freya’s trailer.

  The door opened and Dominick turned to place a kiss on Freya’s cheek as he left, “I knew you’d take me back, you love me too much.”

  Jordan poked her head around the trailer in time to see a handsome older man turn and smile broadly towards the door of the trailer where she assumed Freya was standing. She slumped back against the metal side of the trailer as she heard Freya laugh and close the door. She clutched at her chest where a dull ache had settled as she realized that what happened in the rehearsal room had been just a job for Freya.

  ***

  Returning to her trailer Jordan pulled out her phone and selected Sabrina’s name from her contacts.

  Sabrina sat patiently waiting for the make-up artist to finish applying her eye shadow before retrieving her phone. She smiled as she answered the call.

  “Jordan. Guess what, oh you’ll never guess…I got to fire my gun today,” she said excitedly. When she didn’t get the response she was expecting she scowled, “What’s up doc?” She waved a thanks to the make-up woman, as she stepped out of the chair and walked to a quiet spot to get some privacy.

  “Hey,” Jordan responded. “You working tonight?”

  Sabrina arched an eyebrow watching the crew setting up the next scene. “No we’re on the martini shot,” she said referring to the final shot set-up of the day, “so I should be done in a couple of hours. Why what’s happened?”

  Jordan scowled, “What do you mean what’s happened? I just thought that maybe you could come over and I’ll cook.”

  Sabrina stepped out of the shade onto the street where they were filming scenes for her show, “I’m an FBI agent, I’m trained in these things.”

  Jordan rolled her eyes, “You do know that when you say stuff like that I never know whether you are joking or have become delusional.”

  Scowling Sabrina sighed, “Okay, women’s intuition then. Is that better? Regardless, spill.”

  Jordan gave a small laugh and took a breath, “Have you ever fallen for a co-star?”

  “Oh honey please,” Sabrina looked down the busy street shielding her eyes from the sun, she waved to the crowds hemmed in behind barriers to keep them out of shot. “That’s happened to all of us at some point,” Sabrina dropped her hand. “Please tell me it’s not Greg.”

  Jordan chuckled and shook her head, “It’s not Greg, you can relax.”

  “So who? Wait.” Sabrina pulled the phone closer to her mouth and whispered, “Is it your lesbian lovah?”

  “No making fun Sabrina, I’m being serious. I don’t know what’s going on with me,” Jordan lay down on her sofa. “I lost the plot today rehearsing our first kiss scene. I think the studio exec almost had a heart attack.”

  “I knew it, you like her!” Sabrina said gleefully. “Do you think it’s mutual?”

  Jordan sighed and rested the back of her hand on her forehead, “I don’t know, I thought so…maybe.”

  Closing her eyes, she thought about the conversation she’d just overheard, “But I just went back to her trailer to talk to her and she was with this older guy and he’s talking about how she loves him and he’s taking her out to dinner tonight and now I don’t know what to think.”

  Hearing someone call her name, Sabrina turned back towards the set, “Jordan, I’ve got to go, I’ll be at yours at eight-thirty. Dress nice, we’re going out.” She hung up the call, then, before heading back to work, typed a quick text message and hit send.

  ***

  Jordan checked her hair one more time in the mirror as she waited on Sabrina picking her up. As she put her shoe on she heard her home phone ringing. Still only wearing one shoe she hobbled to grab the handset. “If you’re running late Sabrina,” she said menacingly.

  “Eh? Jordan hi, it’s Becky,” a wary voice came down the line. “From the Foundation.”

  “Oh God, Becky, I’m so sorry,” Jordan grimaced. “I’m waiting on someone and I thought you were her, sorry, what’s up?” she asked hobbling back to the bedroom to grab her other shoe.

  “You wanted to be notified of donations over five thousand dollars so you could thank them personally,” Becky smiled as she looked down at the details on her pad. “We just received a donation this afternoon of ten thousand dollars from a Dominick Spence on behalf of Freya Easter.” Becky winced and pulled the receiver away from her ear as a loud bang came through the phone.

  Jordan retrieved the phone from the floor where she had dropped it on Becky’s announcement. “Sorry Becky, the phone slipped. That’s great thanks, I’ll be sure to thank them, her, them. Thanks,” Jordan flustered and hung up the call.

  “But you…” Becky looked at the phone now playing a dial tone in her ear, “haven’t got their details,” she finished, shrugging as she put the receiver back in the cradle.

  The doorbell rang and Jordan picked up her purse as she hurried towards the door. Placing her phone back on the stand as she passed by she grabbed her jacket and flung open the door. Standing in front of her was Sabrina.

  Jordan’s eyebrows rose as she took her appearance. She had pulled her dark hair into a low ponytail, tucked in at the nape of her neck and her eyes were hidden behind the oversized black sunglasses perched on her nose. Looking down Jordan tilted her head to the side as she surveyed the black turtleneck, tight black leggings and knee length black boots that her friend was wearing.

  “Um Sabrina, are we going on a jewel heist or something? ’cause I’m not really dressed for it,” Jordan indicated pointing at her own black wrap dress.

  Sabrina pulled her sunglasses down her nose and peered over the top of them, “We’re going on a recon mission.”

  Jordan stepped out of her door and pulled it closed behind her, “Recon mission? We have got to get you off of that show before you do some damage.”

  “Shush, we’re going to check out your lesbian lovah and her man.” Sabrina started to walk down Jordan’s stairs gesticulating as she walked, “I had a friend contact a friend who knows a paparazzi photographer and they said that Freya was heading towards DeLucca’s. So that’s where we’re going.”

  “Please tell me that you don’t have a balaclava in your purse,” Jordan said wearily as Sabrina slipped her arm through hers.

  “What, with this hair, are you kidding?” she laughed as she opened the car door for Jordan to get in. “Oooo but I did go to Radio Shack and get us these,” she grinned as she got into the car and removed two small walkie-talkies from her oversized purse.

  “Can’t we just use our phones if we have to?” Jordan asked skeptically as she took one of the handsets.

  “You’re no fun Jordan,” Sabrina scowled as she leaned forward to speak to the driver. “To DeLucca’s, we’re on a mission.” She sat back in her seat and started to rummage in her purse. “Dammit,” she cried.

  “What, you forgot the pepper spray?” Jordan asked sarcastically.

  Sabrina looked up, “No, that I’ve got, but I left the binoculars on my bed.”

  “Couldn’t just go out for a nice meal,” Jordan muttered to herself shaking her head as she looked out of the window as they drove towards downtown.

  ***

  “Sabrina, I’ve changed my mind,” Jordan pulled at Sabrina’s sleeve as they walked towards the entrance of the restaurant. “Can’t we go somewhere else and forget about this?”

  “Do you want to know if she’s seeing this mystery man or not?”

  “I could just ask her,” Jordan shrugged

  “Where the hell is the fun in that?” Sabrina replied grabbing Jordan by the front of her jacket and pulling her through the restaurant door
s towards a bald tuxedoed man standing behind the welcome podium.

  “Miss Morales, it’s lovely to see you,” the maître d’ welcomed them into the restaurant. Jordan hovered behind Sabrina trying to peer through the thick plants separating the entrance from the main body of the restaurant to see if she could spot Freya. “Do you have a reservation for this evening?” he asked politely, trying frantically to scan the restaurant’s book to spot her name.

  “If she doesn’t, I have several,” Jordan muttered.

  Sabrina elbowed her in the ribs as she gave the maître d’ a warm smile, “I do thank you, it’s wonderful that you’ve managed to squeeze us in. I’ve been hearing wonderful things about the food here.”

  “Why thank you, I hope that we live up to what you’ve heard.” He looked down at the table planner in relief at finding her name, “We have your table ready, if you’d like to follow me.”

  Sabrina walked into the restaurant scanning for Freya. She spotted her sitting with her back to the entrance. Her hair’s dark waves had been calmed into a smooth sheen as she sat bobbing her head animatedly as she spoke with the attractive man sitting opposite her. Sabrina grabbed the maître d’s arm with both hands hauling him back towards her, “Where exactly is our table?”

  The bald man looked at her confused, “We have the best table in the house reserved for you over there.”

  Sabrina followed where his finger was pointing towards the table beside Freya and Dominick.

  “No, sorry, that won’t be acceptable,” Sabrina spun around looking for a table that would keep them out of the eye-line of both Freya and her date whilst providing them with a perfect vantage point for observing. She spotted a table where a couple were sitting clinking their glasses in a toast. “We’d like that table over there,” she pointed towards the table.

  Used to the whims and demands of the Hollywood set, the maître d adopted his most sickly sweet tone, “Miss Morales, I’m very sorry but we already have diners at that particular table.”

  Jordan watched the exchange while inwardly dying of embarrassment. However, she was grudgingly impressed as Sabrina seamlessly palmed a fifty-dollar note into the maître d’s hand.