Hollywood Lights

by Lana Xavier

  “Okay, wow! Need to breathe!” Candace choked out and I let go of the tight hold I had around her.

  “Sorry, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too,” she said softly, looking at me with a concerned expression that made me gulp. I immediately knew I was in for a round of questioning that I wasn’t entirely sure I was prepared to answer.

  “This place is huge!” she said in awe, spinning around in a slow circle and taking in the set with fascination as Hector carried over her bags.

  “Candace, you’re only here for a few days,” I commented with a raised eyebrow as I took in the sight of her two huge suitcases.

  “I wanted to be prepared. You know, for all the sexy Hollywood parties that we’ll be attending.”

  I rolled my eyes and dryly said, “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You do realize that we’re in Vancouver.”

  Candace scoffed. “Yeah, but we’re on a movie set! Are you saying that you don’t party with the actors every night?”

  “No.”

  “Well, thanks for shitting on my hopes and dreams. Damn. Couldn’t you indulge a girl?”

  We stared at each other with blank faces until we couldn’t hold in the laughter any longer. We roared and I was reminded of just how alike we were. Even though our appearances were quite different, our relation was unmistakable.

  “Did I hear the word ‘indulge’?”

  My spine stiffened and I turned my head as Caleb approached us from the side. I glanced around, relieved when I didn’t see Marlena following him and I allowed myself to relax.

  “Oh. My. God! You’re Caleb Bradshaw!” Candace screeched as she placed her hands on her cheeks and stared at the man in awe.

  Oh Lord.

  My sister’s reaction was similar to that of the girls in the airport. Total and complete adoration, with a side of crazy fan girl to go along with it. I couldn’t help but to be slightly embarrassed as she looked at him as if he was the greatest thing she had ever seen.

  Like he was the Holy goddamn Grail of men.

  My blood boiled when he gave her that crooked grin of his. Was he seriously going to hit on my sister right in front of me?

  “That’s me. And you are?”

  “Candace Murphy,” she told him as they shook hands.

  Caleb’s eyes lit up with recognition and flickered between the two of us. “Sisters?”

  I nodded, but frowned as I watched Candace slide closer to him even after he dropped her hand. His gaze went back to me as she began to flirt with him and I closed my eyes tightly.

  I tried not to be mad. After all, Candace had no way of knowing what happened between us because I had refused to tell her. But watching her flirt with a man that I was just starting to realize I might have feelings for made my heart clench with regret. If I had just opened up to her and told her what happened, she wouldn’t be flirting with him right now and I wouldn’t be standing here watching the scene unfold like some sort of masochist.

  “So, why haven’t you invited my sister to any parties?” she asked with a sultry smile as she laid her hand on his arm.

  Caleb cocked an eyebrow. “Parties? We’re working here, darling. Not partying.”

  “Oh, come off it! You’re Caleb Bradshaw! Surely you know where all the fun stuff happens around here.”

  His eyes briefly narrowed at my sister and I watched the scene in horror. It was a shock to my core when he gently pried her hand off his arm and took a step back, shaking his head.

  “I’m not the person to ask around here if you’re looking for a party.”

  That was news to me.

  “So who is?” Candace curiously questioned.

  “CALEB!”

  He rolled his eyes the moment he heard her voice and jerked his thumb up behind him, gesturing to the incoming actress who looked like a raging lion ready to tear my sister and I limb from limb for talking to her precious fake boyfriend.

  “That’d be her. If you want to party, Marlena will point you in the right direction.”

  As she got close to us, Candace picked up on the other woman’s sour mood and immediately backed down. Marlena completed our semi-circle with a huff and a stomp of her high heel on the pavement.

  “Where the hell have you been?” she asked, completely ignoring the two of us.

  “Ran to the store,” he said with a shrug.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I don’t need your fucking permission to leave the set, Marlena.”

  Candace slowly moved to my side as we watched the train wreck in front of us. There was something going on—something that went way beyond a normal argument between a normal couple.

  “I’m leaving soon,” she said, her voice eerily calm. “You know we have to go out tonight and I need to know when you’re coming and going.”

  Caleb shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Marlena nodded and I narrowed my eyes at her. I was now more convinced than ever that Caleb had been telling me the truth when he said their relationship was for show. Her behavior was like one of a jealous girlfriend, sure, but that just added to my theory that she had real feelings for him that he didn’t reciprocate.

  But everything else? Her presence on set that nobody understood, the two of them going to trendy restaurants to be photographed together, and now this awkward conversation?

  Oh yeah, this is definitely not a real relationship.

  As if she only just now realized there were two women standing and watching the entire show, she turned to us with a look of surprise. When her eyes landed on me, it morphed into an ugly sneer.

  “Ugh, you again. Why are you even here? Writers are never on set.”

  It was funny how she remembered me now considering the night I went out with Nathan, she had no recollection of who I was.

  “I was asked to be here,” I said evenly, giving myself a mental pat on the back for keeping all the bitterness and anger out of my tone.

  Marlena laughed and it was probably the ugliest sound I’d ever heard. “Who did you have to fuck to get that invitation? Nathan? God, you’re so pathetic.”

  My jaw dropped. I hadn’t even considered the assumptions people might make by me going out to dinner with Nathan. Hell, we were just friends.

  But when she phrased it like that, I suddenly understood why everyone seemed harsher today than they had the week before.

  “Who did you have to fuck to get that role in ‘Last Day to Die’? Because you sure as hell didn’t get that part because of your so-called ‘talent’.”

  I turned incredulous eyes to my sister, torn between being grateful that someone actually stood up for me and mortified that I couldn’t seem to fight my own battles. My shoulders sagged as Marlena turned her scathing look to my sister. Caleb was watching the exchange with a combination of amusement and irritation, but when he turned to look at me, I could see his eyebrows draw together with concern.

  Marlena and Candace were shouting back and forth, their voices so loud in an attempt to talk over one another that I couldn’t even decipher all their words. Nathan came rushing over out of nowhere and attempted to diffuse the situation as I slowly started to back away.

  I didn’t like conflict. I never had. I typically didn’t have trouble standing up for myself, but when faced with an enemy like Marlena who I considered to be better than me in many ways, I had the tendency to lose my voice and roll over.

  She’s right. I really am pathetic.

  There wasn’t much time for me to dwell on that thought though as Candace griped my elbow and tugged me along with her. Her head was held high as Hector trailed hesitantly behind us with her bags in his arms.

  Once we were in my trailer and Candace dismissed the driver with her gratitude, she slammed the door closed and turned to me with a fiery gaze, one that demanded answers.

  “Want to tell me what the hell has been going on up here?”

  I sighed and plopped down on my couch. There was no use in acting like nothing was wrong at this p
oint. The best thing for me to do now was come clean and hope that Candace could give me some sort of advice on how to handle everything.

  “It started during the hurricane…”

  * * *

  Chapter Nine

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah.”

  “No… I mean, wow.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah.”

  Candace stood up abruptly and pointed an accusing finger in my face. “You! You… hooker! I can’t believe you slept with Caleb fucking Bradshaw and you didn’t tell me!”

  I buried my face in my hands and let out a short, muffled laugh. “I’m sorry for not telling you, I really am, but can you blame me? After everything I just told you? He used me, Candace.”

  She frowned thoughtfully. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive. Whether their relationship is fake or not, he left me alone without so much as a note. He didn’t call, didn’t text. Nothing. He got what he wanted and took off.”

  “But he came to work on your movie. Don’t you think that’s a little weird? Do you think if his intention was to use you and take off that he would contact the studio to work with you?”

  It was my turn to frown. “I hadn’t really thought about that.”

  Victorious, she folded her arms across her chest and smirked. “You should think about that. There’s no reason why you two shouldn’t be having frequent, sweaty sexcapades during your stay here.” She paused, tilting her head to the side as she considered something. “Well, other than the wicked bitch of the west, I guess. Why is she here? Is she in the movie?”

  I scoffed. “Hell no. I told Anne weeks ago that my one request in casting was that Marlena doesn’t get anywhere near my script.”

  Candace’s eyes softened as she plopped back down in the chair across from me. “So you can say stuff like that to a woman like Anne but you won’t even defend yourself against Marlena?”

  “Stop. God, please… Just stop being so rational,” I begged, pressing my hand to my forehead. “You’re making my brain hurt. I’m supposed to be the level-headed one, you know.”

  “Occasionally, the student becomes the teacher,” she mused with a grin.

  Even though I had asked her to stop, just having my sister here telling me all the things I desperately needed to hear was slowly making me feel like myself again.

  Why hadn’t I stood up to Marlena? Anne was a certified ice queen and I could stand up to her. What the hell was the matter with me?

  Duh. Jealousy. When did I become so thick-headed?

  I couldn’t deny it. Marlena seemed to have a lot of things that I didn’t, the most prominent one being Caleb.

  But now the question was… did she really have him?

  “Come on,” Candace beckoned. “Show me where a girl can get a cup of coffee around here.”

  I was grateful for the distraction from our topic and accepted her bent arm, linking my own through it as we headed out of the trailer.

  * * *

  A half an hour later, we were still lazily strolling around the set with coffees in hand. I showed her as much as I could without getting in the way of the crew trying to do their jobs, but after a little while of me playing tour guide, it became obvious that Candace was ready to return to the conversation we’d been having in the trailer.

  “So, do you think you might have feelings for him?” she casually asked, but I could feel her eyes studying my face closely for a reaction.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I never really gave myself a chance to think about it.”

  “Lies,” she hissed playfully as she bumped into my shoulder with her own. “But seriously, I call bullshit. You had three whole weeks holed up in your apartment to think about it. Don’t think I haven’t figured out why you were dodging me after you got back from California. I can put two and two together.”

  “Can we please change the subject? I’m sick of even thinking about him.”

  “But Sabrinahh… Come on! You know if I had hooked up with a celebrity, I’d totally be giving you all the gory details.”

  A blush crept up on my face. “I am not giving you details.”

  “Spoilsport.”

  Even though she continued to harass me for details about Caleb every now and then, she eventually allowed me to change the subject to our home lives. When I asked how her boyfriend was doing, I was surprised by the news that they had split up right around the time I got home from Los Angeles.

  “You would have known if you’d taken my calls,” she said accusingly.

  Another fresh round of guilt made me fall silent again and I promised myself to call my mom after Candace left. I had been avoiding her calls lately as well and it really wasn’t fair to the people in my life for me to ignore them just because of my own misery.

  We strolled around until the sun began to set, then headed back to my trailer for a microwaved dinner and another few hours of gossiping and catching up.

  It was the happiest I’d been since the night I spent with Caleb.

  * * *

  The next day, Anne sent an assistant to my trailer to request that I meet her on set to go over a few possible scene rewrites. I left Candace in Nathan’s capable hands, well-aware that the two of them together would likely solve two issues at once.

  One— It would keep Candace busy while I worked.

  Two— I couldn’t even imagine the flirting that would surely go on between the two. Nathan’s interest in me would be easily replaced once he hung out with Candace for a while. They were a far better suited match than him and I could ever be.

  I was grinning at my devious plan to hook them up as I made my way towards the set Anne wanted to meet me on. But as I got closer and closer to the set, I couldn’t help the frown that appeared on my face. The crowds of crew and extras had thinned out and it became obvious very quickly that this set was abandoned for the day.

  Why would Anne want me to meet her here?

  My question was answered as I rounded the corner and came toe-to-toe with Marlena.

  “You?” I dumbly asked even though the pieces had already clicked together. The assistant must have been sent by Marlena.

  No wonder the poor guy had looked so nervous when he came to get me this morning.

  “I don’t know what your game is, but you need to knock it off.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Marlena let out a dark, incredulous chuckle. “Please. You know exactly what I mean.” When I didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes. “Caleb, you dolt. Leave him the hell alone.”

  “I didn’t realize I was bothering him,” I said carefully, unsure of what exactly she knew about our brief history together.

  “I overheard you talking to your sister.”

  Well, that answers that, I thought with a wince. “Marlena, look-”

  “He might have hooked up with you, but you need to let this little crush you have go. It meant nothing. You mean nothing,” she hissed, pointing her manicured fingernail dangerously close to my face.

  Candace’s pep talk popped up in my head and I felt the overwhelmingly urge to fight back and stand up for myself.

  “And I suppose I should stay out of your way, right? Because you and Caleb are so serious. Because your entire relationship isn’t a total fucking farce for publicity.”

  Before I could continue my tirade, she raised her hand and slapped me square across the cheek. The fight instincts in my body rose as she practically snarled at me, but she backed away so fast that I didn’t have a chance to attack.

  “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “I know what he told me!” I barked back with a cocky smirk. “I know that you’re not really his girlfriend. That this whole ‘grand romance’ crock of shit is just a game for a big box office opening. And you think I’m pathetic? You need to take a long, hard look in a fucking mirror.”

  I smirked at the look of shock on her face, part of me wishing my sister could have been here
to see me finally stand up for myself. But as Marlena’s shock disappeared, it was replaced by a scathing hatred that made my skin crawl.

  “He might not want me now, but he will. He’ll figure out that he needs someone like me—someone who can actually help his career. You can’t give him what I can and you know it. And it would be in your best interest to stay the hell away from him.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  Suddenly, the scowl dropped and was replaced by a breezy, plastic smile.

  “Of course not. But just know that I have friends all over this set. If you even walk by his trailer door; I’ll know. And there will be consequences.”

  I ground my teeth together to keep from shouting at her as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and stalked off. When the door slammed shut and I was left completely alone, I covered my face with my hands and screamed.

  * * *

  “Is it totally wrong of me that I want to stay? Just quit my job and hang around movie sets for the rest of my life?”

  I smiled as I helped Candace finish packing her bags. “You only want to hang around set because of Nathan.”

  “Shut it,” she said warningly, even though her blush told me I was right.

  I had been correct when I predicted that the two of them would hit it off. Even though Candace was only here for four days, they had gone on three dates. Two of which ended with her sleeping in his trailer. I was happy for them both, I truly was, but having her ditch me made me feel more alone on this set than ever.

  Marlena had left the set two days earlier and Caleb immediately took up the habit of trying to casually bump into me wherever he could. But her thinly veiled threats hung in the air whenever I laid eyes on him. I wasn’t afraid of Marlena in the strictest sense of the word, but I was concerned about the fact that she had far more pull in the movie industry than I did. It was entirely plausible that she could kill my screenwriting career before it even began.

  So while my sister was off being wined and dined by a great man, I hid in my trailer with my laptop, taking my aggression out on a character in my newest novel who just happened to be named ‘Nicole.’