by Billy Taylor
I stared at him with an unsure look. He stared right back at me. He soon broke from our stare and sat beside me. “August, I’m going to do this regardless of what you say. I’ve explained this to you so you won’t have anything to worry about. You can sit and watch all relaxed because you know I will be fine. I want to perform something no one has ever seen before. Something that will go down in history, an opportunity I have to grab with both hands.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Ethan I will beat you up myself if you keep saying you’re going to do this.”
He laughed. “You’re so adorable when you’re angry.”
He went to grab my cheeks, but I karate chopped his hand away. And glared into his eyes with my mean look and flared nostrils.
“What are you doing, you weirdo?” He asked, moving away from me.
“I’m giving you my super serious I’ll kick the poop out of you look.”
He nodded. “I thought it looked familiar. But, you just look like you need a poop, August. It’s not scary at all.”
I tutted in disappointment, and stuck two fingers up at him.
NEW EMAIL FROM AUGUST BISHOP
Dear Leonard,
You must keep everything I am about to say to yourself. First off, I apologise for Ethan’s rudeness the other day. The crash isn’t his fondest memory. I’m sure it’s been playing on your mind, so if anything pops up please discreetly let me know. Ethan’s street magic shows starts on the twentieth. I thought maybe you would like to watch it. I wanted to email you because, of course you’ve been a magician previously, but if you were going to drop a building on top of yourself, whist handcuffed, how would you escape?
Thanks, August.
October 19th
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
You’ll never guess who got married!
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
I haven’t heard anything on the news. Spill it!
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
Me! Jasmine and I had a secret ceremony in Cuba yesterday!
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
No way!! That’s so great! I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
Thank you! We would’ve invited you, but we didn’t even invite our families. We felt like being spontaneous as we strolled along the beach one day, so we got our friends who’s villa we were staying in to be our witnesses!
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
I’m so thrilled for you both! I bet the ceremony was so cute and romantic!
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
It’s so weird being married! But I wanted to thank you, August. Without you I would never have sucked up the courage to tell her. How are things with you and a certain someone? A little birdy told me he is single…
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
Awww, you’re welcome! The birdy informed you correctly. I’ve been dying to speak to him and we’ve been really close lately... but I don’t want to spoil anything. He’s gone & going through so much and I want to wait until the right time, eventually it’ll be so obvious he’ll probably just ask me…
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
Oh August stop being a wimp & tell him! Promise me you will tell him before the year is out? I wish I told Jasmine sooner!
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
Fine, I’ll tell him by then. I’ll be seeing you for the premiere soon, won’t I?
NEW MESSAGE FROM STANLEY TENNANT
Yes, you will. November seventh we’re having 5-10 days of premiere & promoting so we’ll see you then! This film has cost a fortune to prepare in a ridiculously short time. Let’s hope it’s paid off!
NEW MESSAGE FROM AUGUST BISHOP
Ok haha! See you then Stanley, congrats again!
October 20th
“What shall we do for Halloween?” Ethan asked as we brushed our teeth.
I held my hair and spat. Yesterday I spat all into my hair, which sent Ethan into one of his audacious laughters.
“I’m not going trick or treating if that’s what you’re asking?”
Ethan spat. “Of course not, I mean, should we have a costume party?”
I gave him a puzzled scowl in the mirror. “Who are we going to invite?”
He scrunched his face before spitting again, “We could ask Eleanor and Max? It’s time I spoke to them again isn’t it?”
I smiled. “Maybe. Why don’t you call them?” I wasn’t going to allow him to persuade me to call them for him. He rinsed his mouth and popped his toothbrush back into the holder. “Fine, I’ll call them.”
I watched him on the phone as he stood on the balcony. He was out there for a long time. Eleanor was probably crying down the phone begging him to take her back. It would infuriate me if she were. Everything is going rather well between Ethan and I recently, compared to a few weeks ago. If he agreed to take her back I would probably attack him. She had feelings for Max, too. She can’t have both. My poop stare, as Ethan calls it now, increased by the second as I watched him. He strolled back in, tapping the phone in his hands.
“I’ve made up with Max. Eleanor wants me to visit her so we can talk.”
I sighed, because I knew if he went over she’d flash her beautifully long eyelashes at him and he’d be hers. I wanted to tell him he shouldn’t, but then he’d ask why and I wouldn’t have a valuable explanation. I’m still not ready to tell him. I’ve set myself a goal of telling him before Christmas, or New Years Eve. It provides me with the perfect opportunity to kiss him. I want to see how we do over this next month or two with the premiere and the launch of his TV show. Which was due to start in a couple of hours.
“Are you going to see her?” I asked.
Ethan paced around the apartment.
“It wouldn’t hurt to pay her a visit. If I leave now I can make it back in time to watch my show with you.”
Without consulting me, he vanished out onto the balcony. I assume to call Eleanor back, and this was the moment my misery restarted. They’ll get back together and my life will become a total an utter disaster. Ethan ran and grabbed his jacket of the stand. “I won’t be long.” He said, walking over to me and kissing the top of my head. I closed my eyes and preserved it. The door closed behind him before I could say goodbye. My eyes didn’t move from the door the whole time he was gone. I kept saying to myself, He’ll be back any minute now, every minute.
An hour and twenty-four minutes later, the door re-opened. Ethan reappeared from behind it blank faced.
“How did it go?” I urged.
He slowly walked over and sat back beside me. “We’ve decided to give it another go, she’s been on the set of another film these past few weeks and she’s taken time to think about it and want’s to be with me. I want to give her one last chance because… I like her.”
He knew that I didn’t like it. Each word he spoke brought me more misery and anger. It felt like turning back the clock a couple of months and seeing them together for the first time. I sighed as he stopped talking and dropped my head, quickly raising it again before he noticed anything suspicious. He had the biggest grin on his face.
“I’m just kidding! God, can you ever be happy for me!”
The fury that rose inside me was indescribable. I gritted my teeth and punched his shoulder. “Stop it with all these jokes!”
“Aww come here.” He opened his arms and I foolishly fell into them. He patted me on the back as I rested on him.
“Stop being so stubborn.” He whispered in my ear.
“Eleanor has feelings for Max apparently. She hasn’t spoken to him because she has been away filming. We agreed that they have better chemistry.”
“Cute.” I was still recovering from his cruel joke.
“Right, let’s watch how amazing I am shall we?” He said, grabbing the remote, flicking through the channels to find his show.
October 31st
Ethan’s show is nothing short of magnif
icent. It’s called Deception. It’s nothing like the stunt is he hoping to perform in December. It’s simple street magic. Well, according to him it’s simple. It involves him walking around performing card tricks to small groups of pedestrians. The more tricks he did, the more the crowds around him grew. He wore the other tie I had bought him for our fifth Christmas together throughout his first show. It was a charcoal grey tie with purple spots dotted on it.
In his second show, aired on the twenty-seventh, he wore the red tie I bought him for his ninth birthday. A normal red tie, that’s it, nothing too special about it. In his second show, Ethan is by the beach, continuing his card tricks. He performed his usual slip the card in your shoe trick although he was working with flip-flops. I don’t know if that made it more difficult for him or not. I’m sure he had figured it all out before performing them.
He met Natasha Thompson along the beach, the tall, wonderfully tanned and beautiful model. I’d never paid much attention to Natasha. She was stunning, drop dead stunning. However, modelling isn’t something I follow, so I don’t know much about her. I’ve been asked to do some photoshoots for magazines, so I suppose I will be a modelling soon, too. As an interest though it isn’t something I follow with passion. The producers of Ethan’s show thought it would be a good idea for him to perform a trick for her. Ethan somehow forgot to mention this. I find it hard to believe he’d forget to mention such huge news.
“What was she like?”
He shrugged. “She’s cool.”
It wasn’t the exciting explanation of their encounter I was expecting.
They sat in an empty beach bar, drinking coconuts through a straw. If I remember correctly, Natasha is twenty-two or twenty-three. She looks about the same age as Madeline to be honest. The beaming sunlight lit up her face, making her hazel eyes appear even more indulging. Ethan and Natasha shared a smile for a moment before he asked for the ring she was wearing.
“Don’t worry you’ll get it back.” He said smoothly.
She had a sly grin on her face as she handed the ring over.
Ethan examined it in the sunlight before grabbing an empty clear glass bottle from the bar. He passed the bottle to Natasha, asking her to inspect it and making sure the lid was securely fastened and not capable of leaking.
“It looks good to me, Ethan.” She replied, returning it, and taking another sip from her drink. She had such a broad English accent. I mean I’m English and I guess mine is plain-ish. But hers was very… posh, I guess would be the best word to use.
“Now watch closely.” Ethan said, holding the ring against the bottle. He moved them apart from one another before snapping them together, transporting the ring inside the bottle. The jolt startled Natasha, but amazement soon followed. “Oh wow!” She said as she snatched the bottle off him, tapping away at it. “How am I supposed to get this out now?” She flirted. She was definitely flirting. The bitch.
I snarled at the TV over her overreaction and perfection. Ethan held the bottle over her hands, and the ring dropped back into them. Just like that. Astounded, Natasha gazed down at her ring. I could have gone into further detail regarding this encounter, but it’s annoying me and I’m jealous. I also wasn’t too fond of the trick Ethan did for the Brazilian girls on the beach. Let’s just say their breasts were rather noticeable, well huge. With these girls, instead of putting the card in their flip-flops, Ethan was slightly more adventurous with the placement of the hidden card. I’m sure you can guess it was placed in one of their bikini tops. I shook my head at Ethan, he didn’t notice though. He was too busy giggling at himself. They performed a magic trick of their own by slipping their phone numbers into his pocket.
I’m so pleased for Ethan, his show is doing great. The amount of viewers he received for his second show tripled the viewers from the first. The first two episodes were brilliant. I just get jealous easily when I see him performing another trick for another girl. I’m his magic girl.
He’s leaving again in a few days to film the next series ahead of the New Year. They’ve made a huge profit from it already just with advertising so they want him straight back out there ahead of the New Year. He’s also got to plan everything ahead of his special appearance on Patrick Miller’s show on Christmas Eve. I’m starting to develop a real dislike for magic.
Tonight we’re having a Halloween costume party that Eleanor has arranged. Ethan and I have spent all day shopping for costumes. Ethan was insistent that he wasn’t wearing make up or face paint. My upmost best to persuade him otherwise, failed. He was decisive that he would go as a magician. I went along with his decision and sat on the stool in the store, watching him try on a million top hats.
“I’m getting you one.” Ethan said as he tilted the hat on his head.
“No, no you’re not!” I joked.
Ethan took the hat off and turned to the assistant beside him. “Can I get two of these, but one in the smallest size, please?”
The assistant bowed their head and took the hat away.
“You’re having a hat August. We need matching suits now.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Do I not get a say in this?”
He shook his head, “Naa.”
NEW EMAIL FROM LEONARD PHILLIPS
Hi August,
Sorry I haven’t replied. I’ve not checked my emails for a while. There is no need to apologise. I’ve spent a lot of time re-watching the footage of the crash. However, I’m still no closer to solving it. I watched Ethan’s show and I must admit it was impressive. He has a certain swagger about him. I think it will take him far in the world of magic. As for bringing a building down on top of myself, I would pre-record it, using special effects. I’d sit and watch myself perform from my trailer without lifting a finger. I hope this helps, Leonard.
“Ethan, isn’t there any way you can use special effects to bring the building down on top of you instead of risking your life?” I asked while we were looking through suit colours and materials.
He looked at me with disappointment. “How would that make it the best trick ever, August? Magic is about leaving people on the edge of their seats. The audience wants to feel like this could genuinely kill me, and they’re waiting to find out if I’m alive or not. That’s the beauty of it. Never knowing how they did it. Everyone has their suspicions, but they’ll never be told if they were correct or not. If anything slips up from one of the special effects people, the entire press will jump on it and call me a joke. Then for the rest of my life I’ll be known as the coward who used special effects.”
I couldn’t argue with him, he was right. “Please come back in one piece.”
He grabbed a top hat off a shelf and popped it on my head.
“I will.” The hat slipped over my ears and covered my eyes.
“I’m serious Ethan. We both know what happened last time.”
“What’s got into you lately? You’re always worrying. Don’t you trust me?”
I removed the hat from my head, examining it in my hands. “Of course I trust you. But bringing a building down on top of yourself has nothing to do with trust. I’m making one rule.”
Ethan winced his eyes. “Ok, let’s hear it.”
I rolled the hat around in my hands. “If you even so much as receive a scratch from this, I’ll beat you up and you can go back to putting cards down Brazilian chicks’ bikinis.”
My eyes didn’t blink to make my intentions clear and then I brought out the poop stare. Ethan tucked my hair behind my ears and then pulled a small section forward so my ears poked out. He thinks this makes me look like an elf.
“Ok my tiny mean elf wife. You’re so demanding!”
I karate chopped his hands away and ruffled my hair.
Ethan couldn’t choose a suit for us to wear, so he chose one at random since I was uninterested in doing so. I sulked through the entire measuring fitting as an elderly lady with her tape measure, sized us up.
“You’re so adorable when you’re grumpy.” Ethan said with a grin
on his face as he sat and watched the elderly lady measure me to his amusement.
“I hate you.” I replied. I wanted to dress up as someone hot, like Catwoman or some other sexy character. Not some ridiculous sidekick for Ethan wearing stupid top hats.
Ethan grinned. “You love me.”
I remained silent because it was true, but not in the way he implied. The suit Ethan had chosen was green, a hideous green. Like the colour furniture your Grandparents would have in their house, green.
“Why New York Ethan?” I asked as we drove home. We hadn’t spoken about the sudden idea of moving to America and buying an expensive apartment.
“I wanted to move somewhere we would enjoy. I figured with your acting career taking off as well it would be perfect for you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So, you did this all for me?”
Ethan gazed out of the window. “Well, yeah. Who else do I have to spoil? If your acting career took off, I decided being in New York meant I would be closer to wherever you would be filming, and we’d be able to see each other more than me being in England.”
My stomach fluttered from his cute considerableness. I quickly peeked over at him before returning my attention to the road. Why couldn’t he tell me he loved me too? If he ever did. He must do. If what Mum explained was true that means all those years growing up together and he never mentioned it once. Why?
November 1st
Last night’s party was, let’s say, eventful. Around fifty or sixty came, thanks to Eleanor’s organisation skills. I felt utterly ridiculous having to wear my top hat and suit. Ethan thought we looked cute, I disagreed.
We met some interesting new people. I doubt we’ll become friends with any of them. Their egos are too big and came across as snotty.
