Starlight

by Alexandra Richland

  As Matthew stepped out, the response to him was deafening. Flashbulbs exploded as he grinned and waved to the adoring crowd. After a few moments, he ducked his head back inside and offered his hand to Connie.

  When Connie emerged, chaos ensued. Beth watched out the window as Matthew put his arm around her waist and they waved to the crowd. Reporters called out their names and a booming voice announced their arrival over the loudspeaker.

  “Are you ready, Beth?” Jack asked, straightening his bowtie.

  She nodded in spite of her anxiety.

  Jack left the limousine first. Once again, the crowd erupted into applause and screams. Beth exited the car with his assistance, clutching her purse in her other hand. She smoothed out her dress and looked to the bleachers, smiling as widely as she could. Her eyes watered from the blinding flashbulbs, making it difficult for her to identify the people around her. She felt disoriented and didn’t know where to go first.

  Thankfully, as the announcer declared their arrival over the loudspeaker, Jack placed his hand against her lower back and led her to the press line. The reporters gripped notepads and shouted their names.

  Beth approached the first reporter in line while Jack approached the second. They were required to walk the red carpet together, but it would take too long if they conducted all interviews together as well.

  Exhaling a deep breath, she prepared for her first question.

  “Miss Sutton!” The reporter’s lips moved but the rest of his words were lost amongst the commotion.

  Beth leaned closer. “I apologize, but I didn’t hear your question.”

  “Buddy Low, from Photoplay,” he said, louder this time. “Our readers are dying to know how you like working with Jack Peters and Lydia Dale on your new movie musical, Venus Rising.”

  Luckily, Beth had been coached on how to respond properly to this question. “Hello, Mr. Low, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m a huge fan of Photoplay magazine and I appreciate the support of your readers very much.”

  Mr. Low scribbled on his notepad.

  “In response to your question, Jack and Lydia are very talented and simply wonderful to work with. Their kindness and encouragement make it extremely easy for me to learn the dance routines. In fact, it’s been one of the most pleasant experiences I’ve had working on a motion picture since being signed to Starlight Studios.”

  Mr. Low glanced up from his notepad. “And the first film where you play a lead role, Sparkling Meadow, premieres next week in New York, correct?”

  “Yes, sir.” Beth kept her smile bright and cheerful. “I’m very excited. It’s truly a remarkable motion picture and William Everett is a phenomenal man with immeasurable talent.”

  Mr. Low flipped to a fresh page. “Thank you for your time, Miss Sutton.”

  “Another wonderful actor is Aidan Evans,” Beth added, as she had been instructed. “I’m truly thrilled to be here tonight as he makes entertainment history in this outstanding film.”

  The reporter wrote down some final notes. “Starlight Studios is delighted with this young man—I’m looking forward to seeing his film tonight as well.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Low, and please wish my fans all the best in your next issue.”

  As Beth followed Jack down the press line, they conducted interviews both together and separately. Further along the red carpet, Connie and Matthew smiled and posed for the photographers, looking attractive and madly in love. The crowd’s reaction to them was incredibly positive. Fans called Beth’s name as well and she responded with genuine smiles and polite waves.

  Nathan commented to the press, too, but for the most part, he and Olivia just followed Beth. Mr. Mertz instructed Olivia not to talk to the press because he didn’t deem comments from the wardrobe department important. That didn’t stop her from posing for the cameras and gushing to Nathan about all of the attention. The crowd didn’t know who Olivia was, but she looked so glamorous in her gown and worked the red carpet with such poise that she received a movie star welcome, regardless. Beth wished she possessed even a fraction of Connie and Olivia’s confidence.

  As she spoke with the press, she spotted Richard Rooney, Preston Adams, and several members of the supporting cast, but Aidan was nowhere to be found. Each guest was required to be inside the theater thirty minutes from now. There was no way he would make it down the red carpet and conduct all of the necessary interviews in that short amount of time.

  Upon entering the theater, Olivia, Nathan, Matthew, and Jack went to find their seats while Beth and Connie stayed back to assist others to theirs, as per their usherette obligations.

  Beth walked up and down the aisles countless times, leading many guests to their seats and feeling increasingly anxious about Aidan’s arrival. She was standing at the entrance as the final guests trickled in. Disappointment set in when a theater employee closed the doors and she still hadn’t seen him.

  A red-faced Mr. Mertz stood a few feet from her. “Find that boy!”

  The man he spoke to nodded and scrambled out of the theater.

  Beth looked away from her boss as Connie approached. “Let’s take our seats, Beth. The film is about to start.”

  The lights dimmed and Beth reluctantly followed Connie down an aisle to their seats. Throughout her journey, she searched the theater for Aidan, just in case he snuck in through another door. Her heart sank when she realized he truly wasn’t here.

  She took her seat between Nathan and Jack and placed her stole and purse in her lap. “Nathan, do you know where Aidan is?” she whispered, leaning toward him.

  His eyebrows furrowed. “He isn’t here?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, he has to show up, he’s the star. Plus, Luther will have his head if he doesn’t. I say give him some time.” Nathan checked his watch. “He still has a few minutes before the film starts.”

  Beth focused on the blank screen ahead.

  “Is everything all right?” Jack asked.

  She forced a smile. “Yes, everything is fine.”

  Jack gave her a quizzical look. Before he could press the matter, the lights darkened further and the film’s overture began.

  Mr. Mertz stormed down the aisle and took his seat in the front row. The screen illuminated his angry expression as he spoke to the man on his right, the same person he yelled at earlier by the front doors. Judging from their heated exchange, the man had been unsuccessful in carrying out his instruction.

  The overture ended and the credits began. When Aidan’s name appeared onscreen, Beth thought it was unfortunate he wasn’t here to witness such an extraordinary moment.

  Despite the poor lighting, she looked around the theater again in search of him, knowing it was her last chance before the first scene commenced. Once more, her search came up empty. She couldn’t believe he was missing his own premiere. She wondered if he was all right.

  ***

  “Would you like another cup of coffee, sir?”

  Aidan looked up from his almost empty cup. His server, the owner of the diner, hovered over him, holding a full pot. The offer was tempting, but he couldn’t procrastinate any longer. He wanted to see Beth, and not even Mr. Mertz’s horrific spectacle across the street could keep him away from her.

  Aidan looked out the window at the glittery lights of Grauman’s Egyptian Theater, recalling the circus during the red carpet arrivals earlier.

  “No thanks, man.” He put out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray. “Just the bill.”

  The diner owner nodded and left. Aidan tugged at his tie, wishing he hadn’t promised Preston he’d wear a suit tonight.

  After getting dressed this evening, Aidan had snuck out of his apartment building using the back exit, purposely avoiding the studio limousine that waited for him out front. He might have agreed to wear a suit but he refused to be chauffeured to the premiere. Instead, he rode his motorcycle.

  Following his successful escape, Aidan ended up at a diner across the street from the theater
, sitting in a booth and grudgingly staring out the large front windows. He’d been here for over two hours. The crowd died down well over an hour ago as everyone filed into the theater, so he figured the film was almost done by now—which meant he had to act quickly.

  Mr. Mertz was undoubtedly angry he missed speaking to the press and acknowledging the screaming fans, but Aidan didn’t care. He did care what Preston thought, though, and knew it wasn’t fair to the director if he didn’t show up at all. He also didn’t want Beth to think he didn’t want to see her tonight, since during their last conversation he mentioned that he hoped to run into her.

  It wasn’t just the crowds and red carpet chaos that Aidan wanted to avoid by showing up late, or the fact he was a perfectionist when it came to his work and didn’t want to watch playbacks of his performances. He felt nervous about reliving the tough scenes of the movie for the first time since he filmed them.

  “You hear about that picture?” The diner’s owner gestured across the street. Aidan hadn’t realized he’d returned until now. “The kid in it is apparently really good—Edwin, something or other.”

  The man focused his dark eyes out the window, failing to make the connection that his customer in the suit and the casually dressed young man in the Spike Rollins posters mounted on the front of the theater were one and the same. “The film is gonna make him a big star. At least that’s what all the entertainment papers are saying.”

  “Yeah, I heard,” Aidan muttered. “Can I have that check now?”

  The man tossed the check onto the table and walked back to the counter. Aidan gave his cup a swirl and swallowed the last cold drop of coffee before reading the amount he owed.

  He pulled out some bills from his pocket and ended up giving his server a three-dollar tip on his one-dollar check because this was probably the last time someone wouldn’t recognize him for a while. It was Aidan’s way of saying thanks for something the diner owner didn’t even know he’d done. The amount was excessive, but he believed the man deserved every cent.

  Aidan slid out of the booth and made his way to the exit. Outside, he looked up at the sun setting behind the theater and ran his hand through his hair, which had been ravaged by his motorcycle ride earlier. The sky was a mix of blue, orange, and yellow, cascading an eerie glow over the marquee that blazed his name for all to see.

  It was dusk; the time when day turned into night and Aidan’s unavoidable feelings of despair, terror, and loneliness resurfaced most intensely. When night fell, there were no distractions and he was left on his own to deal with his pain. Normally, he sought out crowds in which to hide, but tonight he just wanted to be alone.

  Aidan’s shoes echoed on the pavement as he crossed the street. With the fans gone and everyone else inside the theater, the road was empty except for the odd passing car. Shielding his eyes from the disappearing sun, he surveyed the venue and decided to go in through the side entrance.

  Across the street and in the shadows, Aidan pulled open the door to the theater and braced himself for what awaited him on the other side. From this moment on, he knew his life would never be the same.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  From the instant Aidan appeared in the opening scene of Spike Rollins, Beth’s eyes were glued to the screen. His performance captivated her, and judging from the awed expressions worn by the rest of the audience, she was not alone. They were all aware they were witnessing something truly spectacular.

  About a half an hour into the film, Beth had taken her handkerchief out of her purse. She’d dabbed her eyes continually with it ever since. Aidan’s performance was so realistic that when his character was in pain, so was she. When his character felt hopeful, happy, or sad, she did, too.

  In the current scene, the police had just released Spike from jail and he was back at the hospital, about to tell his brother Andy that he had finally secured the funds to pay for the heart operation. There had been many moving scenes in the film, but this one was the most poignant.

  Spike kneeled at his brother’s bedside, tears glistening in his eyes. “Andy, I’ve got the money.” He clutched the boy’s pale hand. “You’re going to get your operation.”

  A small smile lit up Andy’s face. “I knew you would save my life,” he said hoarsely.

  Spike pressed his cheek to his brother’s chest, sobs shaking his form. “I love you. I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too,” Andy wrapped his arms around his brother. “You’re my hero.”

  Spike lifted his head and a close-up of his face filled the screen, void of its previous despair. As he grinned through his tears, the theme music swelled and the picture faded to white with the words The End displayed in the middle of the screen, followed by A Starlight Studios Production.

  Silence swept the theater as the curtains closed. Then the audience leapt to their feet, cheering madly.

  Beth stood as well, placing her purse and stole behind her on the chair so she could join in the applause. Although the supporting actors were great, it was Aidan who had single-handedly carried the dramatic and spiritual momentum of the film, injecting diffuse fragments of his own personality into Spike—a vulnerability so deeply embedded in him that one was instinctively moved, almost disturbed by it.

  Aidan created a character who was both tender and ferocious, child and man; a dynamic, instrumental force. In each of his scenes, Beth saw what was going on underneath his words. She hadn’t watched him act. She had watched him feel.

  Without a doubt, the industry would regard Spike Rollins as one of the most important and remarkable films ever made and the public would embrace the film when it opened across North America tomorrow.

  The lights brightened. Beth dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief and noticed that almost every woman in the room was crying. Even a few men looked misty-eyed.

  “Well, that was pretty okay,” Jack mumbled with a shake of his head. He didn’t openly share the crowd’s enthusiasm over Aidan’s performance, but Beth could tell he was impressed.

  “Okay?” Nathan looked at Jack incredulously. “Are you crazy? That was one of the best performances in movie history. I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  “I agree with Nate,” Matthew said from his seat on Jack’s other side. “That guy can act. I mean, I didn’t cry or anything, because I’m a macho man.” He smiled and pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. “But, wow, I’d sure love to have his talent.” He glanced around the theater. “Where the heck is Aidan, anyway? I haven’t seen him at all this evening.”

  Nathan shrugged. “He’s gotta be here somewhere.”

  Beth surveyed the theater again, but soon realized that if Aidan was here, it would be difficult to spot him in the standing crowd. As people began shuffling up the aisles, she tried to conceal her disappointment over the notion that she wouldn’t see him tonight, after all.

  She removed her sash and placed it inside her purse before hugging her stole to her shoulders and walking with Olivia and Nathan across their row. Jack, Matthew, and Connie followed.

  As she approached the aisle, Hilda Hooper walked passed her toward the exit, accompanied by an equally ecstatic-looking Preston Adams.

  “Preston, I just knew the boy would be great!” Ms. Hooper said. “I knew from the moment he showed up at my house for our interview!”

  Beth had read Mrs. Hooper’s first article on Aidan and she hadn’t given him glowing reviews. She assumed from now on people would act much friendlier toward him, which was unfortunate, because they weren’t there when he needed them the most: upon his arrival in Hollywood and during his incident on the film’s set. He was still the same person as he was a few hours ago, but only now were people paying him the respect he deserved long before this evening.

  A bustle of commotion drew Beth’s attention toward the front row, where Aidan stood amongst congratulations and pats on the back. The sight of him in his distinguished suit sent her heart aflutter.

  Mr. Mertz smiled thinly and offered his hand. Aida
n walked past him without acknowledgment. As he made his way up the aisle, several people tried to get him to stop and chat, but they were all unsuccessful.

  Then his eyes landed on Beth.

  She offered a smile, delighted to be on the receiving end of his attention. He didn’t return the sentiment.

  “Hey, what’s the hold up?” Matthew asked.

  Beth tore her gaze from Aidan and discovered she prevented the rest of her row from exiting.

  Olivia tossed a knowing smile in her direction. “Let’s wait here for a second. The crowd is too thick to make our way out of the theater comfortably.”

  Matthew passed along the message to Connie, and they sat down in the seats behind them.

  “Beth, why don’t you sit down until we have to move again?” Jack suggested.

  “You can sit down if you want. I’m going to continue standing.” Beth didn’t catch Jack’s response; her only concern was not missing Aidan when he reached her row.

  Ryan appeared at her side. “Hi, Beth, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” she said, looking over his shoulder at Aidan.

  Jack placed his hand on her forearm. “Since the film is over, do you think it would be all right if I took off with Ryan? Luther won’t notice and you have your other friends to accompany you on the ride home.”

  “Yes, that’s fine.” Beth made room for Jack to pass her. “I’ll see you in rehearsals when I get back from my press tour.”

  Jack and Ryan took off up the aisle.

  As Aidan approached her row, she smiled widely, anticipating their reunion. Nathan extended his hand and Matthew called out congratulations, but he remained focused on her. Now that he was closer, Beth noticed his eyes looked bloodshot—like he’d been crying.

  A feeling of dread washed over her as she recognized the same disparaging expression on his face as the one he wore in the commissary after his incident on set. Only tonight, his pain seemed much more intense. Right then, she knew he hadn’t gotten over whatever troubled him that day, regardless of what he’d told her.