Under the Lights

“I met, I saw, I conquered.” He grins broadly. “Guess who’s gonna be your new costar, baby.”

No. “You have to be kidding me.”

“Just curious who you’ll think is a better kisser,” he muses, wedging himself on the couch between me and Zander. “Holloway or me?” We’re no longer even touching, but I can still feel Zander bristle. “How perfect is that gonna sound on the cover of Entertainment Weekly?”

I jump off the couch. “No way in hell. You’re coming on as my love interest? I did not sign off on this!”

Josh laughs. Such an asshole. “Please. Like anyone cares.”

“They will,” I warn him, crossing my arms, though I have no idea if this is true. Considering what a battle it was to talk them out of putting me in orange leggings, the jerk probably has a point.

“Well, I’m doing it to help Liam get a lightened schedule so he can film the Lassiter movie, so you might wanna think about him before you try — and fail — to get my ass booted from the set.” He smiles smugly. “Besides, you haven’t even given me a shot yet. Wanna practice before the table-read next week?”

“I am literally gonna hurl all over your overpriced shoes right now.”

He laughs. I don’t.

“I’m going for a walk,” I declare, grabbing my phone from my purse and not even caring that I’m not being subtle about it. Then I march outside and immediately call Jade; she’s always the first to know everything.

“Did you know Josh was joining the show?” I demand as soon as I hear a voice on the other end.

“Vanessa?”

My stomach tightens. Of course Brianna’s answering Jade’s cell phone. “Is your mother there?”

“Jade’s at a meeting right now.” Brianna’s voice is pleasant and professional, smooth and confident, and that only annoys me more. Acting should be left to actors, not to publicists — or their interns — who pretend to be friendly for five seconds. “Is everything okay?”

“As if you care,” I mutter, and then immediately regret it. God, this girl is worse than Josh at making me drop my nice Vanessa guard. “I was just looking for more information on something,” I add, making sure my voice sounds sweeter now.

“On Josh Chester joining the cast of Daylight Falls?” Brianna asks. “It’s just a three-episode arc. Shouldn’t be too bad. You can handle yourself just fine. I’ve seen it.”

I can hear the smile in her voice as she says this last bit, and despite everything, my lips curve up a bit, too. She may be a manipulative sneak, but there’s some actual sincerity in there. It makes me tingle with a little pride.

After a few beats, she asks, “So, should I have Jade call you?”

“Please,” I mumble, because it seems way too awkward to admit that she just made me feel better about the whole thing with a few words. “But, um, no rush, I guess.”

“Okay.” We’re both silent again, and then she says, “Come on. Are you really so pissed about me being at Josh’s party? I was just doing my job.”

“I’m not pissed,” I lie, because I shouldn’t really care enough to be. “I just think it’s weird that you showed up and pretended to be”—Nice, and funny, and the only person who actually thought to see how I’m feeling about Ally leaving—“a waitress.”

“Of course it’s weird. Jade is weird. You know this already.”

“I don’t like feeling deceived.” My voice is stiff, and even I want to laugh at myself. Why do I care what my publicist’s freaking intern thinks or does? “Whatever, it’s—”

“I’m sorry,” she says, cutting me off and surprising me. “I won’t do it again.”

“Okay. Thanks, I guess.” This conversation has definitely taken a turn for the strange, and I don’t really know what else to say. “I should go. I left Josh and Zander alone in my trailer, which seems like a terrible idea.”

She laughs. “I’ll tell Jade you called. And hey, listen, if you wanna take a few bites of an onion or something before your spit-swapping scenes with Josh Chester, I swear, it’ll be our little secret.”

“I appreciate that,” I reply, feeling a full, genuine smile creep onto my lips for the first time that day. “Bye.” She says goodbye, and I hang up and stare at my phone for a minute before heading back to my trailer, where Zander and Josh are, unsurprisingly, giving each other shit.

I leave the door open behind me to give Josh easy access to leave and surprise them both by dropping in Zander’s lap. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be?” I narrow my eyes at Josh.

“Nah, I think I’ll just watch.”

“You know what? Go ahead.” I pray Zander’s somehow become a better kisser in the last five minutes, and then I press my lips to his. If there’s one thing I’ve learned being an actress, it’s to fake it ’til you make it.

And if there’s another, it’s that sometimes, you’ll just have to kiss with an audience.

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