Page 22 of One Day and Forever
OMG. Am I crazy or is that Sienna Montgomery? Do you think Ollie Chiles knows that his wife is currently lip locked with some dude on a flight to LA? Come on, people, do the right thing and let him know. Tag me and tune back in for updates.
#milehigh #whathappensonaflight…
There was a time stamp on it of an hour ago, so at least he’d always know the exact moment that his life began to spectacularly unravel. It was Sienna. He didn’t have a single doubt. It was the body that he slept next to whenever they were in the same city, the woman he’d loved for over six years, married, been faithful to since the day he met her.
But…
He paused while he clutched at a straw. Could it be a fake? All that AI stuff could do anything now. He’d seen a film clip of Tom Cruise buying tampons in Walmart last week. And the viral clip of an ex-President singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ while sitting on the loo would live with him forever. Sure, it was highly unlikely that someone could mock all that up at just a few moments notice, but he supposed the person who filmed them could have used the in-flight Wi-Fi to send it to someone to be modified and…
Another ping. Then another. Then another. And his phone was vibrating so hard with a new wave of incoming notifications that it was making his hand tremble.
One of the messages that were running up his screen like some kind of mobile phone ticker tape stood out and caught his eye:
BREAKING NEWS – SIENNA MONTGOMERY LOSES IT IN MID-AIR RANT.
Oh Jesus. Maybe he should have gone for a shot of hard spirits after all.
He clicked on to TMZ’s website and played the clip. Same airplane. Same couple wrapped up in each other. Then the woman slowly disentangles herself and stretches up as if waking from a long sleep. She turns her body so that she’s facing the front and lifts the glass of clear liquid on the tray in front of her. Ollie knew exactly what it would be. Tequila Soda Lime. Sienna’s drink of choice. Everything about this was looking way too real. The way she moved. Her body language. The dimples on her cheeks. And now, almost in slow motion, the way she reacted when her gaze flicked slightly to her left and she spotted that the other passenger had a phone camera angled in her direction. For a split second, she put her head down, her hand coming up toher face as if to shield herself from the glare of the lens, but then defence-mode must have kicked in because she suddenly moved towards the camera.
‘Are you filming me?’ she spat, but her words were now even more slurred than when he’d spoken to her earlier. She was drunk. Definitely wasted. It wasn’t an uncommon thing of late. The slump in her career and the latest cancellation of her show had hit her hard. This Sienna Montgomery was almost unrecognisable as the carefree, driven, successful actress who’d been at the pinnacle of her career, lauded and drenched in accolades, when they’d met.
Ollie wanted to close his eyes or press stop because it explained so much. Sober Sienna would never risk misbehaving in public because she was very well aware that the majority of the people in their orbit had a phone with a camera now. Drunk Sienna was someone who tossed all her inhibitions and caution to the wind and did whatever she damn well pleased. Drunk Sienna was also more explosive than 100 per cent alcohol in a naked flame.
The person behind the camera didn’t reply, so Sienna continued to stretch out of her chair and lean towards it. ‘I said are you fucking filming me?’
The only thing her fury was achieving was putting her closer into focus, letting the watching world hear her voice, and confirm that there could be absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this was the real Sienna Montgomery, not some AI-generated spoof, or one of those uncanny lookalikes who made a fortune because the genetic lottery had given them a face that closely resembled a household name.
She turned back to the guy sitting next to her. ‘Van, they’ve been filming us.’ Slam dunk. Questions answered. Proof delivered.
Turning back, she was wide-eyed and her face twisted as she made a lunge for the phone, forcing the woman recording the whole debacle to pull back. The video was now jerking furiously as the operator tried desperately to avoid confiscation.
‘I said give me the fucking phone,’ Sienna hissed, and Ollie could hear the slur of her words again.
A rumble of noise and jarring movements emitted from the screen for the next few seconds, then a more official firm voice as a flight attendant intervened. ‘Excuse me, please sit back down in your seat and put your seatbelt on.’
‘No. That woman is filming me. She has no right to do that, and I want it deleted. It’s my fucking privacy and she just invaded me. I swear to God if this gets out I’ll sue this fucking airline until there’s nothing left of it. Now get the fucking phone. I want to see exactly what’s on it.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t take a passenger’s phone.’ The timbre of the voice changed as if the person speaking was now talking while facing the camera. ‘Ma’am, are you willing to voluntarily hand the phone over or delete anything you’ve recorded of the other passenger?’
‘No, I’m not handing it over. It’s no one else’s business what’s on my phone. It’s a free country – I can record anything I want.’
That activated Tequila Sienna. ‘No you can’t! How fucking dare you – I’m entitled to my private life.’
The flight attendant switched focus to Sienna. ‘Ma’am, can you come with me please? I think for everyone’s sake it’s probably best if we move you to another seat for now, while I speak to the captain and ascertain the airline protocol here.’
Ollie was starting to feel sorry for the flight attendant. It was an impossible situation to deal with while all parties were at thirty thousand feet in a metal tube. And he also knew how it felt to take on Sienna in a rage.
The footage cut there, and he let his head fall onto his hands on the counter. Fuck. How could she do this to him? To them? Yet so many things were adding up in his head. Her drinking. The T-shirt Van Weeks was wearing. Their tactile affection at the beginning of the clip. This didn’t look like a one-off drunken kiss. Was it a full-blown affair? How long had it been going on? Were they in love? Is that why she’d been so offhand with him lately? So angry all the time? And did it matter what it was?
He wanted to unsee everything he’d watched in the last half-hour and slam his phone off the marble. But before he got a chance to do that, his phone decided to torture him a little bit more.
Another text.
Sienna
Just saw the video that’s circulating. I know it’s prob reached you too. It’s not what it looks like, I promise.
Then another.
