Page 4 of You and Me, For Real
“Be a good sport,”he mouths.
Gwen whistles. She’s loving this as much as Scarlet, who cheers along with the crowd.
An assistant comes on stage and hands me a rescue tube.
Not wanting to disappoint the fans, I lift it in the air and give my most dazzling smile.
“I don’t know if they can handle it, Gwen,” Scarlet taunts from the cushioned couch.
Shouts, catcalls, and whistles resound across the audience as I strut to the center of the stage.
Just play the role, Griffin.
I smirk toward the elevated seating across the stage, though I’m unable to distinguish any faces beyond the bright lights. The cheers become impossibly louder as I hold out my hands, lifting the rescue tube likeTheGladiatorand spin around. “Is this what you want?”
From me? Is this all I am to you?is what I want to ask.
The honing of my physique is partially why I obtained the role of a hot teenage lifeguard. I’m grateful for the stability it brought to my career in the last decade. But now, at twenty-eight, I’m ready to be recognized for something else besides magazine articles featuring double-spreads of me shirtless. Thewomen’s resounding cheers sting, but the beaming smile on my father’s face spurs me forward.
It’s all part of the Hollywood game—sell myself to elevate my career. This keeps my father happy, which means keeping him close to me. So, I step into character and lift the corner of my shirt, revealing another sliver of skin, before dropping the hem.
The mostly female audience moans.
It’s comical, really, their overabundance of enthusiasm. A good portion of my skin is already on display, from my pecs to my navel. What’s another small section?
I laugh and tsk my finger back and forth, simultaneously reveling in their rapture and disappointing myself for stooping so low to play this game.
My dad stands next to the cameraman and gives me two thumbs up. At least I’m making him proud. For the moment.
Red fingernails clasp onto my bare forearm where the cuff of my sleeve is rolled up. Scarlet presses her chest against my back. “Now, honey, don’t get them all worked up. You’ve got to save some of that yummy goodness for the show.” Her hand works its way over my abdomen, finger-walking up my torso until she circles my pectoral with a single nail.
The crowd hoots and hollers. The women are beside themselves. Scarlet toys with the crowd, torturing them with her ability to touch me so liberally, playing her part well.
I grasp her hand and squeeze it. A warning.Enough. Too far.
Her body slides around mine.
I stretch my neck to glimpse her face.
She’s well-versed in my silent signals from our years of acting together onMalibu Shores.And yet, she completely bypasses my silent plea and cups my cheek with her hand, pulling me sideways and planting a kiss on my mouth.
A staged kiss is nothing like a real kiss. It’s awkward and rehearsed. Nothing close to authentic.
This kiss? This is something akin to that. Except it wasn’t part of our agreement prior to the show. This feels like she’s probing, trying to find answers. She’s knocking, but that door is firmly closed on my end.
“Well, ladies, there you have it. Scarlet Rhodes is officially marking her territory on andoffscreen,” Gwen chuckles behind us. The audience’s cheers resume to a new, wild volume.
I guess the kiss sold our fake relationship. So, there’s that, at least.
I look at Scarlet, asking with my eyes,“What the heck was that?”
But we’re both miked, so instead of answering, she avoids my gaze and rests her head on my shoulder, squeezing my arm like a boa constrictor, and faces the crowd.
The absolute only reason I go along with this charade is because we’re recording in front of a live audience, and my career is on the line. If, at any moment, the media sees through our sham, my film contract becomes void.
We move back to the couch and stick to our prearranged questions promoting our final season ofMalibu Shores.Unfortunately, that also means the awkward, invasive questions about our romantic relationship. It’s what I agreed to, but it doesn’t make deceit any easier.
“Judging from that very public display of affection, things look like they’re heating up between you two. Does this mean you’re getting serious?” Gwen leans forward like she’s hitting on some super secretive, juicy gossip.
