Page 5 of You and Me, For Real
News flash, lady, it’s absolutely everywhere. Our PR team made sure of it.
Scarlet leans into me, pressing her shoulder into mine, leaving almost a whole cushion on our loveseat. She casually places a hand on my thigh. I swallow hard, trying not to react.Be a professional, Griffin.
“Oh, our relationship has been a looooong time coming. Isn’t that right, Griff?” Scarlet purrs in my ear. “We’ve become quite close over the last ten years. We practically grew up together.” Her blue eyes pierce into mine, and I catch a millisecond of vulnerability in them. Sometimes I forget the mending of her promiscuous reputation is what spurred this arrangement to begin with. Latching herself to Hollywood’s Golden Boy is supposed to restore her image. Despite our predicament, she is my friend first and foremost.
“Pretty much. We’ve been on set together since we were sixteen.” Awkwardly enough, I had my first kiss with Scarlet on set too, but that particular piece of gossip doesn’t need to become public knowledge.
“Wow. So how long has this thing”—Gwen gestures between the two of us—"been going on?”
For most of my growing up years, Scarlet scared the crap out of me with her overly forward personality.
Scarlet flips her long, dark waves behind her bare shoulder. She crosses her legs, and her short black dress inches higher up her thighs as she angles toward me. She smiles. “This...development has been more recent, but I think we’ve always known there’s a certain spark between us.”
I smile in agreement. “You could say that. How could any man resist Scarlet Rhodes?” What am I even saying? I’m flying blind. I perform much better with a script.
She squeezes my thigh. “Aw. Honey, you’re so sweet.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. A man would have to be blind not to acknowledge Scarlet’s attractiveness. She’s stunning, with icy blue eyes framed by long, jet-black hair. Her full, pouty lips draw the eye, but the sharp angles of her cheekbones and pointed chin match the abrasiveness of her personality. Scarlet is a woman who gets what she wants, when she wants it, and she isn’t afraid to go after it.
Gwen’s gaze darts to Scarlet’s thigh grasp by arching her eyebrow.
Scarlet’s laying the fake-dating on mighty thick today, pushing my acting skills to their limit.
“When did you two take thingsoffset? Because we all know you can carry the heat on-screen. Isn’t that right, folks?” She smirks at the audience.
They cheer wildly.
I clear my throat and remove Scarlet’s hand from my thigh, holding it instead. “Like Scarlet said, we grew up on set together. We became friends over the years. You could say it was only natural things would escalate over time.”
“Speaking of growing up on set. You and Scarlet originally met onTheClubhouse, right?”
I want to groan. Nothing like having your awkward teenage years recorded for the world to see.
Scarlet laughs. “Oh my gosh. I almost forgot about that. Griffin, do you remember that hair?—”
“We don’t need to mentionthatparticular detail, Scar.”
“Oh, but we certainly do. As it so happens, we have a clip here today.” Gwen gestures to the large screen behind our chairs.
“Greeeeat.”
The audience chuckles at my discomfort.
Scarlet bounces with giddiness on the couch.
The ensuing clip highlights my embarrassingly awful hairstyle while singing on stage. If Justin Bieber’s swooped hair and Justin Timberlake’s curly hair phases got together and had a baby—that’s what I looked like. A gangly, curly-headed mop-top pre-teen. Not my finest age. After suffering years of torment from both my cast mates and the public for my gangly form, I took my fitness regimen to another level in my later teen years. I’d hoped it’d help take the public scrutinyoffmy body. Not highlight it.
For a while, it was great. I thrived on the attention from girls and from the rush of my father’s praise and attention. Had my mom been around, maybe I would’ve realized there was more to life than such a shallow existence. It may have taken me a while, but now I crave something deeper.
“What about you, Griffin? Did you love an early rise to stardom?”
“With that flashy hairstyle and those wardrobe choices?” I laugh. “No, I did not. But it definitely sparked a passion for acting.” I loved that it brought people together—my parents mostly.
“That’s right. You went directly fromThe ClubhousetoMalibu Shores, correct?”
“Yup.”
“What plans do you two have now that this is the show’s final season? Are you having a hard time leaving it behind? Rumor has it, Griffin, you’re looking to move toward film. Is that correct?”
