Page 86 of Reflex
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Post show saw Alle enjoying canapés and champagne while Xane and Spook chatted with old acquaintances.She’d been standing with Dani, but the other woman had headed to the ladies, and not wanting to be part of a cliché, she hadn’t tagged along.With little to do besides eavesdrop on the conversations of people she didn’t recognise, Alle had fired off a string of texts to Ronnie, and was just wading through his replies—he and Rock Giant didn’t seem to have done a whole lot of film watching at the beach—when someone nudged her elbow.
“Sorry,” she muttered automatically.Assuming they wished to get past, only for the suited individual to stay put instead of moving around her when she took a step back.
Alle glanced up, straight into an unexpectedly familiar visage.A shock of red hair the exact colour as hers framed a deeply freckled face.The bridge of the man’s nose was sunburned red.He had a wide thin smile that hooked upwards at one side, creasing his cheeks and creating a web of laughter lines around his mossy green eyes.
“Princess?It is you.What the devil are you doing here?”
Alle stared at the notepad poking out of his top pocket.He had a microphone tucked into the side-pocket of his dinner jacket, and his bowtie was crooked, and obviously on elastic.
“Marshall.My God.How?”she gasped, throwing her arms around her brother to give him a hug.He patted her back in return.“What in heaven’s name are you doing here?”
“Uh-uh,” he shook his fox-like mane of hair.“I asked first.Got to say, I wasn’t expecting to see my little sister here dolled up like a film star.That’s the sort of excitement a brother ought to know about, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.Maybe.I didn’t know.It was all very last minute.Brothers ought to spill such things too.”
“Hey, I’m working.And, not so very last minute, methinks, in your case.”He turned her about so that he could take in her outfit – a sheer sheath of silver-green that perfectly complemented her colouring.
“This has nothing to do with me.”Alle curled her hands backward to indicate her outfit.“A friend picked it out for me.”She deliberately didn’t mention that friend was Xane Geist.Marshall would only interrogate her further, and he’d probably think it weird that a man she wasn’t sleeping with, and in fact barely knew, had procured a designer frock for her to wear for one evening.To be fair, she found it a little odd herself.But not enough to have turned down the gift.Although, if she’d known it would be this manic and could have persuaded Spook to sit it out too, then maybe…
“A friend you’re here with?”her brother prompted, sending a sly glance out over the room as if he meant to pinpoint her date.
“A friend of that friend.”she said.Marshall was sporting the same ill-fitting dinner jacket he’d bought for his first university Christmas prom.
“But a guy, right?”He wrinkled up his nose, which only emphasized the fact that the sun-reddened skin across the bridge was starting to peel.
“Yes, a guy.Don’t you own sun cream, Marsh?You haven’t half caught the sun.At least tell me you have some Aloe Vera to put on it.”Honestly, he was as prone to frazzling as she was, and ought to have known better than to soak up that much UV damage by standing around, almost definitely minus a hat.The red skin along the parting in his hair proved it.
“I did put some on, this morning, but you’d be crispy fried too if you’d been standing outside for days watching endless parades.So, where is this loaded Lothario of yours, then?And how the heck have you snagged him?What is he, press?A director?Script writer?Not an actor?Please forever-loving God tell me you’ve not hooked up with an actor?”
“I’ve not,” she sniggered.Marshall had always been overly dramatic when it came to her relationships.Ergo, he’d never approved of a single blessed one, besides Callum Fairchild in Year 8, and that’d only been because Callum had bribed him with Maoams before and after school every day.Marshall was still addicted to the cola ones now.She always included a bag in his Christmas and birthday presents.“And he’s not a Lothario.”
“Boyfriend,” he grouched.
A tingle of anxiety shot through her insides at the description.It didn’t feel accurate.She and Spook weren’t securely committed enough for such a label.They were spending time together.Dating.Trying things out.
“About.But tell me about you being here.I didn’t think Cannes was the sort of thingTop Loadedcovered.”
“Top Loaded!”he cackled.“Little Princess, you are so out of the loop.Don’t you follow my Instagram feed?I’ve been with two other outfits since them.They’re ancient history.”
“Oh!”All she’d ever seen on his feed was heaps of gossipy trash and over-exaggerated kissy pouts.Disappointing, from the man who’d sworn blind he was going to be a serious investigative journalist.
“Here.”He handed over his business card.“I’m withBang!now.”
“Bang!Magazine.”Alle’s eyes bulged as she struggled to keep the horror from her voice.Sure enough, there was theBang!logo right next to his details on the card.
Marshall regarded her curiously, but then shrugged whatever thought he had off.“That’s just one department.Along with books, podcasts etcetera.I’m not assigned to one particular division.I’m more free-flowing.”
“Right.”This was bad.Oh, so hideously bad.How had she failed to be aware of this?Heat drizzled from her skin, leaving her clammy beneath the silken sheath of her dress.“So you chase pretty people and snoop into their private lives.”
He laughed.“Whoa, listen to you on your soapbox.I think you’d better tell me who this mystery man of yours is.Sounds like prime material for an inside scoop.”
“Fuck off.You’re not reporting on my private life.”
In any case, surely if he’d seen her arrive, then he already knew.And if he’d happened to mention the connection to his boss, her eyes had probably lit up with glee.Still, he wouldn’t use her as a fishing exercise, would he?His own sister?Knowing Marshall and his all-consuming ambition to claw his way to the top of the journalistic trash heap, he totally would.He totally bleedin’ would.
“If you were outside watching the parade, I’m sure you already know who I arrived with.”
