Page 93 of When Stars Collide
“So, I’m handsome now? Not just merely good looking?” His smirk was enough to make me wish I hadn’t said anything at all.
“That was your takeaway from that? It’s not like you haven’t heard it a million times in your life.”
“I don’t know about a million, maybe a couple hundred thousand or so.”
I rolled my eyes, taking in the view of the city from his living room, which featured floor-to-ceiling windows. Southwest-facing, the light from the sun illuminated the penthouse, bathing it in its beautiful splendor. Bigger than my entire apartment, his living room was sparsely but tastefully furnished, featuring only the bare essential furniture, other than the grand piano in the corner near the window. A piano? Strange, I didn’t remember seeing it when I was there before. Granted, I didn’t remember too much from that twenty-four hour period.
“Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m not psychic, either. Clarence actually buzzed me to let me know you were on your way.”
“Thanks for clearing that up.” I held up the garment bag. “Where should I change?”
“Guest bedroom—down the hall, second door on the left, if you don’t remember. It has its own bathroom.”
“I remember.”
Entering the bedroom, I vaguely remembered having been there before. Like the living room, I marveled at the sheer size of the room and its minimalist decor. Phineas must not be one for clutter; either that or he couldn’t care less about furniture or decorating in general. On second thought, he was probably too consumed by work to pay attention to decorating, even though he had more than an ample amount of money to pay someone to care for him.
I unzipped the garment bag, revealing my new crimson dress with the plunging neckline that would require serious amounts of double-sided tape to keep the girls in place. Ruby swore by this dress, making it a point to repeatedly tell me how ‘fabulous’ I looked in it. At the time, this evening hadn’t been much of a reality to me, but now the prospect of revealing all the skin I was about to reveal to total strangers was making me regret my life choices.
Contemplating faking a headache or, better yet, the plague, I disrobed and slipped the gown over my head, securing it in place where it needed to be secured. Ruby the Charlatan had also managed to talk me into buying a pair of strappy, high-heeled shoes—as if I weren’t already uncomfortable enough. A pair of my own chandelier earrings completed the outfit. Coincidentally, the earrings contained accents the same shade of red as my dress, almost as if this night had been fated to happen. Once dressed, I inspected myself in the full-length mirror in the ridiculously opulent guest bedroom bathroom, unable to recognize the woman standing before me. She looked a little like me, except with way more class.
Yup, you may as well die tonight, because you’re never going to look this good again.
Phineas’s back was turned to me when I entered the living room. The illumination coming from his hands told me he was on his phone, most likely either checking his work email or the time, wondering why the hell he’d ask me to come along in the first place. My heels striking the plank flooring alerted him to my presence, and he promptly tucked the phone away into his pocket.
“The car should be downstairs wait—.” He stopped mid-sentence as he turned around to face me, his eyes running up and down my body.
Suddenly self-conscious, I began rambling. “Too much? It’s too much, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s not enough? Damn it, Ruby, I should have known—”
“You look beautiful. Absolutely amazing … your attire that is. A-plus to Ruby, whoever she is.”
Heart pounding erratically in my chest, I sat across from Phineas in the back of the limousine, staring in awe at the scene unfolding before me from safely behind its tinted windows. The theater was just a block away; the streets, lined with people. All around us, camera flashes twinkled like stars.
“Esther Cartwright is in the car ahead of us,” Phineas announced, breaking up the silence in our car.”
“Esther? No wonder she goes by E.V.”
“Do me a favor and don’t lead with that when you meet her.”
“Can do.”
“In the car behind us are Kira Capucci and Preston Paul. Any attention being paid to us will quickly dissipate once those two arrive. We’ll be all but invisible—a bunch of nobodies. Just keep thinking to yourself that no one is paying attention to you. This isn’t your night.”
“Do the world a favor and don’t go into motivational speaking.”
“Why? Doesn’t knowing that calm your nerves somewhat?”
“Nerves? Who’s nervous? I’m not nervous.”
“Uh-huh.” He smirked. “Your foot is going to tap a hole in the floor if you keep it up.”
I looked down to see my foot fiercely pounding away at the floor, and promptly stopped it by crossing my other leg over it to anchor it down. Truth was, Iwasnervous. I was an introvert being thrown headfirst into an extrovert’s playground without a life preserver. On top of that, I would be meeting arguably two of the most famous film stars in the business today, and, I presumed, was expected to make a good impression on them.
“Hey,” Phineas commanded my attention once more, “I’ll be right next to you the entire time. It’s not as bad as you think it’s going to be.”
I nodded, noticing that Esther Cartwright’s car was next in line.
“You look positively terrified.” Phineas snickered.
