Page 25 of Becoming Cinderella

I slow as we get to another security stand. “Good grief. Is the president here?” I mumble under my breath but not quietly enough.

“Nah, but Prince Charming is.” He sits up taller and flashes a cheesy wide grin.

“Name.” The new security guard says into my window. It doesn’t even come across as a question but a statement. Before I can respond Liam leans over me and waves to him.

“Hi Max.”

“Oh. Mr. Taylor, my apologies I didn’t see you. Carry on.” He gestures for us to continue up the road.

“Max is at that post every day. I’m not sure he takes a day off.” Liam explains as he directs me to park in a stall near the trailers before leading me towards his own.

I don’t say much, too busy trying to commit every small detail about this set to memory from the rows of trailers to the cast and crew going about their own business. Outside of becoming friends with a celebrity, and I do consider Liam a friend, being on a movie set is the coolest thing to happen to me.

“Here it is. My home sweet home.”

I step inside Liam’s trailer and am surprised by how big it seems inside compared to the outside. There’s a couch, a small kitchen, and even a TV mounted on the wall with a video game console connected to it. In the back is a small room with a bed.

Liam plops down on the couch, putting his arm along the back of it. “So, how did Jordan like the cookies?”

“Jared.” I correct, even though I know he’s teasing me.

Jared had given me a tight hug when I gave him the cookies while promising to make it up to me. I wasn’t sure what he had in mind in order to make it up to me, but I would overall call the interaction a win. Between the cookies and the pie, Jared is going to start thinking I’m some small-town Betty Crocker.

I fill Liam in, his smile the encouragement I need that things are heading in the right direction.

“This is great news Carter! You must have had some excellent help with those cookies.” Liam glances at a watch on his wrist. “I want to circle back to this conversation, but we’ve got to go meet Olivia on set.”

Olivia Carr is a name that appears on every major magazine and celebrity news outlet. Paparazzi are always trying to figure out not only the latest guy she’s dating, but where she is working out and what she possibly can be ordering at Starbucks. If Liam Taylor is a big name, Olivia Carr’s is even bigger.

She got her start as an actress on a family sitcom when she was just a baby and quickly became a household name. It also doesn’t hurt she is absolutely gorgeous. She has blonde hair that goes to the middle of her back in loose waves and bright blue eyes I have envied more than once.

I want to squeal with excitement or ask to make sure I look okay, but this is Liam I am with, not Penn. I am worried to even make a slight fan expression. Instead, I take a deep breath that I slowly let out through my nose as I follow Liam away from the trailers to where large white tents have been set up.

“Liam,” a guy who reminds me of Will Smith steps out of a tent.

I do a double take, thinking for a moment that it is Will Smith. Except once he gets closer I realize he seems younger than Will Smith, and less friendly. Maybe it’s the fact I’m on a Hollywood set and just expect everyone I pass to be someone famous? I mean the guy getting a drink does look like a Hemsworth.

“Alex,” Liam gives him a handshake once Will Smith slash really Alex approaches us. “Carter, this is my manager, Alex.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I extend my hand out to shake his, his shake is firm and all business.

“Likewise.” Alex doesn’t smile as he turns his attention back to Liam. “I set the pages for your audition in your trailer.”

“Great, thanks mate.” Liam doesn’t say anything more before he steers me away.

“Audition?” I whisper once we’re away from Alex.

Liam’s gaze flicks to mine. “Yeah, for my next movie.”

“What is it? Can you tell me or is it top secret?”

Liam smiles at this. “It’s top secret alright.”

“Now you have to tell me.”

“It’s for this action movie where the character I’m going out for is being framed for treason by a former CIA agent.”

Ever since his success with the Eagle Strike franchise, Liam mostly stars in action-based movies. He’s fantastic in them, and I have watched every one, but I wish he was going out for another role in a rom-com. Instead I smile at him, excited for his audition as he leads me up a small path near the mountains edge where a lone house has been transformed into Cinderella’s cottage stands.

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