No Matter What (6 page)

She leant forward and rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she watched Mr Rogers perch himself on the edge of the desk occupied by the pretty young temp who was covering for India, giving her that smile of his that he reserved for all the younger female members of staff.
 
He had no idea that it made their skin crawl and that they all giggled about his clumsy attempts at flirting when they gathered in the kitchen at lunchtimes.

Charley smiled to herself.
 
She was lucky, this was a good place to work with great people and she was grateful, but she couldn’t help feeling she wanted more now.
 
India
had been given a chance to get out of this rut, and surely
she
deserved it just as much as
India
did?

Scribbling absent-mindedly on a scrap of paper she sighed heavily again.
 
Yes, she definitely deserved that chance too, that chance for something different, that chance to make her dreams come true.
 
But then,
India
might never get that chance either.
 
All of this could come to nothing and before anyone knew it she could be back here in the office, getting on with everyday life just like they’d always done.
 

She closed her eyes for a second and opened them quickly, almost as if hoping that, when she did, she’d be somewhere else, but it was all exactly the same.
 
Somehow, though, Charley had a feeling it was never going to be exactly the same ever again.
 
For either of them.

***

Reece Brogan should have been worried.
 
He was putting his neck on the line by introducing this quiet, unknown young girl into a world she had no idea about when he didn’t even know if she could act, but he wasn’t.
 
He wasn’t worried in the slightest.
 
He’d watched her from across the room that evening in
Newcastle
, he’d seen the way she’d moved, the way she’d smiled at people, the way people had responded to her.
 
It was so natural, so effortless with her and she really had no idea of that, which is what made her so real, and so different to anyone else he’d seen go up for this part.

He’d known from the second he’d seen her that she was the one this movie needed, she was the girl they’d been searching for and he’d had to do what he’d done, he’d had to bring her over to
L.A.
 
Maybe he was going to turn her life upside down and take the biggest chance he was ever going to take but he was sure she was going to be perfect.
 
He certainly hoped so.
 
Because this movie wasn’t the only reason he’d had to bring her here to
L.A.
 
It wasn’t the only reason at all.

He picked up proofs of the photographs they’d had taken of her only that morning and looked at them.
 
She was beautiful; there was no doubt about that.
 
If she got this part she and Kenny were going to look so good together on screen.
 
But if she got this part her life was also going to change beyond any recognition and he felt just a little bit guilty about that.
 
Being thrust into all of this could be dangerous.
 
He’d seen what this city and this industry could do to young actors and actresses – both the famous and the not-so-famous – and he didn’t want that to happen to
India
.
 
She was already special to him; already someone he wanted – needed - to get to know more, whatever the outcome of this screen test.
 
That was extremely important to him.

He put the photographs back down on the table in front of him and sat back, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
 
He’d protect her; he’d already made his mind up about that.
 
He had to make sure she was ok.
 
He’d found her, he’d brought her here, and it was his job to make sure nothing and nobody hurt her.
 
Ever.

***

“She’s got it, Michael.
 
Reece might be right y’know.
 
We may be taking the biggest gamble of our lives here but he might just be right.”

Michael Walsh looked at his co-producer.
 
They didn’t have the money to be wasting time on somebody who wasn’t going to even come close to cutting it but he seemed outnumbered on this one.
 
Everybody who’d already met the mysterious
India
seemed to think she had something, but what
he
was concerned about was whether that “something” was going to translate onto film.
 
She was totally and utterly new to acting of any description and that in itself was making him uneasy.
 
He hadn’t even seen what she looked like yet.

“Here.
 
Take a look at these,” Vince went on, handing Michael the envelope containing
India
’s photographs.
 
“She’s certainly got the looks.”

“Not much use if she can’t act, Vince,” Michael said, sliding the pictures out and looking into the face of this girl for the very first time.
 
And in that second something hit him, a feeling that could only be described as akin to someone reaching into the pit of his stomach and punching him hard.
 
He couldn’t explain it and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

He was vaguely aware of Vince’s voice in the background as he flicked through every photograph, taking in every inch of her face.

“She’s a looker, isn’t she?”
 
Vince said, getting up and pouring them both a drink.

Michael didn’t reply, just kept on looking through the photographs.

“Michael?”

Vince sat back down and handed him his bourbon.
 
Michael knocked it back in one, throwing the photographs down onto the table.

“Are we sure Kenny Ross is right for the male lead?”

Vince looked at Michael like he was mad.
 
“What the hell are you talking about?
 
Of course he’s right for the role, he’s perfect!”

“He was perfect before
she
came on the scene, Vince.
 
Now I’m not so sure.”

“You’re crazy, Mike!
 
You can’t go changing male leads now, and I don’t even believe we’re having this conversation.
 
Kenny is the only guy we ever considered for this part, he
is
the part and
she
is going to be perfect alongside him.
 
I’m telling you, we’ve found the dream pairing here.”

Michael closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingertips.
 
He suddenly felt very tired.

“We’ve got the screen test in the morning,” Vince said, standing up and picking up his jacket, flinging it over his shoulder.
 

“I’m well aware of that,” Michael sighed, opening his eyes and leaning back in his chair.

“So, you just wait and see.
 
I’m telling you, they are gonna be perfect on screen together, I can feel it.
 
And just think of the publicity it’s gonna generate, Mike.
 
A totally unknown girl from Northern England and one of
Hollywood
’s hottest young actors.
 
We couldn’t buy that kind of publicity.”

Michael watched his friend walk towards the door, picking up his car keys on the way.

“The perfect couple, Michael.
 
We might just have created the perfect couple.”

And that was exactly what Michael was afraid of.

CHAPTER 5

Kenny paced the floor, holding a script he didn’t need.
 
He’d read this part so many times he could say it in his sleep.
 
He’d be verging on boredom if he wasn’t so intrigued to meet the girl who’d be testing with him today.
 
He hadn’t heard that much about her in the few days since she’d arrived in
L.A.
but Vince and Reece seemed to love her.
 
He wasn’t so sure about Michael, though.
 
He seemed distracted this morning, a little tense almost but that could be down to the fact they’d all been here before and it had always come to nothing.
 
Michael had every right to be tense.
 
It was his movie after all.

Kenny looked up as Michael walked into the room, flicking through pages on a clipboard and not even looking up to acknowledge Kenny’s presence.

“She here yet?” Kenny asked, leaning against the wall and throwing his script onto the floor.
 

“Hmm?” Michael eventually looked up at Kenny then down at the script he’d just thrown away.
 
“Yeah.
 
She’s outside with Reece and Vince.”

“Are they sitting in?” Kenny asked, trying to engage Michael in some kind of eye contact but he was concentrating on whatever was on that clipboard again.
 
He was in a strange mood that was for sure.

“No. I thought it best if as few people as possible were in the room.
 
She’s going to be nervous enough as it is.”

“I’ll be gentle with her,” Kenny smirked.

Michael looked up at him but didn’t smile back.
 
What the hell was wrong with
him
today?

“Are you ready?” Michael asked, walking over to the camera to make sure everything was set up and ready to go.
 
He wanted to get this moving.

“Sure.
 
Ready when you are.”
 
Kenny gauged his director’s mood as somewhat tetchy and decided not to carry on with the wise cracks.

“Right.
 
Then let’s get this show on the road.”

***

India
felt tears suddenly well up in her eyes as the reality of where she was and what she was doing hit her hard.
 
She’d had little or no sleep last night and had spent most of it sat up in bed, channel hopping on the TV.
 
She’d really needed Charley to talk to; anything to take her mind off things, but the time difference was confusing her so she hadn’t ‘phoned because of that.
 
And she couldn’t ring Terry; she didn’t need him lecturing her on the eve of what was probably the biggest day of her life.

Reece had told her there was nothing to worry about but how could she
not
worry?
 
This wasn’t her world.
 
This was so far away from her world.
 
But she didn’t want to let Reece down.
 
He had so much faith in her but she had no idea if she could do this.
 
The nerves were overtaking everything and it was all she could do not to be sick.

She looked up as the door to the room she was standing outside opened and Michael Walsh suddenly appeared, smiling warmly at her, but all she was aware of was her stomach turning another barrage of somersaults as the nerves came back to hit her all over again.
 
Michael Walsh was standing there, right in front of her.
 
One of her favourite actors, and he was smiling at her.
 
At
her.
 
India
Steven.
 
Legal Secretary from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
.

“Are you ready,
India
?” he asked, standing aside to let her through.
 

As she was ever going to be.
 

She nodded her reply, took a very large, very deep breath, and followed him inside.

***

Kenny looked up as Michael walked back into the room, followed by the mysterious
India
.
 
She was looking down at the script in her hands; hands that he could quite clearly see were shaking, and he couldn’t see her face properly.
 
But, as she slowly looked up, her eyes suddenly locked onto his - incredible blue eyes that he couldn’t look away from.
 
This was weird, almost too weird.
 
He felt as though he’d known her all his life yet this was the first time he’d ever seen her.
 
There was just something about her that was making him feel instantly comfortable in her presence.

He smiled at her – he couldn’t help it, it was almost a reflex action - and his smile became even wider as she smiled back, her face immediately relaxing, her shoulders dropping as the tenseness left her body.
 
Everyone had been right, she was beautiful, true, but that wasn’t the only thing Kenny was seeing.
 
One look from this stranger, this new and beautiful girl that had walked through the door just seconds ago and he was busy re-evaluating everything in his life.
 
How could somebody
do
that to him?