No Matter What (8 page)

She’d got the part in the movie and that had been it.
 
One flying visit back to the
U.K.
to pack up her life in the North East of England and start a new one in
Los Angeles
, in a world the two of them had only ever been able to dream about before.
 
Now one of them was actually living it.
 

India
’s face was everywhere.
 
The publicity machine was on a roll, and as much as Charley loved her friend she couldn’t stop the ever-growing jealousy rising up in her.
 
She
was still here, still sat behind the reception desk at ‘Wheatman & Rogers’ and whilst she’d been happy with that before, happy to have a job she liked and a life that she loved, it wasn’t enough anymore.
 
Resentment was starting to sink in.
 
The people around her were no longer friendly and fun to work with.
 
They were boring and ordinary and she wanted out.
 
She wanted something else, she wanted what
India
had.
 
It was almost eating her up inside every time she thought about her friend over there in
L.A.
, mixing with celebrities and movie stars, partying with Kenny Ross.
 
She was in a
Hollywood
film for Christ’s’ sake!
 
It hadn’t been
that
long ago that she’d been here with Charley, planning another weekend on the town and making arrangements for that girlie holiday that had never happened.
 

She wasn’t even looking forward to the prospect of seeing
India
in
L.A.
in a few days time, for the premiere of her movie, and under normal circumstances that would have had Charley past the point of excitement.
 
But all she could feel was envy - envy that it wasn’t
her
about to walk the red carpet on the arm of Kenny Ross.
 
Because that’s exactly what
India
would be doing.

Charley was really struggling to adjust to the life she was left with, the life she’d been quite happy with until her friend had been catapulted quite suddenly into the limelight.
 
Now Charley realised that she wanted that too.
 
She wanted the fame and the glamour and the celebrity friends.
 
She wanted what
India
had, and taking another glimpse at her friend’s smiling face on the cover of the magazine, her startling blue eyes looking up at her, she decided that was it.
 
She was tired of dreaming, of wondering when someone was going to come and whisk her away from a life too ordinary.
 
She was going to have to get out there and make it happen for herself.
 
India
had it and
she
deserved it too.
 
And no matter what it took she was going to go all out to get it.
 

***

Terry was finding it hard, hard to cope with the fact that his sister was so far away living this completely different life in a completely different world with people he still hadn’t met and wasn’t sure he could trust.
 
Kenny Ross was giving him particular problems.
 
He had a reputation for wild parties, motorbikes and women and the fact his little sister was now spending most days with him was giving him sleepless nights.
 
He had absolutely no idea what their relationship was off-screen but there were pictures of them both in various newspapers and magazines on a regular basis and it was unsettling him.
 
It was affecting his football and it hadn’t escaped the boss’s notice.
 
If he carried on the way he was going he knew he could kiss goodbye to that first team place he’d worked so hard to keep.

He spoke to
India
quite often but she wasn’t giving much away.
 
She and Kenny were just friends, that’s what she was telling him, but he wasn’t sure what to believe.
 
She was naive, young, and in a world where anything and anyone could turn her head.
 
She might
think
people were looking out for her but he was her brother and that was
his
job.
 
He was just relieved to be flying out to
Los Angeles
soon.
 
It was the first time he’d had a chance to go out there and see her since everything had happened and he was more than anxious to get over there.
 

It was the premiere of her debut movie in a few days and it felt quite weird for him to be even thinking about going to a
Hollywood
red carpet event.
 
But that’s exactly where he
was
going.
 
To support his little sister, the up-and-coming movie star.
 
And hopefully find out just what was going on between her and Kenny Ross.

He flicked on the TV and looked for something to take his mind off it all.
 
He really needed an escape, he needed to cut loose and forget for a while because if he didn’t stop thinking about
India
he was going to go mad.

The ‘phone rang and he threw the remote control down on the sofa next to him, leaning over to grab the receiver, resting it between his chin and shoulder as he picked up the remote and proceeded to carry on channel flicking.

“Yep.”

“Terry?
 
It’s Charley.”

He sat up and put the remote down again.
 
“Charley!
 
What can I do for you?”
 
Then he suddenly panicked.
 
“It’s not
India
, is it?”

“No.
 
It’s nothing to do with
India
.”

He was sure he detected a heavier than normal sigh coming from Charley just then.

“Look, Terry, I’m coming to Liverpool on Friday, for a bit of a break, a few days away from
Newcastle
.
 
I thought I could do a bit of shopping, maybe get a new dress for the L.A. trip and, I was wondering if, maybe, you’d like to meet up for a couple of drinks.
 
If you’re not busy.”

He wasn’t sure where this had come from but he liked Charley.
 
She was fun, and she was bound to be missing
India
.
 
What harm could it do?

“What do you think?” Charley asked.

Terry thought it might just be a good idea.
 
“You’re on.
 
Ring me when you get to the station and I’ll come pick you up.
 
It’s a home game this weekend so I’ll be around.
 
You can come to the match if you like; maybe we can go out afterwards.”

Not quite the escape he’d had in mind but it could prove to be a welcome distraction anyway.
 
And any distraction right now was better than none at all.

***

Charley put the ‘phone down and smiled to herself.
 
The first part of her plan was falling nicely into place.

CHAPTER 7

The beach was beautiful early in the morning, and
India
loved to just sit on the sand and watch the day begin.
 
Back in the
U.K.
she would never have voluntarily got up at dawn unless there was an extremely good reason but here she loved it.
 
It was a little oasis of peace before the day began and it calmed her.
 
It gave her time to reflect on the madness of the past few months, because they certainly
had
been something of an adventure.
 
Her life had changed so quickly in such a short space of time, but she was rapidly getting used to it all.
 
She had no choice, really.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on them as she stared out at the waves lapping gently over the sand.
 
She’d just made her first
Hollywood
movie and she still couldn’t take it all in.
 
Everyone kept telling her this was only the beginning and she hoped with all of her heart that they were right because she was loving every second.
 
She’d taken to acting like the proverbial duck to water.
 
Everyone was telling her she had a natural talent but all she knew was that she loved it.
 
This was what she wanted to do.
 
She didn’t want to go back to what she’d had before.

 
And Reece, the man she had to thank for all of this, he’d turned out to be her guardian angel.
 
She couldn’t thank him enough for what he’d done, what he was
still
doing for her.
 
He was guiding her through everything, helping her deal with the publicity and the madness that was following her everywhere.
 
He’d even found this perfect little beach house for her to stay in, not too far away from his own place, which was a little further down the coast.
 
If only Terry could believe that Reece really was just looking out for her, but nothing she could do to convince him was making him worry any less.
 
Mind you, she knew he had a much bigger problem with Kenny.
 

She leaned back against the palm tree she was sitting under and smiled to herself.
 
Kenny Ross.
 
Her best friend.
 
How weird was that?
 

That day of the screen test had been really strange.
 
They’d gone to a quiet little café on the beach and they’d just talked for hours and it had been so easy, so comfortable, like talking to an old friend.
 
They’d both felt that weird sense of knowing each other so well when they’d met for the very first time and from that day onwards they’d bonded.
 
There was no romance, nothing like that at all but, even after this short time of knowing him, he’d become the closest person to her.
 
It was just everybody else who was having a hard time believing that nothing was going on.
 
But it wasn’t.
 
It really wasn’t.
 
True, they spent a lot of time together but they were friends and nothing else.
 
Best friends.
 
He was opening up a whole new world for her, one she was rapidly falling in love with.
 
Kenny was a free spirit; wild and spontaneous, living out of a suitcase in hotels and the houses of whichever friend’s were willing to take him in.
 
He let nothing hold him back or tie him down and she’d never met anyone like him before.
 
With Kenny she was the person she’d always really wanted to be, the girl who wore biker boots and ripped jeans and listened to rock music.
 
He was teaching her to surf; she was learning to ride a motorbike, they went to rock gigs together and hung out at her place just talking, drinking beer and listening to him play guitar and it was perfect.
 
He
was perfect.
 
But there was nothing going on.
 
And she didn’t mind one bit.
 
She just loved being with him, end of story.

Pulling herself up off the sand she picked up her shoes and started to make her way back to the beach house.
 
In a matter of days it was the premiere of her first
Hollywood
movie and she was understandably nervous.
 
She’d never watched any of the rushes back during filming, she’d never really wanted to see herself up there on the screen, but she wouldn’t be able to avoid it soon.
 

It had been hard work, and by no stretch of the imagination had she just walked onto that film set and been this amazing actress.
 
Far from it.
 
She’d had to work twice as hard at double the speed, including long hours with a voice coach to try and tone down her Geordie accent, and she’d spent all her spare time between scenes learning all about movie set etiquette because it was a completely strange and almost surreal environment with a lot to get used to in a very short space of time.
 
She’d had to learn on the job, had to get used to things she had no idea about.
 
She’d been thrown in at the deep end really, but with Kenny and Reece beside her she’d found it easier than it otherwise might have been.

Michael had been a fantastic director too.
 
He’d given her so much support, and she was just glad they’d all be beside her, there on the red carpet.
 
All eyes would be on her, waiting to see what this unknown English girl could do and there were times when that pressure did get to her.
 
She only hoped she’d done enough to keep her
Hollywood
dream alive.
 
She already had another movie in the pipeline but she knew as well as anyone that if her debut movie bombed then it could all disappear just as quickly as it had happened.
 
That was the reality out here.