Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. Jackson was super-famous and he would never really be interested in her. He was just being nice.
Time to find Ivy, Olivia thought. Olivia hurried out into the cold air and tried to call her twin, but Ivy’s phone was off. She’d just have to look for her. Clutching her new pass, she set off, hoping that Ivy hadn’t already been discovered and chucked off set.
As she passed a row of trailers, a bald man grabbed her hands and twirled her around. ‘Oh, yes, sweetie!’ he exclaimed. ‘I am good. Your skin tone looks flawless in this light. Gorgeous!’ He did a triple-zigzag finger snap and then he sashayed away.
Olivia had no idea who he was or what he was talking about. But being called gorgeous by a perfect stranger was enough to make her extra-special day . . . well . . . perfect.
‘Background artists, please,’ called a man wearing headphones with earpieces that were bigger than a Meat & Greet burger. He darted back into the diner and Lillian shooed the group of fashionably dressed teens up the steps and inside. One girl was wearing a white wool wrap-around with rainbow-coloured buttons and another had on a deep purple slash-neck sweater. They looked like they’d just stepped out of a jeans commercial.
‘It’s not like they’re going to get married before lunch,’ Sophia was saying. ‘You can tell her your theory when we see her later – and it’s only a theory.’
‘But if Olivia really falls for him –’ Ivy began.
‘Come on, Ivy, you don’t have any proof.’ Sophia nudged her along with the crowd. She was looking killer with her messy up-do and long-sleeved, black tube dress. It was the first time Ivy had seen her oldest friend with a necklace rather than a camera around her neck.
Ivy had loved every second of sifting through the extras rack in the costume trailer. For herself, she had chosen a triple-layered loose knit sweater with grey, mauve and black on top of each other over a pair of black jeans. She’d made friends with the jewellery assistant who’d lent her a set of heavy silver bracelets that clunked as she moved. Awesome.
But something was threatening to spoil the fun, like a cloud of darkness hovering. Olivia had said straight as a stake that she didn’t want to date a vampire.
If I have just set Olivia up with a vampire, she could end up broken-hearted, Ivy thought. And it would be all my fault.
Ivy was following the group across the diner, mulling it over in her head.
‘Hey, watch it!’ Sophia grabbed Ivy, startling her. ‘Look!’ Sophia pointed at the ground.
Ivy was just about to step into a tangle of wires on the floor.
Lillian hurried over. ‘Disaster averted. Thank you,’ she said to Sophia. ‘If you’d pulled on those wires –’ Lillian indicated the lights above – ‘all of those would have come crashing down.’
‘Ohmygosh,’ Ivy replied. ‘I’m so sorry!’ Ivy wouldn’t want to do anything to get in trouble on set. Or ruin the set.
Sophia tugged Ivy around the equipment safely.
The production team had moved away all the normal diner booths except for the back row and one in front, obviously where the stars were going to sit.
‘You, purple sweater, sit there,’ Lillian said as she arranged the twenty or so extras in groups around the tables. ‘And you, T-shirt boy, you’re there.’
Ivy and Sophia got to sit together at a booth all the way on the right. When Lillian plunked some fake food in front of them, Ivy’s stomach churned – she still hadn’t had anything decent to eat. The plastic burger was starting to look tempting.
‘Now, remember,’ Lillian instructed. ‘You pretend to be talking whenever the cameras roll.’ She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. ‘Pretend, got it?’
Lillian stood back and then frowned. ‘Hold up! We’re missing one. Where did that blonde go?’
The door to the Meat & Greet flew open and everyone turned to look. Ivy and Sophia gasped but no one else paid any attention. Charlotte Brown, wearing an outrageous blue feathered dress, clicked her way over to Lillian in super-high heels. She looked like she was going to prom.
‘She must be freezing,’ Sophia commented.
‘Sorry I’m late. The costume department couldn’t find anything that was right, so I had to do some emergency shopping.’ She did a twirl, not noticing the disdain on Lillian’s face.
Lillian crossed her arms. ‘Don’t you think that’s a bit over the top for a diner, missy?’
‘Oh, I wear this sort of thing all the time.’ Charlotte waved her hand, but almost slipped out of her strappy heel.
Ivy sensed trouble brewing. Charlotte had obviously figured out that the Meat and Greet was not closed down because of a sewer problem and, once she spotted Ivy, there would be retaliation. How did she manage to get on set so quickly? Ivy wondered as she slunk down in her seat and let her hair fall over her face.
Lillian stuck Charlotte next to a guy wearing a beanie and cargo pants, almost as far from the camera as she could. Ivy sat up a little; Charlotte couldn’t see her from where she was sitting.
‘Non, non, non!’ shouted a small man with a goatee and a heavy French accent. ‘The colours, the colours!’