I had gotten a call a couple of days before from Chris Columbus, who directed Stepmom. He was working on a new film, What They Don’t Know, and he wanted me to be in charge of wardrobe.
I didn’t know much about the story line, except that it was a teenage romance that was set in present time. I knew that some of the stars included Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, and Julia Stiles. However, I wasn’t all that excited.
As I drove to the airport around 10:30 that morning, I couldn’t help but think of how angry I was.
I was angry with Johnny, first and foremost. How could he have done this to me? I loved Justin so much, and he split us up, because he thought it would jeopardize the fan base. ‘If the fans knew he had a girlfriend, a lot of them wouldn’t show up. It’s sad to say, but most of them like the guys because they are single, good-looking guys,’ he had said. But the unfair thing was that Joey was allowed to have a girlfriend and a daughter, just because they had been together for a long time, and fans already knew who she was. Not to mention the fact that Lance was dating Beverely Mitchell.
But I was also angry with Justin. I didn’t understand how he could just stand by and let me be sent halfway across the world, and not defend me, not defend our relationship. It upset me because it made me think that maybe he didn’t feel the same way about me that I did about him.
The flight was long and lonely. And when I stepped off the plane in shorts and a T-shirt, I immediately regretted it. But I was relieved to see a young woman running towards me, shouting my name.
“Hi Holly, I’m Ava Rodriguez your assistant during the filming. They sent me up here because they finally got some good weather to shoot in.”
Ava was a young Hispanic woman, probably about 23. She had long brown hair that went almost to her waist, but at the moment, she had it pulled back into a ponytail. She wasn’t thin, but full-figured. All in all, she was gorgeous.
“Here ya go, we’ll just put your bags in the trunk and be on our way,” she told me as she lead me towards a limo that was waiting in front of the airport.
“So, Ava, where are we staying, and for how long?” I asked as we made ourselves comfortable in the back.
“Well, I think they’ve put us up in a Marriott Hotel for about a month. Then we move to Los Angeles where the studio owns some houses, and we’ll be there for about 2 months. That’s about all, except for some short shots in the countryside of upstate-New York.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, but probably not as fun as your previous job, right? I heard you were working with *Nsync.”
“Yeah, but when they hired me, I guess they never thought I would fall in love with Justin.” As I listened to the words come out of my mouth to this complete stranger, I couldn’t help but think of how comfortable I felt around her. She felt like my best friend or something. “Johnny, their manager, found out that we had something going on, which he was ok with, but he wanted us to keep it a secret. We went out one night and people saw us, so he kicked me off the tour.”
“That’s horrible. Did you two try to get him to reconsider?”
“I did. Justin just stood there, in the back of the room. He didn’t say much when Johnny made his decision. When I asked for help, he just looked at me. And now I don’t know if we still have anything. He didn’t even accept the offer from Johnny to ride to the airport with me.”
“Don’t worry Holly. I'm sure he was just shocked and didn’t really know what to say, ya know?”
“Thanks Ava. Now, ya gotta tell me more about this movie, ‘cause I wasn’t told anything!”
A grin spread across her face as she explained that she thought it was one of the best movie scripts she had read in a while. She told me about it the entire hour drive to the location.
A couple of days after I got there, I finally got a day off, since the scenes they were doing today only involved the guys. I was doing wardrobe with the women in the movie, and Ava got lucky by getting assigned to the guys. After getting completely bored watching them film, I went to Ava’s trailer.
“Hey Ava, how’s it going?” I asked as I walked in.
“Hey Hol,” she replied. She was reclined on the couch, practically asleep.
“Why are you just sitting there?” I asked, sitting next to her.
Before she could answer, a man walked out into the main room wearing dark jeans and a wifebeater. “Hey Ava, does this look better?” he asked, staring at me. I shifted uncomfortably as he walked towards the couch, his eyes focused on me.
“Yeah, that looks great!” She noticed the way he was looking at me, and decided to speak up. “Josh, this is Holly Tyler. Holly, this is Josh Hartnett.”
I avoided eye contact, just smiled when he said hi. Soon enough, the silence got too uncomfortable. “Hey Ava, I'm kinda tired, I'm gonna go back to the hotel. I’ll see ya later.” I walked out of the trailer without saying a word to Josh.
I hadn't gotten very far when I heard someone walking towards me. I didn’t bother to turn around.
“Hey Holly,” Josh called after me. “Ya wanna go out tonight?”
“I'm busy,” I answered, and walked away quickly.
That day I went out shopping while I waited for Ava to get done working. When I got back from the mall around 8:30, she was already waiting in my room.
“Hey Ava! Have fun at work today?”
“Oh yeah, tons of fun!” she replied sarcastically. “Ya know, Josh found me after filming today and was asking about you. Why’d you tell him you were busy tonight?”
“Ava, I have a boyfriend, remember?”
“Yeah, one who hasn’t called since you left, one who doesn’t really seem to care what you’re doing with your life right now.”
“Look, Josh isn't my type, trust me. He’ll get over me and move on soon enough.”
Of course, he didn’t. Every day he asked Ava about me, or he would come into my trailer and ask me out again. It wouldn’t stop.
A week later, Ava and I were hard at work. I hadn't heard from Justin all that week, but it really didn’t bother me.
One day, during some down time, Ava and I sat in my dressing trailer, talking, which we hadn't been able to do for a while. We didn’t talk about much, just random things. A while later, we heard my cell phone ring, so Ava excused herself.
“Hello?” I answered without looking at the caller id.
“Hey Holly,” Justin mumbled.
“Oh…hi,” I said, trying not to get too upset. He didn’t say anything for a while, and neither did I. “Umm, how’s the tour going?” I finally asked cautiously.
“Look, Hol, I know you’re mad at me, but-“
“No…no mad isn't the word for it; furious, maybe? Yeah, I think that’s more like it!”
“It’s not like I coulda changes his mind, ya know?”
“You could’ve tried. Look Justin, I'm too pissed off to talk to you right now. Good-bye.” I tossed my phone onto the counter in front of the mirror.
I heard the door fly open and bang against the wall behind it. Angry, I spun on my heel and yelled, “What the hell do you want?!”
“Why are you such a bitch?” the deep voice answered my question with one of his own.
“Josh?” I recognized the voice immediately. “Why are you in here? And what do you mean ‘why am I such a bitch’?”
“Well, I just came in here ‘cause I was looking for Ava and you yell at me. Not to mention the fact that every time I try to talk to you, you blow me off. I mean, I know I'm no Justin Timberlake, but-“
“How did you know?” I demanded.
“Ava talks,” he answered simply, shrugging his shoulders. “But you could at least give me an chance.”
“Josh, just because Justin and I aren't allowed to be together doesn’t mean we’re going along with that.” Josh started walking towards me, backing me against the wall. “I love Justin and-“
He slammed his hands against the wall on either side of my head. Before I could protest, he crushed his mouth against mine, his lips hard and demanding, not at all what I was used to. When he pulled away, he laughed and smiled smugly as I tried to regain my balance after the dizzying kiss.
“Just think about what I said, ok?” He stepped out the door, turned around and winked at me, then slammed the door behind him.
