“And you are finally done!” I exclaim, pulling Joshua down from the platform.
“Great, my face hurts from all that smiling you made me do!” he chuckles.
I giggle, “Ya know ya love me.”
He pulls me to him and looks into my eyes, his face turned serious. “I know,” he whispers, leaning down to kiss me. His lips barely graze mine before he backs away. “Oh shit. I gotta go! I’ll see you around, Ali!” he says, before grabbing his jacket and jetting out of the room.
Happy fucking Birthday Ali, I think to myself, kicking my camera bag across the room.
“Ok, I’m done!” Joshua joins me and Paul outside. “Gimme the keys and I’ll go make a start.”
“Ok,” I hand the keys over and give him the address. “Stock up on the vodka!”
“Sure thing baby!” he yells as he runs off to call a taxi. I laugh and stand up.
“Ok, I’m goin’ back inside.”
“Shit,” I whisper as I walk into the studio. Ali is in the other room. I stare at the two guys in front of me.
“Hey, you must be Alicia.”
“No, I’m Jade.”
“We got the name wrong?” he looks at his friend.
“Must’ve done. Sorry. I’m Matt Damon and this is Ben Affleck.”
“Uh, hi,” I manage to say as the two guys shake my hand. “Let me just…” I back out of the room and run back to Ali. “Uh, Ali! Guess who’s in there?”
“The Easter Bunny?” she says sarcastically.
“Nuh uh. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.”
“Yeah right Jady,” she rolls her eyes. “They’re out of state.”
“True!” I protest.
“C’mon Jady, give up.”
“Fine,” I grab her arm and pull her into the studios. “Matt Damon and Ben Affleck,” I point to them and she stares. “This is Alicia, the photographer.”
“Hi Alicia,” says Matt reaching to shake her hand. Ben does the same. “We flew back a couple of days early so here we are.”
“Where do you want us?” asks Ben.
Ali stares at them until I nudge her hard. “Uh! Oh, hi. Er… Yeah… There.”
“You want us to stay here?” Matt asks with an amused grin.
“Huh? Oh, no!” Ali recovers and smiles at them. “Sorry, I was kinda distracted.”
“Wonder why,” I mutter and get an elbow in the ribs from Ali. “Owch!”
“Go through there and pick out some tops and then I’ll shoot ya,” she points them through to the other room. After they’ve gone she turns to me and mouths a silent scream.
“Told ya,” I say smugly.
“Oh my God… Matt Damon…” she shivers slightly and grins stupidly. “There’s two perfect words for ya.”
“I’ve got another two words for ya – Nick and Carter.”
“That’s three,” she says, flouncing into the other room as I roll my eyes.
“Hold up guys. I’m gonna call Ali again.”
“Nick, you’ll interrupt her. She’s busy,” Brian tries to reason.
“Well, she can make time to talk to her boyfriend,” Nick says, and AJ rolls his eyes.
“No wonder she didn’t want you to go there with her.”
Nick flips him off as he dials the number with one hand.
“Hello there,” answers a voice. An Australian voice. An Australian MALE voice.
“Is Ali there?” Nick asks calmly.
“No, she’s in there doing Joshua Jackson, and then I get her next, and then she’s doing Paul Walker. I’m afraid we’ll keep her busy for quite some time. You can call back later if you want.”
“Who the hell is this?!” Nick demands.
“Heath Ledger. And you are? Oh wait, Al’s back,” Heath hands the phone to her.
“Thanks,” Ali’s voice comes on the line. “Hello?”
“Hi AL!” Nick yells, voice full of anger.
“Excuse me,” she says to Heath, then runs full speed into the lounge where she can be alone. “Nick, baby…”
“Ali, just stop it alright?”
“Nick, listen to me! This is EXACTLY why I couldn’t tell you!”
“What’s that mean?!” he screams back at her.
“Because you don’t trust me! Nick, I’m just doing my job here, and I knew you’d freak out!”
“You can’t expect me not to!”
“Nick, it’s just me, Jade, and a couple of guys I have to work with. That’s it.”
“How many guys?”
“What’s it matter?” she asks.
“How many guys?” he repeats.
“8 for today.”
“And for tomorrow?”
“Nick!”
“Answer me!”
“10 okay! There will be TEN guys here, and me and Jade. You happy?”
“Sound’s like an orgy to me!” Ali hears AJ yell from the background.
“AJ shut the fuck up!” they yell together.
“Nick, please baby. All I’m asking you to do is trust me.”
“Yeah, um, I think I tried that once,” he retorts sarcastically.
“Nick! It’s not like I accuse you of fucking your background dancers!”
“That’s because I don’t have a history of it!” he screams into the phone.
I gasp, and throw the phone across the room, bouncing it off the couch. Heath comes running in.
“Al, are you okay?” he asks me, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulder.
“Yeah. Just a manager from the BSB tour,” I lie quickly, not wanting him to know about Nick. “He’s kinda mad because I’m taking too much time off.”
“Well, it it’s any consolation I’m having a great time, and I’m glad you took so much time off. In fact, maybe we could have a little more time. Jade tells me you’re around until Thursday. Maybe we could go for lunch tomorrow?” he asks, hope in his eyes.
“Absolutely! That would be terrific!” Terrific? God, could I have sounded any ditzier! Oh wait, that’s Jade. I chuckle to myself and smile up at him. “Are you ready for your shoot?” He nods excitedly.
Just then Mark, Josh, Paul, and Jade come back into the room.
“Ugh! I was hoping it would’ve cooled off!” Jade groans, rolling up the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt like I’ve done to mine.
“If you girls are so fuckin’ hot, and I MUST say that you are, why don’t you take off your tops?” Mark suggests. Paul licks his lips and all four guys nod their heads.
“Are you serious?” I ask, laughing and Jade snickers.
“Well y’all keep complaining.”
“Fine,” I say, unbuttoning my shirt. Jade glances at me and then pulls her own shirt over her head.
“Happy?” she asks, putting her hands on her hips. All three guys nod vigorously.
“YES!” they reply, with much enthusiasm.
“Come on, Heath. You’re next.”
“Yes ma’am!” he jumps out of his seat and follows me into the room.
“Okay, I’m having a problem with my camera so don’t look directly at it. It’s doing the whole red-eye thing and I hate it!”
He laughs at my frustration and glugs some water from his bottle. “I think I can find something else to pay attention to,” he jokes, nodding to my exposed cleavage.