Crash

Start your engines

"Jane!" Penelope yelled, fixing her earring as she listened out for the car horn outside. She remembered her manager telling her to expect the driver at 7:30, and she only had 15 minutes until she needed to leave. Despite that, she still had no shoes on, her hair was still clipped atop her head and she had no idea where to even start looking for her purse.

A rushed set of footsteps hurried towards the door as Jane burst in, holding a small Hermes clutch. She was breathing heavily, and her cheeks were flushed, but she still wore the happy smile she always did.

"I found your purse!" she announced, holding the bag out for Penelope to take. "It was in the walk-in, tucked away in the corner."

Penelope squealed as she quickly hugged her, saying a quick word of gratitude. Although Jane was technically her assistant, Penelope viewed her more as a friend. She had been working for her since Penelope was 15, and they had a sense of closeness that made trusting her extremely easy. Without Jane, Penelope's life would be a mess - disorganised and uncontrolled. Jane made her workload manageable, making sure she was on time and knew where she needed to be and when. As her career had grown, Jane had been right by her side, helping her through it.

"Have you seen my shoes?" Penelope asked as she pulled out of the hug, being careful not to get makeup on Jane's clothes. "The nude ones with the heel, you know the ones that Jeremy brought round with the dress the other day?"

Jane's brow furrowed as she thought the question over. "They weren't in the box? I put them underneath the dress when I hung it on the door."

Penelope clicked her fingers, hit with her Eureka moment. "The box! Oh my god of course they'd be in the box. You're a genius, Janie, seriously." She blew Jane a quick kiss and she ran to the closet, pulling the shoebox out from under the dress rack and yanked the shoes from inside. Just in the nick of time as well, as the echo of the car horn sounded from outside.

"Come on, come on," Jane herded, helping Penelope fasten the straps on her shoes and taking the last clips from her hair. "You look beautiful, but it's time to go. Logan and Charlotte are already in the car."

Penelope put on her best smile. "Thanks, Jane. Go home, you deserve it. I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Let's get you out the house first," Jane replied, following Penelope as she made her way down the staircase and towards the front door. "Then I'll go home. But yes, I'll be here tomorrow morning, and please don't forget you have dance rehearsal at 11 and then a table read at 3."

"I won't, I promise. I won't be late home tonight anyway, I don't even want to go to this thing. Britney is forcing me to go, apparently it will look good in the press."

"Well, Brit is your manager and she's pretty good at her job. She knows what's best."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Penelope patted Jane's hand one last time before opening the door. "See you tomorrow."

As soon as she stepped out into the warm Californian evening air, Penelope wished she could turn round and go back inside. She hated these function dinners, where she'd have to make small talk all evening and pretend she had an interest in the middle aged men who thought they stood a chance with getting with her. She'd always leave feeling dirty, like she'd sold a piece of her soul for a sponsorship or a budget increase for her next role.

The car waiting was just like all the others that companies sent to take her places: sleek and black, expensive looking but not so flashy that it would immediately be followed by paparazzi. The windows were tinted, but she already knew who'd be waiting inside.

As soon as she door opened, she was met with a chorus of hellos. A male hand reached out and pulled her inside, holding her in a side hug as she tried to fasten her seatbelt, laughing.

"Late as usual!" Logan joked, his eyes twinkling with kindness. He wore a crisp black suit, his hair styled with a neatly trimmed crop of stubble. He leaned in and kissed her cheek once she was sat back, a comfortable gesture that she was more than familiar with.

"Bold coming from you, Logan," Charlotte said from the far seat. "Took you twenty minutes to come out to the car. Only made it on time because I was half an hour early."

"What would we do without you?" Logan said, the three of them laughing as the car began to roll out the driveway.

As Penelope looked between them, her heart swelled. The three of them had starred in the Percy Jackson TV series together since they were 11, and now 9 years on they were still as close as ever. She loved working with them, and these PR events were always more bearable when they were together.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Charlotte asked, pulling a face as she mined a gun being pressed to her temple.

"It won't be that bad," Logan assured, though it didn't do much to calm Penelope's nerves.

"Easy for you to say Lo, I know nothing about cars. At least you watched F1 with your dad when you were a kid. I've never even seen a race."

"All you need to know is that Ferrari have won a lot of races. Just make sure to throw around some complements about how good they are, and you'll be fine. They'll probably wanna know more about you, anyway. Talk to them about the championship or something, that's sporty."

Penelope nodded, but she was still worried. The dinner tonight was a big one - a sit down with Ferrari and its members, one of their shows biggest sponsors. The studio had briefed them on the importance of making a positive impression, and that was daunting. She didn't want to say the wrong thing and risk losing the investment or her own job. 

Logan prodded her side with his elbow. "Hey, look at me. You're fine. We've been to a million of these things. What's one more, right?"

Figures - Logan was right as usual. She could do this, just smile and laugh at their jokes, enjoy the drinks and she could be out of there by eleven. 

"Okay," she agreed, doing one last check of her appearance in the reflection of the window. "We can do this."

"We can."

"It's only a few hours."

"Exactly."

The sound of gravel crunching filled the car as they rolled to a stop outside the restaurant. It looked expensive, which wasn't a shock, and there was a small gathering of men in suits and women in dresses stood outside. 

"Everyone ready?" Charlotte asked through gritted teeth, smoothing her hair before reaching for the door handle. 

Logan and Penelope exchanged a look. He placed a hand on her arm and gave her a soft smile. Something in his eyes was comforting, and she felt the familiar feeling of safety that she always got when she was with him. "Hey," he whispered, "all you have to do is give me the signal and we'll leave. These parties suck anyway."

Penelope's cheeks grew warm, but she did her best to hide it. "Thanks, Lo."

"Always. Now, come on. They're gonna kill us if we're late."

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