Fat Funny Famous

Chapter 14

The cocktail party is bubbling happily around us. Across the other side of the elegant restaurant, I can see Erik, laughing and joking with Olivia's partner, making her daughters giggle. He's so beautiful. And he's so mine. His eyes seek me out, and when he finds me, his face relaxes as he mouths the three words I'll never get tired of hearing.

"Mills, are you there?" Mum pokes me in the side, grinning. She looks lovely tonight, wearing a silk kaftan in an emerald green that flutters around her soft curves. "You're away with the pixies tonight!"

"Sorry, Mum," I say, focusing on her. "What did you say?"

"Oh, I was just asking about the test audiences – did you get any feedback yet? Are they going to need reshoots?"

"We haven't heard anything yet. Olivia said if there's reshoots, we'll have to do them in a few weeks before-"

"Hello, ladies." Erik! I feel him before I hear him, and I turn to greet him as casually as I can manage. He looks debonaire in his navy suit, his top buttons undone and his hair slightly mussed from when we'd snuck away earlier to make out in the coat check cupboard.

We've agreed not to tell anyone about our relationship until I've had a chance to speak to my mum after dinner, but it feels like everyone surely has to know already. The charged air between us is practically palpable, shimmering as we share glances and steal kisses.

"Mum," I say, just a little too loudly. "I want you to meet my co-star, Erik Brear. Erik, this is my mum, Sonia."

"Charmed." Erik bows slightly in my mother's direction, his eyes kind. "I'm honoured to meet the woman who produced such an incredible daughter."

"Oh, goodness!" Mum giggles and blushes. "Isn't he lovely! I'm so glad you two have become friends on set – I always worry when there's drama in the cast, it makes everything so much harder. Like that time that Romeo boy was wooing half the cast and most of the crew! But you would never do anything like that, would you, Erik?"

"Thanks, Mum." I shush her, blushing as pink as the fabric of my fuchsia dress. "Hey, shall we go through to the dining room? I think they're going to serve soon."

Mum eagerly trots ahead of us, claiming seats at a round table. Erik murmurs in my ear as we walk, "She's delightful. I love her already."

"I love you," I murmur in response. I want to press skip on the rest of the night, jump over dinner and the official announcement to my mum, fast-forward our drive back to the hotel, leap-frog through time until we're alone again and I can get him naked, just the two of us.

We take our seats, Mum tearing into a bread roll, Erik bantering with her happily. The smile on my face can't grow any wider. I'm finally able to picture a world where Erik and I fit together, where we travel and grow our careers but always come back home to spend time with my family as we build a life that's all our own.

"Ah! Started to eat without waiting for your honoured guests?" bellows a cultured British voice from behind us. "You always were a little piggy, weren't you, boy?"

Erik's entire body freezes and his face is transformed into a scared child-like expression. "Father? Mother? What... What are you doing here?"

I twist in my seat. There's a couple standing next to our table: he's a rotund man with a potbelly and a ruddy face indicating a healthy love of hard liquor. She's an elegant blonde in a tailored suit. They both cast disdainful glances around the room. The man says, "Son, you might be twenty-two, but you're not too old to be spanked for bad manners – you know you always stand in the presence of the earl."