Fame and Misfortune (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 6

Lux

"Thank you everyone for gathering around," Elliot said. He'd assembled the entire cast and crew onto one of the sets to make an announcement. "As of today, we have officially been filming for one month. And out of appreciation and celebration, I have ordered twelve extra large pizzas." Everyone started cheering. "But wait, there's one more surprise... Once all of the pizza is gone, everyone has the rest of the day off!" At that, the studio erupted in and whistles and cheers with an increased amount of enthusiasm.

It had been a month—taking us into mid-October. We'd gotten a lot of scenes filmed and were starting to do some location shoots.

During that month, the media had settled down a bit about the Colton scandal; Drew had begun the wedding planning; I'd gotten even lonelier than before; and Ava and I's love-hate relationship had intensified.

The crowd dispersed to the different tables of pizzas. People separated into groups of familiarity; the sound department, cameramen, directors and producers, actors, etc. I hadn't made much of an effort to befriend the other actors, despite a handful of them being well known. I just didn't have the energy nor desire for it. Although, I had spoken to Tony Frazier—famous for his action series Mission: Possible—quite a bit considering he played the love interest and shared many scenes with me.

"Not hanging with the other actors?" Ava said from behind. "I assumed they would be up to your standards, but I suppose even they can't match your incredible self."

"I'm not that full of myself," I defended. "I just haven't really made any other friends beside you, Elliot, and Tony."

"Who said we were friends?"

My heart sank out of embarrassment. "Oh. Well I kind of just assumed, since, you know, we've been-"

She laughed. "Lux, relax. I was just messing with you."

I felt the color in my face regain itself. "So we're friends?"

"Sure, but you still annoy me ninety nine percent of the time."

"I will forever relish in that one percent."

"Weirdo," she said, eyeing me. "Where's your pizza?"

"I didn't want any."

"Why not?"

I scanned my head for an excuse. "I don't like it."

"Everyone likes pizza."

"I'm allergic."

"No you're not."

"I don't want to get my hands greasy."

"That's what napkins are for."

I rolled my eyes and finally gave in. "I don't want to bloat or gain any weight."

"Lux, don't be ridiculous. It's one piece of pizza. I get that you want to conform to the impossible beauty standards of modern society, but you really shouldn't starve yourself."

"Okay but I'm famous; I have to stay skinny. If I don't, people won't hire me and they'll start to talk about my weight and then the headlines will be about how I let myself go and little girls will stop looking up to me and men won't-"

She covered my mouth with her hand. "One piece of pizza isn't going to kill you, Lux. And you really shouldn't worry about those things, it's only going to drive you crazy."

"Well, I'd rather not eat it."

"What if I fed you?"

"I'm not a baby."