Spotlight

FOUR ★ London, England

F O U R 

"I'VE had a great idea," Jeremiah announced when they pulled into the car park. The label was on the top floor of the thirty-foot building, and they walked into the main entrance and into the lift.

Jeremiah was waiting for Huxley to acknowledge his declaration, so Hux nodded and leaned against the wall of the elevator.

"Lately, you've been...well- listen, I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything. Your career has plateaued. It's gone cold, out-dated. It's lost hype." He took a deep breath and continued while Huxley half-listened and fished his pockets for a spliff.

"And so, I was thinking, we need something new, something for the paps to get a hold of, you know? The world tour next year has been selling fine, of course, but not as fine as I would like."

Huxley had succeeded in finding one, and now was searching for a lighter.

"As you know, your new single is set to be released next month. But, it still felt like there was something missing...."

Jeremiah kept talking but Hux focused his attention on the newly discovered lighter in deep in his pocket. He pulled it out and flicked it on the end of the spliff, sucking in enough so that it burnt away the excess paper and lit sufficiently.

He inhaled and then exhaled, and reveled in the taste it left on his tongue. He breathed the smoke in through his nose and out his mouth, and finally he felt relaxed.

"Huxley!"

He was snapped out of his daze and the spliff was pulled from his lips.

"You know how I hate when you smoke near me. Anyway-"

The doors opened to the thirtieth floor, and two people were sitting in the lobby.

The first person Huxley noticed was the girl. She sat straight up and wore a frozen expression. His eyes scanned her body. She wore high heels and a short dress. Her hair was platinum blonde and contrasted starkly with her dark faced that was painted heavily with makeup. She looked familiar, yet he couldn't remember her name.

Next to her was an older man, about Jeremiah's age, wearing a suit and a tightly trimmed beard. He smiled as they entered. Huxley self-consciously smoothed his hair.

"Jeremiah!" The older man stood up and shook hands with his manager. Jeremiah flashed a smile back and presented Huxley.

"Huxley, this is Mary Shepard."

Of course, Huxley thought to himself, Mary Shepard. Famous model. Well-known but heavily criticized. She had been on almost every cover of The Sun since she was sixteen.

The girl stood up and held out her manicured hand, but her expression did not change. He looked into her dark brown eyes to try and find some kind of message or friendly exchange, but they were empty and hollow.

"Nice to meet you," Huxley said. She smiled, but nothing else on her face moved. She was like a trained monkey, he thought, just like they all are.

He looked at his manager questioningly, unable to put the pieces together for himself. Jeremiah turned to them both and began to explain.

"From today until the end of Huxley's tour, you two are going to be an item. Go out on dates, make yourselves known to the public eye. Get as much press as you can get. Even break up a few times for all I care. Our main goal is to gain as much publicity as possible for both of you."

They were both silent. Huxley was pretty sure his jaw had slacked and his mouth was hung open like an idiot. Date her? Sure, she was pretty. Ok, she was gorgeous, but that didn't hide the fact that this was fake. And, the fact that this was supposed to last for a year and a half.

And what about girls he was actually interested in?

"Huxley!" Jeremiah's usually blotchy face had gone even redder. Huxley's fingertips went cold when he realized that he had said that out loud.

"Excuse us for a moment, darling." He smiled sweetly at Mary, whose stoic face had not altered, and led Huxley out of the room and into his office.

By the time Jeremiah had closed the door, Hux was filled with a new emotion on top with the rising embarrassment: anger. If he didn't even have control over who he went out with, did he have control over anything?

He felt his life slipping through his fingers into the palms of every one else around him.

At the bewildered face of his most beloved client, Jeremiah sighed. "Listen Huxley, I've given you months to choose a girl for yourself. And what do you do instead? You hang around those pricks and ride motorbikes all day when you should be strengthening your image!"

Huxley's throat had gone dry. He reached into his pocket but felt nothing. He gripped his own arm in support.

"This is only temporary, all right? And it's not like she's not bad to look at." He nudged playfully Hux and gave him a grin, "I've also heard she's a bit of a slag. So that's a plus for you, eh?"

Hux did not grin back. In fact, he felt a tight, twisting feeling in his stomach.

"So it's settled then? Perfect. I'll have him write up a contract and have the two of you sign. In the meantime, why don't you take her out tonight? Somewhere low-key but public. What about that local club a few blocks down? The Green Light I think it's called."

All Huxley could do was shake his head. His voice was gone.

"N-no," his voice was unsteady. "No," he repeated again, this time more confidently. "No, I can't tonight. I promised my mates I would meet them out."

Jeremiah's grey eyes sharpened. "Well, what do you care about, Huxley? Sooner or later you're going to have to choose. Do you care about your 'mates' or your career? You can't have both, kid."

Huxley glanced out at the inanimate figure of a girl sitting out in the waiting room and made his choice.