Untouchable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

Chapter Nineteen

"Flora, can I ask you something?" I begin hesitantly as she merges into traffic on Wilshire. "If I'm crossing the line or anything, just let me know."

Flora glances over at me. "Sure, go ahead and ask."

I swallow hard. "It's about Katia Valkov."

"Oh, God," Flora sighs. "Biggest mistake Jared's made in a long, long time. What do you want to know?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I mean, I kind of met her once, when Jared was still in the hospital. She seems..." I search for a proper adjective, and settle for, "intense."

"Intense," Flora repeats, her attention on the traffic. "What she is, is a rich little fame-ho. Correction: she's a spoiled rotten, rich, talentless little fame-ho."

"Yeah, but I guess she's been talking to the press, and her father wants Jared to be in a 'public relationship' with her again to boost her...whatever...her profile, or something. He came to the house and told Jared that. So did Suzanne Hoffman."

Flora stops at a red light, lowers her shades and stares at me. "Oh, geez. And Suzanne's on board with this charade starting up again? Really? What did Jared say to that?"

"He said no. But..." I sigh. "Then he was in a horrible mood the rest of the day, so..." I trail off, gazing straight ahead at the passing traffic on the cross street. "This whole public relationship thing. I keep hearing about it."

"That's because it's pervasive in Hollywood. Jared's played the game a number of times, and he's a pro at it." The light turns green and we start moving again. "He's a method actor and a great one, so playing the part of a devoted boyfriend for the paparazzi, making it look completely natural and believable even with a woman he pretty much despises, is second nature for him— it's just another job.

"But Katia? Yeah, I know she's been talking to the media. She's denying rumors that she and Jared split up this summer, acting like she's been at his side nonstop since his accident, and all sorts of bullshit like that. She went back to New York a few days ago. Carried on about how reluctant she was to leave Jared and return to the east coast for work, but that he encouraged her to go, not to neglect her career for him." Flora scoffs in disgust. "It's pathetic. The tabloids just post whatever she says, but most of The Echelon know she's full of shit and they're pretty vocal on the socials about it. Jared probably won't dignify any of it with a response either way, which is the wisest thing he can do. As his rep, I hope Suzanne's smart enough to do the same."

I stare out the window again and unconsciously breathe out a long, quivering sigh. "But there was a relationship between them at one time. I mean, a real one. There had to be."

"Yeah, I suppose there was, until he found out what a snake she is." When I don't respond, Flora groans, "Oh God, Lanie. If you think for a minute that Jared still has feelings for her, you're very mistaken. Whatever feelings he may have had were superficial at best, and died before he met you."

Superficial? Really? Then why was he crying when she left his hospital room?

The rest of the drive back to Laurel Canyon consists of lighter topics; how Flora adjusted to a much faster, busier way of life, the celebrities she's met and worked with, and two big-budget movies for which she's preparing early drafts of set designs and has a number of meetings coming up about them. "Super exciting," she enthuses. "You'll definitely have to come check things out once we're ready to roll."

"I'd love to," I say sincerely. The whole behind-the-scenes aspect of movie-making sounds interesting and I'm curious to see how all of the elements come together to produce what I've only experienced as a viewer of the finished product. Much like I'm interested in how Jared, Shannon, Tomo, and Stevie put together builds and structure, drops and progressions, loops and bridges and all the other mysterious jargon I've heard them talk about, and then add a sheet of Jared's scribbled lyrics to turn it all into a song.