"Ah, my sister ... if you knew him as I do..."
- Character of Lexie, at 20, for Emma's character in a scene in the middle of the film Paths of Love.
- It's not time to get your head in the heat, Lexie. Your interview will start shortly - said Viola in all seriousness, taking the phone from my hand. - You are superior to that.
- They brought the subject up again!
Viola took a deep breath, tired of my scandal with the fact that the picture of me and Brandon kissing was back to the most talked about subjects on social media. Right when everyone was forgetting... right when they stopped condemning me for kissing a man who was engaged - which was not true, because at the time Emma and Brandon were far from being together. - Why the hell is this damn picture circulating again?
The Chat Express hairdresser pretended not to hear anything and continued to touch my straw-colored hair, but I was sure she was much more than attentive to the discussion that was taking place there and to my subtle cursing.
- It's just a photo, Alexsandra Klein! - Exclaimed my agent, already red with anger. - It's a photo from two years ago, in the dressing room, from when you made the film together.
- What?
I frowned, reaching for the device in her hand.
- Do you have this photo too? Where is it?
Viola showed it from a distance on her cell phone. The image of me and Emma taking a selfie in the mirror stuck to my retina and, believe me, it wasn't very cool.
- Emma posted this last night, to wish you happy birthday.
"This picture was taken exactly the same month that I kissed Brandon," I mumbled, reasoning.
- The fans recognized my Path of Love's character hairstyle, so everyone is talking again about the kiss photo!
- It only leaked a year and a half after it was taken - she recalled. - Do me a favor, Lexie ... Don't freak out!
- And? Look at the comments on these photos! So maddening me!
- Okay, let's say the photo Emma posted of you two put wood on the fire. But I guarantee people will soon forget that again. Be sure. It's nothing big. She just wanted to congratulate you.
I huffed, crossing my arms under my breasts.
- Okay, but if it increases in proportion...
- Why don't you talk to Brandon about it?
- I haven't been talking to him lately.
Before she asked me any more questions, I got up to put the contact lenses over my gray eyes and let them do my makeup. The interviewer, called Bob Arnold, started with a comment about mine and Nick's birthday, who was exactly four years older than me and who made me breathe cake on my 23rd birthday, his 27th. Same day, same month, same family, same films… yeah. We only needed to be from the same year, which would make us the twin cousins, but that was a detail.
During the interview, I was surprised to see the trailer for our new film. The audience's reaction was pleasant to see that we were a separate couple. I was asked about it, if it was weird, and I was instructed by the film's management team to say no if they asked. I completed by saying that Nick was not my blood cousin and that it was still impossible to take him seriously during the scenes in which we talked about our supposed relationship. It was difficult to shoot because we laughed all the time. But the answer they invented was a lie. It was really weird to be an ex-girlfriend of the cousin you grew up with all your teenage years. Thank goodness, at least, that was only in the movie.
When asked about the Oscar I won for the film I made with Emma and Brandon, I said that there was no plan to make another film with them or anything like that, mainly because Emma had won Best Lead Actress, and the budget for the next film was tight. It was rarely managed to cover the salaries of two actors with awards of this magnitude. Perhaps that was why, after Leah and Connor won Oscars, they began to work more apart. They always said it was a complicated business, and asked me a thousand and one times if that was what I wanted before I left theater classes at school and went to the real cinema.
After I saw up closer how it worked, despite all the ups and downs, in a very short time I decided that this was what I wanted. My first role was in a spy movie, in which Nick was the main character - as in all the other films in the series, which he had recorded since he was eight. After they saw my triumphant debut and the media fell on the spotlight with me, the new member of the Klein family, I started to have more influential roles and debuted my first solo film when I was 14 or 15 years old. I was born for that. I was sure.
●
During a flight with bad Wi-Fi, you can really miss a lot. When I left New York, everything was more normal than I could have imagined. As I descended on Los Angeles, with a thousand flashes of paparazzi on me, the world seemed to fall apart. Interviewers asked me what I had to do with the ending of Emma's engagement to Brandon, but I didn't respond.
I only followed the path my security guards opened for me in the crowd that tried to crush and deafen me.
- This serves to add more fuel to the fire - Viola said when we got in the car. - Attracts advertising, interviews ... more requests for acting in films.
- Why do they need more requests? I mean… Emma won an Oscar for Best Lead Actress! She was to be praised on her knees by the directors.
- Maybe that's the problem. - She gave me a furtive look, seeing if I understood. Flights tired me a lot. - Maybe she asks too much. High fees, petty demands ... you need to call attention if you want good proposals. All eyes will be on you three as long as this matter runs. And, if she makes a film during all this confusion, the audience will follow her and also follow the film. You know this technique.
Being a good actress and launching a movie out of nowhere gets a lot of attention, but being a good actress who was recently involved in a controversy, launching a movie out of nowhere and still showing up for interviews ... Well, that's almost like neon fireworks. More than flashy. Everyone who searched for her name on Google would eventually hear about her film.
"I know," I murmured, referring to the technique, "and it does not favor me at the moment."
Viola sighed and ran a hand over her face, also looking tired. Behind her sunken eyes, she looked a lot like Margot. The same dark skin, honey-colored eyes and black hair. A very elegant woman, I would say.
- Remembering that you kissed Brandon that day.
- You told me to draw attention to the movie, didn't you? - I asked, sour.
She squinted her lashes at me.
- Not like that, you know well. You kissed him because you wanted to.
- It just happened. It was not my fault that the damn photo was only released a millennium of years later. I don't know, but it was a BEAUTIFUL coincidence with the time of disclosure of his engagement, which only hurts my image even more...
Viola shrugged, her face frowning.
- It has been proven that the photo was old. You were on the movie set. Everyone already knows, the story was clarified in more than 5 interviews, remember?
- But there are still people who believe he betrayed her with me!
- Alexsandra Klein! - she barked. - Stop making a tantrum. Enough. We will solve this. Worry about other things, because this is not hopeless.
I crossed my arms, but nodded when I heard her curses. I should trust Viola more and stop acting like a spoiled child.
It's just that... sometimes it's hard to stop being who you really are.
●
- I still don't understand why you kissed the guy - said Nick. Aunt Leah raised an eyebrow at me, interested in my answer. - I thought you were just friends.
- And we are!
- Friends with benefits, then?
- Nicholas! - scolded his mother, with a polite laugh at my irritation with the subject I debated with them. - Don't disrespect your cousin like that!
- Come on... Friends who kiss on the sly ... well, there can only be something more and...
My God, I was about to kill him... But I just pinched his muscular arm.
- There! Did you see that, mother?
Aunt Leah laughed.
- You brought that to yourself.
I smiled, grateful for the complicity.
- He and I are friends - I said firmly, although I almost said "we were". I still had my doubts. - Nothing more, ok? Now, if you can leave this matter alone...
- We just wanted to help - said Nick, annoyed. - Seeing my dear little cousin with the lips on the lips of another guy is not something I like to remember.
I snorted, kind of laughing.
- As if you really cared about that, Nick...
He smiled, defeated.
- It was worth the try, right?
This time it was his mother who pinched him and he opened his mouth contemptuously. I knew he pretended not to be jealous of me, but I let him think otherwise. It was more fun to see him try to be ignorant like that.
- You two should take care of each other, you know? - She was about to pull my ear. - Pay attention, at least, to who you are having fun with. What if you catch a disease, hm? And that goes for both of you the same way!
Nick groaned, contracting his jaw.
- We had this conversation at least twenty times when we were teenagers, Mom.
- And you need eighty more now that you are adults!
- Wouldn't that mean we have more responsibility? - I Tried. Big mistake. I got a slap on the ass. - Auch!
- You will always be my babies!
Nick and I were pulled aside, held tightly by my aunt's hungry arms.
- Why doesn't Evie suffer from that? - Murmured my cousin.
- I think she's spent all her arguments on this subject with us already - I whispered back, as if Leah wasn't going to hear. - But I find these conversations so educational and necessary for us to be more responsible adults...
It was enough for her to leave us and I could resume my duties. As a result, I went back to thinking about my concerns. "I hope this is the last time this photo will come up," I murmured, already in the arch of the door that led to my corridor.
I had exercises and pilates to do. This butt had to go up somehow.
As I stretched my legs, with the help of my teacher, I got a call from Viola. I answered with my headset.
- He will clarify in an interview that you have nothing to do with the separation.
- Swear? - I breathed a sigh of relief. - When will it go to TV?
- Next week.
- It's all right. Thank you, Viola.
I changed my leg.
- Hey, wait - I asked. She mumbled something. - Didn't he say anything else?
- That he didn't want to involve you in that matter, and apologized.
- So it was Emma's idea to publish our photo in the mirror? I mean… it was just a set up for the media, right?
She sighed.
- Lexie, I don't know. I did what I had to do, and now you can rest because everyone will know the truth. You have nothing to do with the end of this engagement.
- Okay - I muttered. - Thanks again.
The last thing Brandon would want is for this story to come up, but that was what was happening, and I hated myself for it. I hated the fact that the scene where my character's mother died made me cry so much that they had to cancel the rest of the day's recordings. I opened up to him that day, let him wrap my body in a hug until the sobs passed and I managed to breathe again. When I went to untie it, when I looked at his face ... I couldn't help it anymore. It just happened. And it was not a kiss of pity. It was a kiss that wanted to heal me in some way, as if my suffering was going to end that way. He just wanted to help me. And it helped, I admit.
My late mother, my late great aunt… they were no longer in my head. Just that kiss. It was the only thing that occupied my mind for the next few days. The atmosphere became strange between us, but we soon pretended that nothing had happened and went back to being the way we were before. It was a healthy, unbreakable friendship until Emma and him announced their engagement and the photo leaked. They saw me as the villain of the story, of course. Emma was mercifully playing as she was forgiving what the fiancee had done. That was when we got apart. And it happened so slowly that I didn't realize it until I was asked about it.
But in spite of everything, he made a point of saying that that photo was old and that we were on the set, even though our characters didn't kiss in the movie. At least he protected me, I thought at the time. Then it was no longer important. Everyone had forgotten. So far, at least. And now, more than ever, I was like a villain. "It's not a good thing to arrive at this time," I said when I opened the door and saw Margot.
- I wanted to see how you are.
I looked at myself, wearing the exercise clothes.
- Sweaty and a few grams less.
She shook her head, laughing.
- You fool, you understood me.
I took my washcloth from my shoulder and wiped the sweat from my neck while I sat on the couch.
- Well, as good as possible. Your mother will save my skin, as always.
- It's crazy in the office. Everyone looking for things about you. I confess that I locked myself in the old filing cabinet almost all day. It smelled like mildew inside, I think I need an anti-allergy later.
- Sorry to have to put you through this.
She took my hand.
- Relax. Almost nobody knows that I am friends with you.
- But those who know ...
- A threat here and there - she confessed -, but nothing that bothers me, you know? It's good to be a little… popular.
She waited for me to take a shower to share some Caesar salad with me, and then we decided to watch some series. When I got tired, I went up to get pajamas and went back to sprawl on the couch with my friend and my Pug.
- How are the boys, huh, Maggie?
She frowned.
- Blergh - I murmured, laughing.
- And you, huh? Last week it came out at the office that you were caught hanging out with that guitarist from that band with the strange name, but we decided not to buy the paparazzo's photo. It came out blurried.
I smiled and took a deep breath, relieved.
- It's a German name for the band, and don't ask me to pronounce it either. But it is nothing serious. I went out with him about three times, alone. The third time, I had to chase him away at five a.m. for no paparazzo to see him.
- Do you think he'll be back?
- After the fart Billy let out when he saw him in my bed? He thought it was me!
She laughed.
"He surely won't come back," she concluded. I nodded, analyzing her. Delicate glasses rested on top of her nose, which, although difficult to see, had freckles. They were only visible at times when the light favored.
- You would love Eric, you know?
- Your brother?
- No, my pony - I said. She looked like a duck. - Of course that's my brother, you fool. He's your age. He is completing Dentistry at Harvard.
She smiled crookedly.
- Yeah ... he's cute.
- More so personally - I said. - The Kleins have good genetics.
Maggie yawned.
- Does this apply to you, even if adopted?
I shrugged my shoulders. My hair was blond. A dry, straw-like tone. But at least it was natural. My eyes were grayish and my skin had the typical Californian bronze. I had some freckles too, but I covered them with concealer.
- The magazines say yes, right?
- Well, yeah… Are you going to sleep here?
- I'm already sleeping ...
We found ourselves sleeping on the couch, but in the middle of the night we were woken by Billy and his loud Pug snoring. It was surpassable and adaptable, believe me. The problem was when he farted. Then I understood why the poor German guitarist didn't call me anymore.