Page 8 of Until The Stars Don't Shine

They were the real deal, and neither had nor would ever cheat on each other.

Lexi had come along two years after they were married and she was even more beautiful than her mother, if that were possible. She had inherited her mom’s creamy skin, pouty lips and to-die-for hourglass figure, while her father passed onhis intelligence and love of reading.

Although Lexi had been a happy girl, she grew up without many friends. Her peers, she didn’t have much in common with, while regular kids her own age either found her lineage too intimidating, or they cared about it a little too much…

It was always the same story.

Someone would befriend her but after only a few hangout sessions, Lexi would discover she was paying for much more than the restaurant bill.

The sob stories would come out, sick fathers and siblings which Lexi would later discover sometimes never existed at all. Then there were the wannabe actors who thought a friendship with her would somehow develop into a role for them.

She was a compassionate girl who couldn’t help but buy into their stories, wanting to help her new friends as much as possible.

Having lived a sheltered life despite her parents’ fame (or maybe because of it), it never crossed her mind that people could be so duplicitous.

She’d been lucky enough to make some great friends when she went to college to study literature, but after graduation, some moved to the East Coast while others became too busy with their new boyfriends.

Whenever Lexi suggested they could meet up — and she would invite their boyfriends too, knowing that her friends seemed reluctant to part with them even for a short while — her offer was always declined. It wasn’t until her mom discovered her crying in her room that Mandy had explained a sad fact of life: as ridiculous as it was, her friends were scared Lexi, with her looks and great personality, would steal their boyfriends away.

Apparently, she was a threat to her girlfriends even if she wasn’t remotely interested in their guys.

Annoyed that her mother might be right, she signed up to a local writing group under a pseudonym, but that had been a bust too; it wasn’t long before her true identity had been revealed.

After her last group of friends sold the family stories she had told them to ET, she decided she would be better off without them and cut them out of her life.

So far, she hadn’t regretted her decision to do so, but with her birthday looming, it was becoming increasingly clear that something was missing from her life.

Lexi was turning twenty-five in a few days and it was going to be celebrated with a luxury charity event/birthday party on the grounds of their home.

Located around their swimming pool, with a buffet catered by celebrated television chef, Jean-Louis,fresh lobster was being flown in from Maine. A French pastry chef who had designed the cake for the King of Monaco’s recent (and fifth) wedding, had promised that Lexi’s centerpiece would overshadow that. A stage was also on its way, to be set up by the rose garden for singing sensation Stella Speed to perform a private concert for the guests.

There was even talk that Logan Steel — THE — movie star would swing by to say hi. He had broken out in one of Stonewall’s movies a few years ago. Now that he was dating popular sitcom actress Ellie Godwin, the entire world worshipped at their feet. With his smoldering good looks and Ellie’s girl-next-door lovability, they were the most admired — and desired — couple on planet Earth. Even Time magazine had declared them so.

Anyone who was anyone would be there. The wealthiest, most famous people in Hollywood.

It all filled her with tremendous anxiety.

All Lexi really wanted was a quiet dinner alone with her parents, but one thing had stopped her from planning one: there wouldn’t be a better opportunity to raise money for PAWS, the animal shelter that she volunteered at on the weekends.

PAWS was a no-kill shelter that was constantly overwhelmed with animals that needed help. They tried their best, but the recent raging wildfires had pushed not just PAWS but all local animal shelters to their limits. While the State diverted all emergency funds to assist families who had lost their homes and businesses, there wasn’t much left over for the animals and pets that were affected. Many family pets were currently lost.

Frightened by the fires, they had escaped their homes only to find themselves on the streets scared, alone, and hungry. Other luckier pets were saved, but with their families displaced, they were forced into temporary accommodation, many of which didn’t allow pets. Lexi had witnessed firsthand many devastated families who had lost everything only then to have to relinquish their beloved pets too.

She couldn’t close her eyes at night without reliving the agonized cries of the little kids whose best friends were torn away…

Some of them, forever.

Short of giving away her parents’ money (and she had done so to such an extent that Stonewall’s accountant had called in alarm), Lexi wanted to exploit this opportunity to help as many as possible. The need was urgent, and this was one way she could bypass the government red-tape and get help to those who needed it — fast.

Much as she’d like everyone to believe that her motives were entirely selfless, there was also a personal one for the party too.

Originally expected to be a tent-pole affair to rival that of the latest superhero offerings, Mandy’s latest movie production had been plagued with issues as first one-leading A-list man, then another, dropped out.

They were for unrelated reasons, but the tabloids hadn’t seen it that way, with headlines screaming that America’s sweetheart had turned into a raging, aging diva who was running her co-stars off the set.

Truth was, Mandy needed some good publicity.

A few years shy of turning fifty, she was starting to feel cinema’s waning love affair. She would always be one of the most beautiful women in the world and could still hold a candle next to most, though no amount of moisturizer or hot yoga could hide the lines that had seemingly appeared on her face overnight.

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