Page 75 of The Actor's Attraction

They’re meant to be lovers.

And, at the end of the fun scene, they kiss...

It’s a long, lingering, passionate kiss. It’s something that will look totally amazing on the big screen.

But I feel something as I watch on. A pang of jealousy. A stupid pang of jealousy.

I take a step back and clutch my chest. I didn’t expect to feel that.

Why the hell would I be feeling that?

“Oh, he’s beautiful, isn’t he?”

I’ve been so engrossed with the scene and with that kiss that I haven’t even noticed the woman who has stood next to me. She’s a few years older than I am. Her eyes are trained on the scene playing out in front of us.

“Who’s beautiful?” I ask her.

“Who? Victor Penmayne, of course.”

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“Oh. Yeah. He is.”

The director calls cut. The kiss ends. Victor and Hayley are back to chatting warmly together as friends. Lights are moved around.

And the woman standing next to me is staring at me now. Not at Victor. Not at the crew.

At me.

And it’s starting to freak me out.

“Wait... Are you Josie Gunn?” she asks me. “Victor’s new girlfriend?”

I freeze.

“I’m Josie, yeah.”

“I saw the press conference and my social media is full of your face. I can’t seem to escape you every time I pick up my phone.”

“No way. I’m going... viral?”

“Yeah, of course you are,” the woman says. “You’re Victor Penmayne’s new girlfriend. Everyone is obsessed with you.”

I shake my head.

“There’s nothing to be obsessed about,” I whimper. “I’m a very normal barista. I’m no one special.”

Well, I should’ve known how my face would’ve blown up around the world once I was linked to the most famous movie star on the planet, but I didn’t think it would be like this.

“What’s he like?” the woman asks. There’s a flurry of crewmember activity around us while they set up for the next take.

I shrug. “He’s... normal.”

“It’s like a love story between you two. Like how you’re from his hometown, and how he went into your coffee shop and kissed you. That’s something that should only exist in the kind of movies he makes, right?”

She’s American. No trace of an Italian accent at all. So what is she doing here?

She’s not a crewmember, that’s for sure.

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