Page 68 of Lights, Camera, Love

After a beat of awkward silence, he says, ‘You at home?’ The question jolts me. I clasp my hand over my abdomen; the bare skin beneath my fingers reminds me that I’m naked. With Evie.

‘I’m not, but I’ll be there soon.’ I catch the flicker of disappointment in Evie’s face when the words reach her ears.

‘Sweet. I’ll see you soon, bro,’ Austin says, his tone becoming warmer. ‘I hope we can hang out today, and—’

I mumble something about having to go and end the call. I’m too fucking confused to deal with his seesawing moods right now.

The worst part about having a talented actor for a housemate is being unable to tell when they’re being genuine and when they’re putting on a show.

Austin is already home when I get back from the hotel. The second I push through the door, he bounds out of the kitchen, leaving behind a half-made coffee, and pulls me into a tight hug.

‘I’m sorry, bro,’ he says, gripping me tightly. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick.’

My palm lands on his upper back, and I give him a few pats and tell him it’s all right, even though his disappearing act over the past few days has left a bitter taste in my mouth. But at least none of his mannerisms suggest that he’s doped out on drugs or alcohol. No one needed that ordeal on top of everything else.

‘Where were you last night?’ he says as I pull back, his gaze sweeping down and up my crumpled suit. I could ask the same question of him—he’s unshaven and looks like he slept on a street corner. ‘Did you stay at the hotel where the party was?’

My vocal cords seize up. ‘Yeah. I took your room. Didn’t want to let a brand-new suite go to waste.’

‘That’s all right,’ he says, even though I haven’t apologised.

Austin gives my deltoid a squeeze and guides me into the kitchen, where he insists on making me a coffee so we can sit on the balcony and ‘shoot the breeze’, as he puts it. I’m still thrown by how friendly he’s being after days of radio silence.

Once I’ve showered off and changed into jeans, a loose T-shirt and basketball trainers, I head back into the kitchen. Austin hands me a steaming mug andbegins talking. But thankfully, the topic isn’t Evie. He tells me that Nadia is threatening to go nuclear and post the mirror masturbation video of him any day now if he doesn’t publicly admit he’s in a made-up relationship with his co-star. I guess my attempt to convince Nadia that it’s not a fake romance failed; she probably learned too much about the entertainment business during her years with Austin to believe me.

‘Have you got evidence of those threats?’ I ask. ‘That itself is a crime—blackmail is enough for us to go to the cops.’

‘I don’t.’ His jaw tenses as he opens the balcony door for me. ‘She’s not that dumb; she told me on the phone and in coded language.’

‘Coded language?’

‘Just trust me—one wrong move with Nadia, and that domino is gonna drop like a house of cards.’

I clutch my brow as we step outside.

‘We need to take Nadia seriously, man,’ Austin says, ‘because it’s not gonna be as easy to escape her as I thought. I did some thinking while I was away. About LA.’ He drops into one of the outdoor chairs. ‘I definitely want to get over there eventually. But with all this hype building aroundMoving, I think we should wait and see what happens here with my career before I leave town again. You’ve always said it—around here, I’m a bigger fish in a smaller teacup.’

I’m pretty sure I didn’t use those words,I think, as he carries on.

‘So, instead of heading back to LA like we planned, I want to stay in Sydney. Maybe give it a couple of years. Then we can see where we’re at.’

We, we, we.When did Austin ask for my opinion in any of this? I turn away from him, massaging the back of my neck. I already knew I didn’t want to go back to LA, but that doesn’t mean I want to stay here with him either … in this job, in this apartment.

Unsure of how to respond to his decision, I flop onto an outdoor chair facing the windblown skin of the ocean and set down my coffee.

‘So, how did the wrap party go last night?’ he asks, the change of topic slicing my throat.

Things with Evie aside, I need to break it to Austin that his co-star blew the shit out of the director in front of everyone. Evie going rogue on Buzz only added to last night being one of the best of my life, but Austin won’t see it that way. That sort of intense drama can be toxic to a film that’s still in production, even if most of the scenes have already been shot. Plus, as long as Evie’s agent okays it, I fully intend to take the video of Buzz acting like a misogynistic pervert into Village Pictures on Monday, which will be like setting off bomb number two.

Austin drags his chair right beside mine, as if he wants to be closer to me. He’s obviously feeling bad about the past few days.

Why haven’t I realised until now how fucked up his pattern is? It’s always the same—getting shitty at me,running away, and then crawling back with affection that I don’t even want.

‘Forget the wrap party, man,’ I say. ‘What the hell has been going on with you? I’ve been trying to reach you for nearly a week.’

He looks away. ‘I told you I was fine.’

‘No,your mumtold me you were fine. She said you were up at the Gold Coast, staying with some guy called Maxi.’

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