Page 142 of Catch Me
“Wait up for me tonight.” My voice comes out deeper than normal.
“Like I can sleep without you either,” she scoffs, then blows me a kiss. “Now go. I have to get back to work, too.”
My silly, in love ass stares at the blank screen for a few beats, a goofy ass grin on my lips.
“Mr. Knight?”
“Yeah, coming.”
About twenty minutes later I’m sitting in the hotel’s event room with Michael Keith and the other two main actors fromLate Nights.
“Andreas, critics are saying that this is your finest performance yet. What do you say to that?” a journalist from the number one entertainment magazine in the country asks.
I glance to my left toward Michael Keith, then to the other actors of the film who sit on my right.
I’ve been able to see the final edited version ofLate Nightsand I know that everyone involved in this project stepped up and delivered to the highest level of their abilities.
“That’s truly a compliment,” I say. “Our goal in making this film was to tell a complete story and make sure we brought these characters’ stories to life in a very real way. I’ll leave it up to the audience to decide if I played my part well.”
“Very diplomatic answers,” he says, making the rest of the room chuckle.
Another reporter goes on to ask Michael about his strategy for this film. I listen intently as he talks about the direction he saw for the film from the beginning.
“At the end of the day, this isn’t a huge action film. My technique had to differ from projects that I’ve done in the past. Which is why I took great efforts to ensure everything was right, down from the camera lenses to the cast.”
Michael looks over at me and then the other cast members.
“I know we’ve done exactly what we set out to do,” he says as if he’s answering my earlier comment.
The rest of the presser goes off without much fanfare. The journalists seem to be enjoying themselves and excited about the movie, which is all we can ask for.
Inevitably, though, the questions start to take a different direction.
“Andreas?” one of the female reporters in the back calls out.
I do my best to keep the frown off of my face once I see who it is. Charlotte Simpson, the reporter for one of the largest gossip blogs in the country. And I’m using the wordreportervery lightly.
She’s also the one who wrote that post about Amber and me after that picture of us at the restaurant came out.
“We atEntertainment Wisewere surprised that you would take on a role with such depth and emotion. Did you feel like it was time to leave the lighter, more … shall we say, immature roles behind?”
Her tone is full of fake niceness that does nothing to hide the snark that belies the question.
I know something about Charlotte that no one else in this room is aware of.
“That was an inappropriate question,” Michael Keith defends. “Andreas Knight is the consummate professional and a fine actor. If anything, his previous roles?—”
“Thank you, Michael, for saying that,” I say with a nod. “It’s quite the compliment hearing that come from a man with such a fine eye for talent.” I turn to face Charlotte, who still wears a smug look on her face.
“As for the question, the beauty of my career is that I get the opportunities to play a range of characters. All with unique personalities and characteristics that display the vastrangeof the human experience. After all, isn’t emotional depth andrangewhat we all want to see when we’re looking to be entertained?”
Charlotte’s face reddens and a pinch between her brows appears. When Charlotte tried out for a part in the series I starred in, one of the harshest critiques of her was that her acting lacked emotional range.
Amber was the actress who the role eventually went to.
Charlotte managed to get a job writing for gossip blogs because she never had the talent to make it as an actress.
The visibly angered expression on her face reveals that she knows exactly why I worded my answer the way I did.
