Page 111 of Mr. Not Quite Perfect

“Yeah, just about every human being on the planet who watches movies,” I said with a smile. “Travis, I didn’t know you knew Barry Costello.”

“Actually, Travis helped to finance my last movie,” Barry said, and I looked over at Travis with wide eyes.

“I didn’t know that you were into movies and stuff.”

“I dabble in this and that,” Travis said, shrugging. “I find it of great benefit to me to be diverse in my investments.”

I nodded. “Makes sense.”

“So you’re his assistant, are ya?” Barry looked at me with keen eyes once again.

“Yes,” I said. “New, but enjoying it so far.”

Barry chuckled. “I would assume so if you’re already hobnobbing with the rich and famous of Hollywood.” He leaned forward. “Though please don’t let the people at this party discourage you from admiring our set. Some of us are nice and, well, some of us are just a little superficial, but not all of us. Right, Travis?”

Travis nodded. “Well, most of you.” He laughed. “But not Barry. Barry’s a good man.”

“I have to be,” Barry said. “My great-grandma, she came from Italy. She’d slap me around the face if she thought I got a big head, no matter how much money I have.”

I laughed then. “That’s funny.”

“So what was it you wanted to talk about, Barry?” Travis asked, switching to business mode.

“It’s about distribution in China,” Barry said, sighing. “I spoke to one of the producers, and it looks like there’s a scene they have problems with that they want me to take out if we’re…”

I spaced out as he was talking and looked around the room. My eyes went back to look at Poppy and Brandon, who seemed to be having a very intense conversation about something. I wondered if she needed my help. I wondered if she wanted me to go back and save her from him, though as I stared at them for a couple more seconds, I realized that I was taken aback. Brandon, who I thought was so quiet and demure, was actually arguing about something. I could see him getting heated. His hands were in the air. I bit down on my lower lip, and then I saw Poppy laughing and Brandon just staring at her in disbelief. I was definitely going to have to ask her what that conversation was about.

My eyes moved across the room again, and there I spied three A-list actresses, all of whom I knew very well from their movies and TV shows. They were talking about something that had them laughing, but as I noticed their faces more acutely, I realized that none of them wore sincere smiles. They were actually checking each other out, I supposed to figure out which one of them was the most beautiful and had on the nicest and most expensive dress. I thought that would be tiring to always be in competition, but I guessed they were in competition for the same jobs and accolades. I wondered how that would feel. I wondered if the apprenticeship program was going to do that as well, if it was going to pit me against the other new starts. I wondered if Alice would become competitive with me and if we’d be vying to be the number one or number two apprentice in the program.

Even though I wasn’t familiar with finance, I knew I didn’t want to be last. I wanted to show Travis that I had what it took. He’d taken a chance on me, and I wanted to make him proud. I wanted to show him that he hadn’t made a mistake. And I think I wanted to prove to myself that I earned this position because of my intellect and not on my back. And while I knewsex with Travis had nothing to do with me getting accepted into the program because I’d been accepted before he and I had slept together, I would never be able to get rid of that thought if I didn’t step up and do a good job.

“You seem like you’re faraway,” Travis said, looking down at me. “Is everything okay?” He took a step toward me and smiled, his eyes questioning me as he looked me up and down.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I was just thinking.”

“Oh, I hope we weren’t boring you,” Barry said, looking remorseful. “I try not to bring business to parties, but it’s very hard to get a one-on-one with Travis, so I take the opportunity whenever I can.”

“It’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just observing,” I said with a smile, looking around the room. “This is my first time being around so many stars, you know?”

“And what do you think?” Barry asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “At first, I was excited because there were so many people I knew just from movies and TV shows. It was almost like they were gods to me. But being here in this room around them, it really cements that they’re just human beings like me and have flaws. It’s cool, though,” I said quickly, not wanting him to think I was too cool for school.

“I think that you are a very astute observer,” Barry said, nodding. He looked at Travis, and then he looked at me, and a smile came to his face. “So Travis, did you hear?”

“Did I hear what?” he said, chuckling slightly as he looked over at Barry.

“I heard that Shannon Firefly was asking about you.”

“Oh?” Travis said, surprised. “Who is she again?”

“What? You don’t know Shannon Firefly?” I stared at him in shock. “She’s an actress from…I want to say Germany?”

“No,” Barry said, “she’s English. Her mother is German, and her father’s Australian. And she’s been in the States for thepast couple of years. She’s made a couple of art house movies, but she’s famous for having been married to that tech genius… What’s his name again?”

I giggled. “You know his name, Barry.”

Barry laughed. “I do. She was married to Cairo Trojan.”

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