Читать книгу Sugar and Spice - Lauren Conrad - Страница 8

Jane speed-walked into the elevator and pressed 5, trying to juggle a latte, a box of Sprinkles cupcakes (it was Naomi the receptionist’s birthday), and her oversize, overflowing bag. “I’m soooo late. Fiona’s going to kill me,” she told Scarlett over the phone, which was precariously balanced between her right ear and shoulder.

“Just tell her you were having breakfast with Robert Pattinson. She’ll understand,” Scarlett joked.

“Funny. See you tonight? Or do you have a hot date with your hot boyfriend?”

“Nope. Tonight it’s just you, me, Tucker, and an everything pizza with extra cheese.”

“Sounds perfect. Ohhhh … my battery’s beeping at me, and I haven’t even checked my messages. Gotta go—bye!”

“Janie, charge your phone!”

“I know, I know. See you tonight!”

Jane dropped the phone into her bag just as the elevator doors slid open … to total chaos. The lobby of Fiona Chen Events had been overrun by PopTV equipment and crew—more than for a usual shoot.

“Jane, there you are!” Matt, the director, yanked off his headset and rushed up to her. “Let’s get you miked right away. We’ve got a busy, busy morning.”

“I thought we weren’t shooting until this afternoon. And why are there so many—”

“Change of plans. Didn’t Dana call you?”

Oops. Maybe Dana had left one of the many messages on Jane’s now-dead phone. “Um. What’s on the schedule?”

“First, we’re shooting a scene with you and Hannah, in your office. The second scene is you and, uh, Fiona, in Fiona’s office.” Matt looked away.

Jane frowned. Why did Matt suddenly seem so uncomfortable? “Is Fiona in a bad mood or something?” she asked him.

“Yeah, well, isn’t she always in a bad mood? I’ve got to go see about the lighting. I’ll be back for you in a sec.” Matt motioned for one of the sound guys to come over and mike her.

Great, Jane thought with a sigh. Fiona’s going to chew me out for being late … again … on camera. Can’t wait!

“Good morning, Jane.” Naomi peeked out from behind a massive bouquet of tulips on her desk. “I like your shoes!”

“Thanks. Oh, these are for you!” Jane gave her the box of cupcakes. “Happy birthday!”

“It’s so sweet of you to remember. Thank you!”

The sound guy, Jack, greeted Jane and handed her a mike pack. Jane set her stuff down on Naomi’s desk and chatted with her about birthday plans, while slipping the pack under her gray silk blouse, wrapping the wire around her torso, and handing the pack back to Jack. She barely noticed as he flipped on the switch and clipped the pack to the back strap of her bra. After six months of being on TV, it had become routine.

Matt reappeared in the lobby and waved to Jane. “Okay, we’re ready for you now.”

Jane said bye to Naomi (who wished her “good luck”— why “good luck”?) and joined Matt. As they headed down the hallway, they passed one of Fiona’s beautifully decorated conference rooms—and Jane spotted Trevor sitting at the end of the long glass table, talking on the phone and typing on his laptop. Several anxious-looking assistants hovered around him.

“What’s Trevor doing here?” Jane whispered to Matt.

“You know. Trevor likes to be hands-on. Fiona was nice enough to set up a temporary production space for him.” Matt stopped in front of the office Jane shared with Hannah. “Okay, here we are. Stay here for a sec and wait for my signal, then go on in and do your usual thing with Hannah. Good morning, what’s new, blah, blah, blah.”

“’Kay.”

Jane waited, wondering if her makeup looked okay (she had applied it in her car, while stopped at various red lights). Then Matt gave her the signal, and she walked through the doorway.

Hannah was at her desk, reading something on her computer monitor. When she saw Jane, she pushed back her long, honey blond hair and smiled, seemingly oblivious to the two camera guys who were shooting from opposite corners of the room. “Hi, Jane!”

“Hi, Hannah! Hey, are you feeling better?” Hannah had not only missed the season premiere party on Monday, but she hadn’t been at work yesterday, either.

“Much better, thanks.”

Jane set her stuff down on her desk, which was cluttered with piles of unopened mail, files, clippings—and the remains of her Pinkberry smoothie from the day before. Ew. Jane wasn’t always the neatest person, but she needed to get this desk under control ASAP. “Soooo,” she said to Hannah, tossing the smoothie and wondering distractedly where she had left her phone charger. “I’m, uh, supposed to meet with Fiona this morning. Are you sitting in on that meeting, too?”

Hannah’s brown eyes widened as she glanced at the cameras. “Um … no.” She glanced back at Jane. “Didn’t you get my message?”

“Message? What message?”

“I called you, like, half an hour ago, and—”

Isaac, one of the interns, appeared in the doorway. “Jane? Fiona’s ready for you now.”

“Uh … okay.” Jane stared at Hannah, wishing they could talk more. It seemed as though Hannah had wanted to tell her something off camera. If only Jane could text her, but her cell was dead, and she didn’t have time to sign in to her computer and get on IM. What was up? First Matt, then Naomi, then Hannah … everyone was acting so weird today.

Jane followed Isaac to Fiona’s office, wondering what, exactly, was in store for her. Maybe it was more than Fiona’s usual “we don’t tolerate lateness in this office” lectures. Maybe Jane was in serious trouble. But for what? She went through her mental checklist, making sure she hadn’t forgotten to do something important, like booking the DJ for an upcoming sweet sixteen party (for Leda Phillips’s daughter Clementine, who seemed to have inherited her mother’s alcoholism gene—better post extra security guards around the punch bowl and at the restrooms), or pinning down a venue for Miranda Vargas’s (fourth? fifth? sixth?) wedding. She hadn’t.

Matt was standing outside Fiona’s door, giving instructions to Jack and another sound guy. “Jane! Great. Cameras are already rolling, you can go right on in.”

“Okay.”

Inside Fiona’s office, there were three—not two—camera guys in place. Fiona herself was sitting at her desk, leafing through a file. Her sleek black hair and makeup were flawless, as always, thanks to the multiple stylists she always demanded before a shoot. “Jane, there you are. Please sit. How are you today?”

How are you today? Now Jane was really confused. Fiona Chen was pretty much the scariest, coldest boss in the history of bosses. Why was she making pleasant chitchat?

“I’m fine. Thank you.” Jane sat down.

“Good! Let’s get down to business, then. I have a new project I’d like to discuss with you. Aja has hired us to do her engagement party.”

“Aja?” Jane’s jaw dropped. So this was why today’s shoot was such a big deal.

“Yes. Aja. She wants it to be at one of the Las Vegas hotels. As you can imagine, this is a huge new account for us. Aja is an international pop star, and her fiancé, Miguel Velasquez, is one of the most popular rookies in Major League Baseball.”

Jane didn’t know a lot about sports, but she did know about the super-hot Miguel Velasquez. She used to have a huge crush on him, as did every other girl on the planet—and probably a few guys, too.

“I’m putting you in charge of this project. And I want you to meet your new coworker, who’ll be assisting, along with Hannah,” Fiona went on.

“My new coworker?”

“Yes. In fact, she’s here now. Why don’t you say hello?”

Jane heard the door open behind her. She turned around—and practically fell out of her chair as the familiar blonde in a black miniskirt, button-down blouse (with a few too many buttons undone), and sky-high stilettos sauntered in.

“What the—” Jane gasped.

Madison sat down next to Jane and slowly crossed her legs. “Hi, Jane! Isn’t this soooo awesome? We’re going to be working together!”

“No, no, no! There is no way in hell I’m working with her!”

Jane tried not to scream too loudly at Trevor as she paced back and forth across Trevor’s “temporary production space.” So this is why he was here today. She had suspected that something was up—but not this particular something, which was pretty much the worst something, ever. She rubbed her temples—she had a splitting headache—and she was this close to bursting into tears. Although she refused to give Trevor, or anyone eavesdropping outside the closed door, the satisfaction.

Trevor leaned back in his plush leather chair, his expression inscrutable. “It’s not going to be as bad as you think—” he began calmly.

“What? What are you talking about? You promised me, Trevor! You promised me I wouldn’t have to film any more scenes with her. And now you’re making me work with her, like, every single day? What the hell?”

“Look. I didn’t hire her. Fiona did.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Believe what you want, Jane.”

“Fine!” Jane stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. She had no choice; Trevor was forcing her hand. “Then I quit!”

There. She had said it. It was the right thing to do—wasn’t it? So why were her hands shaking, and why did she feel like throwing up?

“Quit … what? The show? Do I need to remind you that you have a contract?”

“No, not the show. I’m quitting this job.”

Trevor folded his arms across his chest. “Jane. I’m sorry you’re upset. But Madison applied for an opening here and Fiona hired her. We had nothing to do with that, but of course we had to film it. If she had shown up for her first day of work and we had missed it, PopTV would have freaked.” He added, “I don’t blame you for wanting to quit your job. But look—if you do, it’s going to look bad to viewers. They’ll think you’re a spoiled brat who didn’t get her way.”

Jane started to say something not very PG to him, then clamped her mouth shut. She hated to admit it, but he was right. She knew the truth: Madison was a crazy, lying, manipulative bitch who would run over her own mother with a bus if it would make her rich and famous. But all those L.A. Candy fans out there didn’t know that, and if Jane left Fiona Chen Events, they would basically think that Madison had won. That Jane had skulked away in a huff.

Jane had worked hard to get this job. Unlike Madison, who obviously only wanted the airtime, Jane actually wanted to be an event planner and maybe even run her own firm someday. She was not about to let Madison push her out of the way now. She would just have to suck it up and beat Madison at her own game somehow.

On the other hand … Madison, every day? Mornings, afternoons, and evenings and weekends, too, working events? How was Jane going to survive that?

She sank down in one of the conference chairs and twisted a lock of hair around and around her index finger. “I need to discuss this with R.J. and Sam,” she said finally, referring to her agent and publicist.

“Of course. And if you really feel the need to quit—well, I’ll respect your choice.”

Jane glared at Trevor. “Respect” was about the last thing she was feeling from him at this moment.

Madison was waiting outside the conference room when Jane stormed out.

“Hey … Jane?” Madison plastered on a faux-concerned expression and placed her super-fake-looking fingernails on Jane’s arm. Jane had to resist the urge to flinch since there was a camera guy standing not six feet away.

“What?” Jane snapped, pretending to glance at her watch.

“Look. I know this is kinda awkward. But I’m willing to make this work if you are.”

Yeah, right. “Whatever. I’m late for a meeting,” Jane lied.

“Jane, you’ve got to stop blaming me for what happened between you and Jesse. I know you think I told Jesse you cheated on him, but I didn’t.”

“What?” Now Jane was totally confused. What was Madison talking about? Of course Madison was responsible for what happened between her and Jesse—or at least for telling Gossip and the entire world about Jane hooking up with Braden. Jane couldn’t believe Madison was pretending she hadn’t done anything wrong, when they both knew perfectly well what she did.

“We need to move on,” Madison said, squeezing Jane’s arm. “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow tonight? You want to go out for a drink? We could go to Bar Marmont. It’ll be like old times!”

“Old times? Like when I trusted you and you stabbed me in the back? Yeah, those were great times. Besides, I’m busy tomorrow tonight, and so are you. We have a CD launch at the Thompson Hotel at seven. You should know that, since you work here. Oh, except … I forgot. You’re only pretending to work here.” Jane fake-smiled at Madison. “Have a nice day shopping or getting a mani-pedi or whatever you’re planning on doing.”

Madison smiled back at her. Jane frowned. Why was she smiling? And then she remembered. The camera guy. Jane had just acted like a total shrew to Madison on camera. Which is probably exactly what Madison—and Trevor—had been angling for all along.

Crap!

“Ohmigod, I hate my life,” Jane moaned to Scarlett.

“Poor Janie. Here, have another slice.” Scarlett slapped another wedge of pizza onto Jane’s plate. Tucker put his paw on Scarlett’s knee and stared longingly at her—or rather, the pizza. “There’s only one solution. You’ve gotta quit.”

“I can’t quit, Scar. That’s what Madison wants.”

“Who cares what that psycho wants? You’ve got to think about you.”

“I am thinking about me. I was there first. I can’t let her push me out.”

Scarlett sighed and shook her head. Tonight, she was dressed in one of her usual outfits: distressed skinnies and a wrinkled plum T-shirt. She wore only mascara, and her long, wavy black hair was uncombed. How did she manage to look so gorgeous, anyway?

“You know there’s no way Madison just happened to get that job, right?” Scarlett said after a moment. “Trevor totally arranged it with Fiona.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Did he admit it?”

Jane gave her friend a scathing are you serious? look. The truth was, Trevor was more than capable of “arranging” all sorts of situations for the sake of ratings. For example, soon after the series premiere last fall, Hannah had joined Fiona Chen Events, and the show. She became one of Jane’s good friends and closest confidantes, even encouraging Jane to stay with Jesse when things got bad between them. Later, Hannah admitted tearfully to Jane that Trevor had gotten her the job with Fiona as part of a deal to be “Jane’s office mate” on the show—and that he had instructed her to give Jane pro-Jesse advice, to keep the two of them together, since their stormy relationship was wildly popular with viewers.

Jane had forgiven Hannah; she knew firsthand how persuasive Trevor could be. However, she had never confronted Trevor about this piece of underhandedness—mostly because she didn’t want to get Hannah in trouble. But now he was up to his same old tricks, with Madison. How much more could Jane take?

“Okay. So how are we going to get you through the next, uh, however long Madison lasts at her so-called job?” Scarlett said, swigging at a bottle of Corona. “Therapy? Meds? Or should we install a punching bag in your office?”

Jane giggled. It felt good to joke around with her best friend. “Maybe all of the above. Seriously, I’ve got to figure out how to keep my mouth shut when Madison tries to bait me into saying stuff. Like today? She said this thing to me on camera about how I had to stop blaming her for telling Jesse that I cheated on him. And then she stood there smiling at me like some creepy doll when I shot back at her. I can’t win. I freak out because I can’t be fake and pretend like she’s not a crazy person, and then I end up looking like the crazy person.”

“Wait, back up. Haven’t you watched the season premiere yet? The thing about you supposedly blaming her for supposedly telling Jesse that stuff? Which is crap? She said that to Gaby, too.”

“She did?” Jane had missed the PopTV screening of that episode, and she hadn’t gotten around to watching it on TiVo yet.

“Yeah. I think that’s how she … or, more likely, Trevor … decided to play this one out. I mean, he has to come up with some explanation about why you moved out of her apartment, right? Because he can’t air the actual explanation, which is that Madison sold those photos to Gossip and lied about it.”

“Huh.” Jane’s phone buzzed, interrupting them. She glanced at it and saw that it was a text from Caleb. “It’s just, uh, Caleb,” she said out loud.

“What does he want?” Scarlett said suspiciously.

Jane gave Scarlett a look. She knew Scar liked Caleb but didn’t completely trust him, not after he broke up with Jane last spring.

“Cuz I saw the way he was looking at you at the party Monday night,” Scarlett went on.

“I don’t know what you’re—oh, he says he wants you and me to meet up with him and Naveen this weekend,” Jane said, reading the text.

“Naveen?”

Scarlett and Naveen had hooked up in high school, and Jane had always suspected that Scar kind of liked him, even though she would never admit that.

“What do you think?” Jane asked her.

“I think Caleb wants to get back together with you,” Scarlett said.

“No, I meant, what do you think about meeting up with them?”

Scarlett shrugged and said nothing.

Jane picked up her pizza slice and took a bite, wondering why she felt so flustered. Was Scarlett right? Did Caleb want to get back together with her? He did kind of flirt with her at the season premiere party, and he acted jealous when she was on the phone with Braden. But she had no interest in getting back together with him, even if she was dating these days. Which she definitely wasn’t. Besides, their breakup had been really hard on her, and it had taken her forever to get over him. They were in the perfect place now, as friends.

“He’s new in town and he just wants to hang out, that’s all,” Jane said after a moment.

Now it was Scarlett’s turn to give Jane an are you serious? look.