(Chapter 30)

192K 2.3K 380
                                    

*** Tuesday, Day 23 ***

♫Erica♫

“Hey,” Tyler said, unnaturally cheerful, “What’s up?”

“Oh…” I said, looking up from the script. “Hi, Tyler.” I tried to sound happy, but my voice sounded depressed, even to myself. Luckily, I’d managed to avoid Daniel all of yesterday. He was ill yesterday, and so he didn’t turn up for rehearsals yesterday. “Nothing much…Just going through the script.”

“Are you okay?” he asked. I really couldn’t act, then. I totally didn’t deserve that role in the movie. Daniel deserved it. Well…good for him. I meant it. Good for him. “You don’t seem so good.”

“I’m fine.” Again, completely unconvincing.

“You must’ve heard, then. About Daniel leaving.”

“Daniel’s leaving?” I gasped, standing up. My script fell to the floor. “To where?”

“Oh…France.”

I tried to get my head around it. “Why would he just leave? Without telling me?”

Tyler’s eyes were sharp now, but I ignored him. I didn’t have enough time to stroke his ego. I had to know. “Tell me,” I snapped, grabbing his arms. “Why is he going?”

He looked straight into my eyes, as he said, “I don’t know.”

“Well…when?” I sensed Tyler was lying to me (there’s a reason he isn’t an actor too, you know), but I didn’t want to force the truth out of him. He would probably close up, and not answer my other questions. “When’s he leaving?”

“End of term. Right after the Halloween Beach Party, I reckon.”

I sat back down again, biting my lip. Daniel was leaving…he really was leaving. It was different, when it’d been my choice to leave. I’d been hurt, and I had the right to leave. Suddenly, I felt kind of angry – what right did Daniel have to leave? I mean, I know I broke up with him, but that didn’t matter, right? He didn’t even care about me! It was just a joke, right? Nothing but a publicity stunt… He didn’t care about me.

My eyes filled with tears, and I wrapped myself into a little ball, clutching my legs to my chest. Oh God…he was going to leave…

But it was my fault. I don’t deserve to cry…

Tyler pulled me into a hug, and I let him hold me for a few moments, before I pushed him away. I didn’t want to lead him on… he deserved better than a rejected, heartless, twisted actress like me.

“You better go now,” I said, my voice husky from holding back my tears. “I have to go practice. Bye, Tyler.”

I walked away across the courtyard, carrying my script, thinking about Daniel leaving. Why would he leave? Was it really because of me?

I was thinking so hard, I banged into someone.

“Sorry,” we said together. My eyes widened when I took in the blue eyes, framed by thick blonde lashes.

“Oh, Daniel,” I said, in a completely different voice. His eyes widened as well, but he quickly covered it up his surprise. Damn actors. “Hello…”

“Hi, Eric,” he said, his tone breezy. He definitely hadn’t cared about me. If he did, he would be slightly more heart-broken. “How’ve you been doing?”

“I’ve been fine,” I replied, matching his tone perfectly. “I heard you were ill. Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, I am, but I’m better now,” he said, smiling. It was so fake. My heart throbbed a little, but my smile didn’t falter. “So see you later?”

7Where stories live. Discover now