All For Show

A Wake-Up Call and An Apology

"What is wrong with you?!" Andrew yelled as he stormed into Joe's apartment.

"Me?" Joe laughed. "You're the one who barged in here, screaming like a madman."

"Do you realize that if you can't get Evelyn to agree to fake-date you, then you're going to lose everything?"

"Don't you think that's a little dramatic?" Joe scoffed.

"If you keep this up, no one will want to hire you. Face it, Joe. You're an asshole. Everyone knows it. Sooner or later, they aren't going to put up with your shit anymore."

"I still have fans," Joe shrugged.

"Barely," Andrew scoffed. "Joe, those fans of yours only watch you because they can't wait for your next blow-up. They're waiting to see you lose your shit. They don't care about you. They just want to watch your life fall apart."

Andrew shook his head, not knowing what else he could say to get it through Joe's head.

"Joe," he whispered, "you can't keep acting like this. I know you think you're invincible, but no one is. Not even Evelyn Jones."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. He tried to act like he wasn't curious, but of course, he was. Evelyn was Hollywood's Princess. She was the strong, independent role model girls needed.

"When she first moved to Hollywood, Evelyn was an insecure, scared girl," Andrew explained.

"Yeah right," he scoffed. "Evelyn Jones was never insecure or scared."

"I've known Jane a long time," Andrew said. "When she first signed Evelyn, she was worried about getting her to open up. I told her that once Evelyn got her groove and people realized how great she was, she'd open up."

"Clearly she did," Joe mumbled. He cleared his throat and looked back up at Andrew.

"You gotta help me out, kid," Andrew sighed. "There isn't much more I can do for you."

Joe hesitated. Andrew's been with him since the very beginning. He didn't deserve this.

"You think Evelyn would agree if I apologized?"

Andrew's head snapped up. The way he studied Joe made him laugh. "You don't have to look so surprised."

"I'm just. . . I am," Andrew stuttered. "It's nice to have you back."

"Back?" Joe scoffed, trying to recover from his brief moment of weakness.

"Admit it," Andrew laughed. "You've changed over the years. For a few seconds, we had the old Joe Keery back."

* * * * *

"You can wait for Evelyn right here," the PA slightly stuttered. "Evelyn just needs to shoot the scene one more time. She should be done in a couple of minutes.

"Thank you," Joe nodded. He shoved his hands into his pockets and watched Evelyn's scene.

Everyone was talking about this new movie. More so about Evelyn being in it. It's suspected to be one of the highest-grossing movies of the summer. Evelyn was staring in the new Disney movie, Cruella. Her fans knew she was going to be amazing and as he watched her in the scene, Joe knew she would be.

"Estella, it's been so long," Evelyn's costar Kirby said. "You know, I kept staring at you at the party and then it came to me. That's Estella from school.

"It's not Estella," Evelyn said in the most perfect accent. "That's the past. I'm Cruella."

Kirby gasped and slowly sat back in her seat. Evelyn leaned forward and said her next line. "So you go to parties and you take pictures and you print gossip? That's your job?"