The Real Deal

Part 3 - A Brazilian Oyster

It wasn't like it came as a surprise. Sure, Bill had spoken loosely about becoming a doctor or studying anthropology at the university but after doing a small role for a big movie and then being the lead in a children's movie it was obvious he had chosen his path. While Bill continued to film movie after movie another twenty year old sat in Brighton unemployed. Cassie was happy for Bill but it was also provoking. She couldn't even afford a new pair of boots while he started to earn serious money. It was even more provoking because his family had a lot of money from the start. Sure they had other problems, his mom sickness and alcoholism, his father's new much younger wife and Gustaf's, his brother's, more and more worrying party behavior. But Cassie had her own problems with unemployment and a mother who barely could support her adult daughter and a teenage son; so Cassie couldn't really see that Bill struggled too. At the same time she grieved that she hadn't been accepted to London College of Fashion while her friends had been accepted to their respective schools. She thought about becoming a hairdresser like her mom but she didn't want to have such little income her mother had. She wanted to do something bigger and more glamorous. Like Bill did. She also wanted to eat at expensive restaurants, live at luxurious hotels and get invited to fabulous parties.

2011, the year Bill got his real break in Sweden. Three expensive projects with him as the lead in all of them and he had several modeling offers. Meanwhile, Cassie ended another short term employment at a nursing home. They hadn't seen each other since 2009 and Bill sounded desperate on the phone. Cassie had mixed feelings with meeting him. He talked about visiting her in England along with his girlfriend. His first love. Karin and Bill had stopped seeing each other just two weeks after the party Cassie had attended. After that he had several short connections to girls but in 2009 he fell in love, for real, as he said. 2009 was also the year Cassie got her first boyfriend and lost her virginity but she couldn't really recognize that sort of love Bill seemed to have to his girlfriend in her own relationship. Her boyfriend broke up after three months having met another girl while Bill continued to be committed to his girlfriend and they were still together in 2011. They seemed to be a golden couple. She had seen all the cute photos of them on Facebook and heard Bill talk affectionately about her. To meet Bill right now felt like asking to feel lousy. She was unemployed, had the same old clothes and was single. Meeting Mr. Actor with a tall, blonde girlfriend wasn't the dream but Cassie couldn't say no to Bill. Especially not when he used his sweet voice and said he would pay for dinner and everything. He was sweet, he was her oldest friend and probably the one friend that cared the most about her.

She met them at their hotel. Of course they were at Café Royal. In the heart of London, with trendy, fresh interior and also cost 800 pounds per night. Bill said it was his father who suggested he must try London's best hotel so he had paid for it. Cassie thought about the talks Stellan had about not spoiling his kids. Maybe he didn't give them money all the time but he sure gave them expensive gifts.

Cassie looked around at the extravagant lobby and felt like she didn't fit in. She looked down at her worn out boots. She could feel that rain water had seeped inside them. She thought about turning around, go home and throw the fucking boots out. Was Bill really worth this humiliation? Just then she heard a pling from the elevator and Bill came out. She hadn't really gotten used to his full height and more masculine body. It was her Bill but at the same time a completely different person. He was dressed in tight gray jeans, a white t-shirt and a black blazer. He looked like a model, really. You could throw such words around sometimes to explain an attractive person but Bill really looked like a model. That sort of model you should take black and with pictures of in a dramatic black coat or a tailored suit. Cassie was so mesmerized by his looks she didn't think about that he was alone. Bill smiled big and she could see how people looked at him, like he was a celebrity they couldn't remember what they recognized him from. Bill didn't seem to react to it. He walked up to her and gave her a bear hug and kissed her forehead.