The Hollywood Waitress

Chapter 21

I awoke the next morning to the incessant ringing from under my pillow - fondling the sheets - I managed to sit up and in the croakiest of voices answered the phone.

‘Jennifer! It’s me. Run to your letterbox and pick up the paper immediately!’

‘Izzy?’

‘Yes, it’s Izzy! Run to the door already!’

I placed the phone onto my bed with her still on the other end, and padded my feet against the cold flooring. I wasn’t even sure if the newspaper had arrived yet, but once I got closer, I noticed it stuffed inside the letterbox.

Bleary eyed, I glanced down at the front page; Lady Gaga was splattered across it wearing the skimpiest of bikinis. Surely she didn’t wake me up for this!

I plonked myself back down onto the bed and wrapped the duvet around me, forgetting that Izzy was still on the other end of the receiver. I was just about to get comfortable when I heard a voice scream out from the phone.

 I pressed the loud speaker button to ‘on’. ‘I’m so sorry Izzy! I didn’t get in until early this morning and I’m just so tired.’

‘Well, you better get up my girl. You are going to be a star!’

 ‘What are you on about?’

‘Turn to page four.’

‘What?’

‘Turn the flipping newspaper to PAGE FOUR!’

It was sprawled right at the foot of the bed - crawling down to the edge - I ripped it open and searched for the page.

Jennifer Flynn ignites Hollywood with her first performance as Gwendolin Fairfax in the great adaptation of ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ – theatre director of well- known production company ‘Shadow Productions’ Jason Greene comments; ‘I’m immensely proud of all the hard work our actors and production team have put into this performance and I look forward to the upcoming tour.’

It seems Jennifer can do no wrong as she was the first actor to receive a standing ovation. Our sources say she is one to watch.

By the time I had got to the last sentence the newspaper had soaked through my fingers, creating paper – mache that stuck to my hand.

‘I.. I don’t believe it.’

‘I knew you could do it! I just knew it!’

The signal on the phone was interrupted which usually meant someone else was trying to get through.

‘But I wasn’t even that good.’

‘WHAT? I never want to hear that kind of talk from you again. Do you hear? Jennifer, you were amazing!

I touched the side of my neck and my fingers got caught up inside the piece of jewellery that Jason had given to me the day before.

‘Maybe it was the good luck chain.’

‘What are you on about? Look, I have to go. I’ll call you back later on when the shock has had a chance to sink in.’

I hung up and that’s when I noticed the tons of messages beeping their way through. My phone flashed like an angry set of traffic lights. Deciding to open Jason’s one first, it was brief in comparison to the other messages. ‘Call me ASAP.’

There was at least four from Poppy and Josie and even Mark had sent me a congratulations text. The rest were from my family and some colleagues at Shadow Productions. Strangely enough, in the flurry of madness, I noticed there was no message from Scott. And this seemed to be what stood out the most.

I got up from the bed and mustered the strength to call Jason. ‘It’s great isn’t it?’ He yelled down the phone.

‘Yes. It’s great.’

‘Right, you need to wear your best gown this evening – we are invited to an exclusive black tie event to promote the start of our tour that begins in two days!’

‘TWO DAYS?’

‘Everyone’s going to be there. I’m so proud of you Jennifer.’ He lowered his tone. ‘You’re my special little star, you know that don’t you?’

I didn’t respond my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t fathom if it was a good thing or not.

‘Are you still there?’

I cleared my throat, fiddling with the chain around my neck. ‘Yes. I’m still here.’

‘OK. So back to tonight, if you need to hire out a gown and some jewellery, just let me know and I can put it onto the company account. I need you to look like a million dollars.’

 ‘Don’t I always look a million dollars?’ I blurted out, wishing immediately that I had kept my mouth shut.

‘What was that?’  a short silence ensued before he spoke again. ‘Jennifer, we are not going there again are we? I told you, you’re my special little star, isn’t that enough?’

Before I got the chance to reply, there was a loud muffling sound in the background. ‘Jennifer. I’m sorry I can’t speak right now. I’ll see you tonight!’