Jessica glanced around at the other occupants of the waiting room, wondering whether there was anyone she recognised. A blonde girl in the corner, who she'd seen at a previous audition, smiled and nodded. Jess smiled back then returned her attention to the sides, willing the words and sentences to sink in. The role—a nurse who would perform an ultrasound scan on a pregnant woman—consisted of one short scene, containing professional but reassuring dialogue designed to relax the patient and her husband. She hoped that reading the lines in a calm and friendly way would win over the casting director and their team.
When they called her name she entered the office and took the offered seat. Her resume sat on the top of a large pile on the desk. The woman in charge explained what she wanted and her assistant fed Jessica the lines to act against. Although she had to glance once to remind herself of the script, she felt comfortable during the audition and when the casting director thanked her for coming she thought everything had gone as well as it could. It was all down to the sort of person they were looking for. Although it wasn't a large part, it would be on TV and higher profile than anything she'd done before.
She headed back to the waiting area to collect her coat. Crossing the threshold her foot tangled in something, throwing her off balance. She felt herself falling, as though in slow-motion, and flung her arms out to cushion the impact. The room was full of people, all seemingly engrossed by her progress through the air. Her handbag tumbled over itself, tossing out loose coins, keys and makeup before landing on the floor. She felt the burn of the fibres on the heels of her hands as they slid along the coarse office carpet.
Everything stopped. A moment of silence followed, as though someone had hit the pause button on her life.
The quiet was broken by a breathless voice from somewhere behind her. "Sorry...so sorry! That was my fault. I left my bag in the way."
Then everyone began to move at once. Two fellow auditionees helped her to stand, while the receptionist collected together the contents of her bag. Rubbing the bump on her knee, she thanked them repeatedly, stuffing everything back inside as quickly as possible so she could find somewhere quiet where she could crawl away and die of embarrassment.
Red-faced, Jess focused on the exit, reaching for the handle with shaking hands. Despite her public protestations that she was fine, the fall had rattled her and she needed some time alone to collect herself.
Just then the door swung towards her, narrowly missing her nose but catching her on the shoulder. She heard gasps and sympathetic groans behind her; evidence that her second accident hadn't gone unnoticed. The person who entered looked like a nightclub bouncer, tall and bulky. He grunted what sounded like an apology and held the door open, allowing Jessica to escape into the relative safety and solitude of the hallway beyond.
She walked down the short corridor and round a corner, finding the main hallway empty. It was one of those anonymous office blocks filled with magnolia paint, suspended ceilings, plastic plants and no personality. Jess leaned against a convenient wall, counting limbs and fingers to make sure she'd come out of her ordeal unscathed. She was still inspecting her injuries as the squeak of rubber soles on the shiny tiles distracted her. Looking up, her breath snagged in her throat as she gazed into a pair of familiar green eyes. "G...Gareth?"
In Derbyshire, he'd always been quick to smile, but today Gareth Jones' face remained impassive. If he was pleased to see her, he didn't show it. At least he recognised her. "Hi, Jessica. How are you?"
She mentally catalogued the bruise on her knee, her aching shoulder, the scrapes on her hands and the life-threatening levels of mortification, but instead fixed a smile to her face. "I...I'm fine...great actually. How about you?"
"Things are going okay."
Jess pointed to his hair, still shorter and lightened from the advert. "I like the blonde. It suits you."
He offered a modest half smile, half shrug, and raked self-conscious fingers through his peroxide locks. "Thanks. What are you here for?"
"I've just come from an audition, back that way." The skin on her face felt so warm she wanted to fan herself but feared she would only draw attention to the high colour and make it worse. Instead, she buried her hand deep in her pocket.
"That's great."
"What about you? Are you here to audition as well?"
Gareth nodded towards the other end of the long corridor. "I have a meeting, down there somewhere." He said no more, allowing the silence to hang over them like a dense cloud of smog, drawing the breath from her lungs. Her gaze wandered as she looked around for inspiration to keep the conversation going.
Jessica felt his eyes on her, but couldn't bring herself to meet them. With the advert playing regularly on her computer, and Bea's general obsession with coffee, she'd spent quite a bit of time over the last couple of weeks thinking about Gareth Jones. She should have been able to find plenty to talk about, but her brain had blanked on her; her tongue tied in so many knots she would have qualified for a Scout badge. The least she could do was to congratulate him on his success. "I saw you on—"
Stiletto heels clicked on the tiled floor behind them as a woman clasped Gareth on the shoulder. "So sorry I'm late. I ran into a friend." Long, straight hair fell past her shoulders, while her skinny jeans ran into tall leather boots. She squeezed her lean form between them, and threaded a possessive arm through his, using a similar technique to the one Jessica had once employed while saving Sebastian from the Austen fans. "He'll be waiting. Come on." She glanced towards Jessica, her expression lacking any curiosity.
Only then did Jessica realise that this was the woman who'd been with Gareth when he'd been photographed outside the nightclub. This was the one he had been clinging to; the one who, according to a friend in the newspaper, he was now happy with.
This brunette with her high-maintenance glamour didn't seem like Gareth's type at all, but then how would she know what his type was? Jess knew nothing about him.
His smile for Jess held a hint of an apology. "I'm sorry, I've really got to go. It was great seeing you again."
The woman released his arm and continued down the hallway, swinging her hips like a supermodel walking a runway. After a final quick nod towards Jess, Gareth followed behind with the easy grace of a sportsman.
And the blind obedience of a rat following a piper.
Jess watched until he passed beyond sight then turned towards the lifts. Counting the floors down to the lobby, she stared at her solitary reflection in the mirrored wall, heart beating erratically and her injuries forgotten.
She was neither tall nor thin. She would never have wanted to be as skinny as Gareth's girlfriend. Her hair, while long, didn't fall straight like a rod. She preferred letting her loose curls and waves do their own thing; even if they weren't currently fashionable, at least they were different.
Gareth no longer looked like an accountant. In place of the jumper, he'd been wearing a clinging t-shirt, just like that last day at Exley Hall. She closed her eyes, as though it would block out her memories of their last conversation there, but it was a futile hope. Her cheek began to tingle as she relived the moment his lips brushed against her skin as he said goodbye.
If she reacted like that to a mere memory of an almost kiss, how would she have coped if he'd kissed her in earnest that summer day in Derbyshire?
The lift doors opened, startling Jess out of her memories. She hobbled across the foyer and passed through the main doors, hoping the noisy traffic and the crush of pedestrians on the busy London streets would distract her from her wholly inappropriate thoughts about a former castmate.
~~~~~~
The following weekend, Jess wound her way between huddled armchairs as she made her way to the outside terrace at the rear. Walking out into the bright sunlight she squinted and shielded her eyes, looking around the groups of diners until she saw a face she recognised.
Ruth was sipping coke through a straw, while Laura and Helen laughed over their glasses of wine. Jess smiled around the table as she slipped into the empty seat. "Hi... I thought there might be more of us."
"Believe me, I tried. Alison is working in York and Mrs Green is visiting her daughter in Scotland," Laura said, counting the names off on her fingers. "Gerald is sunning himself on the beach at Benidorm with a young insurance salesman and I couldn't get in touch with Trevor."
Helen leaned forward. "I told Laura it was a bad idea to even try contacting that sneaky little cow who played Georgiana."
Jess appreciated that small mercy.
"And we assumed you wouldn't want Sebastian here either." Laura handed her a spare menu as a waitress appeared. "What would you like to drink?"
Jess placed her lunch order, aware that one important name had been left off the list, but she wouldn't be the first one to ask about Gareth. Instead, they moved on to familiar topics, such as the pursuit of good quality paid acting work, which was as elusive as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Ruth and Laura's stories sounded more like fishermen's tales as they described the great jobs they'd almost landed and the questionable projects they recommended steering clear of.
As they finished their meal, Laura studied the dessert menu, but Helen pushed hers away. "I think I'll just have a coffee."
Ruth looked up. "Speaking of coffee, I thought Gareth would be here today. Was he busy?"
Laura briefly glanced in Jess's direction but she pretended not to notice. "Bad timing, I think. He was still in town yesterday, but had to leave early this morning."
"That's a shame. I was curious to know how he managed to book that commercial. It was playing at the cinema yesterday. Seeing Gareth half naked on TV was a surprise, but up on the big screen it's incredible."
"Which film?" Jess hoped her question sounded mildly curious rather than desperate.
"That new adventure with the robots and those weird red-headed twins with the odd eyes. We saw it at Leicester Square." She pushed her empty plate away. "I honestly didn't think Gareth was interested in that sort of work. I was a bit disappointed to see it actually."
"Why?"
"Whenever I spoke to him in the summer, Gareth was all about acting as an art form. Stripping off just to advertise a hot drink seems a bit...well, mercenary. I thought he was more selective about the kind of work he did, but I suppose it must have paid well."
"He is choosy about the parts he plays," Laura said, jumping to his defence, "and it wasn't about the money. Gareth wasn't even supposed to be in that advert."
Ruth seemed unimpressed. "No one forced him to take his clothes off."
Laura turned to Jess. "Remember when we met up just after we arrived back from Derbyshire and I said he was doing a favour for a friend?"
Jess nodded. "Yes, that was the day you'd tried setting us up on a blind date."
"But it turned out he was busy. An old mate of his was directing his very first advert. He and Gareth had been storyboarding some ideas, but they'd chosen someone else to play the part of the space colonist. It was all set to go but on the morning of filming Gareth received a phone call. The actor they'd cast had been heading to the studio when he was knocked off his motorbike."
Helen shook her head in disbelief. "That's awful. What an unlucky break!"
Laura laughed. "Break is right, because he broke his leg in two places, gashed his cheek and sprained his wrist. He was lucky it wasn't worse. Meanwhile, the cameras were all sitting there, ready to roll and there was no one to do it. So Steve rang Gareth and begged him to help out so they could keep the production on schedule and within budget. He really was reluctant, but they needed the live shots doing that day so they could finish the CGI work before the client's deadline. When Gareth arrived on set they bleached his hair, added a little light spray tan, and then spent all day getting the perfect shots. He only did it to help out his friend."
"And because he did someone a favour he's now hunted by the paparazzi," Jess said, almost to herself.
"Yes, and you can imagine how much he hates it."
Ruth slid her empty glass onto the table. "Well, you know what they say... no good deed goes unpunished. I'm glad to hear it. I didn't like to think I'd misjudged him. Anyone ready for another drink?"
While Ruth was queueing at the bar, Jess leaned closer to Laura. "I ran into Gareth the other day. He was with his girlfriend. Did you know anything about that?"
Laura shared a sympathetic smile. "No, not really. I've seen the pictures, of course, and read the gossip but I haven't spoken to him recently. We swap the occasional message, but he hasn't mentioned her and I didn't like to ask."
For once, Jess wished that Laura had been her usual nosy self, and asked all the questions she was dying to know. What was her name? How had they met? How long had they been together?
And, most importantly, was Gareth in love with the tall, attractive brunette?