A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott

Author:Kate Alcott [Alcott, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-53905-0
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2015-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

A few nights later, she sat in Carole’s Bel-Air living room, twirling a glass of white wine in her hand, staring at the prisms of light breaking and forming as she sipped, trying to look anywhere except at Carole. But she couldn’t block out the sight of Carole’s blond head bent forward as she silently read Julie’s manuscript.

I shouldn’t have given it to her, Julie thought. It’s too soon, it isn’t ready. This isn’t a college class. I’ll look like a fool.

Much of her time lately had been spent watching Clark and Vivien shoot and reshoot different scenes, take after take, for hours. At first it was fascinating. The two stars joked together off camera, feet up, swapping gossip, gulping coffee. But the minute the cameras rolled, the atmosphere around them crackled with tension and passion. How did they do that? How could actors step in and out of reality so brilliantly? Yet, by the end of this particular day, Julie felt locked in a vise as tight as Vivien’s whalebone corset. She wanted to do something to push forward. There had been no word from Andy, not a whisper. She couldn’t keep yearning for him to reach out; it was dangerous. If she didn’t challenge his certainty that she was fragile, she would never be sure of herself again.

Carole turned the last page. She put her hand on the manuscript and looked up at Julie with a curious expression on her face, “It’s good,” she said. “Like a short story. Is it about us?”

“Not really,” Julie rushed to say. “But built on the kind of lives the two of you want to live, I guess—with totally fictional people.” Was she babbling? The curious look in Carole’s eyes was still there.

“Is this what you want us to be?” she asked gently.

“No, no, it isn’t like that. This is just a story.” Or was it? Now she wasn’t sure.

“Honey, there’s nothing wrong with believing in fairy tales. And sometimes they do come true.”

They sat in silence for a long, almost dreamy moment.

Carole broke the spell. “My advice is, take this to Frances Marion,” she said briskly. “If nothing else, this is your admission card. Think of it that way; it will be easier.”

“Is it really any good?”

“Yes. And it shows you. I’ll give Marion’s secretary a call in the morning. Seeing her won’t be a problem. She likes helping young talent—unlike most everyone else here.”

That was all.

That night, back at the boarding house, Julie lay in bed with the lights out, hugging her screenplay. The thick stack of papers on her chest felt both comforting and heavy. Her admission card. To something. Something that would not include Andy, no matter how much she yearned for it to be otherwise.

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