A Starlit Summer by Kate Frost (best manga ereader txt) 📕

an over-sized short-sleeved top that morning. She hadn’t dressed to impress like Heidi had.

Jenna slid on to the stool next to her. Even with her back to them she was certain their cast mates were watching.

‘Hey.’

‘Hey.’ Heidi turned to her. ‘I wasn’t sure you were going to turn up. You should be staying here, you know. Loads more fun than being on your own.’

‘I like it at the cottage.’

‘Of course you do; would you admit otherwise?’

‘Why would I lie about it?’

Already the tension in her chest had intensified again.

The barman appeared in front of them, smiling and glancing between them both. She was used to the attention the two of them got when they were together. No doubt he knew that they were associated with the film too.

Heidi’s hands clasped a large glass of rosé. The barman looked at Jenna. ‘What can I get you?’

‘Gin and tonic, please.’

Jenna watched him making it, unsure what to say to Heidi to get the conversation started and wishing she was sitting with Lily, Timothy and Ade instead.

The barman placed her drink on a napkin and she handed him a fiver.

‘Let’s go and sit outside.’ Heidi jumped down from the stool, grabbed her drink and was off across the bar before Jenna could say anything.

Jenna picked up her drink and followed Heidi out into the fresh evening, joining her at a table on the edge of the terrace.

‘So, you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.’

‘It was awkward as hell on set today,’ Heidi said. ‘I mean, the tension was great. Thank God we were acting a scene that required us to dislike each other, because if we were supposed to have been the best of friends there’s no way we’d have been able to pull it off. No way.’

Jenna folded her arms. ‘There’s only one way we’re going to be able to clear the air and I’ve been waiting for you to say it for the last God knows how many months. Now’s your chance.’

Heidi sipped her wine, placed it on the table and stared out towards the sea. Apart from the murmur of chatter from the few other people outside, the only sound was the gentle rush of the waves on to the shore below. It should have been soothing but it accentuated Heidi’s silence. Jenna clenched her fists beneath the table.

‘Fine.’ Heidi turned back to her. ‘What I did wasn’t right, but given the chance you’d have done exactly the same. It was a misunderstanding, that was all, and once I got there, even though they had your name down they let me audition because we looked so similar. In their mind, there was no difference.’

Jenna leant an elbow on the table and rubbed her forehead. She concentrated on breathing deeply and staying calm because all she wanted to do was scream at Heidi. This wasn’t the place to cause a scene.

Jenna shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t have done what you did. I wouldn’t have had the nerve and also I wouldn’t have wanted to. We’ve always had each other’s back, at least we used to. We used to be thrilled for each other when one of us got a role even if we’d both been up for the same part. Friendship, Heidi, that’s what we had. Friends don’t treat each other like that.’

Heidi leant forward and lowered her voice making Jenna realise that perhaps hers had been rising. ‘It was an honest mistake. I only realised when I got to the audition and they were expecting you rather than me.’

‘It was my agent who left the message. Don’t you dare say you didn’t realise, of course you did. You listened to the message, thought it was for you, knew it couldn’t be for you because it was my agent but decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up. You knew I’d lost my mobile so the landline was the only way my agent could get hold of me. You used it to your advantage. You thought you’d turn up in my place and hope for the best. You deleted the message. You lied to my face. You stole a role that should have been mine. It was deceitful, hurtful and so unbelievably selfish. Whatever happened to friends first, jobs second?’

‘Truthfully?’

‘Yes please, Heidi, it’s about bloody time you were truthful.’

‘My agent had been chasing that role for me, so I felt – rightly or wrongly – that it was my opportunity.’

‘Okay fine, even if I were to believe you that it was a genuine mistake that you turned up at my audition, why the hell didn’t you get in touch with my agent when you realised?’

Heidi folded her arms and sat back in her chair. Even in the softening light, Jenna could see that her eyes were brimming with tears.

‘Because I knew you’d get the bloody part, Jenna. You always do. And I wanted it so badly.’

‘No I don’t always get the part.’

‘You’re beautiful and talented...’

‘So are you...’

Heidi raised her hand. ‘Let me finish. I’ve always had to try harder next to you. Yes, we’re similar in so many ways, but you’re stunning, Jenna, beautiful not just pretty. Your bone structure is to die for. You’re the perfect height, the perfect build. The only thing I’ve got going for me apart from the similarity to you with blonde hair and blue eyes, is big boobs and bum. I can do sexy but not understated and stunning. Everyone notices you walking into the room, just like Milo Blake does.’

‘What has any of this got to do with Milo?’

‘It’s just the opportunities you get, that’s all.’

Jenna frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

Heidi waved her hand. ‘Nothing. The simple answer is, I did what I did because I was so jealous you got the call and I didn’t. I took advantage of the situation that your agent couldn’t reach you; I took advantage of the fact she didn’t specifically say the message was for you, although of course I bloody knew it was. I wanted