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

‘Why do you care? You two don’t even like each other.’

Jenna looked at him sharply. ‘Has she told you?’

He shook his head. ‘I have no fucking clue what happened between you two, but it’s pretty bloody obvious you don’t like her, Jenna. You’re civil enough when you’re working together, but you both go out of your way to avoid spending time with each other. I’ve tried talking to Heidi about you but she keeps saying there’s nothing to talk about.’ He picked up a lighter from the table and twisted it between his fingers. ‘From your face I’d say you think otherwise.’

‘You ever had someone hurt you so badly that you can’t stand the sight of them?’

‘Wow, that bad, huh?’

‘I can’t trust her, not after what she did.’

‘Was it over a bloke?’

Jenna shook her head. ‘No. If only. That might have been less of a betrayal.’

‘If she hurt you that much, why the hell do you care if she gets hurt now? Why would you care if I’m using her? Surely from your point of view it’s a little bit of payback?’

‘It’s true, I don’t really care about her.’

‘Then what’s the issue?’

‘You do realise she’s using you just as much? Whether she has real feelings for you or not, she’s all about her career, and trust me, she’s ruthless about it. Maybe I’m naive, not playing the game, but think about it. She had her sights on you from the moment she got here – straight in there flirting with you even though, like everyone else, she thought you were with me.’

‘I’m well aware of what she’s doing, Jenna. I’ve encouraged it; it works to my advantage. To be honest, I expected you to lap up the attention, but you’re different. Not ruthless like Heidi is. Works out fine for me though, so don’t go feeling too sorry for me. Seriously though, you two have quite the competition going, don’t you?’

‘Except I don’t want to be in competition with her, I never have done. She’s my friend.’ Jenna looked sideways at Milo. ‘She was my friend.’

‘What do you want me to do, Jenna?’

‘Leave me out of it. All this shit you’ve got going on. Tell the press you’ve dumped me – or even better, tell them there was never anything going on between us and it’s always been Heidi. I mean, that’s if you’re happy to continue lying to them. You could just say it’s only ever been about Timothy.’

Jenna didn’t wait for an answer. She got up and battled with the trailer door until it swung open. She clambered down the steps, letting the door bang closed behind her. She stormed off across the base, relieved that she’d already been wrapped and all she needed to do was get out of her costume. She had a welcome distraction with a night out with Lily and Amanda later, although she knew their choice of pub was made in the hope that they’d bump into Finn. Jenna wasn’t convinced that bumping into Finn when he’d been drinking would be a wise idea. Either way, an evening spent with cheerful company rather than wallowing in self-pity on her own was preferable.

~

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden, Jenna took her time getting ready. She scrubbed away the dirt and sweat with a leisurely shower, painted her toenails, straightened her hair and did her make-up. She tugged on skin-tight jeans and a short-sleeved sequinned top. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and wondered who she was trying to impress. Nobody, she realised, she was only trying to make herself feel better. She tucked her sleek blonde hair behind her ears. Her silver earrings flecked with blue were flattering against her lightly tanned skin. She’d always thought her deep blue eyes framed by naturally long eyelashes were one of her best features, but she had high cheekbones and full rosebud lips too. It was all skin deep, all meaningless in the end. She was a look, a commodity, a pretty face that could gain attention because of how she looked and who she associated with. She’d done enough work as an actor and a model to know that an awful lot of the time looks came before talent, but this last couple of weeks had been even more of an eye opener.

How vain was she staring at herself in the mirror? She left the bathroom and booked a taxi to pick her up at eight. She needed a drink tonight. While she waited, she made a chicken salad and picked at it on the cottage step. She watched blue tits flit between trees and fat wood pigeons waddle across the lawn.

It was a much cooler evening than the last time they’d been to the pub. By the time the taxi picked her up it was overcast and threatening to rain, so Jenna headed inside and found Lily and Amanda tucked away at a table in the corner. It was a week night and not as busy as the balmy evening when Finn and his friends had turned up. How had everything gone so wrong in such a short time?

She hugged her friends and sat down, a gin and tonic clasped in her hands. ‘Let’s not talk about work, or men or anything related to what’s happened over the past couple of weeks.’

‘Oh God, Jenna,’ Lily said, laughing. ‘What on earth’s there left to talk about?’

‘I don’t know, holidays?’

‘Being down here is like being on a permanent holiday.’ Amanda raised an eyebrow and sipped her wine.

‘A working holiday, maybe,’ Jenna said.

Lily folded her arms on the table. ‘Okay, how about this. Let’s do some quick one-word answer getting-to-know-you questions. Jenna, Amanda, then me.’ She grinned at them both. ‘Favourite ever holiday?’

‘Rock-pooling in Cornwall when I was a kid.’

‘Croatia with my boyfriend last year.’

‘New Zealand road trip after I graduated from uni.’

‘I’d love to go to New Zealand,’ Jenna said. ‘Knocks my childhood holiday out of the park.’

‘Okay,