1. The Press Junket
610 Words
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Christopher Jones was tired.
The press junket that lasted for the last two weeks was tiring and he hadn’t even caught a full 5 hour sleep before his movie’s premiere. He tugged on his tight tuxedo and connected his gaze to his designer to give him a satisfactory nod. The short, portly man smiled wide and saw himself out.
He couldn’t wait to leave LA and take his much deserved vacation in Boston.
He excited his hotel suite and his agent stuck close to his side along with two towering bodyguards he always had around. They quickly ushered him into an unmarked black SUV and drove off to where his movie was premiering tonight.
‘Remember Jones, the crowd loves you with Jacqueline. So make sure you remain close to her, alright? Maybe get a little touchy-feely, would keep ‘em guessing. Don’t do anything that would confirm anything, just enough to look like something.’
He nodded and looked outside the window, putting an end to that conversation. He had been in the show-biz long enough to know how it worked. It is not the most honest thing to do, but he knew that keeping the crowd speculating about his and his co-star Jacqueline’s explosive chemistry on-screen would do wonders for the box office numbers. The last movie they did together was testament enough; they had grossed out over a billion in collection which is a huge deal in Romantic-Comedy genre.
The car rolled to a stop in front of the red-carpeted runway and he opened his doors to blinding lights and screams of excitement from the fans gathered. He put on his usual, playful smile as he made his way down the runway; occasionally stopping along to sign autographs to his fans. He smiled wide and posed with one hand in his pockets for the heckling photographers and paparazzi.
Another car slid into entrance and a smooth leg clad in glittering heels stepped down on the carpet. His eyes followed up her slender figure clad in a scandalous black cocktail gown till it reached the beautifully painted face of his co-star, Jacqueline Alejandro. He waited for her to strut down the carpet towards him and he offered her his arm with a smirk.
‘Jacqueline, you look absolutely stunning tonight.’ He complimented her with his red-carpet smile still in place.
‘I could say the same about you, stud.’ She replied with a saucy wink just as they turned to pose together for the cameras. They fixated their gazes to the multitude of cameras before moving along the runway. ‘All alone tonight?’ She enquired with an arched brow.
‘Why? Got any plans?’ He asked cheekily.
‘Hmm, who knows?’ She flirted back. ‘I am more of a spontaneous girl.’
‘Don’t I know it.’ He laughed as they cruised along, arm-in-arm.
Banners hung everywhere announcing the name of their movie, Heat, and the large poster displayed him kissing Jacqueline passionately near the sea shore. Several other promotional pictures of them were hung everywhere else on their way to the theater.
Christopher could remember the time when his face on posters brought him nervous excitement. But now, it has turned into such a mundane part of his life that he had lost all thrill of seeing himself on a poster anymore.
‘Don’t we look amazing, Chris?’ Jacqueline purred in satisfaction, her red lips pulled up in a sultry smile. ‘A perfect pair.’
He looked back at the picture of them kissing by the Caribbean. Of course they looked picture perfect. Such perfectionism that it wasn’t real. The very surreal perfectionism that didn’t appeal to him at all.
Not anymore.
‘Perhaps.’ He tore his gaze away from the poster and put on his mandatory smile. ‘Let’s go inside, shall we?’
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- Writer
