Star Style (5 page)

I just wish Jackson was with me
, she thought wistfully.

I
vy was lying on the black leather sofa like a corpse. She was wearing her long, fitted black dress with bell sleeves and a black choker and felt like sleeping for a hundred years after yesterday’s fiasco. Thank goodness it was a Sunday – she didn’t have to think about school for hours and hours.

‘I never want to see another movie again; let alone be in one,’ she said, remembering the hysteria that bombarded her as she was practically dragged down the red carpet by Amy and Mr Harker last night. Cameras
flashing, all those people staring.

‘Well,’ replied Brendan, who was lying the opposite way, top to tail. ‘I hope you mean after this one.’ Brendan and Olivia were over at Ivy’s to watch
The Parent Trap
. ‘Because I want to see the end.’

‘Ha ha,’ Ivy said. The movie was paused because they were waiting for Olivia to come back from a phone call with Jackson downstairs in Ivy’s bedroom.

‘Seriously, though,’ Brendan said, pushing his curly black hair out of his eyes. He had on a T-shirt that said Mad World. ‘It should be pretty easy to avoid being in a movie.’

Ivy sighed. ‘Not if you have the Hounds of Hell after you.’ When Brendan raised an eyebrow Ivy explained, ‘Amy Teller and the head of the studio that made
The Groves
have decided I’m the next big thing.’

‘You?’ Brendan said, sitting bolt upright.

‘Thanks,’ Ivy replied drily and closed her eyes. ‘You don’t have to be so surprised. But, as it happens, I agree with you. It seems the only reason I’m “it” is because I don’t want to be.’

‘That doesn’t make much sense.’ Brendan wedged himself up on to the sofa, sitting with his legs hanging over hers. Even though they had been dating for almost the whole school year now, it still made Ivy’s heart race a little when he got this close.

‘Because I was so super-casual at the premiere, Mr Harker has decided to put me in a movie,’ Ivy explained. She reached over to the dark glass coffee table to grab her Strawberry HemoGlobules drink. ‘I couldn’t stop them dragging me down the carpet and they were whispering plans for the next movie over the top of my head.’

At the premiere, Ivy had told Amy that under no circumstances would she be interested in any of this acting-career nonsense. She would rather be trapped in a room with Charlotte Brown for all eternity than have a single moment of people staring at her, but Amy had just replied with an infuriating, ‘No one says no to Mr Harker.’

Ivy sighed and flopped her head on to Brendan’s shoulder. ‘Olivia is the actress in the family, and I’m the one who likes lurking in the shadows,’ she said.

‘As long as you don’t mind my company in the dark,’ Brendan suggested.

Ivy smiled back and wriggled around to give him a hug. ‘Most definitely not.’

‘OK, you two lovebats, break it up!’ Olivia was climbing the stairs from Ivy’s basement bedroom. Even without her custom-made pink dress,
Olivia still looked gorgeous in a lavender knitted sweater with a flower burst at one shoulder.

Ivy poked her tongue out. ‘Just because your boyfriend is busy on national television, it doesn’t mean you have to keep me away from mine.’

Olivia looked deflated and Ivy realised her sister might be feeling a little upset about the whole not-going-public last night. ‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ Ivy apologised, unhooking herself from Brendan. ‘I was just teasing.’

‘No, no,’ Olivia said. ‘I’m just being sensitive.’

‘It won’t always be like this,’ Ivy said, getting up to put her arm around Olivia. ‘He was so angry not to be able to walk with you.’

Olivia nodded. ‘I know. He wouldn’t stop saying that on the phone just now.’ She sniffled and Ivy wanted to kick herself. Today was supposed to be about cheering Olivia up, not reminding her of her troubles. ‘There’s a post-premiere
party tonight, and I’m going to see him there.’

‘How about we watch the rest of the singalong?’ Brendan suggested, to Ivy’s relief. ‘Not that I know the words or anything.’

‘I already saw you mouthing along,’ Ivy said, plopping back down on the couch.

Olivia snuggled down in the single black armchair and Ivy was about to un-pause the movie when the pipe-organ doorbell rang.

The three of them looked at each other. Ivy wasn’t expecting anyone else to join them. Sophia was still taking photographs for
VAMP
magazine, and Camilla Edmunson, Olivia’s best friend, was visiting her aunt for the weekend.

‘Could one of you get that?’ called Mr Vega from the kitchen. ‘I’ll be right there!’

Ivy hurried to the huge oak door and pulled it
open slightly, wondering if it might be a cleaning-product salesperson.

Instead, it was Lillian, looking casual-fabulous in a black turtleneck, jeans and brown ankle boots. She was carrying a foil-covered tray. ‘Dessert!’ she said and Ivy stepped back to let her into the wood-panelled entryway.

‘Hi, Lillian!’ Ivy said. ‘Nice to see you again.’

‘Thanks,’ she said, and waved at Olivia and Brendan, who were staring from their seats. ‘It’s nice to see this house. I can tell I’m going to get good advice from your father.’

‘Definitely,’ Ivy agreed. ‘But what are you doing here?’

‘Your dad wanted to go over some decorating ideas . . . Oh, I love that movie!’ Lillian declared, having caught sight of the TV screen. ‘Let’s get together, yeah, yeah, yeah,’ she sang.

Ivy smiled and then laughed out loud when
her dad came hurrying out of the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on the pink floral print apron that someone had given him as a joke when he had almost moved away from Franklin Grove.

‘Lillian,’ he said, a little breathless. ‘Thanks so much for coming.’

She handed over her tray. ‘As promised.’

Mr Vega beamed and it struck Ivy that he seemed a lot more excited than usual to have a lunch guest. ‘Double dark chocolate cookies,’ he said, peeking under the foil. The most amazing chocolate smell filled the air and Ivy had to admit that Lillian’s dessert did seem worth getting excited for.

‘Lunch is almost ready,’ Mr Vega said. ‘Ivy, will you take all our guests into the dining room?’

Ivy was surprised. She had been expecting finger foods at the kitchen counter, not a sitdown meal. ‘Uh, sure. You heard him, layabouts,’
she said to Olivia and Brendan, who were still lounging in front of the TV. ‘Right this way,’ she said to Lillian, with a little bow.

As they walked through the entryway, past the suit of armour, Lillian said, ‘So, girls, how did you like last night?’

‘It wasn’t exactly my scene,’ Ivy replied. ‘But I think Olivia could get used to it.’

Olivia grinned. ‘I wonder if there were any good photos of me.’

As they reached the dining room, Ivy saw that the candles were lit down the long oak table. Mr Vega was definitely out to impress. After all, it wasn’t every day that a Hollywood director came to lunch.

Just as they sat down, the doorbell chimed again.

‘I’ll go,’ Ivy volunteered, wondering who else her dad had invited over.

When she swung open the door, Sophia
hurtled inside like a whirlwind. ‘We did it! We did it!’ she yelled.

Before Ivy could ask what on earth was going on, Mr Vega popped his head out of the kitchen. ‘Is that Sophia shouting?’

‘Sorry, Mr Vega,’ Sophia replied, adjusting her skull-print messenger bag. ‘I hope you don’t mind me barging in, but I’ve got some exciting news.’

‘No, no,’ he replied. ‘Come through to the dining room. We’re just having lunch.’

Sophia grabbed Ivy’s hands, and bounced. Actually bounced.

‘Sophia?’ Ivy said warily, knowing something was up. Her friend did
not
, under any circumstances, bounce.

‘I want to tell you and Olivia at the same time!’ Sophia scuttled off towards the dining room, leaving Ivy to trail after.

‘Ta da!’ Sophia called, pulling out a stack of
magazines and waving them in the air.

‘What is it?’ Olivia said, standing up from her chair.

Sophia slapped each magazine down one by one: the
LA Daily
,
StarWatch
,
Hollywood Happenings
. Then she started flipping through the pages.

‘There!’ she declared, pointing to a spread on
The Groves
premiere with a big shot of Olivia, posing in her dress.

‘Eeee!’ Olivia squealed. ‘It’s me!’

‘And me.’ Sophia pushed down the page, so they could see the words in tiny type just inside the fold of the paper: ‘Photo by Sophia Hewitt.’

‘Olivia Abbott, supporting actress in the film, looked sharp and sparkling with her cut away dress,’ Ivy read. ‘Hey, that counts as a good review!’

‘Congratulations!’ Lillian said, clapping.

Sophia turned to the dog-eared pages in each
of the magazines. There were three other shots of Olivia, all snapped by Sophia.

‘OK,’ Ivy said to Sophia.

Sophia looked serious for a moment. ‘OK what?’

‘OK, I will forgive you – just this once – for the bouncing.’ Ivy grinned and gave her best friend a hug.

Mr Vega came in, balancing six plates on his arms: burgers with fresh avocado salad and French fries, which he’d stacked up in a little tower like they were at a fancy restaurant. Ivy helped him put the plates on the table and saw that while the five vampires had pretty much rare steak, Olivia had a homemade veggie burger.

‘This looks great!’ Brendan said. ‘I should come over for meals more often.’

‘Thanks for fitting me in,’ Sophia said, crunching on a pickle.

‘Ketchup?’ Ivy and Olivia asked at the same time.

‘As if I could forget,’ Mr Vega said, reaching around the door for a little tray of condiments.

Ivy covered her hunk of meat in ketchup, and Olivia dotted some delicately around her fries. Brendan dug in, but Mr Vega was still watching Lillian.

There is something going on here
, Ivy thought.
Dad is acting very weird. Good weird, but definitely weird
.

She tried to catch Olivia’s eye, but Olivia was still looking at the magazines. Mr Vega cleared his throat and Ivy thought he was going to say something, but then he just started eating.

Is he nervous?
Ivy wondered. There was an awkward silence, so Ivy decided to fill it. ‘What kind of movie are you working on next?’

‘I wanted to risk doing something small on my own,’ Lillian replied. ‘A little independent film
where I get to be full director for the first time.’

‘What’s it about?’ Brendan asked, with his mouth full.

Lillian smiled. ‘It’s a documentary-drama about a dancer who was executed during World War I for being a spy.’

‘Ooh,’ replied Ivy. ‘Sounds cool.’

‘I know about her,’ Mr Vega finally broke his silence. ‘Mata Hari, right? She turned out to be innocent, in the end.’

‘That’s right,’ Lillian said, clearly impressed. ‘The script has gone through so many revisions, making sure we get all the history correct.’

‘It sounds amazing,’ Olivia said.

‘Thanks!’ Lillian said.

‘I’m quite familiar with that time period – having lived through it myself. Perhaps I could help by reading the script?’ Mr Vega offered.

Lillian laughed. ‘I’m not going to reveal
my
age, but I’d be grateful for the advice.’

Ivy watched the two adults smile at each other. When Lillian jumped up to help Mr Vega clear the plates, Ivy whispered to Olivia, ‘Did you see that?’

‘What?’ asked Olivia.

‘Them,’ Ivy said.

Olivia tilted her head to one side. ‘Them what?’

‘Dad is acting all weird,’ Ivy said.

‘Because he wants to read the script?’ Brendan asked, spinning around the UFO-shaped salt cellar.

‘I think it’s more than that,’ Ivy replied. She definitely was getting a romantic vibe from the way they stared at each other. ‘You didn’t notice anything unusual?’ she asked her sister.

Olivia was the ultimate match-maker – after all, she got Brendan to ask Ivy out on their first date. So if she wasn’t seeing it, maybe it wasn’t there?

‘All I’ve noticed is that Lillian has great taste in movies,’ Olivia said. ‘I really like her.’

When Lillian and Mr Vega came back, carrying the chocolate cookies, with cherry sauce for Olivia and a bloody syrup for the five vampires, Ivy decided she would test her theory.

‘So, Lillian.’ She watched her dad as she asked blatantly, ‘Are you single?’

‘Ivy Vega!’ Mr Vega admonished, horrified.

‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ Lillian said, glancing at Mr Vega.

Ah ha!
Ivy thought.

‘As a matter of fact I am single,’ Lillian said. ‘This business keeps me pretty busy.’

‘You don’t want to date an actor then?’ Ivy pressed, still looking at Mr Vega, who was leaning slightly forwards over the table, clearly listening.

‘Oh no,’ Lillian protested. ‘They’re all tans and teeth. How shallow is that?’

Ivy nodded her agreement, but caught sight of Olivia looking peculiar.

‘Oh! All, apart from Jackson,’ she hastily added.

Ivy bit her lip to stop the laughter that threatened to bubble up. ‘So you prefer the pale look?’ she went on, now cheekily grinning at her dad.