Crash Course To Reality

“Here’s the picture of the hotel, the beach and our room. We can do whatever we want when we want at our leisure.”

I pick up the pictures he’s put in front of me, looking them over, “Seems nice,” I comment, handing them back to him.

“Glad you think so, I picked it out with you in mind,” he says, reaching out and putting his hand through my hair.

I pull away subtly as to get his hands away from me, “I have to work so you might want to go manage something.”

“Come on Paige, this vacation is going to be just what we need. To get away from all of this,” he says, gesturing to the papers scattered all over his desk.

“Well Maybe if you hadn’t done my coworker we wouldn’t be in this position,” I snip.

“Are you ever going to let it go?”

I look up at him annoyed, “I’m sorry I’m not quite as forgiving. It may take me a while to get over you sleeping with Trish. Excuse me, I’m so sorry.”

“Do you practice sarcasm in the mirror at home?”

“No, it just comes naturally.”

A knock on Scott’s door and a bubbly brunette comes through the door, only to shrink away at the sight of me, “Paige, I didn’t know you were in here.”

I roll my eyes at Trish, “Of course you didn’t. What, are you back for seconds?”

I hear Scott groan, “Paige.”

“I’ll just come back later,” Trish whispers, closing the door.

“Paige,” he says more firmly.

I turn around, my hand still on my hip, “What?”

He stares at me for a minute, “Never mind.”

“Good.”

Scott thumbs through some papers on his desk, “So I hear Marie assigned you the Justin Timberlake interview.”

“Yeah,” I respond bored.

“How is that going?”

“Why do you care anyway? You have never asked me how an interview was going before, what’s so special now?”

He puts the pen in his hand down, “I was just checking.”

“You mean you were just checking because it’s about him.”

“Paige, you of all people know how I feel about him.”

“And?” I ask annoyed.

“I don’t want him that close to you that’s all.”

I feel like reaching across his desk and hit him, “Me? You are worried about me? How about you asshole, you were the one that cheated. You’re such a fucking hypocrite.”

“Okay, maybe I’m not the one with the best judgment but I hate him and I’m worried about you.”

“Now you’re worried about me. Great, thanks for the concern. Couldn’t you have taken that into consideration before. Besides, I think I’m starting to like him.”

I can tell I’ve hit a nerve as he looks at me, his face turning red, “What do you mean you’re starting to like him?”

My fingers coyly wrap around a few stands of hair, “He’s very personable. I’m starting to see why people are so taken with him.”

His blood pressure must be skyrocketing as we speak, “You have lost your fucking mind Paige.”

“No, you’ve lost yours baby.”

Scott gets up from his desk and comes behind me, rubbing my shoulders much too intimately, “When we take our vacation it will mellow us both out and let us get back to where we were.”

I remove his hands from me, picking them up like you would a piece of garbage, “Looking foreword to it.”

“Great,” he says, slightly annoyed, “then I’ll call you later with the dates I get the plane tickets and hotel booked.”

I nod and close the door behind me, relieved to be out of the room and on with work.

________________________________________________________________________

As I watch the small TV in the corner that is broadcasting Entertainment Tonight with a segment in Perez Hilton I realize that this shit is my life. Unfortunately for Sienna Miller, her current boyfriend is apparently cheating on her. The poor thing has yet to pick someone who would stand by her and now the press is hounding her for a answer, harassing her on the street.

I suppose nothing could be worse than working in an industry where a bad outfit could make or break someone’s career. How superficial is America to watch buy this crap? They pay money to see us at our worst moments, the one normal people do not have to share with the whole world.

I look at my watch to see Paige is running an hour late. We were supposed to be meeting at the car dealership for my new ride but she has yet to show up. It’s not like her not to show up without calling but I figure she must be consumed in her work.

I pull back into the lot and the car dealer opens the door for me as I get out, “What do you think Mr. Timberlake?”

“I think that it’s a beautiful ride,” as I hand back the keys.

“Will we be purchasing anything today?” he asks, dollar signs lighting up in his pupils. This is so pathetic.

“I’ll take it,” I say, motioning to my assistant. She hurries over and makes the negotiations for me as I admire my new piece of metal.

I hear heavy breathing come up behind me and I turn around to see Paige standing before me, “Hey, sorry I’m late.”

“That’s okay, I just purchased my new car. What do you think?”

She walks around it with a critical look on her face, the one she must put on when she works. Definitely not her most attractive side, “It’s nice.”

“Just nice?” I ask, leaning against the car, “I just paid somewhere in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars and all you have to say is it’s nice?”

She laughs, “What do you want me to say?”

“That it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your life.”

Her eyes scan the car quickly, “It’s pretty okay?”

I shake my head, “Get in.”

I open the door for her and she folds the skirt up under her ass as she gets in, “Thanks.”

My assistant comes over with a few papers to sign on which I scribble my signature on the documents and taking the keys from her. I go around the other side and get in, “Where to?”

She lays back in the seat, “Wherever, I don’t care.”

“My choice it is.”

PJ chuckles to herself, “I do love the smell of new leather.”

“Enjoy it baby.”

“I will,” she says, playing with the radio stations.

“How does a little shopping sound to you?”

“Can you talk and shop at the same time?”

I smile, “I can handle both.”

“Then sure.”

________________________________________________________________________

How many fucking clothes does one guy need? Damn. I watch as he goes through the racks and racks of clothing, “Gorgeous, isn’t it?” he asks, pulling out a suede jacket.

I try my best to stay awake during this whole process. Let’s just say shopping isn’t really isn’t my favorite hobby. Looking for one dress, fine. Browsing hundreds of garments to pick out random pieces for someone who has more clothing than some superstars is beyond boring, “Yeah, it’s gorgeous.”

“So why were you late?” he asks, searching through a series of belts.

“Oh, Sienna Miller was on the street and I tailed her for a while.”

He turns around, “What the hell would you do that for?”

His tone catches me off guard and my defenses go up, “Because her boyfriend was caught cheating we thought she might want to get her story out.”

“By stalking her?”

“I wasn’t stalking her, she was on the sidewalk. For those who didn’t go to college like yourself, that means that it’s public property which in turn means I can snap her picture all I want.”

Justin gives me a look of disgust, “It is people like you that make being a celebrity unbearable.”

“It’s people like me that make people like you superstars,” I argue, starting to get angry.

“No, its what drives us to suicide,” he yells loud enough so that the people around us turn to watch.

“So because you people act like idiots we shouldn’t be able to print it? You know, it’s only when celebrities fall and we report it that they actually seek help.”

He starts to laugh bitterly, “So you think that you’re are savior?”

“Maybe,” I counter.

“Then you are fucking stupid.”

I take the coat from my arm and put it on, “I’ll be waiting in the car.”

I storm out off the mall and get in the damn car, slamming the door hard. A part of me wishes the door would have fallen off or that I could key his car with a clear conscience but unfortunately I just don’t have it in me to do that.

My hand digs in my purse until I pull out my camera, looking through the memory card for the pictures I took today. I have every right to not only do my job but a duty to report it. She was walking around New York for fucking sake. It’s not like I was peeking in her window and snapped these. Besides, she’ll get the pity and will get paid more on her next movie. They should thank me.

I can see him out of the corner of my eye getting closer and closer until he opens the door and gets in, “You are unbelievable.”

“Me? You are the one who just made an ass of himself in front of those store employees.” “I wouldn’t have to if you had a soul.”

“Take me home now.”

“Fine,” he says, picking up speed out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

My blood is boiling as I watch the cars in the review mirror. What an ass. He glances over at me subtly every few minutes but I don’t look back. He’s lucky I didn’t castrate him in that fucking store.

“I can’t believe you see nothing wrong with what you do.”

“Just shut up before I hurt you,” I threaten.

“I mean it. Do you not have a moral compass or something? Obviously something is missing from your makeup. Oh wait, maybe because you were made in a petri dish.”

I start to breathe hard, “Because yours told you to strip and have sex with that girl right on the beach, which who by the way, you never called after that night. How was your moral compass that night huh?”

“How do you know I didn’t call her?”

I smugly smile at him, “Because I found out who she was from the pictures I took. Does Noel Caldwell ring any bells?”

“One has nothing to do with the other. You guys are blood suckers.”

“Yeah it’s all us,” I mock, folding my arms over my chest.

“Forget it.”

“Thank you,” I yell, counting down the minutes until I’m out of this car.

He shakes his head at me like a parent chiding their child for eating a cookie before dinner, “You are a terrible person.”

“Just drop me off at the next street, I’ll walk from there.”

“Don’t be stupid PJ.”

I sigh loudly, “My name is Paige and I would rather be out of this car then in here with you.”

He snorts, “Thanks so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

He steps on the gas as the light turns green, squealing the tires as he makes the car jerk foreword. I sit in anger until I watch in shock as the car on the street horizontal to us speeds through the red light and before I can scream, collide with my side of the car, smashing it in. The door digs into me as the car sends us spinning and my head throbs as the car hits something else, smacking my head around until I black out.

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