Falling Down(34)

Damn rockstars.




Chapter Seven
Lucy
"You're not going to invite me up, are you?" Jesse asks.
I shake my head. "No, I'm not. We've still got to work together."
"Just one more day… more like half a day. There's not much left to shoot."
"Jesse."
"Lucy."
I can't help but smirk a little. He's something else. Jesse freaking Kingston. I shake my head.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Oh come on. It was something."
I turn in the passenger seat of his red brand-spanking-new Mustang to face him. "You really want to know?"
He glances over for a second before looking back at the highway stretched before us. "I do."
"I was just thinking 'Jesse freaking Kingston'."
He grins. "Yeah, that's me."
"It still seems surreal."
"I could say the same Miss Hollywood actress. Luciana freaking Russo."
I wave him off. "I'm not anything but a mediocre actress at best."
He laughs. "Oh really. This coming from the woman who got nominated for an Oscar after her very first film."
"Please. It was best supporting actress and I didn't win."
"Still nominated and you won the actress Oscar for your last film so don't tell me you're mediocre."
"Meh. I don't feel like I deserve any of that. I'm just Lucy and I go play other characters sometimes."
"You work hard, learn all the lines, get into that character, make it believable."
"Great scripts help."
He chuckles. "Would you stop? You can't admit you're good."
"I just don't see myself like that. It's just a job… acting. Now music... That's going to be something I really want to succeed at."
"I have no doubt you're going to. It might be a little slow going at first, but I honestly don't think so. Not with Cage's backing."
I nod. "I have to find a new manager, though Cage said he would step in for the time being. I'm not sure how he can find time for that with everything he's already got going on."
"I'm sure it has a little something to do with Sera."
"Probably."
"How'd you meet Cage?"
I smile at the memory. "Well, it wasn't long after I'd met you that Irene, my agent, had lined Sera and I up to be in a music video for Crashed. My mom hated it. I mean hated it. Anyway, when we got there, his assistant Marci greeted us just like she did yesterday and took us into the conference room. There sat Cage and a few of his people as well as all the band members from Crashed. It was all Sera and I could do not to squeal like stupid little fangirl groupies." I shake my head at the memory.
Jesse chuckles. "Go on."
"I'd never worked on anything like the videos so we were essentially virgins--that's what Cage called us. I was offended at first but didn't say a word. I mean, it's Cage Nichols. At least that's what I thought back then. Anyone who isn't in the industry, I've noted, doesn't see anyone who is in the industry as just a person. They're all hyped up to be OMG Mr. Rockstar or Miss Actress."
"Kinda like you just thought of me a few minutes ago?"
"Yeah, but I know you're just a guy who loves music who gets to do what he loves for a living. But that's not how we saw it back then, Sera and I. So we were pretty awed by everything. Then we got on set and it was so much fun. God. So much more fun than acting in a movie or television show. The music, the lights, the sound, the stories that Cage creates for the videos--but mostly it was the music. Sera and I lose ourselves in it and we weren't prepared for being in a video."