The Reunion by Kayla Olson(6)
We were never close. She was cold to me right from the start, cast as one of my character’s sisters instead of in the starring role, and it only got icier from there. I’ve long suspected Sasha-Kate’s influence lit the fire that led to all the drama in our final season; I’m not exactly looking forward to sharing a set with her again.
It will be a few days before we start filming, though. This first week will be full of media hits—interviews, photo shoots—and costume fittings, along with tonight’s dinner and another more casual get-together this weekend at the home of our writing team, Dan and Xan Jennings. Next week will be all about the show itself, starting with a table read on Monday, our first since the series finale. When we sat around the table that last time, scripts in hand, we never imagined we’d get the chance to do it again. For better or worse, I’m glad it’s happening: the fandom has been begging for closure for as long as we’ve been off the air.
If I’m honest, I’ve needed a bit of it myself.
* * *
I’m in my closet, freshly showered and about to change into the perfect dress for tonight—solid black silk, high neckline, plunging V in the back, so glossy and posh it’s like I’ve been dipped in lacquer—when my phone buzzes.
tell me again how there are worse ways to drown, Ransom’s text says, punctuated with a side-eye emoji. A second later, an image comes through: a screenshot of a Snapaday post, someone’s very bare—and extremely tattooed—back filling the entire frame. I can’t help it, I burst out laughing.
Is that supposed to be your face? I mean, clearly, that’s a cat tattoo on the left, but the other tattoo beside it… uhhhh…
The artist (and I use that term loosely) has taken quite the abstract approach to the size and placement of Ransom’s various facial features, and it doesn’t exactly look purposeful.
His reply is immediate.
yes. yes it is.
And now I’m crying, both at the unfortunate tattoo and for the person who now has it permanently affixed to her skin.
The resemblance is uncanny, I text back. All these years of silence and, somehow, out of nowhere, it’s like we never left off. I think my favorite part is how the artist has attempted to make it look like Tattoo Ransom is gazing fondly at Tattoo Cat.
He sends back a skull emoji, followed quickly by can you imagine asking someone to put this on your skin permanently? or… at all?
I’ve never seen anything so perfectly hideous, I write. The more I look at it, the more I kind of want one.
nothing says liv latimer like a botched tattoo of my face gazing longingly at someone else’s cat, he replies.
He still knows exactly what will make me laugh, and for one suspended moment, it feels like nothing’s changed.
We’re not the same people we were all those years ago, I remind myself.
And yet.
Another message bubble appears before I can write back.
on a serious note, i’m looking forward to seeing you tonight, livvie. it’s been too long.
My laughter catches in my throat, and now I’m blinking back tears for a different reason altogether. I don’t know how to respond. It’s not that I’m not looking forward to seeing him—I am, I think, despite all our complicated history. It’s more that I feel myself start to unravel a bit when I try to imagine how it will be to see him. How I’ll feel, being so close again after all the distance that’s been between us. If it will be awkward—if it will hurt.
These texts help, at least.
On a serious note, I eventually write back, I’m looking forward to unveiling the freshly botched tattoo I plan to get on the way to dinner! I’ll be the talk of the red carpet for sure.
Almost as soon as I hit send, a dot bubble pops up but disappears just as quickly.
I really should finish getting ready.
I can’t bring myself to set the phone down.
A moment later, another dot bubble pops up. Instead of disappearing this time, though, it’s replaced by a new message. Three little words, no punctuation, and the effect is like a dizzying shot of pure oxygen straight to my brain:
you always are
#5Facts: Sasha-Kate Kilpatrick—Look at Her Now!
By Octavia Benetton // Staff Writer, Love & Lightning Rounds
What’s up, Lightning Bugs—welcome to a shiny new round of #5Facts! Seems like everyone and their llamas are losing their minds over the upcoming reunion of the Girl on the Verge cast… yours truly included! If you’ve been around here for any amount of time, you know this site stans the other It Girl from back in the day: Sasha-Kate Kilpatrick, fictional sibling—and longtime real-life rival—of beloved pop culture icon Liv Latimer. Liv has soaked up enough of the spotlight over the years, yes? Let’s give Sasha-Kate the moment in the sun she deserves! Here are five things you might not know about Sasha-Kate:
1. Sasha-Kate may have played Liv’s younger sister on TV, but she’s actually two months older than Liv!
2. Rumor has it that her feud with Liv began when Sasha-Kate auditioned for the part of Honor St. Croix but was passed over for it due to her height. She’s a full four inches shorter than Liv!
3. Sasha-Kate is the only cast member who sat out on the Australian leg of their world tour. Her brother played on the professional junior tennis circuit for a few years, and she cut out of the tour early to go watch him play in the semifinals at Wimbledon! Psssst: tennis runs in their family, and it’s another reason Sasha-Kate resented Liv’s casting as Honor! Liv had never picked up a racquet prior to her role on the show, sources confirm, while Sasha-Kate was practically born with one in her hand (her mother played competitively for Romania before a wrist injury cut her career short).