Emma hearts LA (11 page)

‘Usually me,’ Jordan says, smiling.

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes while we’re all eating.

‘Do you get food like this every day?’ I ask.

Alex nods. ‘On my first job, I couldn’t believe there was so much food. I ate so much that I was falling asleep when we were filming. The director was pi—’ He stops himself and grins. ‘Well, he wasn’t happy.’

‘It happens a lot though,’ Jordan says, dipping his head as if someone from the gossip mags might be listening. ‘There are a lot of A-list stars who can’t resist the catering. I think it’s because they remember when they were young and hungry.’

Alex laughs. ‘If the food’s there you’re gonna eat it, right? How’s the sushi?’ he asks me.

‘Really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had real sushi before. Only the stuff from the supermarkets.’

‘No?’ Alex says. ‘You’ve never been to a sushi bar?’

I shake my head. ‘Terrible, isn’t it? At my age.’

He grins and I feel a little twinge in my stomach – he really has got a fantastic smile.

‘You have to go soon,’ he says. ‘Where are you living?’

I tell him Venice and his face lights up. ‘There’s a great sushi place in Venice. On Windward Circle? You have to go.’

‘All right,’ I say. ‘I’ll add it to my bucket list.’

He grins at me and then asks Bex if Emily’s sent her out on anything yet. She manages to get over her nerves and tell him that she hasn’t. Then she talks a bit about the stuff she’s done in the past and what she hopes to do in the future. She’s got big plans. She basically wants to be the new Miley Cyrus, with acting, music and commercial deals.

When she’s finished, Alex asks me, ‘Have you got big plans too?’

I pull a face. ‘No. Not really. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. Well, actually, I thought that’s what I wanted, but then my friend Oscar reminded me that I wanted to be an artist – an illustrator – but I stopped drawing a while ago. So, basically, I don’t know.’

‘Is Oscar your boyfriend?’ Alex asks, which is very much not the bit of my rambling that I expected him to pick up on.

‘Oh no,’ I say. ‘He was my best friend growing up and now our mum works with his dad, so he’s pretty much my only friend in LA.’

Alex nods and the way he’s looking at me makes my stomach go a bit fluttery. He really is stupidly good-looking. Nice, too. He didn’t need to take time out of his day to hang out with us, but he did.

When we’ve all finished eating, Alex and Jordan take us on a little tour of the soundstage, pointing out the curtain that acts as the view from his character’s bedroom – it even has thinner bits of fabric where the windows are so that if it’s supposed to be night, they can shine light through it – and to the set of the gardens behind Luke’s apartment building, which I saw on the show and never would have guessed were filmed indoors. There are lights to represent the moon and the sun on tracks so they can move them depending on their position in the sky. Oscar would love that. It’s all so interesting and a little bit scary – I don’t think I’ll ever believe anything I see on TV again.

We hear someone yelling for Alex. He rolls his eyes.

‘So I’d better get back to work,’ he says.

‘Thanks so much,’ I tell him. ‘You’ve been really lovely.’

He stares at me for a second and then says, ‘I love your accent.’

‘Thanks,’ I say, and I actually feel my eyebrows shoot up. ‘I like yours too.’

He puts his hand on my shoulder, says, ‘See you later. Enjoy it.’ And he’s gone.

‘How long have you been working with Alex?’ Bex asks Jordan as we start walking.

My legs are moving too, but my head is all over the place. Was Alex just flirting? If it had been any other boy, I would have thought the hand on the shoulder was a definite sign, but I don’t know. He couldn’t be flirting with me, surely. Not when he could have any girl he wanted.

Jordan and Bex chat away as Jordan walks us out to the main building, where I take a photo of Bex with the huge bronze statues of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Jordan takes us inside the building and introduces us to our guide for the tour. They’re all so professional and friendly and everything seems to run so smoothly here. It’s like a completely different world. I wonder if it’s like this all the time or if we’re getting special treatment because of Alex.

The guide – a woman named Jenna – takes us out onto one of the little open buses we’ve already noticed buzzing around the studio, where the rest of the tour group are gathered. There are ten of us altogether and I think the others are all American. We drive back through the studios. Jenna tells us that the car park we were dropped off in was used as the helicopter landing pad in
ER
and shows us the
Friends
building, but this time she stops so we can get our photos taken with the sign. I get Bex to take one of me and I text it to Jessie. Then we go to see an exhibition of cars used in films – they have the Union Jack car from one of the Austin Powers films – and they demonstrate how green screen works by taking a photo of us in front of one and then adding the Hogwarts Express behind us. It’s like the photo we had taken on the pier, but much more realistic. I wish Oscar was here – he’d love it so much he’d probably get it put on a T-shirt.

From there we go to the prop building and Jenna tells us about all the props they have there and how they’re used. It’s so interesting, particularly since I’d never really thought about that level of attention to detail. In Alex’s character’s apartment, for instance, every single thing has been chosen by a set designer: the sheets, the bed, the carpet, the pictures on the walls, the cutlery he uses to eat his food. Everything. And it’s all chosen to reflect the character’s personality.

And then Jenna takes us into Central Perk from
Friends
and it’s really weird because it doesn’t look like Central Perk at all. It looks like maybe someone tried to recreate the set from memory, but it’s all just a bit off. I take a couple of photos anyway and one of Bex next to the sign and then Jenna drives us around the studio a bit more. Alex’s show is filming outside now – it’s meant to be a New York street, but Jenna says the same street has been used to represent all manner of different places. Bex can’t keep still, she’s so excited.

‘This could be you soon,’ I tell her.

‘Can you imagine it?’ she says, beaming. ‘Even just being here is like a dream, I don’t know what it would be like to actually be involved in a show.’

At the end of the tour, we’re shown into the museum, which features mainly costumes from film and TV downstairs and Harry Potter stuff upstairs. Bex runs off up the stairs and I wander around the costumes. I can totally see what attracts Bex to all this. There are costumes worn by Bette Davis, by George Clooney and by Ellen Page in
Juno
. I like the history of it all. And the glamour, of course. But pretending for a living seems a little bit odd to me in a way I don’t think it does to Bex. Maybe I just think that because I can’t do it.

I’m looking at clothes worn by Blake Lively in
Gossip Girl
when Jordan finds me.

‘Hey,’ he says. ‘Did you enjoy the tour? Where’s your sister?’

We find Bex staring glassy-eyed at an original Harry Potter Sorting Hat and coax her back downstairs and out of the museum.

‘Alex has just got a couple more scenes to do, so we’ll go and hang out and then Jem will take you back. Unless there is anything else you want to see here?’

‘I don’t think so,’ I tell him. ‘It’s all been brilliant.’

‘Maybe… Could we just go back to the shop?’ Bex asks. ‘I’d like a T-shirt or something, if that’s OK.’

‘Oh, no problem,’ Jordan says. We walk back over there – as we go through the security gate, Bex clutches my arm again. I’m starting to understand this means ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and it does feel pretty cool. Particularly when some people on the way in smile and say hello to us as if we totally belong there.

I buy a Harry Potter T-shirt that says
EXPELLIARMUS
on it for Oscar and then, while Bex is running around the shop trying to choose something, I scroll through the photos on my phone. Even though when we were there, Central Perk looked absolutely nothing like it does on TV, it looks exactly right on my phone. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. I show Jordan and he laughs. ‘Yep, that’s the magic of TV. They say the camera never lies, but when you start working in this industry you learn real quick that things aren’t always what they seem.’

Once Bex has finished shopping, we walk back to the soundstage. Alex is filming another outdoor scene. He’s repairing his motorbike and, yes, he’s got his shirt off. I saw him shirtless when I watched the show, but that was entirely different. I was watching it with my mum, for one, and also it was on the TV – he wasn’t
right in front of me
. Now I feel myself blush and my palms are sweating. I really hope he puts his shirt back on before he comes over to talk to us. (And at the same time I hope he doesn’t.) I even have a brief thought of quickly snapping a photo on my phone, even though we’re under strict instructions to keep our phones off on the soundstage. I’d quite like to have a permanent reminder of this moment. I’ll just have to stare really hard and try to imprint it on my memory. Instead an image of a few of the boys from home pops into my mind. Alex makes them look like a different species.

When the scene’s over, Jordan takes Bex to introduce her to the director and Alex comes over to me. He’s put a shirt on, which is probably for the best.

‘That was really good,’ I say. I’m quite surprised my voice comes out at the right pitch.

Alex smiles. ‘Thanks. This show’s kind of obsessed with showing me shirtless. It’s pretty embarrassing.’

He doesn’t look embarrassed, he looks quite pleased with himself, but I’m not surprised.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I’ve seen that jeans ad. I know you’re probably actually really shy.’

He laughs. ‘Hey, that ad was art.’

‘Oh, I know,’ I say, smiling. ‘I’ve seen that kind of art before. But usually it features women and it’s on the top shelf in the newsagent’s.’

Alex shrugs and grins. ‘It pays the bills.’

‘Hey, I’m not judging,’ I say. ‘Well, maybe a bit.’

We grin at each other for a couple of seconds and the feeling of anticipation in my stomach is almost painful.

‘So, I’m going to grab a shower,’ Alex says.

I take a step backwards. Right. He wasn’t flirting. Of course he wasn’t. But now I’m picturing him in the shower, which really isn’t helpful.

‘Do you think I could get your number?’ Alex says.

I feel my breath catch. ‘What?’

‘Your number? I was thinking maybe we could go out for sushi sometime.’

‘Right.’ I nod and remind myself to breathe. ‘I don’t think that will be a problem,’ I say.

Oscar’s house isn’t on the canals – it’s on one of the wide tree-lined streets we passed when we arrived. He’s been doing some extra shifts at work, so I haven’t seen him since Tuesday.

He opens the door. He’s wearing a University of Gallifrey T-shirt and camouflage trousers.

‘Whoa!’ I say. ‘Where are your legs? Are they…invisible?’

He looks down at himself, starts to say ‘What?’ and then realises. ‘You’re very funny,’ he says. ‘You should try an open-mic night. You probably wouldn’t get bottled off.’

I grin and follow him inside. The hall is bright and clean and I find that I’m quite surprised. I don’t know why, but I was expecting it to be dark and messy. Maybe because I’m not used to the idea of Michael and Oscar living on their own. Oscar’s mum was always super house-proud and I think I expected them to be rebelling.

‘No Bex?’ he says.

‘No. She and Mum have gone along to an open casting with Emily. She’s not auditioning, Emily just wanted her to see how it all works.’

‘Cool,’ Oscar says. ‘Is that usual?’

‘No idea. Mum seems to think all the preparation’s good though, so who knows.’

‘Has she recovered from Wednesday yet?’ he asks.

‘Just about,’ I think. ‘At least she’s stopped beginning every sentence with “When we were at the studio…”’

He laughs. ‘Well, she did see an original Sorting Hat. That’s not something you just get over.’

‘Which reminds me,’ I say. ‘When we were at the studio…I got you a present.’

I hand him the Warner Brothers bag. He takes the T-shirt out, shakes it out so he can see the front and says, ‘I love it! Thanks!’

‘I tried to nick the Sorting Hat, but the security was too tight.’ I smile.

He holds the T-shirt up to himself and says, ‘Is it me?’

‘You just need the little round glasses,’ I say.

I follow him down the hall.

‘So this is where the magic happens,’ he says, glancing at me over his shoulder.

‘What?’ I say. ‘The whole house? Kinky!’

He looks back at me again, with one eyebrow raised, but ruins it by blushing.

We go through to the living room, which actually does remind me of the house he and Michael lived in back in Bramhall. Some of the same pictures are on the wall – including a photo of me and Oscar when we were about three. We’re sitting on the floor with our legs out straight in front of us. We’ve both got dirty bare feet and we’re grinning into the camera like chimps.