Making Love (Destiny Book 1) (18 page)

If I thought I was used to red carpets, I was in for a shock. This was manic. Chaos even, albeit of the organised kind.

As the car queued up to let us out, I suddenly got frightened; the large whiskeys I’d had just before we left the hotel didn’t seem to be doing their job quite so well any more.

“Darling,” Will reached out and took my hand, directing my attention away from the commotion outside. “You’re not alone any more, lean on me, all right?”

“This should be your night though, you shouldn’t have to look after me.”

He gave me an incredulous look. “I’m going to pretend that the woman who has traversed the Atlantic three times in the last month alone to support me, didn’t just say that it’s not my job to help her, all right?”

I nodded and found a smile for him.

“Good.”

The car moved the final few feet and it was our turn at the end of the carpet. We were here early, not just because Will was nominated, but also because the story of how we met was going to be a huge topic too.

My hair was up and quaffed to perfection, my body had been massaged, buffed, rubbed and made to glow (apparently), my nails had been professionally painted with insect resin (who does that?) and my makeup was flawless, or so I was told. My body had also been beaten into submission with spanks; I’d rather be spanked than wear spanks but hey, we can't always get what we want.

I had to admit, although I already had my Prince Charming, I felt a little bit like Cindrella going to the ball (assuming Cinders felt a good deal of outright terror, of course). I tried to cling to my new found princess feelings, reminding myself that this was supposed to be exciting as well as daunting.

Lee moved to the door but grabbed my hand before he opened it. “You’ll be fine,” he assured me. “This is about as superficial as interviews get and everyone here has a vested interest in making you look good, okay?”

I nodded. “Thanks, Lee.”

He smiled and got out. The security people followed, then Will was next and he reached back to help me out.

We paused at the end of the carpet for photographs and I remembered to smile, then Will and I moved to the public bleachers. No one had anything to sign (maybe it was against the rules or something) but they all took photographs of us and Will shook hands with those who reached out and he chatted to some of them.

No one directly addressed me, but they did ask Will, “Is it true what the papers say?” a few times.

“What specifically?” Will asked. Just giving a blanket ‘yes’ could confirm a lot of lies.

“About the experiment.”

“Absolutely,” Will and I grinned.

Some in the crowd cheered and clapped at that, which was weird.

Lee ushered us further down, to the interview areas and Will held my hand or kept an arm around me the whole time.

First came MTV. Will knew the interviewer, Josh, and they greeted each other with a hug (but Will kept hold of my hand).

“Big night for you,” Josh smiled. “Best actor.”

“Yeah, really big. I’m just keeping everything crossed and hoping for the best.”

“And this is your lovely fiancée, I presume?” he looked to me. “It’s Eleanor, right?”

“I tend to get called Elle mostly; like the supermodel, but with shorter legs.” I pointed a thumb at Will. “He brings the legs in this relationship.”

My knees were actually shaking and I knew I was rambling. Will squeezed the hand he held and I balled the other into a fist, so no one could see that I was shaking.

“And who wears the pants in your relationship?” Josh teased me.

“Oh, he does, I’m far too neurotic to be given that kind of power.”

He laughed but I wasn’t entirely sure what I was saying. I didn’t have a PR mode, I was just saying the first thing that popped into my head.

“Now, I have to ask about how you met, is it true you were doing a study about love?”

“Participating in it,” Will agreed. “The lady who was doing it, the wonderfully insightful Katie, needed test subjects, and I offered to help her.”

“So, I have to ask this,” He gave me an apologetic look, “were there any mind altering drugs involved?”

“Sadly no,” I tried to laugh, I hope it didn’t sound weird. “At least in a nightclub, you can get wasted to give you the courage to approach the sexy man, but I didn’t even have that.”

“So you had a sober blind date?” He sounded horrified.

“Sober blind date at 3pm on a Wednesday. Doesn’t really scream romance, does it. He didn’t even buy me a coffee.”

“They were free!” Will protested, sounding offended but there was a smile on his lips.

“Whatever, dude, you’re part Scottish.”

He and Josh laughed a bit too hard at my joke, it wasn’t that funny. Or was I just being hypersensitive?

“And how do you feel about Will’s nomination?”

“Well…,” I looked hesitant. “It should have happened years ago but you know, better late than never, I guess.”

I grinned and Will laughed.

“Honestly, I’m thrilled for him,” I corrected myself, just in case anyone didn’t get our banter.

As we walked away, I wondered how many people had just watched that. Had I just made a total fool of myself? I’d probably mortally offended every Scotsman on the planet by referencing the ‘cheap’ stereotype.

“Don’t think about it,” Will said as we moved on.

“Think about what?”

“Whatever is making you shake so hard that I can feel the vibrations in my arm. You did great, love.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Lee added. “The public will eat up that banter you two do, so just pretend there aren’t any cameras and keep it up.”

I felt a little better after that.

We moved onto The Erica Show next (but without Erica).

The interviewer, Jeannie, asked Will about the movie, then of course, came the questions about us. They were very similar in tone to the ones Josh had asked, light hearted and slightly comedic.

Once she'd asked about his nomination, she said, “Now, I have been ordered, under pain of death, to invite you onto The Erica Show.”

Will looked to me. I knew Lee had been pressing for an interview and I liked Erica Dupaul, so I nodded. After a quick glance at Lee, just to check there were no forgotten issues, Will agreed.

“We’d love to.” He smiled at Jeannie.

“Really?”

“Of course,” Will laughed at how shocked Jeannie looked.

“I’d ask for a raise, if I were you,” I chipped in.

“Yeah, I think I will.” She seemed completely surprised that we’d agreed. “Honestly, I thought that would be much harder.”

“We had been trying to keep our relationship private,” Will explained, “but sometimes things just reach a critical mass and you can't avoid it any longer.”

“So this must be weird for you,” Jeannie said to me.

“Yeah, I usually leave reporters to Will.”

“So this is your first time being interviewed?”

“Well, I think technically, Josh from MTV took my cherry, but you’re only my second, so you’re still special and I want you to know that I care about you and I’m not just using you to get interviewed.”

Will laughed but I was wondering if those drinks before we left had been such a good idea.

“And how do you feel about this cherry popping?” Jeannie asked Will.

“Incredibly proud,” Will gushed, favouring me with a warm look and only saving himself from being sappy with his next comment. “What can I say, I love watching her with other men.”

“And how do you feel about this voyeurism?” Jeannie asked me.

“Well, he’s told me that he’s hoping to leave with Oscar later, so I’m expecting my first threesome tonight.”

She wished us both luck (I wasn’t sure why I was included in that) and Lee ushered us on.

Next came Guillermo from the Jimmy Kimmell show, then Extra TV, then Hollywood Live, then Variety, and on and on it went.

E Entertainment news were slightly more serious than many. I mean, serious for an entertainment show, they weren’t trying to cure world hunger or anything, but there was more talk about the movie and far fewer jokes.

Then Entertainment Tonight was the same to start with but once Will's movie had been covered, she began to include me in the interview.

“So how are things going with you two?” Maria asked.

“Really well,” Will smiled. “We got engaged at Christmas.”

“How wonderful. Have you set a date?”

“Not yet, no, we’re still in discussions about it. I’ve got a hectic year ahead with filming.”

“Of course. You must be very understanding,” she said to me, “to put up with such long absences.”

“Oh, I go with him,” I explained.

“She does, and she’s extremely supportive with everything I do,” Will added.

“Can you give me an example?”

“Well, the travelling for one. People think that being a movie star is all glamour but when you’re living out of a suitcase, in the fifth or sixth city that year, sometimes for just one project, it looks a lot less glamorous, I can tell you. But she’s always there, right beside me, packing up her work and taking it with her, as if it were nothing. She never complains-”

“I sometimes complain,” I corrected.

He ignored me. “She never whines-”

“I do whine,” I admitted.

“And she doesn’t even mind the night shoots, when we’re on totally different time schedules and she might as well not be there for all we see of each other.”

“I
hate
the night shoots.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but we came off as a well-rehearsed double act, Hannah said when I spoke to her later, almost as if these quips and barbs were planned, but that’s just who we are. I think the British people as a whole are rather self-deprecating, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Hannah also said that when we didn’t think the cameras were on us, we were nauseatingly cute together and you know what? I actually felt that way. The distance between us and the strain it had put on the relationship recently, seemed to have vanished and to my surprise, I felt quite relaxed, even with all these cameras around.

Don’t get me wrong, being interviewed is not something I would do for pleasure but it also wasn’t as bad as I expected, nor was I as self-conscious as I thought I’d be. It was as if by finally embracing this last aspect of Will’s fame, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I wasn’t entirely sure if it was that though, or if I had simply run out of my stores of adrenalin and had no choice but to calm down.

“And you’re getting married, I hear” the next interviewer gushed (honestly, they were all starting to blur into one entity in my mind now).

She reached for my left hand and showed my ring off to camera. It was rude as hell but she wasn’t the first to do it, so I didn’t complain. (Seriously, Americans, don’t touch British people if you don’t know them; we don’t like it. As a general rule, we’re a very anti-social breed).

“Wow, that is some rock.”

They got an extreme close-up of the ring, so the viewing public probably thought I was wearing a small boulder on my finger. I didn’t think it was that outlandish though, I thought it was elegant and understated.

“Thank you, we like it,” I replied dryly.

“Did you help choose it?”

“No, Will’s assistant has impeccable taste,” I quipped.

“You didn’t buy it yourself?” She looked to Will, seemingly shocked. I
knew
someone here wouldn’t get my humour.

Will took it in his stride. “She’s teasing, of course I chose it.”

The rest of the red carpet went in a similar vein and while I was aware that some of our humour could be taken out of context or misunderstood, I tried not to think about it. Besides, it wasn’t as if I’d insulted anyone. Except the Scots. I am half Scottish on my father’s side though, so maybe they’d forgive the faux pas.

At the end of the carpet, we posed for more pictures, then Will had to pose for solo pictures, then ones with the cast of Ludwig and those who were here from Blood Moon. I greeted the few people I knew but I didn’t pose with them.

It was slightly surreal when Brad and Angelina walked past me although honestly, I think I was more star struck by seeing Ian McKellen.

We took our seats in the auditorium, quite close to the front and Will had an aisle seat. I wondered if that meant he would win, and thus had been given the seat so that he could get out easily, but Will explained that they positioned all nominees on or near an aisle, and at different places throughout the auditorium, so cameras could get a close up of them all to catch the reactions when the winners were announced.

I was sure he’d win, because he’d won almost everything he was nominated for in this role so far. Will was more reticent. He’d refused to work on a speech, afraid of jinxing himself.

Erica Dupaul was hosting the awards and the show began with a song and dance number. It was actually a very entertaining night.