L is for Luminous Read online

  “Sure.”

  “Talk soon!”

  The call ended, and I stared at the ceiling for what felt like an age before I sat up and reached for my laptop. I opened the lid, and the screen came to life, a devious thought coming to mind. I was going to Google Jude Atwood and see what I was getting myself into.

  I paused at the last second, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. I was playing with fire. I was fixating on the poor guy, who I didn’t even know, before I even got there. I’d be a bumbling mess every time I had to be in the same room with him. Totally professional, that was.

  Taking a deep breath, I went to close the lid of the laptop, but at the last second, I punched his name into Google Images.

  Instantly, the screen was full of Jude’s face, and he was just as handsome as I remembered. Of course he was, his face was his business, and in the world of film and television, it had to be perfect. Pair that with my guilty pleasure Scar slash Rune storyline and I was tingling all over.

  Scrolling through the image results, there were plenty of pictures that had been taken on red carpets at various events, then some modeling shots, and that underwear commercial that had me flushing scarlet in the elevator the other week. As I scrolled, I swooned more and more until I saw a shot with him and Tessa Donahue locking lips. It wasn’t a still from the TV show. They were on a red carpet and turning it on for the cameras. It was real life, and they looked genuinely happy.

  I wanted that.

  The thought came into my mind clear and sharp, its jagged edges tearing at my heart.

  Apart from Melody, I was alone in the world, and it had never bothered me that much until recently…not until the elevator incident. I wanted to matter…to a guy. I wanted to love and be loved. I never realized how much I ached for it until I sat there looking at that photo of my unobtainable celebrity crush and his girlfriend playing tonsil hockey for a bunch of cameras.

  Slamming the laptop closed, I flung it onto the couch next to me and rubbed my eyes. No time to think about that. I slunk into the bedroom and changed into my pajamas before crawling underneath the covers where everything was safe, and the world was far away. The same bed I’d have to sell or put into storage in a week and a half. The exact same place I’d have to put my crush on Jude Atwood.

  I closed my eyes and let myself drift off into a fitful sleep.

  Unobtainable.

  I had to remember that when I finally came face to face with him again.

  Un-ob-tain-able.

  The end.

  * * *

  I was dreaming about my to-do list when a shrill ringing pulled me back into reality.

  My head shot up from the pillow, and I fumbled for my phone, which was on the charger next to the bed. Not even glancing at the screen, I pressed the green button.

  “What?” I moaned, burying my face into the pillow.

  “Lux?”

  “Huh?” I muttered.

  “Still grumpy, I see,” a very male voice said.

  I raised my head slightly, the fog beginning to clear. “Who is this?”

  “I can also see I made a stellar impression on you.”

  The cogs began to turn in my brain as I surfaced from my sleep-induced stupor. Jude. I glanced at the screen and saw a long number that looked international. Probably from America where it was currently daylight.

  “It’s three a.m.,” I declared. “I don’t know what plane of existence you live on, but there’s a thing called a time zone.”

  “Still grumpy,” he said like he was taking a mental note. “Definitely grumpy.”

  “You woke me up!” I exclaimed.

  “Hey, you never told me that elevator day was your birthday.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know a great deal about you, Lux Dawson,” he said in his vampire voice.

  “You do?” I squeaked, wondering if there was a listening device in my bedside lamp.

  “Nah, not really,” he said with a laugh. “Just messing with you. You’ve still got bite, I see. I like it.”

  “Was there a point to this phone call?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

  “Yeah. I wanted to let you know your flight has been booked.”

  “Flight?” I was still asleep, right? This was a dream. The fact that Jude Atwood was calling me in the middle of the night to talk about flying halfway across the world was a dream.

  “Yeah. You did take the job, right? Or is my info out of date already?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I took it. Like four hours ago.” I stared up at the ceiling, my mind beginning to spin. What a total mindfuck.

  “How’s a week from Tuesday?”

  “Tuesday?”

  “Man, you really are asleep.”

  “Sorry, it’s just…” I sighed. “This whole thing has happened so fast. Sharon offered me the thing not even a day ago, and now I’ve got a flight booked. I never expected it. At least, not this fast.” The words spewed forth in a jumble, but it didn’t feel stupid. That in itself was weird, right?

  “I get it,” he said, the tone in his voice changing to something that I didn’t understand. “You try and try for so long that when something does happen, it hits you for six.”

  “I’m waiting for the moment I wake up.”

  “Ironic since you’re currently in bed.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, now conscious of the fact that all I was wearing was a T-shirt and undies while on the phone with TV’s hunkiest vampire detective, Jude Atwood.

  I still couldn’t get past the notion that I was getting this job because of that day I got stuck in an elevator with the star of the show. The moment I fell ass over tit while being rescued by a fireman flashed through my mind, and I smacked my palm against my forehead. Total introvert, overthinking and agonizing over every little moment long after the world had forgotten.

  “The elevator…” I began. “My card… I didn’t mean to—”

  “Nobody’s gunna say shit about that,” he said. “People get jobs by putting themselves out there and making the most of the chances they get. Everyone does it, so don’t sweat it.”

  “But the photo in the magazine—” His girlfriend was on the show, and I’d have to work with her, and there went everything. I had a crush on him, like for real, and now I had to work with him too.

  “Forget about that,” he said. “Everyone knows it isn’t true. They just make that stuff up to sell magazines. Don’t over think it.”

  “But—”

  “Forget it, Lux.”

  Lux. Lux. Say my name again.

  “But—”

  “Check your email for the itinerary,” he interrupted again. “Everything’s been arranged.”

  “Okay.”

  “I hope you like the window seat.”

  “I guess so.”

  “You need more time? We kinda need you here ASAP. They want to get cracking on the script for the first episode.”

  “No. I’m okay. I’ve just never been on a plane before.”

  “Never?” He sounded genuinely surprised, and I guess it was abnormal. I lived in an era where air travel was accessible to most people and hadn’t bothered to see anything. I’d gone as far as to get a passport, but that was it.

  “Nup. Window will be good,” I said, wondering what the clouds looked like from the other side. “I can see the world from another angle.”

  “Good,” he said, sounding pleased. “And, Lux?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t forget to breathe.”

  Then, he hung up.

  I knew he meant it in a non-patronizing kinda way, like don’t forget to breathe because the ride has gone from zero to two hundred overnight kinda breathe. But the thing that got me about that whole conversation wasn’t the fact that my life had changed so drastically…it was the fact that I found it extremely easy to talk to him. A guy I hardly knew. A guy I had a crush on. A guy who seemed to be handsome and perfect and everything modern society told people they should be.


  Talking to Jude Atwood was easy. I held onto the notion and smiled, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep now even if I tried. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to get on that plane. The fear was gone.

  Don’t forget to breathe.

  Episode Five

  Boomtown USA

  For the next two weeks, I felt disconnected.

  I packed up my life in Melbourne, stuffed a suitcase full with clothes, and flew across the world to Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America.

  It didn’t sound as exciting as going to LA or New York, but the network told me they filmed tons of movies and TV shows here all year round. Apparently, they got tax breaks from the state, and there were already a lot of established sound stages and locations where they could film.

  The whole industry had boomed in the last decade and was flourishing more than ever. They’d made top rated shows here like The Waking Dead and had filmed huge movies like Divergent. It was actually really exciting to think that I was going to be a part of it.

  Janice, Sharon’s assistant, had been pretty damn good at her job. She’d organized all the legalities and had even found me a place to live for the duration of the season. Starscape had offices in central Atlanta, and since that’s where I was going to be spending the majority of my time, my new home was a thirty minute or so walk to and from.

  When I got to the airport, there had been a driver waiting to pick me up—he had one of those signs with my name on it and everything—and he drove me straight to my new apartment. I’d plastered my face against the window, watching as my first glimpse of the country I would now call home for the best part of the next year flew by.

  When I finally arrived ‘home’, I instantly went around and opened all the doors and cupboards, checking out every inch of the place. The apartment itself wasn’t huge, but it was ultramodern. It had a big bedroom with a bathroom attached, a separate kitchen and living room, and since it was on the fifth floor, it had a little balcony that overlooked the tree-lined street below and up and out across the Atlanta skyline. The best bit was that it came furnished.

  There’d even been a huge hamper full of fancy looking food and a little basket of muffins left on the kitchen counter as a welcome present from Sharon and the producers at Starscape. I was starving, so I dug straight into the cakes and glutted myself. I knew it wasn’t much compared with what the actors on the show must get, but it felt like they’d rolled out the red carpet and sprinkled glitter all over it.

  The moment I’d climbed into bed and closed my eyes, was the first moment I was able to stop and dwell on the enormity of what had happened. If this was a movie, then the last two-ish weeks were a fast-forward montage designed to bring the viewer up to speed. Everything felt fresh and exciting like I could be anyone or anything. A new me and a chance to start things off on the right foot. No more ruts for me.

  Sharon hadn’t been kidding when she said they needed me as soon as was humanly possible. They had arranged for me to go out to the main set in the morning, and I was anxious about how I was going to get there. I had no idea where anything was, and if it weren’t for the little blue dot on the Google Maps app on my phone, I wouldn’t know where I lived either.

  When morning finally came, I needn’t have worried about trying to find my way because the network, meaning Sharon’s assistant Janice, had sent over a flashy black car to pick me up. When the intercom buzzed, I locked up the apartment and hightailed it downstairs.

  It was the middle of summer here, and the air was hot and sticky—a vast difference from the wind and rain I’d left behind in Melbourne only days ago. I was slightly overdressed in a pair of jeans and a dressy sleeveless shirt, but I hadn’t expected it to be so warm out. When I got the chance, I vowed to brave the streets of Atlanta, test out my newfound confidence, and find something cooler to wear.

  The moment I stepped out onto the footpath, a woman in a bright red, silk shirt and gray pencil skirt with some kind of expensive looking heels on her feet started waving at me. Her hair was blonde and done up in an immaculate chignon, her makeup flawless, and she had a mobile phone welded to her hand.

  Luckily, I recognized her from her picture, and I smiled as she came to meet me.

  “Lux Dawson.” Sharon Bloomfield stepped forward and planted an air kiss beside both cheeks that dazzled me for a moment like one of those stun grenades they used in the military to disorientate their targets. “I’m so glad to finally meet you in person.”

  “Likewise,” I replied, sliding on my sunglasses.

  “You’re so pretty,” she gushed. “And young.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Thanks?”

  Sharon laughed as the driver opened the back door of the car. “Show business,” she said before sliding inside. “We’re all obsessed with good skin.”

  I raised my eyebrows and climbed in beside her. She was probably right since everyone who worked in front of the camera was flawless.

  “How are you settling in?” she asked as I clipped my seatbelt on.

  I eyed the driver warily as he returned to the front, thrown by the fact that he was on the left side of the car when I was used to the steering wheel being on the right side in Australia. I felt like I was in a parallel universe where everything was back to front.

  “I only got in yesterday,” I said. “I haven’t really seen anything yet.”

  “Jet lag is a killer,” she said with a big smile. “And you came all that way! Don’t worry about it. You’ll get acclimatized in a couple of days.”

  She said it like she’d flown round the world many times, and as a television producer, I’m sure she had.

  “The apartment is fantastic,” I said. “Janice was brilliant.”

  “She’s a doll, that girl. You must come by my office when you start up with the team tomorrow and meet her. She’s been reading your books, but then again, the whole office has.”

  “Wow, really?”

  “Don’t be so modest, Lux,” she said with a flashy smile. “Own it.”

  I smiled back, determined to own it all.

  “It’s nice of you to come meet me like this,” I said as the car pulled out into traffic.

  “It’s no problem at all, Lux. I’m headed to the set today anyway, and it’ll give you a good look at how we set things up. You’ll get to meet a lot of the crew as well.”

  Assuming they were setting up for when filming finally began next week sometime, I sat back in my seat and watched the city go past. I was nervous and excited all at once. I was bound to mess up something, like tipping or what direction the traffic was going when I tried to cross the street, but I could get away with it being a foreigner and all. Embarrassment would be at an all time low because I’d be a novelty…for a little while at least.

  The historic estate home that was the location of the detective agency on the show, and our destination for the day, was about a forty-five-minute drive away. As we made our way through the city, Sharon rattled off bits of information like a tour guide. The house had been built specially for the show on a plot of land the studio owned in the nearby forest, which also served as a fantastic location for outside shoots.

  When we pulled up, the house was already a hive of activity. There were trucks and vans parked to the side with a stream of people running back and forth carrying equipment and generally looking like they were doing important things.

  Sliding out of the car, I took it all in with wide eyes, hardly believing that I was standing out the front of the house that featured heavily in the show. It was a huge bluestone mansion that looked like a cross between a Tudor home and a medieval castle, but the effect was breathtaking.

  “Great, isn’t it?” Sharon asked, standing next to me.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  She began walking toward the front door. “When we don’t have it for filming, it’s used as a guest house.”

  The door was wide open, and as we walked inside, it felt like I was transported into the show i
tself. I recognized most of the interior from my binge-watching of season two over the past week, but it looked slightly different now that I saw it all from a different angle. Especially without all the fancy lighting effects.

  “Sharon!”

  I glanced down the hallway as a woman with a head full of crazy, brown ringlet curls came into view. She bounded toward us with a clipboard in her hands, looking relieved to see us. Sharon smiled, and it made me wonder if these two were gal pals outside of work since they seemed so familiar with one another.

  Sharon nodded at the woman and said, “Lux, this is Maisy.”

  “Oh, my god!” Maisy exclaimed, and my eyes widened as she threw her arms around me like I was already her best friend. “I was wondering when we’d get to see you.” Everyone was so darn friendly and interested that I was constantly being dazed.

  “Maisy is the head writer,” Sharon explained.

  “Oh,” I said, feeling the most confident I’d felt since I arrived. “Then it’s great to meet you, boss.”

  “Oh, shush,” Maisy said, waving her hand. “We’re pretty casual around here, like a big ol’ family.”

  “I’ll leave you two together to get acquainted,” Sharon said. “Good luck with everything, Lux. Give Janice a shout if you need anything, okay?”

  “Sure,” I replied, beginning to get a real buzz from being on the set of a real live television show. “Thank you for everything.”

  “You’re welcome, doll.” She winked at Maisy and said, “Watch her. She’s got that look in her eye.”

  As Sharon strode off, I turned to Maisy and asked, “Look?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “The starstruck look, but don’t worry, we’ve all had it at one point or another.”

  She waved me forward, and we began walking through the set.

  “This is your first television job?” she asked, and I nodded. “Well, haven’t you started in the deep end.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ll say.”

  “Don’t worry,” Maisy declared, waving her clipboard around. “I’ll give you the grand tour of the set, get you familiar with the whole process, and you can even watch some takes.”