not,” Laurel said. “But don’t ask me. Ask Alexis.”
“I’m scared of her,” Carmen whispered. “She has that whole Cruella de Vil thing going on.”
Laurel looked at Alexis thoughtfully. “Yes, I see it,” she said. “Definitely. Trevor will love that.”
“She’s probably going to make me wear a cape made out of puppy fur.”
“Or kittens, maybe. But seriously, you don’t get nominated for three Oscars for costume design without being tough,” Laurel said. “You know just as well as anyone, nice gets you nowhere in Hollywood.” Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down at the screen. She frowned, tapped a few keys, and then met Carmen’s eyes again. “Dana’s always telling me I need to be more of a bitch if I’m ever going to be promoted.”
“Can I talk to you about something?” Carmen blurted.
“God, yes, why am I babbling about myself?” asked Laurel, putting her BlackBerry down and turning the full brightness of her attention to Carmen. “My job is to listen to you.”
Carmen smiled wryly. She knew that Laurel’s job was to listen to her so that she could report it back to Trevor. But whatever—those were the rules of the game. What she needed right now was a sympathetic ear, even if that ear was attached to Trevor’s current protégée. Carmen took a deep breath and began to tell Laurel about the situation with Luke Kelly. But almost before she got to the end of her first sentence, Laurel put a hand on her arm.
“I know,” she said softly. “Kate told me that they were dating. That it was her on the back of that motorcycle in the Gossip magazine photo. Not you.”
Carmen looked at her in surprise. “She did?”
Laurel nodded.
“Well, the thing is, there’s more to the story. I hooked up with Luke,” she said.
Laurel’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
Carmen hurried on. “It was way before they were dating. We had a little too much wine one night at a party and we made out and it was no big deal. But Kate found out, and now she’s not talking to me.”
“Aha,” Laurel said. “I knew something else was going on between you two.”
“Kate wasn’t even a twinkle in Trevor’s eye back then!” Carmen went on. “How can she blame me for something that happened before she even existed?”
Laurel laughed. “She did in fact exist, Carmen. You just didn’t know her. And I have to say, I understand Kate’s side of things. You didn’t tell her, and you were her friend. She probably feels betrayed. Not by the kiss, but by the fact that you kept it a secret from her. Keeping a secret can turn something into a much bigger deal than it ever should have been.”
“Hello, Dr. Phil,” Carmen said drily. “I didn’t see you come in.”
Laurel smiled. “Hey, I’m a reality-TV producer. Knowing people is part of the job. Trevor knows more about interpersonal psychology than your average PhD.”
Carmen had to agree with that. Trevor did always seem to be one step ahead of them, didn’t he?
Laurel sipped her coffee, then set the cup on the windowsill near the little bonsai tree that had been a gift from Carmen’s best friend, Drew. “Kate wasn’t born into this world the way you were,” she said. “She doesn’t understand all the rules. She doesn’t know that illusion is sometimes more important than truth.”
“You’re getting really metaphysical on me,” Carmen said. “It’s too early in the morning for that.”
Laurel laughed. “It’s eleven a.m. That’s not early. But anyway, I think you should apologize to Kate. Sincerely. I’m telling you this as a friend. Trevor is very interested in what’s up with you two. Your developing friendship was giving the show its heart—he’d mapped out the rest of the season with you two as besties. So, if you can’t fix it, I’m sure that Trevor will try to orchestrate some knock-down, drag-out fight, preferably on camera.”
“In a pool filled with Jell-O,” Carmen said. Laurel snorted, and Carmen put her head in her hands. “It’s so complicated,” she said.
“Look,” Laurel said. “You need to get this thing taken care of quickly. If Trevor gets wind of a love triangle, then he’s going to want to run with it. And it’s probably not going to paint you in the best light. Kate is the one wronged here, and she’s the resident nice girl.”
Carmen was about to ask Laurel if Kate was the nice girl, what did that make her … when she heard Alexis call, “Where is my actress? My Julia?”
“Whoops, gotta go,” Carmen said, rushing off. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
Laurel smiled. “Good luck,” she said.
Once Carmen and Alexis had filmed their hellos for the PopTV cameras as if they hadn’t just spent an hour in the same room while it was being set up, the costume designer proceeded to stuff Carmen inside a gown made from a strange material that Carmen had never seen before. (The dress reminded her of a golden, tight-fitting Hefty bag, with threads of silver running through it.) Carmen was still thinking about what Laurel said. Maybe it wasn’t enough to just text Kate things like HEY GIRL, WHAT HAPPENED TO U? and SHOULD WE TALK? If she wanted to mend what was broken, she was going to have to try harder and make an honest attempt at apology (even if, in her heart of hearts, she still didn’t think she’d done anything wrong).
Carmen gazed unseeingly at the abstract painting on the wall as Alexis manhandled her, tightening laces and stays. She should probably try to be more open and honest in general, she thought.
Yes, openness and honesty. She would make this resolution now, months before the new year. Be more honest. Eat more vegetables. Read more books and fewer blogs. There. Now she could sleep in extra late on New Year’s Day.
Of course, there had to be limits to her honesty. For instance, she didn’t have any plans to stop fake-dating Luke yet. For one thing, their “relationship” was keeping their names in the tabloids, and for another, she liked hanging out with him.
“Ow,” she yelped, as Alexis stabbed her in the ribs with a pin.
“Sorry,” Alexis said insincerely. “I’ve got to get this belt tighter.”
“Tighter?” Carmen said breathlessly, as Alexis gave another tug on the dress’s shining gold laces. “I feel like a sausage.”
“Ha! The golden wiener,” said a voice, and Carmen looked up to see Fawn standing in the foyer and smiling behind an oversized pair of Chanel sunglasses.
“Thanks a lot,” Carmen said.
Fawn shrugged. “Just telling it like it is. You know that brutal honesty is one of my best qualities.”
Carmen laughed, which was difficult because Alexis was currently squeezing her inside the dress. “Yes, and shamelessness. I mean, do those Daisy Dukes even cover your butt?”
Fawn, grinning, ignored this; she was looking at the PopTV cameras. “Didn’t know you had your fitting today,” she
