Read Online Starlet's Web (The Starlet Series, #1) by Carla Hanna - Free Book Online

back. He pulled at the zipper. I added, “It’s sewn closed. Rip it.”
    He tried. He reached for the bar. “Maybe the bottle opener will work.” He tried again and asked, “So are you dating Manny?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI’ve seen you look at him. The only time you’ve blown your lines was when he was on the set last fall. You think he’s hot; so why the best friend bullshit?”
    â€œIt’s not bull. We’ve been best friends since we’ve been in diapers.”
    â€œMarie, I look at you and see a woman who needs a hug and a friend. I can give you that comfort.”
    I wanted Byron that way, especially since Trish would be falling in love with Manuel even though he loved Beth, not me. I could feel my eyes water and worried that I was going to break down in tears if I said anything to him.
    Of course Byron noticed. “Oh, Marie, don’t cry.” He stopped ripping the threads, moved next to me, and held me as I cried. He didn’t try to kiss me.
    â€œByron, please just unzip me. Honestly I didn’t need friends before this messed-up month.  You’re right that I’m lonely.” I wiped my tears with my hand. “But I can barely breathe in this dress. I’m suffocating.”
    He unzipped me, handed me a tissue, and poured himself another drink. I inhaled deeply and unwound. I changed while he told stories about his glorious high school days. With my t-shirt covering me, I pulled the tape off my ribs and breast. I was free of all my Oscar trappings. I could breathe.
    Byron noticed that I relaxed again and put his arm around me but was careful not to push me. “Babe, it must be pretty cool to have an Oscar. You can do whatever you want now with your career. What do you think you’ll do?”
    I gawped at him, puzzled. I didn’t know what he was talking about.
    He explained, “Now you control what projects you want to take on. You’ll now be a member of the Academy. You get to choose, not your mommy, doll. You’ve proven yourself.”
    I confessed, “My mommy is in charge of my career. I’ve entertained ideas of being in charge, but could I be, really?”
    â€œYes, absolutely, babe. You’re a spider. You’re in charge now.”
    I smiled. A feeling of heaviness lifted from me. I floated on a web.
    â€œSo, Byron, who were you in Australia? What were you like before all this fame?”
    Byron was a nice guy and loved his family. He is the youngest of four kids. He missed his brothers but missed his sister the most. His parents just celebrated their forty-year anniversary, and he was mad that he couldn’t make it to the celebration.
    He talked and talked and had just started to repeat one of his stories when we got back to the San Diego set.
    Â 
~    NOT ANOTHER TAKE!    ~
    It was Thursday. We were several hours behind schedule. The scene was supposed to take place at dusk, but the end of dusk passed long ago and was replaced by yellow floodlights. We did at least thirty takes of a complex scene. Most directors would shoot short takes, but Richard wanted to capture it as a flowing conversation between the queen, Muse and Constantine, creating a sense of union between the three individuals that he didn’t think he could accomplish in editing the short takes. He was a director who ventured on that fine line between boring his audience with more than a minute on the same actors in the same scene. Most directors focused on an actor for no more than 30 seconds. He was particularly challenged with Byron since he had very few lines.
    In the scene, Constantine enters Rome as the victorious ruler of the Roman Empire in the West. It is the year 312 AD. His queen mother begs him to favor the Christian church, which is a minority group in Western Europe and had been severely persecuted under previous Roman rule. He is popular and successful and knows that accepting Christianity