Happy Endings Read Online Free PDF Page A

faster, I closed my eyes and just wanted it to be over. I held on to Dad’s arm and cried until it stopped. It had seemed so exciting, but once it started, I couldn’t wait to get off and put my feet back on solid ground again.
    Emma came back and sat down. I looked at her and something inside of me felt numb. She had a twinkle in her eye. She’d finally found her place in the world. She was going to be a film star and there was nothing I could do about it. She’d do the film and fall in love with Rhys, while I’d be the bloke she used to go out with before she became famous. Every celebrity has one of us. A year from now I’d be doing interviews with Sunday tabloids to pay the rent on my studio flat in Hackney.
    ‘Excuse me,’ I said, wiping the corner of my mouth with my napkin before getting up and walking off towards the toilet.
    As I crossed the room, zigzagging my way between the maze of tables full to the brim with successful, happy people, all laughing and enjoying themselves, I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of fear. I briefly looked back towards Emma and she was popping the cork of a champagne bottle. She squealed with delight as its frothy, expensive foam exploded and then slid down the sides of the bottle like lava and onto her hands. I looked away and kept on walking towards the toilet. Despite being in a room full of people in the centre of London, I’d never felt so completely and utterly alone.

Emma
    Something was definitely wrong with Jack. Ever since our dinner in Soho, he’d been super quiet, wrapped up in his own thoughts and even more engrossed in his writing than usual. It’s not hard to tell when something’s on his mind because he shuts down – a typical bloody man I suppose. I asked him several times if he was all right and he gave the bog-standard reply with the mandatory furrowed brow, ‘Fine, Em.’ But he wasn’t. He wasn’t fine.
    I would have been more concerned, but I just didn’t have the time. Matt had sent over the full script for The Hen Weekend and I’d been at Starbucks ever since. God, it was so bloody brilliant. There I was, drinking my café lattes, cracking up and feeling for the first time in my life like a proper actress. I’m absolutely in love with it. It’s funny, touching, thought-provoking and just a great romantic comedy. And I was going to be in it!
    I also got to work with Matt and Rhys, who were both so generous with their time and ridiculously talented. It was surreal at first, calling Rhys with a question. Rhys Connelly, a world-famous film star, on the front pages of national newspapers, and I had his phone number. We were mates, sort of, and soon we’d be naked and kissing. I hadn’t told Jack yet, for obvious reasons, and also because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it myself. It was Rhys Connelly for God’s sake! Britain’s sexiest man and I was going to be canoodling with him. Millions of girls throughout the land would no doubt swap places with me in an instant, but it just made me uncomfortable and I felt awful for Jack. It was just another part of the job and it meant nothing, but it was hard to wedge into a conversation that, oh, by the way, in the middle of the film Rhys was going to be kissing my breasts and, shortly after that, most of the English-speaking world was going to see me completely naked, but it’s nothing, really . . . more tea?
    I was at Starbucks having another read through, but I couldn’t focus. Outside, thick black clouds made everything gloomy and dark. I was annoyed Jack had to work like he did every bloody Saturday. It was better when Kate was here because we’d often go shopping, get a drink or just wander around London, but she was gone and I was at a loose end. I’d never thought of myself as a loose end sort of person before. I was the end people generally hung on to. So, with nothing better to do, I decided to pop in and see Jack at work. Perhaps we could have lunch and maybe, away from the