Abby was expecting him, and she waved casually as he walked in.
"Good morning Luca! How are you today?"
"Like shit."
"Oh, that was intense. What did Chloe say?" she asked as they sank onto her comfy purple sofa.
"To forget about the intern's existence."
Abby laughed. "It's amazing! We were all shocked with your protest and your fight with that Vega guy, and you're only thinking about Noelle," she said, obviously amused.
"You know she is currently the root of all my troubles, so yes, everything is related to her," Luca replied, irritated.
"Silly. I'm picking on you! Just be careful because you're mistaken. All the troubles you faced recently were caused by your actions."
Even if she was right, he would never admit it. "If she wasn't here, I wouldn't go to such lengths."
"I'm worried about you. Please, make wise decisions."
"Wise? What am I? A philosopher? No, I am a humble celebrity, who just does whatever his manager asks him to." He crossed his arms tightly over his chest, staring at the floor in a heavy, stony silence.
"You don't have to be a sage to know what is good for you. Trust people. You always blame others, but you know exactly when this started. The moment you just… shut down. Chloe plays along because she needs you functional. But I know you, Luca. You need people around you. It kills me to see you this alone."
He was defeated. Abby was always the one who could help him see his mistakes. Chloe's scolding and his lost battle had already worn him down. But Abby's remark slipped past his defenses and touched a wound he had learned to live with.
"Do you have any chips?" he asked.
"Chips? For you, always!"
Abby walked to a cupboard. She grabbed two packs, one red and one green. "What flavor do you want?"
"I'll take that. Salt only," he said, as he had already walked next to her, and grabbed the red bag of chips. He tore open the bag and ate a handful. "Mmm... I feel better."
"Aha, I can see. Well, let's get to the promotion and the clothes you'll put on. What does Luca West wear when he goes on a shopping date with his girlfriend?"
"Yeah, indeed, what is he wearing?" Luca asked while crunching on his chips.
"I've thought of something casual, but with a colorful twist. Maybe this lime T-shirt with these .... teal joggers..." she asked, addressing herself rather Luca.
"It should be casual. How should I stay unnoticed while wearing these colors?" he asked, chewing some more chips.
"It's a promotion honey! We don't want you unnoticed. I'll make you pop on the screen of all your fans! If we wanted you to go unnoticed, you could go as you are dressed now. No brand, gray and black clothes," she replied.
"I ate too much," he said, tossing aside his half-eaten bag. "You're right, I do a perfect job going around unnoticed. I learned from the best!"
"Yeah, I taught you my tricks. But now, I think the best solution is the other way around. Teal T-shirt and lime pants," she decided.
"Oh my god! You made it worse."
"In order to match the palette Isabella's stylist sent, that is what we're putting on. Go and change!" Abby demanded.
Once more deflated, he took the clothes and headed for the fitting room.
_____________________________________________
Half an hour later, he met Lexi in the garage. He found her next to his car, pacing up and down. When she noticed him, she smiled and looked at him with eyes wide open.
"Hi... Those colors are... amazing," she said.
"You can call them amazing. But they are not!"
"So... how is everything?" Lexi asked with a wide smile, that was evidently fake.
"And you claim that you are fine. But you are not."
Lexi kept silent, and turned her gaze to the ground. "Well, you know. Chloe lectured me, and what hurt more was that she was right. I did everything wrong. I thought I was helping, but I neglected many things. Never mind, all is good now," she said with another fake smile.
"Yeah, I got my own piece of lecture. Wrongfully..."
"Um... While you were being lectured... Did you, by any chance..." she started muttering, rubbing her right arm.
Luca understood right away what was on her mind. "No, I didn't mention anything. Your secret is safe with me."
She was hiding it well, but Luca noticed. Lexi was a bit gloomier when the Tom Vega creep appeared on the set.
Luca never liked him to start with, but almost two years ago, when he was filming another show with the same production team of Fisher Group, he witnessed Tom Vega's persistent efforts to make advances toward Lexi. She kept a polite distance, kept talking loudly on the phone with her boyfriend, but none of that could stop him. Until one day, Luca saw Vega following Lexi in a studio corridor.
He followed them and found him cornering Lexi, invading her personal space. He grabbed him and told him to get lost. She had a relationship and she wasn't interested in a loser like him. 'None of your business little shit. She is not your girlfriend,' Vega had said, leading Luca to punch him in the face. Lexi had to quickly lead him out of the studio.
She told Luca that he was known for coming on strong to many girls and actresses. Why did no one report him, he asked. He had strong connections with the top management, she informed him.
Lexi insisted on not telling anything to Chloe, and she felt sure Tom Vega would never say anything about the punch incident. It turned out she was right. He respected her wish. He told no one.
The next day, however, he made a request to Chloe for Vega to be replaced. When she asked why, he just said: "He smells really bad. When in the same space, I can't breathe." Maybe Vega also asked to be removed, maybe it was one of the perks of being the lead actor, but he never came to the set again.
That was the deal. If they made a production with that team, he had to be out of the set when Luca was shooting.
And yet, suddenly, during the delayed shots in the park, there he was. Luca watched him closely and he spotted again the same behavior. At least, he paid no attention to Lexi, but when the intern came to set, Tom Vega was all over her.
A friendly approach that would soon evolve; Luca was certain. Seeing Vega trying to take advantage of her was bothering him. And that is why he decided to pick a fight with him.
Now, Lexi was probably shaken remembering all that shit.
"Thank you, Luca. I don't want Chloe to know about it. It is an incident that makes me feel really uncomfortable. And you are the only one who knows..." she confessed.
"The only one? Do you mean you haven't even told Jeff?" Luca asked.
"Oh no! No, I haven't. I feel... guilty. I feel that I somehow let that happen."
"Listen! I am going to tell you once and get it into that tiny head of yours. You didn't let anything happen. That creep took the liberty to do what he thought he could do. Don't you ever again think that it was your fault. And there you were, struggling so long to be in the same space with him. I should have gotten rid of him the moment he reappeared on the set."
"Let that stay... buried. Don't interfere with things that affect your career at my expense. Chloe will kill me!" Lexi blurted out.
Luca exhaled and looked at her worried. He knew he should explain that things that bother you never stay buried, but who was he to give such advice? So, he decided just to nod.
"Get in the car. We'll be late," he said and Lexi gave him her usual warm-hearted smile. She would be fine. Indeed, she had her own way to be happy. Her own way to overcome her problems.
He wished he could be like her.
But no. His problems always looked like a mountain he couldn't climb, like an ocean he couldn't cross.
And now there was the intern.
The one he had picked a fight for.
That was a joke of course! Especially considering how he had treated her afterwards.
What unsettled him was not what Vega had tried to do.
It was how personally he had taken it.