Gina is going to flip out seeing
me at the premiere today, Gerard thought to himself. He checked himself in the
mirror: sparkling white shirt, well fitted black tuxedo and the red kerchief
from Gina. He thought he looked quite ok. Handsome would be too arrogant.
A lot of people thought Gina had
made it big in the movie business because of her parents. Gerard knew the
dark, dirty truth. No-one wanted to deal with a new comer. A movie was too much
money. For every struggling actor, there was at least one rich, spoilt brat who
had the money to sponsor his way through at least the first couple of movies. And
it was tough even for them.
Though Gina would qualify as the spoilt child, simply by lineage, Gina had made it all on her own. Gina had been lucky. She had got
her first offer when she was studying for her graduation. She was chased by
film-makers all through her masters as well. By the time she completed her studies, she had
decided to give it a try.
Right from the first shot, Gina
had shown promise. With her easy charm, she mesmerized the audience. She had shot to instant and
incredulous fame. And that had just been the start. The glitz and glamour had
always been part of her life and she knew how to deal with it without being
overbearing about it. Her humility won her more adulation.
As Gerard locked the apartment
and climbed down the flight of stairs, his mind wandered back to the first time
he had seen Gina in person. It had been during the rehearsal of an award
function. He had shown up early for his rehearsal and was just walking around
the auditorium when he had seen her. She was attractive even without make-up. She
was headed in his direction and it would have been perfectly natural to just
congratulate her on her latest movie. But Gerard slipped away before she could
notice him. He had not had the courage to talk to her. He was a struggling
nobody and she was a superstar.
His crush was as strong as ever
when they were introduced to each other. It was the dubbing session for an
animation movie. After wrapping up work, they got to talking. She was waiting
for her car and he couldn’t find a reason to leave. One thing had led to
another and they had ended up having dinner together. There was no looking back
since then.
He couldn’t believe how life had
changed in the last year or so. They complimented each other perfectly and
their relationship just grew stronger each passing month. He had even met her
parents with their new partners. It should have been awkward but it wasn’t! How
could it be? These were people with a background in performance arts. They pretended
for a living!
As he started the car, he thought
back to the last 24 hours. He had thrown a tantrum, pleaded and eventually begged for
the weekend off from work. It was all hazy now: rushing from the movie set to
the airport and the very uncomfortable flight back home. The movie was special
for her and he did not want to miss being by her side.
As he entered Gina’s green room, he
couldn’t have been more surprised. Gina sat in a chair with her eyes closed and
was calmly doing her breathing exercises. It helped her deal with the stress
better. He willed her to open her eyes. It was quite difficult to stand
motionless in front of her when all he wanted to do was to give her with a bear
hug, just the way she liked it. But nothing in his imagination, prepared him
for the look of absolute single minded pleasure he saw in Gina’s eyes. Before
he could mouth a word, Gina had launched herself in his arms. He couldn’t
stop grinning. Life couldn’t possibly get better than
this.
