Winning Hollywood's Goodest Girl

I’d give almost anything to take a big scoop of cold water and splash it on my burning cheeks and forehead right now, but with the three hours of work Alejo put into making my face look the way it does—a sliver of what it looks like normally thanks to loads of contouring—that’s not an acceptable option.

I settle for letting my hands stay under the stream for an extra fifteen seconds and then, finally, towel off and head back outside where everyone but the one person I want to be is waiting for me.

“What in the hell happened there?” Heidi says sternly as I scan the crowd for Harrison.

Heidi notices my lack of attention and snatches it back with a cold snap of her voice. “He’s inside. He was drawing attention, lingering outside the ladies’ room like he was.”

I frown and heave a deep sigh.

“Now, I asked you a question.”

“I had to pee!” I whisper-yell with annoyance. “Not just a little bit either. My life freaking depended on it. So, sorry, but it was either take off for the solace of this bathroom or lift my leg and piss all over Ben Huddleson.”

“Raquel!”

“Well…don’t yell at me. I’m a person, for freak’s sake, and there is a whole other person living on top of my bladder. I make no apologies for things I can’t control.”

Heidi’s eyes narrow with aggravation, but she leaves the argument there. I have a feeling she’d like to take it further, but I also don’t give a shit. As long as she stops badgering me about it, she can be as mad as she wants internally.

“Come on,” she says, putting a hand to my back to get me moving again. “Ben is waiting for you to go inside and last call to be in your seat is in five minutes because they go to air in six. Your table is in the front row, so we can hardly sneak you in afterward.”

I nod and jerk my head forward.

“Let’s go, then.”

I pick my steps carefully, but now that I don’t feel like the lower half of my body is going to explode, navigating the hall seems a lot easier.

Entourages shuffle their stars all around us, moving them with much the same haste Heidi is using on me, and ushers hold doors open gallantly.

Ben paces in front of the doors up ahead and scowls when he sees me approaching. As a star, maybe I’m just used to getting my ass kissed, but on the off chance that it’s not that, I’d like to muse that Ben Huddleson maybe hates me just as much as I hate him.

Like, maybe, just maybe, I’m nothing but a means to an end to him, and he’s constantly rethinking the decision to bank on a pregnant woman for his chance to up his image.

I don’t know, could be wrong, but I don’t exactly feel warm and fuzzy inside any time he looks at me.

With effort, he replaces his scowl with a smile as I come to a stop next to him.

“You get lost or something?” he asks snidely before finishing with a laugh he clearly doesn’t believe in. He’s trying to prove that I shouldn’t take him too seriously, but I can guarantee if my answer doesn’t satisfy him, his anger will be serious enough for the both of us.

“I needed a minute in the ladies’ room,” I say as delicately as I can with an audience of about a dozen people thanks to the congregation of our teams. “I’m ready to go inside now if you are. In fact,” I push, “I’d love to get off my feet, so…” I jerk my head to the door.

“Come on,” Heidi says, stepping into the swirl of shit she can smell coming. Hollywood egos are afoot, and left to our own devices much longer, this might actually start to get ugly. “You’ve got a minute and a half to get to your seats, and I hardly think you’re in the mood to run. Right, Raquel?”

I nod and Ben jerks his head, opening the door and stepping inside without holding it open for me. I make a mental note to order a voodoo doll off Etsy before I go to sleep tonight, and I scan the area to see if I can find Harrison.

Did they lock him up in the dungeon downstairs or something?

Heidi notices my scanning and dawdling and takes me by the elbow to force me to walk toward my seat. Luckily, she talks as she does or there might have been a very impressive reenactment of Silence of the Lambs for all of the Shrine Auditorium to see.

“He’s in the very back with Toby, but I need your word that you’re not going to spend your time looking around for him, Raquel. You’re in the front row of tables, seated next to your fiancé, and you will be on camera a lot. You need to remember who you are and the purpose of all of this, and you need to play the part. You’re an actress, so I know you can do it.”