Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
She shook her head “I want to see sunlight once in a while.” He smiled understandingly. Philip would give her a jacket if he had one. Amy sat down on the bench and Philip took a seat next to her. It was a good thing her hair was done up in a bun, if not her hair would be flapping against her face. “That was really nice what you did for Johnny.”
Philip shrugged like it was no big deal “I do nice things for friends.”
“You haven’t done anything nice for me.” She joked. She looked up and wrinkled her nose when a gust of wind blew roughly across her face. She felt her eye stinging in pain when something flew in there “Ow…” she rubbed it instinctively.
“Something in your eye?” he asked with concern. When she nodded, he pulled her hand away “Don’t rub it.” He took off her glasses to blow out the dust in her eye. “Sit still.” He warned as he opened her left eye widely and blew into it.
She pulled away and began to blink uncontrollably “I think you got some spit in there.” She chuckled.
“I did?” he asked with a grin.
Amy shook her head “No. But I’m okay now.” She blinked a couple of times showing him that she was indeed alright. She smiled happily “Thanks.” Suddenly, he looked oddly at her “What is it? Is there dirt on my face?” she began to wipe her cheek and forehead.
“You look so different without your glasses.” He commented.
She took the frames, which was sitting on the bench between them and quickly put them on “Really?”
He nodded “Much better.” Philip wondered why she never got contacts. “Do you really need them?”
Amy laughed “Of course. I can’t see far.” She lied. She turned away with a look of guilt, she knew the lie was building up each time she made an excuse for herself.
“You should try contact lenses.” He suggested.
“I tried it, it just made my eyes itch.” She closed her eyes at another lie. “Let’s go back inside.” She got up so quickly that she tripped over her own foot.
Luckily Philip was there to catch her. His quick reflexes came into effect as he reached for her hand and pulled her up. Their faces were inches apart, Amy pulled away when she felt a sudden heat traveling up to her face. She was blushing and her heart began to beat faster. He smiled down at her. He saw a figure at the corner of his eyes as he snapped his head up and found a guy with a camera around his neck. “Hey, what are you doing?” he pointed to the guy and quickened his pace when the guy began to run away. Philip was quick to grab him by the shoulder and spun him around “What are you doing here?” he asked angrily gripping onto his shoulder “I could get you arrested for trespassing.”
“Go ahead, call the police.” He tempted Philip in a mocking tone “I won’t go to jail for trespassing but you, Mr. Cheung have just lied to the entire media this morning. And that girl…” he pointed to Amy “She’s going to be on the headlines for her own lies too. My photos will prove it.”
Philip was disgusted with the way he handled his job. He pushed the guy to the ground “Give me the film.” He brought out his hand.
The guy scooted backwards as he shook his head “No. I’ll lose my job. Anyways, this is the best scoop I’ve had since I started being a reporter.”
“I don’t care!” Philip roared angrily “Give me the film or I will use force.” He threatened.
Amy quickly intervened “Philip. Calm down.” She coaxed gently. She bent down to be level with the reporter “Can we have that film please? It is not what you think. He was just helping me because I had dust in my eyes and I was clumsy enough to trip over my own foot. You saw the whole thing, so why would you put a lie in the papers?” she tried to reason with him.
“No. I told you, I will lose my job.” The guy continued to shake his head.
Philip was frustrated by now “Amy, don’t waste your breath on him. He’s got no conscience, he’s a reporter.” He bent down and quickly pulled the camera around the guy’s neck and over his head. The guy tried to reach for his camera but Philip was quick as he snapped his hand away and looked at the device as he opened the film cartridge and pulled it out. He placed the film in his pocket “I’ll keep this. But you can have this back.” He pushed the camera back at the reporter.
Amy didn’t want it to turn out that way, but she didn’t know how else to help the guy. The last thing Philip needed was more trash thrown at him a week prior to his movie premiere. She knew how it felt to be jobless “Hey, how about this? You give me your business card and I’ll speak to your manager about keeping your job?” she offered.
The guy was helpless as he looked at her earnestly “I…” he pointed to Philip’s pocket “I guess I have no choice.” He pulled out a card and handed it to Amy.
She glanced at it “Starz Magazine.” Amy looked up at the guy “You work for one of the top magazines in the industry?” the guy nodded “Then you should know that was very unprofessional to sneak around like that. I would expect that from the paparazzi but not your company.” She gave him a guilt trip.
He lowered his head in shame “It doesn’t matter now, I’m going to lose my job.” He turned quietly and left the station.
Amy turned to Philip with a grim smile “We just made someone jobless.”
“Well, he shouldn’t have done what he did.” He said fairly “That’s just being plain sneaky and he threatened us.”
Amy smiled “Because he was desperate.” She put out her hand “Give me the film.”
“What are you going to do with it?” he asked amusingly.
“None of your business.” She reached in his pocket and pulled it out. “You’ll thank me later.”
He frowned curiously “What are you going to do with it?”
Amy smiled mysteriously “Patience, my little grasshopper.”
********************
The premiere night was bustling with well dressed ladies and gentlemen from managers of the TV station to movie stars that came to support their fellow actor friends. Philip was all smiles when he saw the group that came out of respect for himself as well as his co-workers. The reporters were respectable as they asked the regular questions prior to the movie being showed. “Was there any special sparks with you and Miss Athena Chu?”
Philip expected that question as he threw his head back and laughed “I was hoping this question won’t come so soon.” He smiled at his co-star, who stood next to him while the cameras flashed away. “There were sparks…but it was only between the characters we portrayed. Athena and I are just friends but I have to add that she’s a great actress that I’ve had the pleasure of working with twice.”
Everyone smiled at his great response and one guy raised his hand and Philip quickly acknowledged him “Have you read that article in Starz Magazine about you and your assistant? It was released this morning.”
At the sound of the magazine name, his face fell “I suppose it’s all trash?”
“Actually, it wasn’t.” the guy replied, his face confused “Everyone that I knew said it was wonderfully written. The reporter commended on your professionalism and praised Amy on how she handled the situation when he was caught sneaking photographs without your consent.”
Philip smiled slowly knowing that Amy had something to do with it. He looked around for her and wondered why he didn’t notice she wasn’t there yet. “Speaking of Amy, has anyone seen her?” he asked the crowd. There were bustling of sound and whispers. He looked around and spotted Johnny and Liz around the corner. He waved them over, Johnny pushed his way through the crowd “It’s not like Amy to be so late.” Philip was concerned.
“I know what you mean. I thought you picked her up?” Johnny didn’t recall Amy asking for a ride so he assumed she was going with Philip.
“No, she said she was going to run a little late today because she had some special errands to run.” He shrugged but couldn’t shake the worried expression off his face.
“She’ll be here.” Liz comforted her old boss.
He nodded “I hope so.” As Liz said it, Philip quickly spotted Amy walking across the theatre hall. She was wearing a sky blue dress with a dark blue shawl across her bare shoulders. The silk dress ended right below the knee and she had on sky blue shoes to match her dress. Her hair was pulled back into a French twist and pinned down by tiny flowered sparkling blue clips. She still wore the glasses which didn’t match her outfit at all. Other than that, she looked amazing in Philip’s eyes. “There she is.” He smiled happily that his ‘left arm’ was there. He rushed over to her and realized she was completely out of breath.
“I’m so sorry…” she breathed.
He shook his head “Its okay, I was just getting worried. What was so important?”
He didn’t notice that she was holding a rolled up magazine until she brought it up to him. “Turn to page 26, article one.” Amy said with a grin. He opened the cover and saw ‘Starz Magazine’ on the front. His smile was growing with each word he read. “Looks like you just gain another 100,000 fans.” She joked.
Philip laughed “I already know. One of the reporters just told me. What did you do, Amy?”
She twirled her petite body back and forth with a coy expression “Nothing.” She saw the crowd looking at them “Come on, I think the show is going to start soon.” She automatically linked her arms through his and walked towards the ready crowd. Everyone entered the theatre ready to watch the new movie that had good reviews before there was any talk of a premiere.
After the movie was done, everyone headed out for a shorter press conference. The reporters seemed to be satisfied and saying only good things about the movie. Philip was proud as can be at the outcome. They all headed towards the five star Hilton hotel down the street for an after party. The place was jammed pack and music was blaring away while most people seemed to be having a good time. Amy hung around Johnny and Liz most of the time and they were happy to keep her company.
“Take that off!” Johnny scolded pointing to her glasses “You don’t even need them. It clashes with your dress.”
Amy looked around and saw that Philip was busy talking to other people so she turned to Johnny “Leave me alone.” She clenched her teeth with a look that could burn through walls.
Liz looked from one person to the other, wondering what was wrong “Am I missing something?” she asked while leaning on Johnny’s arm. Her boyfriend whispered something in her ear and she turned to Amy “You have perfect vision?”
She rolled her eyes “You are so nosy!” she scolded Johnny, who stuck his tongue out playfully. “I don’t need them, but I don’t want to appear like a liar in front of Philip. I’ll tell him one day.” She promised.
Liz was grinning slyly “Can I see?”
Amy widened her eyes “No.” she shook her head vehemently. “He’s here.” She nodded towards Philip, who glanced over at her and nodded his head with a smile. He was so charming at times that it made her smile. It seemed she forgot for a few seconds that she was standing with two other people.
“Ahem!” Johnny cleared his throat rudely. “If you want to make googlie eyes with each other, why don’t you hang around him?” he wrapped an arm around Liz’s shoulder and stuck his nose in the air “We don’t want to be anyone’s replacement.” He said haughtily.
Amy laughed as she hit him hard on the stomach, making him curl back in pain “Shut up.”
He turned to Liz “See, how she abuses me?” Johnny was whining.
Liz duplicated Amy’s strike as she aimed for his belly button “Shut up, honey.” The girls laughed while Johnny pouted exaggeratingly.
They were quickly joined by Philip who walked over to join the laughing hyenas “What’s so funny?” he asked with a wide grin.
Johnny pushed his girlfriend into Amy, making them stumble backwards laughing hysterically “Oh Philip, save me from these awful girls.” He leaned on Philip’s chest delicately making the girls roar with laughter again.
Philip leaned away from Johnny with a look of pure strangeness “You’re drooling on my tux.” He pushed Johnny away playfully “You guys didn’t answer me why you were laughing?” The three exchanged knowing glances but none replied, Liz only smiled secretly while Johnny looked away pretending to be interested in the ceiling.
Amy was afraid if she was around those two any longer, they would spill the beans. She smiled at Philip “I’ll tell you later. Let’s go dance.” Before he could respond, she pulled him away with Johnny and Liz staring after them with teasing grins.