"Oh my goodness! Levi thank you so much...these are wonderful," I gushed as my boyfriend handed me a bouquet of flowers.
"Well, it's pretty much a given. That performance was off the charts," Levi smiled and pecked me on the cheek.
I smiled. He always knew what to say to make me happy. "C'mon. Let's go back to my place. I can put these in water... and you can stay the night if you want." I turned back around into my dressing room and gave him a wink before closing the door behind me. I just had to gather a few things before I left. My purse, the flowers, my cell phone, all set.
I closed the door behind me and looked up at Levi. "You ready?" He asked with a sly grin. I smiled and grabbed his hand. We got into the limousine that was waiting for me outside the stage door.
The ride back was quick, the stage only being a few minutes away from my cozy apartment. As we walked up the stairs hastily, ready to get down to the business that was awaiting us behind closed doors, we were interrupted.
"Ahem."
Ugh. My publicist was always popping up at the most inconvenient of times.
"Jackie, what do you want? I'm kind of not in the mood for what you have to say. Levi and I were going to do stuff," I say exasperatedly.
"Whatever, munchkin," god that nickname never wore off, "blondie, can you give us some space?" my publicist asked not very kindly, if I do say so myself.
Levi just awkwardly blew up his cheeks with air and let out the deep breath while walking back down the stairs to the lobby.
I turned back to Jackie, "Okay, what is so important that you had to interrupt my night?"
"Oh, please, like he's any good anyway. But whatever, I have a bomb to drop on you."
I look at her with a bored expression. "Really."
"Yea. You need to dump Levi." She just says that like it's the most common thing to say, like breaking up with your boyfriend of four months is 'business as usual'.
"Wait... What?" I blink my eyes rapidly and check her expression to make sure if she's just playing me or not. "Why?"
She pulls out a briefcase filled with what looks like People magazines, and gestures towards the door for me to open it. When I do, she lays about six issues on the kitchen counter. I'm looking at the magazines in confusion and peer up at Jackie, who is looking at me with expectant eyes. I have no idea what she's trying to get across here. "Okay, what is all this?" I ask, confused.
"Tell me munchkin," she clicks her tongue, "what do you see in these magazines?"
I sift through the contents and the front covers of the issues but see nothing out of the ordinary. Oh! Two of them have an article about Katy Perry and John Mayer's break up. "Just the usual celebrity gossip, is there a problem?"
"Yes, Rachel, there's a big problem. You aren't in any of them. You haven't been for the last six weeks. That is why you need to dump Mr. Model downstairs, because you guys have got to be the most boring celebrity couple ever."
What! "What! Not only is your accusation wrong but why do we have to break up? We're happy! You can't do this," I swear I'm still doing that thing where I blink too much and I'm opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish. I'm just- ugh! I'm furious and depressed all at the same time, because not only am I blindsided, but I know I'll have to do it anyway. Because that damned lady is not gonna give in.
For once, she actually looks down at the floor with a look that appears like sympathy and says, "Listen. I know you're happy, and all that shit. But God so help me, it's my job so please just cooperate. I'm sorry, but he's got to go if you want to be the talk of the town again."
I let out a deep breath. She's right, it's all I've ever wanted. Although I'm happy- was happy- it might not be worth giving up all my dreams.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yea."
"So you'll dump him?"
"We'll not dump him. I'll just get it over with and let him down easy. Stay here, I'll be right back in a few minutes," I say with no emotion as I start to walk back down the stairs to my ex-boyfriend.
"Hey, what was that all about? Is everything fine? You look upset," Levi rushes out as he gets up from the couch in the lobby and walks over to me. It makes me so sad, he's such a caring guy, maybe not the smartest, but a good guy. He doesn't deserve this. He deserves something better than the show-biz girl.
I try and just rip off the band aid as fast as possible, in the nicest way possible. If that's even possible. "...There's no easy way for me to say this," he's looking at me with glassy eyes, like he knows what I'm about to say.
"I really can't say that I saw this coming. Can I ask why?"
"I can't say. But just know that I really do care for you, and I never wanted to hurt you," There's a small tear making it's way down the contour of my cheek. He wipes it away with his thumb. "You're a really good guy, Lee."
"What did she say to you? You can fire her you know, she isn't the boss of you," he pleads, but I know I have to make this clean.
"She didn't say anything," I lie. "But this is over. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude but can you go? This isn't easy for me either."
"I don't get it. But fine, I'll get out of your hair," he says with an angry tone and tries to slam the door of the apartment building behind him, but it just softly closes.
I look at his retreating figure with sadness, and walk back up the stairs. The elevator is under repair. The door is still open when I get to apartment 3F. When I plop back on the couch, Jackie walks over with two glasses of wine.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Isn't it nice to finally be able to do this legally?"
"I guess," I mumble. I turned 21 about a week ago, but the excitement has worn off, for obvious reasons.
"I'm sorry munchkin. It's my job. And you know I never actually say sorry unless I mean it. So no hard feelings?" She pulls me in I rest my head on her chest.
"No, I suppose not. I'm just a little shocked is all," I glanced at the clock on my cable box, "we went from being a happy couple to broken up in less than an hour."
"Did you love him?" She asks.
I think for a moment. I did- still do- care deeply for him, but I can't say I fell in love with him. "I don't think so. But it still hurts."
She takes a sip of her wine while I take a big gulp. "I know how it feels, munchie. You'll get through it, though."
I take another sip and nod.
"I'll be right back. The whole point in this is to create some press, so I guess I should go alert the media."
The fact that just ten minutes ago I broke up with my boyfriend and the whole world will know about it in less than a day makes me a little angry. But I know the drill. This is how life is. I grab the remote to my stereo and immerse myself in the world of Barbra and wine, to calm down. The sound of footsteps echo down from the hallway.
"Hey, I'd expect a few cameras tomorrow. You might not be that big, but this is new news," Jackie says.
"I understand," I mumble.
The redhead sighs. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"
She usually isn't this attentive to my feelings so I decide to take advantage of it. "Can you just talk to me? I need some distractions."
She sits down on the chair across from me and smiles. "I know you're in a bad mood but I have just the thing to distract you," she opens up my laptop sitting on the coffee table and clicks a few buttons. "Here you go."
She flips the computer in my direction and I look at the screen. A smile comes to my lips, it's the fan's reviews from tonight's show. Many of them are about me, and almost none are negative. It's things like these that make me happy, unconditionally.
Rachel's voice is like angels! Wonderful show, definitely worth it. -brdwybb2
Berry stole the show, the cast wuz great, but Rachel was fanTAStic. I'll most def be in the audience again soon. She was also great in The Giver. I'm her #1 fan! -rblove12
That one made me smile. The fans always make me the happiest person ever. It was also nice to hear about The Giver. It was my first and only movie I've ever starred in, and that was back in 2014, two years ago. I played Fiona, and was incredibly odd, how I looked with red hair. That was around the time I had the most press, with Giver and Spring Awakening. I played the lead in that production. Right now, it's obviously I'm in a rut with publicity. I'm only in Wicked as Elphaba at the moment, and Broadway has never gotten much press. That's also why I just had to break up with Levi...
Break up with Levi...
Tears prickle at my eyes again and I close the laptop in front of me.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Jackie asks, confused. "The reviews are great!"
I sniffle, "It's not the reviews, it's Levi."
"Oh god, do you want to watch a movie or something?"
"Sure, whatever."
Jackie puts in Funny Girl, which makes me laugh. I must have seen this movie a thousand times but I still love it to death.
"I promise it'll get better. If it doesn't, I'll make it happen," Jackie says with a rare sense of compassion.
"Hope so. How're you gonna make that happen?" I ask with a small smile.
"I have my ways."
"Okay, Jack," I laugh. "You keep saying that."