"Oh, fuck yes," Kim moaned.
She instantly cupped her hands over her mouth, embarrassed by the less-than-appropriate noise that came out from her mouth. Surveying the dressing room in front of her to make sure she was alone, she locked the door behind her before stepping closer to the treasure that lay before her.
After all precautions were taken, she opened the box of margherita pizza that her assistant had no doubt left for her, and stuffed the first slice into her mouth without removing any of the makeup caked on her skin. She hadn't eaten in nearly twelve hours. Could anyone blame her for pigging out?
Being a movie star, Kim was often restricted from eating meals like this, and was instead forced to have salads or unseasoned chicken, even in her downtime. She realized quickly into her rise to fame that it was the little things like this that mattered.
"Kim?" She heard her manager, Jason, call out from the hall, voice muffled by the locked door. "Kim?" He repeated, this time now in front of her dressing room door and knocking.
Mouthful of food, Kim quickly closed the box of pizza, now looking for a way out of the room. That man could tell when she'd been eating food out of her diet- she wasn't about to get caught. Last time she was caught, he didn't leave her side for months, and added an extra day at the gym to her week.
"Kim? Why do I smell pizza?" He rapped harder on the door, more insistent, "Kim, you're about to do a swimming scene next! And we haven't even gotten your makeup off yet!"
She toyed with the thought of hiding out in her washroom, but he was bound to check in there.
Just as she was about to give up and open the door, she spotted the open window from across the room, and bolted to the table to grab her pizza. Making a snap decision, she threw the pizza out the window, and climbed through the window after it, not wanting to give up the box after only one slice.
Once outside, she landed neatly next to the pizza box, and dusted her knees of any dirt she accumulated from climbing through the window.
Wow, she thought, as she straightened her legs to stand up to her full height, never thought I'd be so desperate to eat a pizza.
She took one last glance at her dressing room through the open window, before picking up her pizza box and making her way to the south building, where all the offices were.
No one would think to find her there.
Feeling like an undercover spy, she burst through the side door of the south building, the one that she knew was rarely used.
She double checked each corner she went through, even though she already knew that it would be empty from the halls she chose, them being the ones with the least amount of traffic.
Just as she ran through the last hall to her dad's office, she saw Tommy Oliver, Mr. Oliver's son, exiting his father's office, which had been adjacent to her own father's.
They'd grown up together, and for some time, the media and general public had thought they'd been some kind of power couple. Then, he'd come out as gay and extremely in love with Zack Taylor, a famous ex-boyband member, and Kim could finally be seen as available on Hollywood's market.
Regardless of their weird past, Kim figured they were still on pretty good terms, considering they weren't actual exes.
Which is why she found herself confused when Tommy screamed at the sight of her.
"Tommy, what the hell?" Kim whispered, completely bewildered by his actions when he backed away so fast, he fell on his bum. They'd seen each other last week at his father's weekend brunch, and he seemed pretty amicable with her then.
"Kim?" He asked, from his position on the floor.
"Yeah, what're you doing, dumbass? Jason's gonna find me!"
"Jason? Ha ha, Kimmy," he said sarcastically, letting Kim help him off the floor. "I'm not afraid of Jason Voorhees anymore. This is a shitty prank."
Confused by the sudden reference of the slasher film character, Kim started to question him, "what? No, you dumb baby, why're you being so weird-?"
But then she was cut off by Jason Scott's voice, no doubt looking for her after she'd disappeared. "Kim?" He called out, getting closer.
"-fuck. Whatever," Kim said hastily, letting Tommy fall back not-too-gracefully back onto his ass. "Don't let Jason see me."
"I told you Kim, I'm not afraid of Jason Voorhees!"
She gave him one last weird look, before rolling her eyes at him and running into her dad's office.
"Kim-? Oh, hey, Tom," Jason said, once he saw the taller boy on the floor, "you seen Kim?"
"Oh, she meant you," Tommy muttered under his breath, glancing quickly at the door she'd disappeared behind. "Um, no, I haven't."
Jason narrowed his eyes suspiciously, noticing Tommy hadn't stopped staring at the door behind him.
"You sure?" He asked Tommy slowly, reaching for the door in question.
"Yes, and I wouldn't go in there," Tommy warned, when Jason tried to push the door open. "Mr. Hart gets pissed when anyone, Kim included, steps in there. So imagine what'd happen if you did."
He glared at Tommy for a minute, trying to see who would break first. When he was sure Tommy hadn't been bluffing, he dropped his hand from the knob, and sighed.
"Okay, let me know if you do. Everyone's looking for her, and I think she's been eating pizza."
"Will do," Tommy said, seeing Kim's shadow from under the door, knowing she'd been listening in on the conversation.
When she'd heard Tommy's retreating footsteps after Jason's, she sat behind her father's desk, moving his keyboard and binders away to make room for her pizza box.
The computer screen would have to do for lights, or else someone would've come in and investigated why there were lights on in her dad's office when he was meant to be in Australia right now. She figured he wouldn't mind a few crumbs here and there, since he owed her for agreeing to show up to his press conference on Sunday.
Halfway through her second slice, she looked at the closed door then, trying to keep watch on any intruders.
Ted Hart, the translucent window on the door said.
It wasn't common knowledge that Ted Hart was her father. She'd opted to not take his last name when she went into acting, not wanting people to assume she only had the job she had because of her father. Instead, she was known as Kimberly Ann, and no one really knew they were related unless they dug deep on either of their Wikipedia pages.
The sight of a shadow came into view on the door, effectively stopping Kim's thoughts and heartbeat.
She barely had time to drop her pizza slice back onto the box before the door was opening, and the lights were on.
"La hostia!" The intruder gasped when she saw Kim, dropping all of her papers onto the floor, and clutching at her heart.
Kim had never seen this woman before in her life, but one thing that she was sure of was how much she was regretting that they were meeting like this. She was cute, in a babyish sort of way, but her fitted white blazer and cream shirt made her look much older, and the glasses on her face kept her from looking anything under 23.
Then, the woman's eyes narrowed, the bun on top of her head teetering as she did so, and her hand dropped to her side.
"You are in so much trouble," she started, and Kim felt her heart race out of panic this time, not thirst. "Should I call security?"
"It's not what it looks like!" Kim said, shutting the pizza box quickly, as if that would hide her crimes from this woman's all seeing eyes.
"Oh?" She questioned, and pushed her glasses up, looking every bit like Kim's secret librarian fantasy, "so you're not an extra from the film next door, hoping that Mr. Hart will miraculously take time out of his busy day to get you some connections in Hollywood?"
Kim's mouth opened and closed helplessly, similar to that of a fish. Did this girl really think she was an extra?
"Excuse me," Kim said, feeling offended at the audacity of it all. Had she never seen any of Kim's films? Movie posters? "I'll have you know-"
"-it doesn't matter," the woman interrupted her, waving her off carelessly. "Mr. Hart isn't even in the country right now, and he won't be until this Saturday."
Kim rolled her eyes, waiting for the realization to sink in that she was Kimberly Ann, academy-award winning actress.
When it didn't come, and the intruder only glared harder, Kim sat up straighter, looking her dead in the eye. "Do you even know who I am?"
"I don't know, honestly?" She said, looking genuinely annoyed and confused, "did you play a minor role instead of an extra role on some film or something?"
Although Kim wasn't really one to flaunt her fame around obnoxiously, she just really wanted to eat her pizza in peace, and this girl was not making it any easier for her.
The woman continued with her sentence, shrugging, "it's kind of hard to tell when you have all that fake blood covering your face."
Oh right, Kim remembered, suddenly conscious of the heavy makeup caked on her face, I still haven't removed it… that would explain Tommy's earlier reaction.
"Whatever," the actress said, deciding none of it was worth explaining anymore, "I'm just here to eat pizza, so don't mind me."
"What- you- you can't eat in here," the intruder sputtered, looking appalled and angry at the same time.
"I won't make a mess, jeez," Kim assured her, opening up the pizza box again to finish her slice. "Here, I'll even share it with you," she added, when she saw the other girl eye the box hungrily.
"I'm not hungry," she said stiffly, standing by the door awkwardly.
Kim didn't even dignify that with a response, and instead raised a brow at her when her stomach grumbled loudly.
"Okay, fine," she conceded surprisingly easily, sitting in the chair across from Kim and readily grabbing a slice of pizza. Kim guessed that she, too, had a long day.
"So, can I get your name after you just wolfed down half of my pizza in," Kim looked at the computer screen for the time, "7 minutes?"
The woman grinned sheepishly, wiping at her mouth delicately as if she hadn't just tried to shove all four slices in her mouth like a burrito earlier, "sorry, I haven't eaten since 12," she apologized, "and it's Trini."
Kim nodded, completely understanding her pain, "I feel you- I've been filming since 8 and haven't eaten since," she said, dropping her napkin into the now empty pizza box.
"That was 12 hours ago," Trini said, incredulous, "maybe the life of an extra is harder than I thought."
Kim groaned, "I know, " she agreed, pausing to burp loudly, to Trini's amusement, "I just wanna go home."
Trini leaned back in her chair, placing her hands over her now bloated stomach, "I'd be down for a nap, if I'm honest," then she tilted her head to the side, in a questioning manner, "are you even allowed to be off set right now?"
"I wasn't even allowed to eat that pizza."
Trini laughed at that, and Kim found that she liked the sound of it. She smiled, about to continue with that sentence, when her phone vibrated.
Jason Scott (8:18pm):
kim i KNOW ur in ur dads office and im 99% sure youve been eating pizza but regardless of this fact everybody is looking for u and NO one is happy
Her face quickly transformed into a frown, and she begrudgingly stood up from her relaxed seat, forcing herself to go back to work.
"What's up?" Trini asked, noticing Kim's sudden change in mood.
"I have to go back on set," the actress sighed, cleaning up the mess she'd made on her father's desk, "they're all waiting for me."
Trini whistled, impressed, "never knew extras could be in such high demand."
"You know I'm not actually an extra, right?" Kim asked, unsure if Trini was joking or not.
"Yeah," Trini agreed easily, looking completely serious, "and I'm an up-and-coming indie director.
Kim hesitated, before accepting the information. It didn't sound completely untrue- she didn't know the names of any indie directors, or even how they looked like.
"Great," Kim said, trying to keep her tone light so it wouldn't sound like she doubted Trini's words or believed them, "so I guess I'll see you around."
"Mhm," Trini hummed, still sitting as she watched Kim exit the room.
She'd barely walked two steps away from her office before she retraced her steps, finding Trini already out of her seat, cleaning up the papers she'd dropped earlier.
"Welcome back," Trini remarked from her position on the floor, giving Kim a small smile.
"Hey, um," Kim said, bending down to help Trini clean up the various sheets of paper strewn about on the floor, "I was just thinking out in the hallway-"
"-for the two seconds you were out there?" Trini interrupted, looking amused.
"-whatever, yeah," Kim playfully rolled her eyes, "and I just wanted to tell you that you're kind of cute."
Trini ceased her movements then, the papers forgotten, "and?" she prodded, looking like she was trying not to laugh.
Kim felt her face heat up from embarrassment, and she was glad the makeup on her face covered her flushed face, " and I was wondering if you were free this Saturday."
She raised a brow at Kim, her glasses moving along with the action. Kim tried not to focus too much on how much more attractive that made the other girl look.
"Are you asking me out?"
"If I say yes," Kim said slowly, trying to read Trini's reaction to every word she said before being direct, "does that mean you will, too?"
Trini chuckled, shaking her head as she went back to cleaning up the papers, "I don't even know your name."
Kim coughed, realizing she may have jumped the gun by asking this girl out when she didn't even have the basics down yet. So she definitely had no clue that Kim wasn't an extra. "Oh, right. It's, um, Kim."
"Well, Kim," Trini started, and Kim was surprised that Trini still hadn't registered that Kim was Kim, as in Kimberly Ann, "I would love to go out, but unfortunately, I've got a gala to attend this Saturday. What about Sunday?"
"Er, no good," Kim scrunched her face up, regretting her choice to attend her father's press conference on Sunday, "but which gala are you going to? Is it the masquerade one- the Secret Party ?"
Trini stood up then, finally having finished gathering up all the papers in her arms, "yeah…" she trailed off, "how'd you know?"
Kim mirrored her position, now back to her full height, and handing Trini the papers she'd collected, "I have to go, too."
"Really?" She questioned, doubtfully.
"Yes," Kim assured her, trying not to feel too giddy about feeling like an actual undercover spy, hiding her identity. She loved the plot of Hannah Montana, after all- and this was the first person who wanted to date her for her, not her fame. No wonder Miley had a double life. "We can go together, if you want."
The shorter girl blushed then, shyly tucking a flyaway hair from her bun behind her ear, "okay."
Kim felt her phone vibrate again, and she knew it was Jason without even looking at it.
"Here," Kim said, handing Trini her phone while taking the papers from Trini's arms to put on a nearby desk, "put your number in, I'll text you, and then you can text me your address. I'll pick you up, okay?"
Normally, Trini wasn't impulsive, and wouldn't be one to give a stranger her number that she barely knew the name of, whose face she didn't even know, but she had to make a snap decision.
Before she knew it, her number was in Kim's phone, and she was left standing alone in Mr. Hart's office, now with a date to her first Hollywood gala on Saturday.
Saturday night had come faster than Kim had expected, and she was only a little ashamed to be early to show up to Trini's apartment.
"Wow, didn't know extras got paid so well," Trini remarked, once she stepped into the limo.
"Yeah…" Kim agreed, grimacing as she did so. She would've picked Trini up herself, but unfortunately for her, she'd never bothered learning how to drive, and thus, did not own a car. An uber was too tricky too, the fear of the driver recognizing Kim despite her mask for the party.
Trini didn't notice Kim's weird reaction, instead amazed by all the free drinks and snacks offered to her by the limo. "I can't believe you've got Kinder Eggs in here- aren't these illegal in America?"
"I'm not a criminal," Kim said quickly, still grateful for the change in topic, "the chocolate's just really good, and the toys are kind of fun to build, okay?"
They rode the rest of the ride in easygoing conversation, cracking jokes and puns to keep it interesting.
The ride was relatively quick, having only been ten minutes away from Trini's house. If she'd really wanted to, she could've walked.
Once inside the gala, Trini had to pretend to not be so mesmerized by how lavish the party seemed to be. Everybody had gone all out, and not one person was maskless. She felt like she was on an episode of Gossip Girl.
They were just in the middle of discussing the likeness of the party to that of Hilary Duff's A Cinderella Story, when Trini grabbed a crabcake off of one of the moving platters, and turned to Kim, suddenly very serious.
"I just realized- I've never actually seen your face properly," Trini said, now realizing that she knew virtually nothing about the stranger before her, and probably should've been more skeptical about having gotten into a car with her earlier.
Kim struggled to think of a reply then, trying to think of what Miley would do to keep her Hannah identity secret, when Trini interrupted her, saving her from saying something stupid.
"Oh, sorry, hang on, Kim, I just saw my boss- I need to go say hi," Trini said, before finishing her crabcake.
Kim let her go easily, having just noticed her father walk into the gala with Mr. Oliver, "yeah, no problem, I'll just go say hi to my dad while you do that."
She made her way over to where her father and Mr. Oliver were standing, only to look behind her to see Trini trailing closely behind her.
Trini's brows were furrowed behind her mask, confused at how they were walking in the same direction.
"This is awkward," Kim joked, gesturing between the two of them to acknowledge they were still walking in the same direction.
"Yeah," Trini chuckled awkwardly, the coincidence of it all a funny situation. "Thanks for escorting me," she joked back, once they were nearing earshot of Mr. Oliver and Mr. Hart.
Kim gave her a weird look when they came to a standstill just in front of her father, and Mr. Oliver. She shrugged anyway, moving forward to greet them both, assuming Mr. Oliver was Trini's boss. It was pretty convenient. This way, she could say hi to her father, while introducing him to her date.
"Hey, Mr. Oliver, hey dad," Kim greeted the men, hugging them both as she did so.
Trini choked on her own spit as Kim said the words, her eyes widening. Wait, dad -?
Kim released her embrace on her father, and pulled back to introduce Trini to the two men. She didn't notice the panicked look on Trini's face.
"This is my date, Trini," Kim said, somehow unaware of the looks on both her date's and her father's face.
They spoke at the same time, effectively confusing both Mr. Oliver and Kim.
"What-?" Trini choked out finally, realizing what was happening.
"What?" Mr. Hart spat out, looking between Trini and Kim. He finally rested his gaze on Trini, who shrunk back slightly.
"You're dating my daughter?! "