It was early evening in L.A, and in amongst the swell of vehicles, Alex's car stood in a rush hour traffic jam.
"Come on!" said Alex, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. "I'm going to be so late."
As another car turned round, she made her decision. She would go the longer route, as it would be inevitably less busy. She let the car in front of her go forward before she turned round, and headed of in the opposite direction.
Alex glanced at the clock on the dashboard. 5.25. She had five minutes to do a ten minute journey, great. Racing down streets, she finally got to Salome's school, only a couple of minutes late. She quickly greeted the teacher standing at the gate before rushing in and getting a seat. Luckily, there was one at the front next to someone she knew fairly well.
"Hi Wendy." She said sitting down by her.
"Oh hi Alex!" She replied. "Our kids have got lead parts!"
"Who's Tommy Playing?" She asked, taking off her cardigan. It was sweltering in the school hall.
"He's Edmund! I'm so exited for him!" Said Wendy, rubbing her hands together.
Just then, the door opened, and out of the corner of her eye, Alex caught sight of a young man entering. But that hair was strangely familiar. Oh of corse, he'd never disappoint Salome.
Matt just went to the back and leant against the wall. Alex could feel his eyes boring into him.
"Alex? Alex? Are you okay?" Asked Wendy, looking concerned.
"Yeah, yeah, just feel a bit faint, I was ill yesterday, only a twenty four hour virus, but it's left me with a head ache." Said Alex reassuringly.
"Oh you poor thing! Do you want some pain killers?" She said sympathetically.
"I've got some thanks, when is the show due to start?" Alex said, still aware of Matt watching her.
"Oh, not for a while yet. One of the kids lost their costumes." Said Wendy. "Probably about ten minutes."
"Okay, thanks, I'm going to get some fresh air." Said Alex, standing up and rushing from the hall.
She went outside to the playground and sat on one of the benches, just relaxing in the sun.
'Ten minutes to pull myself together.' She thought, brushing a stay curl from her face.
Listening to the birds cheering and the trees rustling, Alex was starting to feel better when the door behind her opened, and through it came an obviously worn out Matt.
"Alex, don't run when your scared, rule seven." Said Matt, grabbing Alex's wrist as she stood up to leave.
"Matt, the shows about to start, I-"
"I checked with the teacher, it's going to be another fifteen minutes." Matt said, cutting her off. "I need to just speak to you."
Alex nodded her head and went and sat back down again, Matt coming to join her.
"Alex, I'm not going to sugar coat this, or lie to you. You have a right to know why I kissed you." Said Matt, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I love you Alex. At first, I thought it was just a silly little crush, I mean, look at you! Your magnificent! Your looks your personality, everything about you is perfect. I love your daughter like she's my own, and as time went on, I started to realise my crush had turned into something more."
He paused for a moment, waiting for her to object, but when she didn't, he continued. "I couldn't eat or sleep thinking about what happened. I couldn't bare the thought of you getting hurt. Alex, I love you, more than anything else, and every time I'm with you, I get lost in you, your eyes, your smile, your laugh, your everything, and Alex, I love you." Finished Matt, now crying.
Hesitantly, he looked up, not sure what to expect. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy.
Nobody spoke for a while, until Alex broke the silence and said "Matt, you don't love me, just like the rest. Your too young, you confuse lust for love and can't say you love me. You can never say you love me." She was starting to shout now, feeling angry with Matt as well as herself.
"You would just use me! Then drop me like a stone when you find someone younger and prettier. You'd cheat on Daisy for a woman nearly twenty years older. Matt, you don't love me, so don't ever, ever say that to me."
She stood up and left without another word, tears pouring down her cheeks, her face red and blotchy, eyes puffy, leaving Matt sobbing, all alone.
-xXx-
When Alex re-entered the school hall, she was smiling a bit to enthusiastically, but nobody seemed to notice, all to exited about the play soon to start.
'Thank god I'm an Actress.' She thought to herself, pretending to be busy with her handbag so she wouldn't have to talk to anyone. She really wasn't in the mood.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt slip back in, but she just ignored him. She defiantly wasn't in the mood for him either.
The lights went down and the performance began, Salome delivering her lines expertly. She was defiantly the best one there. She looked delighted at the end when they took their bows, a huge grin on her face laughing and waving along with everybody else, and when they finally got off the stage and back into the classroom, Salome started chattering excitedly to Emma, who had done a spectacular job at being Susan.
"It was great, wasn't it!" She exclaimed happily, taking the clip out of her hair.
"Fantastic!" Replied Emma, with a just as big grin.
"I was so glad I didn't mess up! It took me ages to learn the lines, and when to go on and off, but we did it!" finished Salome triumphantly.
"Yes we did!" Said Emma, putting on her jeans. "Anyway Salome, I've got to go, I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye!" Said Salome, waving her off.
She was just getting into her dress when a voice sounded behind her.
"Well done on your performance, you were really good." It was two girls from the year above Salome.
"Thank you!" said Salome. "I worked very-" But her voice faltered when she saw the angry expressions on their faces.
"You didn't let me finish. You were good, but I would have been better because I'm older than you." She said, advancing on Salome and backing her into a corner.
"I auditioned like everyone else and-"
"Shut up, stupid. Just because we don't have famous Mums to get us everywhere in life." She said, grasping Salome's arm so she couldn't escape. "Oh, of corse they wanted Alex Kingston's daughter, it was just to make them look good you realise?" She spat at her.
"I-I-" said Salome, but she didn't know what to say.
"Your worthless, you realise that? You'd be nothing without your mummy."She said, drawing her fist back and punching Salome in the face. As she pulled back to punch again, Salome wriggled free, and raced out of the class room and down the corridor to where all the parents stood, blood trickling out of her nose and a fresh bruise blossoming on her cheek.
"Matty!" She called out, as he turned around and looked at her face.
"Poppet, what the hell happened!" he asked, grasping her shoulders to stop her from toppling over.
She didn't say anything, instead burying her face in his chest and started sobbing.
"Come on, we'll get a first-aider to sort you out." He said soothingly, rubbing circles on her back in an attempt to calm her down.
A million thoughts were racing through Matt's mind. How did Salome end up like this? What would Alex say? God, he was going to have to talk to her sooner than he would have liked. He planed on giving her some space for a couple of days, and the apologising and hoping everything could go back to the way it was.
Reaching the office, he flung open the doors and to his dismay, there was no-one there.
Matt gently placed Salome in a chair, and said "I'll be right back Poppet." And with that, he was out the door again.
He located a teacher and quickly explained what happened, before rushing off to find Alex.
Racing through the corridors, he couldn't find her anywhere. Deciding she wasn't in the building, he started his search outside. Seeing a silhouette with a mass of curly hair on the field, Matt ran to catch up with her.
"Alex!" He shouted.
"Matt, I'm really not in the mood right now." She said, not looking at Matt.
"No Alex, it's not about that, it's Salome, she's hurt." Said Matt, panting.
"What happened?" Asked Alex, her mood changing from sad to stricken in a heart beat.
"I don't know." He replied, running his hand through his hair. "She won't tell anyone."
"Ok." She said franticly, rushing off with Matt at her heels.
Bursting into the office, she only looked at Salome, disbelief written all over her face.
"Was ist passiert? bist du in Ordnung? oh, süssling, komm, komm zu Mama." Said Alex, holding out her arms and holding her daughter.
"Come on, Süssling, let's get you home." She said, walking out of the door without a further word to Matt.