Girls on Film
Successful people strive no matter what they feel.
The Journalist's POV
"I've arrived" I gasped as the buggy door opened
I guess you'll want to know who I am, well my name is Unique nothing more or less, that's who I am, and I've outdone around two hundred and fifty other Journalists to get to do this exposé on no other than America's sweetheart, Mercy Evans nee Jones the triple threat artist, officially known as Mercy, who is married to the Sam Evans, a rather handsome, faithful, secretive guitarist and singer in one of the top bands in the world right now, and that's great on its own, but when I found out she was doing the interview during a weekend with friends, I was past excited.
When I heard that Tina Chang the renowned designer who is married the world's number one all-round superhero, singer, dancer, and actor, Mike Chang, and Rachel Berry, nee Hudson, nee Weston nee Berry again, who's relationship history left us all spinning last year, were going to be here, and the gloves were off, this turned into a career goals assignment.
It had been agreed that I could ask the lady any questions I needed to ask to get a story everyone would want to read, but I couldn't use anything Tina or Rachel shared without their explicit consent, and the odds against me getting a juicy story without their input were low, so I was up against it. The theme was girls on film, but these women had been in theatre, panto, music, film and of course love, and I was about to turn a stone on all subjects, especially the love topic.
Today I'd gotten a call twenty minutes before the car arrived recommending that I bring swimwear and sunscreen, and at ten thirty sharp, a car picked me up from my apartment, the car wasn't anything overly special, but the ninety-minute journey was comfortable. I got to the venue and got frisked before I walked through the gates into a buggy to make the last rung of the trip to the front door.
I got out the car, as I said earlier, and gasped "I've arrived"
There was a guy waiting at the door, who started talking as soon as I got off the buggy "It's a girls reunion weekend, they haven't been able to get together for just over two years" he took a breath "Miss Evans likes to be addressed as Mercy, and you have permission to call her friends Tina and Rachel" he stopped and looked at me "Understood?"
"Yes" I smiled as he slapped a notebook at my chest
"And please no questions about the situation with Rachel's ex's, wait for her to bring them up, and stay positive"
"Positive" I nodded
"Good luck" he walked away "Oh" he turned to look at me again "Melt into the background"
"Background" I registered the command before stepping towards the front door
The place was more of a mansion than a house, I stepped into the echoing hallway and stood looking at the curved stairs trying to decide which route to take to the same destination. I waited for a while, but no one came through, so I decided to melt into the background, I took the left flight and made my way upstairs. The stairs met again in the middle of the landing and led to more stairs I went up to see what was waiting, and found that the view was breathtaking, there was a summer house at the top of the building I was walking on the glass floor, which formed the ceiling from the front entrance below me, I hadn't noticed it when I was downstairs. The view was amazing I was looking out at green for as far as the eye could see, with a building that might have been stables or something like that about a half a mile away.
Eventually I was forced to return to the first floor, the curved landing, had seven doors leading off it, I wondered around trying to get my bearing, first door on the left was the entrance to a fully equip gym, the three bedrooms that followed were all un-suite, in pastel colours, housing the usual furniture. The fifth was obviously the master bedroom and the sixth room was a child's room, the last door was some sort of games room, with every gadget you could think of laying around or hung up, I assumed those last two rooms belonged to their son Adam. The hallway and stairs walls were like an art gallery with pictures of them, their child, I saw Rachel on the wall with her son Finn, that was another tragic story, his father had passed away before knowing he existed, but from the recent pictures I'd seen he looked very much like his father. Tina, Mike, and who I could only assume was young Gina, were set to the right of Rachel and Finn's picture, and as I made my way back downstairs there were other pictures of other couples, families, single people, all of whom I knew nothing, but there were stories behind every set of eyes.
Back downstairs from right to left there was another games room, with pool table, darts, board games maybe for the older visitors, next to that a huge living room with single, double, corner suites all the same colour dotted about with tables, lamps, ornaments, and scatter cushions, it had a definite social feel to it.
Leaving that room, I entered what I could only describe as the biggest kitchen you'd ever want to see in a house, with a sixteen-seat dining table adjoined through an alcove, a bowl of fresh fruit sat in the middle of it. The next door was clearly a well-used music room, music sheets, instruments, a grand piano dominated the centre of the room, and a small stage, again another social space.
The outside space had a porch that started at the kitchen and worked its way around the curve of the house to the living room, it was to die for. The large pool straight ahead of me didn't take light off the eight-seat hot tub outside the kitchen window, and the bult in BBQ near the living room patio doors, with picnic table and chairs to suite the occasion, provided the beginnings of some fun evenings. Down the perfectly mowed lawn there was what looked like a maze, just on the paved area below the porch there was three large couches around a grand fire pit, healthy plants and trees surrounding various parts making them private, or even serene.
I was privy to everything for the next twenty-four hours, but I knew what this was all about, I'd done my homework; after the tragic loss of her first love, Rachel had married Brody Weston a well-known producer for nearly five years, and she became a well sort after celebrity in the movie business. Two years ago, the relationship had broken down, if there were warning signs no one outside their circle saw them, it was a shock to the world. Whatever happened, they went to public war, it turned out to be a bitch of a divorce, very messy, and after everything was over, she made the public decision to take some time out, although word on the street had it that her ex-husband had made sure the business had closed the doors to her. The world was led to believe that to be true when Rachel went radio silent for a while, but it seemed like her friends were reaching out to her, trying to get her back into the public eye, show the world another side to the woman, hence she was attending the interview.
On the upside, recently it had hit the tabloids that she was seeing this new guy, going by the name Jessie St James, nobody knew very much about him, but the word on the street was that he was a mixed bag, the kind of guy that acted like he'd slept with every woman in the room, he was a very attractive, attentive, man, and most importantly very tuned in to what his girl needed, according to Brody and company, I'd only seen one picture, but they looked like they were the cutest couple.
"Unique" a voice echoed through the house I knew it was my host
"Mrs... I mean Mercy" I turned in the direction the voice was coming from eager to meet the woman in person "Thank you for this opportunity" I smiled when she came into view, her perfect gleaming groomed hair drew my attention while she floated towards me. I grabbed her hand and noticed her nails, they were perfectly manicured as if freshly done this minute, they matched perfectly with her skirt suit, and even that looked like it had been made on her body "Beautiful" escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
"Thank you" she smiled "Welcome to my home" she looked around the perfectly dressed cream and wood patio "Feel free to walk around, ask questions, lunch is a little late today my friends should arrive around one and we'll eat as soon as they're settled"
"Thank you" I smiled not wanting to let on that I'd already been rude enough to walk around without permission. I did the rounds again this time taking the time to look around the upstairs bathrooms and grab a cold drink from the kitchen before making my way back onto the patio. I sat out basking in the sun for a while, wishing I'd had the guts to step into my swimsuit to take advantage of the empty pool that very second
I must have dosed off or something, because the next thing I heard was the doorbell ringing impatiently, the noise reminded me I was doing a job. Suddenly there were laughs, cries and screams as the ladies reunited, it pulled at my heart strings. I got up and made my way to the door, distracted for a second by the smell of food as I walked through the kitchen, I was ready to kick into action "Oh" Mercy turned as I walked towards them "This is Unique, our journalist"
Tina was dressed nothing like I expected, blue denims and a white blouse with 'Mommy Bear' written across the chest of it, and flats. Rachel donned some red denims and a matching top with red bottom shoes, if I had to name the look, I'd call it casual but expensive. I filled up when they hugged me instead of just saying hi, I was one of the girls already, a working girl, but one, nevertheless.
"Sorry" Tina told me, like there was anything to be sorry about "I'm the emotional one, I cry at the drop of a hat" she laughed
"They both are" Mercy laughed "Give them a couple of hours that pool will be overflowing" she pointed out towards the patio
"So, Unique, what's the title of your piece?" Rachel enquired
"Girls on Film" I smiled
"Perfect" Tina clapped her hands together
"What's so good about that?" Rachel asked confused with her reaction
"It's an opportunity" Tina grinned
"To?" Rachel enquired
"Re-runs, to go back in time, you know, where it all began" Tina told them
"God no, I have other plans" Mercy gasped rolling her eyes
"God yes" Rachel laughed "Great idea" she hugged Tina again
"Oh God yes" Tina giggled pleased with herself as she punched the air
"We were singing about things we knew nothing about" Mercy rolled her eyes
"You mean you didn't know about" Rachel reminded her
"Oh, the dreaded S word" Tina whispered.
"Is there a story there?" I butted in, pulling back as all three looked at me
"No" Mercy smiled at me
"Virginity" Tina looked at Mercy smiling
"Naivety" Mercy smiled back
"Where's Finn?" Tina asked changing the topic
"Grandparents, he knew Adam wasn't here, didn't want to listen to us" Rachel smiled
"Sam's taken Adam on his first overnight fishing trip, I'm excited for them" Mercy told them
"And of course Gina's with Mike's sister, she enjoys being around her cousins" Tina added
"I smell food" Rachel walked off towards it "Where's the kitchen?"
Left" Mercy told her
Lunch was light with lots of like conversation, I learnt that Mercy and Sam got married six years ago and had their son Adam five years ago. Sam had cancelled the last two shows of his tour around that time, I remembered because that was front line news, and until now no one knew why. Sam Evans the family man, didn't suit somehow, because he was every girl's dream, no wonder they'd kept that quiet.
Tina let me know that she'd married Mike while she was pregnant with their daughter, it was the intention to have more children, but to date timing wasn't on their side. While Rachel sat talking about the horrible life she'd had with Brody, thanking everything within her that there was no real collateral damage to her son, who had spent most of his childhood so far with his grandparents. I sat scribbling notes as the three ladies retired to the sauna at the back of the gym with large classes of red wine, discussing family and friends from their past.
"So" I finally sat down on the couch opposite the three women, two hours later, ready to interrogate "You ladies met at school?"
"Yes" Rachel replied
"If you don't mind me saying, you don't come across as a typical group of friends, what brought you together?"
"Football" Mercy laughed
"You played football?" I couldn't hide the surprise in my voice.
"Actually, we did once" Tina smiled at the memory "But no, Mike, Sam and Finn were in the school team"
"The letterman jacket?" I pointed out the door remembering seeing one in Finn's room
"Funny to think that before they were about anything else, they were about football" Tina smiled "Now our lives are so different"
"You said you'd played football?" I asked Tina
"We also cheerlead; doesn't mean to say we were good at any of it" Rachel laughed
"Speak for yourself" Mercy laughed
"Okay" Rachel laughed "I wasn't any good at it"
"Neither were we" Tina added looking at Mercy.
"But we still saved the day" Mercy smiled
"Talking about saving the day" Tina looked at Rachel "Tell us more about this Jessie guy we're dying to meet"
"Seriously?" Mercy asked at her lack of subtlety
"What?" Tina asked agitated "We all want to know" she looked at me expecting me to voice an opinion, I didn't have one, I was sat ready to scribe
"Okay" Rachel butted in stopping Mercy from taking Tina to task "He did my garden" she announced
"Very Queen Charlotte" Mercy laughed
"Not like that" Rachel laughed "He literally did my garden, "Well, he didn't do it himself, his firm did my garden, we'd met a couple of times before the work started, he approached me, very confident, and asked me out, drinks" she laughed "That old cherry" she looked at Mercy "But it worked, I thought why not, and to date it's the best why not I've ever encountered, so far he's been perfect, the right amount of everything, he's a breath of fresh air"
"Good for you" Mercy held her hand understanding the pain she'd been through to get to that smile
"We're so happy for you, you deserve some happiness" Tina added grabbing both their hands
"Finally," Rachel rolled her eyes "He's so perfect I'm waiting for him to mess up, you know?" she looked worried
"Don't do that" Mercy warned "Don't judge him by the standards of other's, you'll lose him"
"It's just scary, to be happy I mean" she moaned "After Finn I didn't think there'd be anyone else, then Brody came along and well, radar wasn't that good on that one, but now"
"Does he make you feel like Finn made you feel?" Tina asked moving closer to her friend
"He does" she smiled "Better sometimes, we brought a lot more experience to the table, if you know what I mean" she looked from one to the other "Sorry you don't do you?" she smiled at Mercy
That nugget dropped where it needed to, I couldn't believe that the worldly Mercy Evans who sang sexy ballads, and exhumed passion through them had only ever been with one man, and to make things even more juicy, that only happened six years ago. At that moment I saw a different person, she wasn't who the world thought she was, that was why there was such mystery around her, she was and had always been in love with one man. I found myself wondering if she'd caught for their son on the first hit, trying to imagine what that first time would have been like for two people that had known no one else at their age, quickly followed with was that any of my damn business.
"Girls on film" Tina brought us back to topic
"Yes, I have some memories" Mercy got up to go grab the footage "I had it all put on a stick years ago, but this isn't the focus for the evening" she smiled opening a box to retrieve it "Memories" she held it up before attaching it to the TV and turning the thing on.
We sat watching mainly Mercy performing all manner of genre as a child before the others came into play, I smiled at hearing these fifteen-year-olds singing that Sugababes song as if they were worldly, the ladies were jumping around dancing and singing along, obviously longing for their youth back
"Oh" Mercy stopped dancing and looked at the screen as the song changed "I remember Finn and Santana singing this" she frowned as their adapted rendition of 'She's The One' by Robbie Williams started
Rachel: I was him; Finn: she was me, Both: we were one, we were free, and if there's somebody, calling me on, s/he's the one
Mercy: If there's somebody, calling me on, he's the one, Sam: we were young, we were wrong, we were fine all along
All: If there's somebody, calling me on, he's the one (she's the one)
"Gosh" Rachel sighed shocked at hearing his voice again "We were all great friends"
"Sam misses him terribly" Mercy told her "We all do"
"I know how he feels" Rachel sighed
"We really did sound good together" Tina added
"We'll never have that again, will we?" Mercy grabbed Rachel's hand everyone stood listening to the song and watching the group of friends, some of whom they hadn't seen since that day, performing.
Blaine & Santana (All): When you get to where you want to go, and you know the things you want to know you're (smiling)
Quinn & Kurt (All): When you said what you want to say, and you know the way you want to play
You'll be so high, you'll be (flying)
Tina & Brittany: Though the sea, will be strong, I know we'll carry on, Mike & Artie: Cause if there's somebody, calling me on, she's the one
All: If there's somebody calling me on, she's the one (he's the one) ...
The song finished and they all stood in silence listening to the quiet, I hadn't known until today that Sam, Mike, and Finn had met previously, so this was news to me, it felt emotional, I felt I needed to break the silence, I unwedged the muffle I was trying to keep on myself and asked "So you all went to school together?" directing my question at the host
"Yes" she laughed through her tears
"So, how long had Finn and you been a couple?" I had to ask Rachel the question, I had about a year in the bag, based on how old Finn was when he passed. There'd been a few pictures of them as young adults at the same places in the press, that had come to light following the bad break up with Brody, then there was the leak the photos of their private wedding that suddenly become public knowledge, all part of Brody's trash the bitch campaign.
"Five fabulous years" she giggled wiping her wet face
I smiled and scribbled notes "So," I looked at Mercy trying to get my emotions in check and get my focus back "Girls on film, when did that start for you?"
"Professionally I guess that was just after we left college" Mercy smiled "Do you remember that day?" she asked her friends
"It was like dooms day" Tina frowned "It was a month after Finn's passing, so we were trying to peptalk ourselves into getting our act together" she half smiled "Then you got the call for your audition that afternoon" she nodded at Mercy
"You were a proper stress ball" Rachel gasped
"We all were" Mercy chuckled "Grieving, getting married, having children, it was a lot"
"Everything happened that day" Tina frowned "You were going for your first interview with he who should remain nameless, and unknown to us pregnant" she looked at Rachel
"Worse decision of my life" Rachel frowned "Sam had torn his ACL, and we got the results that morning"
"Yeah" Mercy frowned "Nearly destroyed him, thank god for music" she rolled her eyes
"And you" Tina added
"Yeah, and me" Mercy smiled "I remember you were showing your line to your first buyer, everyone was in total meltdown" she reminded Tina
"Planning your wedding and pregnant too" Tina added
"And we still knocked it out the park, that was Finn watching over us for sure" Rachel smiled
"For sure" Tina and Mercy echoed
I could tell the night was going to be long, the ladies were on a slow burn, taking their time to get through each event, it felt like healing was happening, like there was something beyond a story, beyond a headliner. I sat wondering how through all the trauma, rejection, heartache, and self-neglect, they were sat looking so pulled together, I realised their world wasn't for trivialising, it was real, happening to real people.
By the time they took a real breath it was time for our evening meal, that conversation was interesting, Brody was the main topic, lots of off the record stuff that I can't share, but what I can say is that the man wasn't as golden as he made out to the masses. As the alcohol flowed tongues got looser, I started hearing stories about other celebrities they were in contact with, not material I could use, I had maybe six waking hours left and still no story about the actual subject on film, I could see this being a pretty big payout at work.
"So" Mercy held her glass up at the end of the meal "The reason I agreed to do this session, and the reason I asked you here" she looked at Rachel "Is, well you talked about it earlier, I know you, and that man is not out of your hair yet, and don't try and tell me different" she stopped her interrupting "This Jessie can't be a plaster"
"He's..."
"Stop" Tina held her hand up "We had that conversation on the way over, and I think he sort of is"
"I don't want him to be"
"So, what are you going to do?" Mercy asked "He said some terrible things about you, and I'm sure the reason you're not getting booked now is all down to him"
"It is" she frowned "But I've been in contact with Blaine, Quinn and even Artie, they all have stuff coming up they'll consider me for" she smiled "And Jessie's in the theatre world, which I intend on asking him to tap into"
"This comeback has to be big girl" Tina warned
"And that's where I thought I could come in too" Mercy smiled "You haven't sung in years, what do you think of coming back through the music business?"
"I'm not that carefree Rachel from back at school anymore, I need an income"
"Have faith in yourself, you're good" Mercy encouraged her
"This is where he's brought you, sitting there doubting yourself, the Rachel I remember..." Tina stopped herself "Not productive, sorry" she nodded at Mercy
"You are that Rachel" Mercy grabbed her hand "He's turned you into someone else, someone you don't even know, you sing Rachel, beautifully" she got up "We swore we'd never give up"
"I'm not giving up, I just feel..."
"You know what I'm going to say" Tina grabbed her spare arm
"Successful people strive no matter what they feel, I know" Rachel told her "And yes I know that's exactly what Finn would be telling me right now..."
"No but's" Mercy pulled at her hand "Just say yes"
"We can do this" Tina encouraged her
"Okay" she smiled at them
"Yes" Mercy squealed "This is going to be epic, we'll write something together, do a video for it, and lots of publicity" she laughed "That idiot is going to be regretting the day he ever said a bad word on your name"
"Are you sure?" Rachel asked
"Positive, in fact Unique" they remembered I was in the room "Will you use that in your story, keep it mysterious?" Mercy giggled "Headline" she waved her hand across the air "Girls on film"
"We have our theme" Rachel smiled
"We have our wardrobe" Tina added
"Let's get started" Mercy instructed as we all went off to the music room
I followed already with pictures in my mind of what the piece was going to be about, of course we were going to talk about the pain from the past, but from that we were going to speak about sisterhood, support, fame, and love. This wasn't the love I'd thought I was going to find on entering the Evan's home, but it felt genuine, and I guarantee I was winning the bet, no one could have envisaged me scooping on the next big hit, I was standing here watching them speak life into it, and we all know for sure is that anything Mercy touches vocally, turns to gold, welcome back Miss Berry.