Not for the first time in the many years, Bruce Willis had known Kyra; he wondered when things had gone wrong. He supposed he should have seen something like this coming after her father's death when she was seven. Her mother Gabrielle, who had always been the typical "stage mother" now had total control over her daughter's career. Bruce remembered an incident when he had taken Kyra to Disney World and Gabrielle had her sign autographs and take pictures for over two hours. He had been furious with Gabrielle and worried for Kyra to the point where he wanted to sue Gabrielle for custody, claiming she was an unfit mother. The network, publicist, and his agent talked him out of it.
Twenty years later as he sat in Kyra's dressing room furnished with all of her favorite things, Bruce was regretting it. He watched the way her lips remained in a straight thin line and docilely sat perfectly erect as a young woman, Lily, brushed her hair.
"All I'm trying to tell you, Kyra, is that as an actor you have to keep your-"
"Your emotions right under the surface so that you can switch them on and off at anytime," she finished.
Bruce grinned. "Well, if you can remember it, why can't you do it? You used to be great at it. You could turn the waterworks off and on like a switch."
"I'd rather not discuss this right now," she said with finality.
As he continued watching, he still had trouble shaking the eternal image he had of Kyra in his mind. She was sitting at a kitchen table on set with a hundred or so audience members in attendance. Bruce sat across from her. Her hair was in pigtails and she was pulling Oreos from a cookie jar.
"One for you…one for me…one for you…two for me…one for you…three for –"
"Oh! I am so sorry, Miss Jordan!" Lily exclaimed after tugging the brush through Kyra's hair hard enough to jerk her head back.
"It hurts to be beautiful," Kyra responded monotonously, and the words echoed through Bruce's mind in a different voice.
"Your mother said that quite often," Bruce said as Lily, with a shaking hand, resumed her task.
"Yes, she did."
"Have you spoken to her lately?"
Kyra shrugged her shoulders lightly, careful not to move too much. "A couple of weeks ago, I guess…She was in Aruba with her new husband, Greg, Gary…whatever the hell is name is."
"Jason."
"That's it."
"You're all done, Miss Jordan," Lily said.
"Thank you, Lily."
Lily exited and a stage manager appeared at the door. "They need you on set in fifteen minutes, Miss Jordan," the man said with a nod.
"Thank you."
"You're so serious!" Bruce exclaimed. "Serious and tense…c'mon, what happened to the fun-loving girl I used to know?"
"She grew up."
"Nahh," Bruce said shaking his head. "She's still in there somewhere…I know it. C'mon, smile for me, Kay…you always used to smile for me." Bruce pouted. "Kay-Kay, have you stopped loving me?"
A small smile graced Kyra's lips at her childhood nickname. "Of course not."
"Good! You know what I think?"
"No, and I'm not sure I want to."
Bruce ignored her sarcasm. "I think you just need to get out with your friends…Janna and Trey seem like a lot of fun."
"They're not my friends," Kyra said quietly. "Their employees."
Bruce walked to her seat at the vanity and crouched down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Are you sure about that?"
She lowered her eyes and nodded her head. Bruce's heart broke. "What about Sarah? When was the last time you talked to her? You two used to be inseparable."
Kyra shrugged. "I guess when I apologized for not going to her wedding."
"Kay, she and Freddie were married like three or four years ago."
"Well, we've both been busy."
"Or you've been shutting people out," Bruce said and Kyra's eyes widened at his harshness. She hated when he was upset with her. "Did you even talk to Ben when he went to rehab? He was like a brother to you and you haven't talk-"
"Ben's been going through a lot now and I want to give him space to get his life back together-"
"You should be there for him! Like he tried to be there for you after what happened with Michael-"
"Do not mention that!" She shouted. Kyra breathed heavily. "I don't want to talk about that."
"Don't do this, Kyra," Bruce pleaded. "Don’t shut the people who love you most out."
"If they really want to talk to me, they'd get in touch with me."
Bruce sighed. She was just so damn stubborn…
"Oh, I got this for the girls," Kyra said interrupting his thoughts. She reached in her bag and opened the box for Bruce to see three beautiful crystal figurines of the same figure skater in all different poses. The bottom glazed with glitter gave an ice-like appearance.
"They're beautiful, the girls will love them."
The corners of Kyra's mouth turned up. "Good."
* * *
JC slouched in his chair his blue baseball cap pulled low over his forehead with a forced smile on his face. He normally didn't mind giving interviews- he was a people person and enjoyed conversing with others. However, his hang over gave him the feeling that his head was about to split into two and the woman's nasally voice was the cleaver.
If his eyes weren't so bleary, he might have found the young lady from Entertainment Weekly to be somewhat attractive, and he might have even flirted with her. As it was, JC could barely see two inches in front of him and had no other thought on his mind other than "Is this damn thing almost finished yet?"
"One more question for you, JC," Nasal (What the hell was her name again? JC thought) said. "I heard you and the infamous Kyra Jordan were in a little fender bender recently…care to share some details?"
JC chuckled his rehearsed chuckle before spitting out his rehearsed answer as he desperately tried to think of the girl's name before he had to say his goodbyes. "Yeah, it was really nothing, just a little parking lot mishap with Kyra, no big deal. She was really great about it…she's a sweetheart, Kyra. It's a shame she has such a bad rap. I've always been a big fan of hers."
"Don't tell me you watched Haddon Heights?"
"Hey, who didn't back then?" he answered with a shrug.
"Well, JC, it has been a pleasure."
"Yes," he paused as he shook her hand and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Marcy!" he exclaimed glad the he finally remembered. "Marcy, it was fun."
The man JC liked to refer to as his "lifeline" Carlos chuckled quietly and shook his head at JC who in turn flipped him off once Marcy was safely out the door. "'She's a sweetheart, really, it's a shame she has such a bad rap'," Carlos mimicked in a falsetto.
"Bite me," JC responded.
"I thought that was Eva's gig?" Carlos answered handing JC aspirin and a bottle of water.
JC laughed. "You're beyond messed up, bro." He popped the pills in his mouth and chugged almost half the bottle. "You want to know something funny though? That wasn't all completely bullshit."
"What?"
"About Kyra," JC said. "I really don't think she's as bad a everyone makes her out to be."
"Dude, I heard she can't even keep a maid longer than a month. And she fired her own mother and like never speaks to her."
JC shrugged. "I don't know, man, it's just this gut feeling I have about her. Like, she's really not all that bad."
"Well, bro, we're about to find out today."
JC followed Carlos out the door feeling a little better.
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