golden

eleven: hardships: the making and the breaking

Life was, as a general rule, made up of trials and tribulations. Or so Elizabeth heard often enough. While the lives of everyone around her seemed ever turbulent and amassed by hardships and misadventures on the way to whatever happiness they struggled to achieve, her own life was as seamless as a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky.

Until, that was, Harry.

The storm that rolled in from nowhere and the rays of sunlight that came shining through after. Perpetually, always. If she had been someone who believed in the mystery of Fate of Destiny, she would have chalked his arrival into her life to one of them. There was no answer or rhyme or reason for the blinding beam of light in her world. Nor was there answer, rhyme, or reason for the way her heart fluttered before soaring at the thought of him. The sound of his name. Her name from his lips. The precariously carefree fashion his fingers plucked over the strings of his guitar.

He was everything. He could be everything.

He was nothing. He had to be nothing.

"Elizabeth." Gregory stood before her, clad in his cliché tan trench coat with the horrendously matching hat. Red mark still festering on his cheek from where she had slapped him ten minutes ago. "You are much stronger than you look."

"Thank you." She paused, "I think?"

He nodded, assuring her it was definitely a compliment. "How about you and I grab dinner tonight? Seven, at the Swan?"

Her hand stilled as she reached for the bowl of almonds. Elizabeth regarded him with narrow-cut eyes. They both bore the chains of the same morality clause. No dating. Especially when it came to co-stars. Not only did it interfere with the desired availability of stars, it could make for a messy life on set.

Elizabeth already had one man vying for her heart and unknowingly threatening her career; she didn't need another.

Her teeth captured the soft flesh of her cheek, worrying it until it became sore. There had to be a simple way to let him down easy while also making herself abundantly clear. She was not interested. Though, if she did have to choose a fellow star to saddle herself with, Gregory Peck would have been her first choice. Kind, compassionate, awkwardly humorous, and silently stunning. He vouched for her in and out of the shadows. He had also been her first kiss. Not that she actually counted it, since it was for a film, but semantics were semantics. He was the reason her lips were no longer of the virgin count.

"That's very sweet of you to offer, Gregory. But you and I are both aware-."

His quick glance over to Mr. Freeman and Mr. Rush captured her attention and her words were lost. Their director and producer were deep in hushed conversation, each holding a script and marking over them furiously.

"Before you go and reject me," Gregory regained her attention when he looked back at her, "Mayer told me to ask you."

Mr. Mayer sent him to ask her on a dinner date?

Elizabeth wasn't unaccustomed to the finer workings of Hollywood. While all actors and actresses under contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were subject to their morality clauses, that never stopped the majority of them from getting caught up in whirlwind romances or even getting married. Some married each other, or stars from other studios. Some even went so far as to marry regular old people. Gregory himself had tested the limits of his clause and Mr. Mayer's grace. Elizabeth supposed she was the only one who managed to stay true to her signature at the bottom of her contract. No matter how many times she almost slipped up.

It wasn't uncommon for costars to be coerced into relationships for one another. They never lasted more than a few dates, certainly never beyond the length of filming their picture. Costars being seen together on dates was a guarantee of generating buzz and excitement about their upcoming film. However, Elizabeth hadn't yet been thrown into this game. Her time filming Elegance and Flight Star hadn't required pretending to date her co-lead.