Behind the End - Herophine

50

JOSEPHINE

Mia has finally arrived, my friend from Australia, she is amazing, one of the people I trust the most in this world. We hugged and screamed like crazy when I picked her up at the airport, she is tall, thin, brunette and she looks beautiful and smelling good like always. We drop her things at my home, she'll stay in my room these days. Hadley and Henry were full of rehearsals and jobs so we decided to visit Los Angeles, just the two of us. I showed every part of L.A that I know and like to walk around.
As we wore masks, nobody recognized us, a positive point for those things that make breathing difficult, but all for health. Vaccines were already being distributed around here, unlike some other countries. We visited a delicious restaurant in California.

"Let's toast our friendship!"

"To us!" I add, and we drink our delicious champagne.

"So... How are you? I heard you have many job proposals..."

"Thank God! I'm slowly getting things here."

"I saw... Even a new boy!"

"Yeah... Henry is nice..."

"Wow... Was that word to convince me?" We both laughed.

"Really! He treats me really well, he's funny, smart, hot, but..."

"I already know what you're going to say... Someone whose name starts with 'H', British and is very tall like a pole." I can only say yes with my head... "I knew it!" She knows everything that happened between Hero and me.

"Okay! So let's make a deal, today we'll have a rule... Don't talk about boys!" I say and Mia smiles.

"Not even those who keep asking about you in Australia?"

"Really? Who?"

"No no no... Not to mention boys here, remember? It's a deal!" We continued to laugh, I miss her, I'm glad she's here with me!

HERO

May finally arrived, the month that I would start shooting a new movie, maybe a hit? Maybe... Another really cool project that I'm proud to be part of. The romance movie: First Love will be shooted in Los Angeles, I'll spend time there. The production offered the actors a hotel, but besides the hotel, I have a lot of friends who live there, so I'll not staying homeless, and something tells me that anything can happen there...

I arrived in L.A, a lot of good memories here, my first main character was here, the After movie shootings were here and the beginning of every turnaround in my life was here. I breathe the Los Angeles air, my things have been stored in the hotel room, it's my first day off and I want to enjoy it, I go to a park in front of the place where I'm staying, I see some boys playing football there. I ask to participate.

It was late, I arranged with other friends from here to eat pizzas together. I spoke to Evan (my travel's friend and that participate in fashion shows with me), I spoke to Anna (the author of the books that originated the After movie), to Jen (our producer of the After movie), they were happy to hear that I was finally back, over here, we agreed to go out some day. Just knowing she's here too makes my stomach turn... No Hero, focus! You won't see her, she's focused on her stuffs... I breathe, take Jô a little out of my head, before I left London I promised myself I wouldn't find her.

The shootings start, we do more than one Covid tests, all negative, thanks God. We met the cast, which by the way was amazing. I met Sydney, a very good actress, she even made the movie Moxie with Jô, dammit, everything connects me to her! We introduce ourselves, she will be my co-star in this movie, we will be a couple in love. Sydney is super fun, beautiful and the most important information... She has a boyfriend! We went out for dinner, to get to know each other better and break the ice during the shootings.

"Do you know what I was going to tell you?" She asks, filling her mouth with noodles.

"Not!" We laugh.

"I love After movie, I don't even know how many times I've watched it. I had the honor of filming with Jô, right, she's an amazing person, and... What was it?"

"Nothing... Continue..."

"You and Jô..."

"No, no! We are just friends! We have nothing..."

"Nothing?" I fill my mouth with noodles and I shake my head. "Hmm... She's living here... With a friend of mine, did you know?..."

"The one who shooted Moxie with you, right?"

"Uhum... I love those girls!"

"Yeah... I don't know anything else about Jô... Is she okay?" I ask, nothing curious...

"She is great, Hadley told me she was going to start shooting another movie with cool actors! She even said she has met a guy there... So, for this I asked if you and her were..."

For a few seconds my head stops thinking, white, I saw just white. Jô is with someone... Did she forget me that easy? Of course! That's why there are no more messages, or news about her...

"Hero?"

"Hey!"

"Dessert?"

"Now!"

The information still hadn't left my head, it had been a few days since Sidney and I went out together for the first time, I did some scenes with her, the movie is amazing. We had a few days off, Sydney went to enjoy them with her boyfriend, so I decided to do what I do best when I want to forget some things... Drinking! I called Khadijha and Pia Mia, the two actresses who acted in the first and second After movies with me, we went to have good drinks and who knows, maybe something else happens...

"Hey!"

"Hero I miss you!" Khadijha is the first to hug me.

"I miss you!" Pia comes next, stares at me from afar, kisses me on the neck and gives me another tight hug.

"Hello! You are stunning" I look at her, who smiles. Pia is so hot, she always was, but I didn't see her that way...

"Thank you babe!"

We went to eat in a very stylish and comfortable cafeteria, the girls brought another friend with them. We ate a lot, talked a lot of shit so, already drunk, we decided to go to the club we went to for my birthday in 2018. I didn't know if it would be a good or bad idea to remember that day, but as they really wanted to go there, I agreed. Dumb.

"You guys are so lucky! They've made a lot of movies and are still shooting others..."

"So proud of you guys!" The two kept talking about me and Jô. I drink more and more. I remembered all the time of that night I spent three years ago... The hours pass and we are laughing louder and longer.

"She's with another guy! Believe me, Jô is with another guy!" I say and we laugh.

"I'll make a video! I'll be the next Britney!" We laughed even more at Pia.

"Tik Tok Tok Tok!" We did a Tik Tok in the middle of the street! At some point in the night I had Pia very close to me, hugging her around the waist. And she also felt our approach.

"Hey big boy... It's better if we not..."

"What?"

"We're drunk Hero... It's better if we don't do anything!" I get back to normal a little bit and Pia is right. We enjoy a little more, and before I get an Uber to go back to the hotel, alone, Khadijha and Pia say goodbye to me. I hear a whisper after Khadijha's hug.

"Talk to her!" I look at her before we walk away and she winks at me. I'm sure she was talking about Jô.