For Fake and For Real

21. The Countdown Begins

Lucy changed her flight to return to Italy the morning after the premiere. Originally, she had planned to spend a long weekend with Tim, but now everything had changed in the span of a day. She tried not to think about it; she failed miserably, and spent her 13 hour flight running her hand back and forth along the necklace he had gifted her while trying to comfort herself with the idea that it would all work out. The barrage of articles being published by the hour that either celebrated the chance at Chenford getting back together, or hating Lucy for trying to break up Brady, or accusing Tim of being a cheater didn't help. She decided to turn off the Google alert for a bit to keep from spiraling further, but one more article wouldn't hurt...

CHENFORD + BRADY = AWKWARD

At the "Galactic Wars" premiere last night in Hollywood, actor Tim Bradford stood between his current girlfriend and current costar, Ashley McGrady and his ex-girlfriend and former "Galactic Wars" costar, Lucy Chen. After recent photos showed Bradford and Chen catching up before the premiere, rumors started to spread that Chenford could be getting back together, but Brady fans can rejoice- McGrady and Bradford looked awfully comfortable together posing on the red carpet where McGrady commented about her beau: "He's a dream boyfriend and dream costar. We've never been happier."

Our hearts go out to the "Pretty Little Vampires" actress who had to watch on the big screen her love story with her ex while seeing him on the carpet having moved on and happy with someone else. If you've forgotten how absolutely adorable Chenford used to be, check out "Galactic Wars" to see their intense chemistry. And who knows, maybe Chenford will get back together if there's another "Galactic Wars" movie, since it seems Bradford likes to date his gorgeous costars.

Lucy knew she had made the right decision, if for no other reason than to stop giving more fuel to the wildfire of the media coverage surrounding Chenford and Brady, but that small comfort couldn't repair her broken heart.

••••••••••

The rest of November went by in a haze; Tim only kept track of the days via countdown. Although his scripts had previously remained untouched, at the top of each page of the scene he would be be working on, he now wrote the number of days until September 9th, which would be the end of his contract with Ashley. They promised each other this was just a break until September, and he had every intention of keeping that promise.

He scrawled "283" at the top of that day's script page and sighed; 283 days is a long time to be without Lucy, so he shut his eyes and remembered how it felt to hold her hand. Her thin, warm fingers always fit so perfectly between his, and he couldn't wait to feel that sensation once more.

It was quite the shock to see her name appear on his phone screen along with a picture of her from the set of "Galactic Wars"; Tim had successfully made the makeup artist and his girlfriend laugh so hard that a long line of eyeliner was accidentally dragged down Lucy's cheek mid laughing fit. The makeup artist apologized for getting carried away while still giggling, but the sight only made Lucy laugh harder. Maybe it was not considered a conventional contact picture of a girlfriend, but he liked the memory, and more importantly, he loved the huge smile on her face.

"Hey," Tim answered the phone, unsure why Lucy was calling.

"Tim, I...I'm glad I caught you...unless it's a bad time...is it a bad time?"

"No, I just have to go to wardrobe in a few minutes."

"Okay, well..." she wanted to talk to him for the first time in two weeks, but based on the sound of his gruff voice, she worried that maybe she was overstepping. "I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called."