A Day in the Life of Actress Jenna Lane (A Short Story)

6 - #CoqNotCoke

That night, Jenna sat in bed, scrolling through the news on her phone. She didn't know why she bothered – she paid her publicist a lot of money to do that for her. A gossip site's headline caught her eye.

Jenna Lane: Cocaine Addict?

Actress Jenna Lane was overheard talking animatedly about coke on the phone today, just before auditioning for a role in an upcoming Perry Pittsburgh film, details of which have been undisclosed.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Ms. Lane was admitted to the hospital for a possible overdose but was discharged hours later. When asked about the brief hospital stay, her publicist claimed that she'd had a severe allergic reaction to the dogs she'd been cuddling shortly before on the set of Good Morning America and that Jenna had no illegal drugs in her system.

Witnesses say Ms. Lane had passed out in her dressing room, necessitating the trip to the emergency room. Footage of her on this morning's episode of GMA show her happily snuggling the puppies and crying, apparently with joy, at being presented with the adorable little balls of fur.

She was also, one inside source says, very distracted during her interview on the show and clearly confused about the questions she was being asked before prompting got her back on track.

So what do you think? Drug problem, or classic Jenna Lane craziness?

Jenna scoffed at the article then switched over to Twitter. Her followers would be expecting some sort of response from her, not her publicist. She looked at her feed; apparently this ridiculous event had a new tag trending: #CoqNotCoke. Wonderful.

Some people were bashing her, claiming she was obviously high during her GMA segment, because her reaction to the puppies was too extreme, people don't pass out from allergies, why the hell would she be yelling about coq au vin, yadda yadda. Others were defending her, saying her silly outbursts and eccentric personality were endearing, were what made her so down to earth and loveable, yadda yadda.

Every moment of the interview was criticized, and gifs had been made of her ugly crying over the puppies. One celebrity gossip writer decried her fake puppy adoration, asking why she'd lie about loving dogs if she was so allergic to them? Someone else commented that she was just trying to keep the situation light and not make a scene or act like a spoiled diva.

"But why lie about it?" Another commenter asked.

Yet another replied, "Um, she's an actress. She's pretty much a professional liar. I bet she even lied about getting her boots at Wal-Mart to look like the normal girl-next-door who shops at Wal-Mart like the rest of us peasants."

That was the only part of the interview she hadn't lied about or embellished in some way. Well, she hadn't lied about her motivations in talking to rape victims and trying to portray one accurately. She might have exaggerated being kicked out of the support group. It might have been more like an awkward glare when she was asked what brought her to the group and she answered, "to learn what it's like to be raped."

Eloquent wording had never been her strong suit.

And then there it was: a photo by @ActorOwenLucas of gorgeously-presented Coq auVin:

This was the opening she needed. He'd done it just for her, she was sure of it. She had to reply.

A few minutes later, a notification popped up and Jenna checked it to find that Owen's wife, Celine, had replied.

She sighed. Jenna could think of a few things as well. Another notification popped up and she laughed out loud when she read it.

This exchange was starting to get out of hand. The gossip rags were going to love it. But maybe it would take the focus off her supposed drug problem and her publicist would be happy.

Her publicist, like her assistant, was never happy.

A final notification came through, this time a direct message from Celine:

"You seriously need to come with us to Nice the next time we go. It would be so much fun!!!"

There it was again, that invitation to join them, to know however briefly, what it was like to bask in Owen's love. She typed back, "I'll think about it."

And she would. This could be a new experiment. It could be better than high school, or it could get her heart broken. She did genuinely like Celine, who also seemed to genuinely like her.

Jenna closed out of twitter, stood, stretched, and loped off to the bathroom. She was just about to sit down when she remembered the ordeal from this morning. She ran back to her room and unceremoniously dropped her phone on her nightstand.

She took her kindle, instead.

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A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed a peek into the daily life of actress Jenna Lane. 

I'd love to know what you think (both good and critical), so please leave a comment (or two) to let me know, and if you liked it, please click the little star to vote on each chapter. :-D

-Evie