Chapter 1
Alex’s favourite day of the week is Wednesday.
For as long as she can remember, all of Alex’s life milestones have happened on Wednesday. She lost her first tooth, received her first kiss, got her first call-back and spent her first pay check on this specific day of the week.
She meets Tobin Heath on a Wednesday.
———
This week’s issue of Rolling Stone has just released, with Alex on the cover (of course), so to celebrate she’s throwing this grand, elaborate party. Gold confetti and everything.
Her, Sydney and Christen are currently charming the bartender to give them more drinks, all three of them being given strict orders from their parents to stay away from alcohol irrelevant. She’s already swiftly grabbed about 7 champagne flutes, but the lightness got old after the third glass. She needs something stronger, something that will get her drunk faster in order to survive this night of old men and women alike she’s never seen before congratulating her and the many boys attempting to flirt with her and grab her ass.
She’ll never admit it, but her lifestyle makes her so tired.
There are only so many casting calls she can show up to and pretend to be excited for. Only so many fake smiles she can give before her jaw starts to cramp up.
It’s nearing midnight and Alex isn’t nearly as drunk as she’d like to be, so she proposes that her, Sydney and Christen leave her own party to go to the bar that never limits their drinks (she’s pretty sure the bodyguard and bartender know who they are). She assures them that no one will see them leave, that the party is winding down anyways.
Once they safely make it into the elevator, Alex calls her limo driver.
Sydney and Christen claim they both need to use the washroom, so Alex goes to the limo first. As she’s walking to open the limo door, someone crashes into her. She feels the person before she sees them.
“Dude, what the heck?!”
It takes Alex a moment to adjust to the darkness, takes her a moment to register that, yes, she has fallen onto the ground, that a person is laying about 3 feet away from her, in a fetal position, clutching their stomach.
Instead of an apology, Alex gets up, dusts herself off and responds with “It’s not my fault you can’t see where you’re going.”
The person is slow to get up, but they appear to have no serious injuries and when they make eye contact Alex realizes that this girl that just ran her over is kind of, sort of, really pretty.
The girl completely ignores Alex, instead her attention going to her (now broken) skateboard, which has rolled off the curb onto the street, where it appears a car has run over it and split it into two.
“Dude, you broke my skateboard, and I’m already late. Now I have to walk five miles in less than 5 minutes.”
“Well, like I said, it’s your fault you can’t see where you’re going. And you hit me.” Alex wonders where this girl has to be so late in the night and is momentarily worried about her safety. She buries the worry with anger.
“Look, I didn’t come to argue, I just, you kind of owe me a new skateboard.”
Alex opens her mouth to argue when Sydney and Christen walk out of hotel, Sydney spotting Alex and the girl first.
“This girl giving you any trouble Alex? Cause I know karate.”
Alex quickly glances over at the girl, who has a pretty deep cut right above her eyebrow and her hair in a half-bun half-ponytail, looking slightly (very) disoriented.
"No - no trouble at all. I was just giving her my number. I kind of broke her skateboard."
As Sydney and Christen climb into the limo, Alex hands the girl a business card, demanding that the girl call her about the skateboard.
Alex is into the limo and pulling away from the curb before the girl even has a chance to respond.
Mystery girl doesn't leave Alex's mind all night.
———
Alex won't lie, she's a little worried. It's been a solid two weeks since she the girl ran her over (she still has a bruise on her elbow to show for it) and she hasn't received a phone call or text regarding the matter.
Every time she hangs out with Sydney and Christen the both of them complain that Alex is paying more attention to her phone than she is to the conversation.
Alex is about to enter a casting call when she receives a text.
hey. it's me tobin, rmr? the girl u almost killed? anyways, i need the money fr my skateboard asap. wanna meet up at the pier?
For all Alex knows, this could be a serial killer, but she lets the excitement of seeing mystery girl (Tobin, Alex has to remind herself) overpower her fear. They arrange to meet at the pier on Wednesday. Alex is already planning on an outfit to wear to impress Tobin.
———
Tobin doesn't know who she is.
When Alex gives Tobin a check worth $1000 (way more than a single skateboard, she knows) Tobin's first question is "Woah, what do you do for a living, drug deal?"
And it's a joke, Alex knows, but she can't believe Tobin doesn't know her name or what she does for a living. Does she live under a rock?
Alex is tentative with her reply "Uh, no? Acting pays pretty well I guess."
"Wait, you're an actress, how come I've never seen you around before?" Tobin is shocked, to say the least.
"You know what, don't even worry about it."
It's nice, Alex decides, for someone to meet her as just Alex and not Alex the famous actress.
They walk down the pier for a bit, Tobin telling Alex about her second job as a mail sorter being the reason why she's usually out late at night. Thankfully it's nearing winter so the pier is pretty much empty and Alex goes unnoticed.
Tobin gets a call and when she hangs up she says she has to go, that her roommate Kelley is flying in from Georgia today, and that she has to make their apartment presentable again before she picks her up from the airport.
She promises to call soon and insists they hang out again.
Alex hopes Tobin is the type of person to keep her promises.
———
Turns out, Tobin is the type of person to keep her promises.
She calls Alex about a week later, asking if Alex is free to hang out tonight.
Alex did have dinner plans with Sydney, but she fakes sickness and meets up with Tobin on the other side of town. Alex ignores that this part of town isn't particularly the safest and lets Tobin take her to a small skateboard shop which is having their grand opening. There's art, food and people everywhere and Alex can't help but enjoy this way more than any party she's ever thrown or attended. She mostly sticks to Tobin's side all night, following Tobin from art piece to various displays full of skateboard decks and parts. She diligently listens as Tobin explains the best kind of trucks for a skateboard and stays by her side as Tobin talks to different people.
Alex doesn't ignore the way Tobin's hand finds her lower back when someone gets dangerously close to her, but she does try to ignore the flare of jealously she feels when other people approach Tobin and try to flirt with her.
———
After that night, they never stop hanging out. Tobin takes Alex to different diners, coffee shops, art museums and skateboard parks. In return, Alex drags Tobin to various photo shoots and filming of the show she's currently starring in. Tobin mainly walks around the set holding a can of coke and looking lost the whole time, but whenever Alex makes eye contact with her, she smiles and gives Alex a big thumbs up.
There's an unspoken understanding that none of her fellow actors, actresses, staff, or crew ask who Tobin is or what they are.
———
Sydney is pissed, to say the least.
She's trying on various dresses for the party she's throwing this weekend and invited Alex over to ask for her opinion, but Alex has barely looked at the dresses she's tried on so far.
"What do you think of this one?"
"It's beautiful, just like the one before it."
"You haven't even looked at any of the dresses today."
"Whatever you choose, you'll look great in it."
"That's not the point! And will it kill you to put down your phone for more than two minutes? Who're you even texting anyways?"
"Tobin."
"You mean that nobody you keep hanging out with? You shouldn't be seen with her. You and me don't hang out with people like her."
Now Alex is pissed, to say the least.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know what it means."
"Yeah I do, which is why I'm leaving now. Have fun at your stupid party."
Alex leaves without a glance back at Sydney.
———
She immediately calls Tobin and is invited over for Tobin and Kelley's movie night. Alex doesn't dwell on the fact that this is her first time going over to Tobin's apartment.
She calls her limo driver and gives him the address Tobin texted her. Alex thanks God that her driver never asks questions.
When she reaches Tobin's apartment, she rubs the sweat off her palms on her jeans as she waits for Tobin to open the door.
Tobin answers, with her glasses on and her hair in a proper bun (for once). Alex desperately tries to ignores the way her mouth suddenly goes dry at the sight of Tobin.
Tobin guides her to the living room, where her MacBook is already plugged into the TV, Netflix on the screen.
"Kelley should be back soon. She went to pick up the pizza. And Morgan."
As Tobin goes to grab drinks from the fridge, Alex takes a good look around the apartment. There's a bed and a record player in the corner by the window of the big living room space and the only thing that separates the living room from the kitchen is an island. There's a hallway right beside the TV, where Alex assumes the washrooms and all the bedrooms are. She's too busy examining the hardwood floor and exposed brick wall that she doesn't hear Tobin's roommates enter until she hears,
"Dude! You didn't tell me the girl you're bringing over is Alex frickin' Morgan!"
"I didn't think that was important."
Kelley and Morgan rush over to her, eyes wide and jaws dropped.
“I love all your work, just so you know. I’ve watched every movie you’ve starred in at least six times and pay for cable just so I can watch the TV shows you’re in. I feel like I’ve betrayed you if I illegally watch them online.”
"Uh thanks..."
Tobin interrupts before Kelley and Morgan can make her more uncomfortable.
"Sorry about them, they're a little hard to handle."
"Hey, it's just Kelley, not me!" Morgan says with a look of offence on her face.
Tobin goes to start the movie before a brawl starts between Morgan and Kelley. Tobin explains to her that the last time Morgan and Kelley got into an argument ten pages of Morgan’s statistics textbook were ripped out and shredded into pieces.
Alex smiles fondly at Tobin’s roommates as her and Tobin get comfortable on the floor while Kelley stretches out on the couch, resigning Morgan to the recliner.
About 3 movies later, Alex, Kelley and Morgan have drifted off to sleep, with Alex's head dropping onto Tobin's shoulder between the end of the third movie and beginning of the fourth.
Tobin slowly wakes each one of them up, telling Alex that her bedroom is the first door on the right while she guides Morgan to the bed in the corner and Kelley to her own bedroom.
Alex searches for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt of Tobin's that look like they'll fit
and after she's changed and climbed into bed, she feels a piece of paper. When she digs out said piece of paper, it turns out to be the issue of the Rolling Stone she was featured in all those months ago.
That's how Tobin finds her, staring at the magazine and at her own face.
"You know, that's not really you."
Alex is about to argue that yes, it is really her, she remembers the three hours of hair and make-up, the overbearing photographer that wouldn't stop staring at her cleavage, the way her dad hovered over her the entire day when Tobin clarifies,
"I mean, like, it's not the Alex I know. The Alex I know who has a million different smiles and facial expressions, the Alex I know who's so free and caring and funny, the girl in those pictures? On the TV? Her smiles never reaches her eyes, her words are empty.”
Alex starts tearing up at Tobin's words and can't say anything except pull Tobin in for a hug. They fall asleep like that, Alex in Tobin's arms, silently crying out all her frustrations, hoping her embrace tells Tobin all the words she wishes she could say. She thinks she's never felt more safe than when she's here, with Tobin.
Before she falls asleep, she realizes it's Wednesday. She smiles.