Chapter 11
“Be honest” Tina said, holding two hangers with different dresses on them. “Would I look better in green or in gray?”.
“You’d look good with a paper bag on” Bette responded, kissing her quickly. “But between these two, I’d go for the gray one.”
“Thank you, babe. Wise choice.” She took the dress off the hanger and slipped into it, feeling the cool cloth embracing her like a globe. She felt sexy with such a dress on. “And by the way, I know you were doubting it, but I like the suit that has a vest. And it’s a different shade of gray, so we’ll still look good together.”
“Oh, thank you” the brunette said, picking the vest that Tina had just pointed out. “I thought it would be too much, but if you look this good, I have to live up to my girl.”
Tina smiled at the other woman, encircling both of her arms around her neck and pulling her closer.
“We’ll look amazing” she said. “And we’ll say amazing things. And it’s going to be an amazing interview.”
They were in the dressing room of a talk show they were about to be part of, choosing their clothes before going into the make-up room. It was kind of tiring (filming ended two weeks ago and they had already been in four interviews and three photoshoots, apart from the multiple Q&A and other things that their PR-staff made them do), but for the first time since she started being part of the show, Tina didn’t feel it was overwhelming.
Years before, she used to learn Bette’s schedule to know exactly when and where to avoid her. She would spend every interview tense as a stick, hating every word that came out of her mouth, knowing damn well that whatever joy she was portraying for the cameras was pretended. Now, she woke up every morning next to Bette and they planned their days around whatever activity they had to do that day. And yes, it wasn’t less exhausting, and the interviews didn’t become less annoying, but now she knew that if she didn’t feel like talking much, she could just tell Bette, and she would do it for both of them. And if she wanted to make a point about something, the other woman would make sure to direct every conversation so she could say whatever she wanted to say.
It was a type of partnership that she didn’t know she needed until she got it.
“Girls, we start make-up in five minutes!” an assistant told them through the door.
Tina adjusted Bette’s suit for one last time and gave her one last kiss, taking advantage of the fact neither of them had lipstick on yet.
“Let’s crush this”, the brunette said, confidence oozing from her.
-
“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand up for the couple of the year, Bette Porter and Tina Kennard from Dupont and associates!” the host of the talk show introduced them, and the roar of the crowd welcomed them into the tiny studio.
Tina felt Bette gripping her hand tighter, and she looked at her in reassurance.
“Look at them, so in love it’s disgusting.” The interviewer joked, and they both laughed as they occupied their respective seats. Once the noise around them settled down, the host spoke again. “So, welcome girls, it’s so nice to have you here.”
Tina knew that she was the one who was supposed to speak first, so she quickly responded.
“It’s our pleasure, Linda,” she made sure to display her biggest smile. “I got to say that you got a nice thing going on here” she looked around at the studio, complementing it.
“Oh, thank you very much. But I should say you are the ones with a nice thing going on here” the woman pointed at their interlinked hands.
Bette laughed, and Tina could sense the last of her nerves leaving her body, as she got into full celebrity mode.
“I feel like I said a thousand times now that I’m a lucky woman” the brunette said, calmly. “But I am. There’s no other way to put it.”
“Yeah, you are.” Linda agreed, while the crowd approved of the statement with cheers. “You both are. But tell me a little bit more about what it’s like to work with your girlfriend on something as intense as a TV show?” she asked, the interview finally starting.
“It’s definitely intense”, Tina conceded. “But it’s also very interesting. We are kind of like two completely different persons on an off the set, and to see Bette perform at her best and then come back home to just, I don’t know, make pancakes for dinner because we’re just so tired… It’s like getting to know this whole new person.”
“I’m sorry, babe, let me say this” Bette interrupted her, softly. “It’s crazy and so, so funny. The other day our characters had a fight (not going to spoil you guys, don’t worry), and then we came back home, and she was still angry at me.”
The crowd laughed at the story, and Tina felt like this was going smoother than they had planned. They were really a good team out there.
“What can I say… Laura was right, and Emma was wrong.” She laughed too, the absurdity of keeping this discussion alive was one of the funniest things in the world for her.
“Oh, speaking of Laura and Emma!” Linda exclaimed, excited. “Tell us more about the seventh season of Dupont and Associates, please!!”
“It’s an exciting season.” Tina said.
“Yeah, for sure” Bette quickly chimed in. “Which is not always easy to achieve in a show that’s been on for so long. But we can say that you’ll see us win and lose trials, fall in and out of love, and you’ll get a lot of answers from all the questions people ask about our characters. I think it’s a season in the one we dive in into backstories, and the personalities of the characters. It’s an exciting season, like T said before.”
“And we can’t wait to see it!” Linda said, the whole crowd cheering in agreement. “Speaking of falling in and out of love, we got to be honest, girls. All we want to know is how this…” she pointed at them “happened.”
“We just stopped fighting against each other, and we found out that we are actually a nice pair.” Tina joked lightly, trying to get out as fast as possible from this moment of the interview. It was impossible, though.
“Yeah, we just, you know, we were so invested in ourselves and our characters and our own expectations before. But this season, I would say we both came with different mind sets into the set, and we allowed ourselves to truly know each other. It was pretty obvious from then on why we always had that chemistry on screen that everyone talked about” Bette explained, as smiley and charming as ever.
Tina knew it was a rehearsed answer. But the way in the one the other woman delivered it, so calmly and sure, really made her believe it. She never ceased to amaze her as an actress.
“That chemistry was intense, too.” Linda laughed, everyone in the room agreeing with her. “But you know, guys, you play lawyers, right?”
Both actresses nodded at the question.
“And we play investigators, sometimes” the host continued. “So, we all wonder for years why you both disliked each other. And we might have found some answers with one of the members of our crew”.
While the lights in the studio went down and everyone turn around to look at the screens, Tina subtly looked to her side to try to communicate with Bette. They had no idea what this was about. A video was about to be played in front of them, and they had no clue how they were going to answer to it, or what it was going to be about. Bette squeezed her hand, reassuring her.
The screen lighted up, and a man with long, curly hair and a red cap appeared on it. Tina thought that he looked oddly familiar.
“Hi, my name is Tom!” he said, happily. “I haven’t thought about this in years, but yeah, sure, I remember Bette and Tina. We all went to the same high school here, in L. A. Oh, and we were all part of the drama club, of course.”
Tina’s heart sank to the floor. Besides her, she could sense Bette was so tense all her muscles were rigid. They needed to stop this from happening, but the video kept playing, fucking Tom kept talking and they stayed there, caught up by surprised in their seats.
“I remember they were very close for a year, maybe, they went everywhere together. In the drama club it was impossible to do anything with one of them because they always worked together. A perfect tandem. It doesn’t surprise me how good they are acting together now.” From behind the camera, a hand handed Tom a picture, that he held next to her face. “You asked me why I thought they disliked each other before? I have no idea, to be honest. But look, this is a picture of our last play, during Bette’s and I last year of school. See? This is me, this is Bette, and that’s Tina.” He pointed at the little faces on the paper, perfectly recognizable even in video. “That year, we played our version of Springs Awakening, and I was so excited, because it’s my favorite play ever. But it was a mess.”
“Oh, yeah? Why?” the voice behind the camera encouraged to keep going.
“Well, that’s what you should ask them if we’re going to have them on the studio. Let me just say that, apparently, they had had a fight before we presented the play, and they were not the nicest to one another.”
“Oh, we’ll ask them, then. Is there anything you’d like to tell them, Tom?”
“Just that I’m so happy some of us made it to Hollywood. In one way, or another. And I’m happy to see them both out, comfortable, and together. You deserve it, guys. I know it wasn’t always like this.”
The video stopped, the room’s lights turned on again, and Linda faced Bette and Tina, a smile plastered on her face.
“And so, guys? We want to know what happened in that play!”
Tina couldn’t respond. In fact, she couldn’t even breathe. She felt her chest closing in, and a cold sweat covering her entire body. She was having a panic attack, she realized.
And she needed to get the hell out of that studio.
-
@PorterKennards just posted on Twitter
“idk what happened there but T looks so uncomfortable. Take that girl out of her misery”
@Emmaxlaura responded to @PorterKennards
“my bby looks traumatized get her the hell out of there”
@slut4emma responded to @emmaxlaura and @PorterKennards
“she ran away out of that interview. i really wish she’s ok, no matter what happened #ProtectTinaKennard”
@PorterKennards responded to @slut4emma and @emmaxlaura
“we should really start a campaign #ProtectTinaKennardFromFuckinLindaHolster”
@slut4emma responded to @PorterKennards
“ha i’m with u but I think #ProtectTinaKennard is enough”