Chapter 8 - PLEASE SCAN IT
The sequel’s first public screening happened eighteen months after Derek threw my invitation onto the carpet.
Not a premiere.
A test screening.
Burbank.
No gowns.
No limousines.
Audience recruited from shopping centers and online panels.
I wore jeans.
Ethan wore a baseball cap he believed made him invisible.
It did not.
We entered through the production door.
A twenty-three-year-old security assistant stopped me.
“Credential?”
I handed it over.
He looked at me.
Then at the badge.
Then back at me.
For half a second, I felt the old irritation.
Do you know who—
I stopped the thought before it finished.
He scanned the badge.
Red light.
“Sorry, ma’am. This one isn't active.”
Mara was behind me.
She made a sound dangerously close to laughter.
I looked at the security assistant.
“Can you try again?”
He did.
Red.
Ethan arrived beside us.
The young man recognized him immediately.
His eyes widened.
Ethan said:
“She’s with me.”
I held up one hand.
“No.”
Ethan stopped.
I looked at the security assistant.
“Please scan it.”
He already had.
Twice.
The badge was wrong.
That mattered more than who stood beside me.
He called production.
Thirty seconds later a coordinator came running.
Wrong date encoded on my credential.
Yesterday.
They printed another.
The young guard scanned it.
Green.
“You’re good.”
“Thank you.”
That was all.
No rope unhooked.
No wall of cameras turning.
No one learned my status.
I walked inside because the credential was valid.
Ethan followed.
He leaned toward me.
“That was disappointingly mature.”
“Shut up.”
We entered the screening room.
Alex sat in the back.
Sasha had notes open.
Julian stood near the aisle talking to distribution research.
Mara handed me a score sheet.
The audience entered.
Two hundred ordinary people who did not know our contracts, backend percentages, premiere history or who had once been kept off what carpet.
They watched the movie.
That was the terrifying part.
The lights came up.
Research started questions.
Characters.
Ending.
Pacing.
Would you recommend?
One woman hated a scene I had fought three months to protect.
Three people loved it.
One man thought Ethan’s character should have died.
Ethan whispered:
“He's banned.”
I almost laughed.
The moderator asked who would pay to see another movie after this one.
Hands.
Not all.
Enough.
Afterward we gathered in the lobby.
No one declared victory.
Julian wanted to shorten twelve minutes.
Alex wanted six.
Sasha agreed with eight.
I wanted three.
Argument began.
Useful.
Halfway through, Mara’s phone buzzed.
She looked at it.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Your museum gown came back.”
“What?”
“The exhibit ended.”
“Okay.”
“What should I do with it?”
I thought about the white dress.
The original invitation.
The red carpet.
The clip that still resurfaced every few months with captions about secret bosses and instant karma.
The truth had never been as clean as the video.
I had arrived at the wrong carpet after ignoring the arrival instructions.
Derek had still treated me badly.
Ethan had defended me.
He had also used a public gesture without asking.
Meridian had restricted my press access.
I had previously requested that restriction and later threatened legal action partly for leverage.
The studio had pushed a sequel announcement before the rights were settled.
I had accepted money extending their negotiation window because my company needed it.
Nobody’s mistake made the others disappear.
I told Mara:
“Send the gown home.”
“The apartment or storage?”
“Home.”
“And the old premiere invitation?”
I had kept that too.
Not emotionally.
It was in the production archive because Tessa wanted a copy of the physical access materials during the security review.
The matter was closed now.
“Throw it out.”
Mara looked at me.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What about history?”
“We have twelve copies of the video.”
Fair.
She typed something.
Done.
Ethan called from across the lobby.
“We're losing the room.”
Meaning Julian and Alex were now arguing about the ending without us.
I walked back.
Mara followed.
At the door, another security guard asked to see my badge.
I held it up.
He checked.
Then moved aside.
No recognition.
No apology.
No revelation.
Inside, Julian pointed at the screen.
“Claire, tell him cutting the porch scene fixes the pacing.”
Alex immediately said:
“Do not answer that.”
Sasha laughed.
Ethan leaned against the wall.
Everyone looked at me.
This time they knew exactly who I was.
That did not mean I automatically got the answer right.
I sat down.
“Run both versions.”
Julian groaned.
Alex smiled.
The editor loaded the cut.
May you like
Lights dimmed.
And we went back to work.
