‘Wait, hold on.’ He recognizes me immediately. ‘What are you—’ He looks to Clara next. ‘And you—’ He swallows, glancing back towards the publicist on his right. Thank god Katies must finally be on her maternity leave. I wonder if this new publicist has managed to get Milo lost and trapped in a vomit-covered lift yet?
I hold my breath waiting for Milo to give us away, for us to be ordered out of here. Instead he continues smoothly. ‘Erm, yeah, I recognize you guys from that other… interview I did a while ago, right? You’re from…’
He swallows and I say as quickly as possible, ‘I’m a freelance journalist – born to it actually and would’ve made a success with or without my brother’s help – but yes, we’ve um, totally interviewed you before, El— er, Milo. Great memory! I’m Louise Theroux and this is my colleague—’ I stop because I’ve forgotten the amazing pseudonym I came up with for Clara.
She sighs, looking defeated, then mutters into her own lap, ‘Andi Leibovitz.’
I catch the rest of the journalists exchanging looks, but Milo just nods with understanding. ‘Of course, I do remember now.’ His mouth twitches and I smile at him as professionally as I can.
‘So how are you, Milo?’ I ask and the stern publicist gives me a look.
‘We’ll start at this end of the table, if you don’t mind, Louise. We’ll go one question at a time. We only have fifteen minutes.’
Tiny recorders are thrown into a pile on the table between us, and I retrieve a note book and pen from my bag. Milo watches me do it with curiosity.
The real journalists begin asking about the show and Milo’s process, as I panic. It’ll be my turn in a minute – what can I ask?
‘Louise?’ the publicist prompts as the whole group turns to stare.
‘Um,’ I begin slowly. I can’t just ask him outright, can I? ‘Um, Milo, have you ever been… ghosted?’
He raises his eyebrows and the publicist frowns. We’re supposed to stick to questions about the show, but he answers before she can interject.
‘I have actually.’ He looks at the table. ‘Quite recently, as it happens. It’s not the nicest feeling, but some people just find it easier to close the book, right?’ He offers a short, unhappy laugh and I fight an urge to grab his hand across the table.
I didn’t ghost you!I want to shout, desperate to explain.
‘OK.’ The publicist sounds bored. ‘Andi? Next question?’
Clara leans across the table. ‘Oh my god, Milo, did you, like, totally get a boner doing all those sex scenes on the show?’
Milo gives a shocked laugh as the publicist angrily tuts. ‘Can we keep things appropriate, please?’ She waves at the next journalist. ‘Let’s move on.’
When it comes to me again, I swallow. ‘So, Milo, this question was an email from a, er, reader and they were wondering—’ I pretend to check something in my notebook. ‘How forgiving are you? For example, if someone forgot to let you know they were going to America for a few days when you were waiting to hear from them about something really important, would you, like, hate them for ever, or would you get over it pretty quickly?’
He frowns, then regards me curiously. ‘That’s a… reader question?’
I nod enthusiastically.
‘Well, er’ – he searches for an answer – ‘I guess it would depend on the situation. But I do think open communication and forgiveness are hugely important in any relationship, romantic or platonic.’
I nod quickly, as Clara sits up straight, ready for her turn. ‘So, Milo, babe!’ She sounds really professional. ‘From all the sex scenes you look like you’d besupergood at IRL sex. Is that something they taught you at drama school, or were you already, like, naturally amazing at shagging?’
The publicist pushes her chair back furiously, scraping the chair legs loudly against the floor. ‘Andi! That is not appropriate!’
Clara adds quickly, ‘And how many peoplehaveyou had sex with?’
‘I’m afraid I’m going to need to ask you to leave,’ the publicist snaps, striding around the table to Clara, who looks delighted. She leaps up, then shoots me a look. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist.’
‘Out, please!’ the woman says loudly and Clara waves a goodbye to our group.
‘Laters, everyone! This was fun!’ She beams at Milo and reaches out a hand to shake his. ‘See you soon, dude!’
He grins at her. ‘You bet.’
We all watch Clara being escorted out and the publicist returns quickly. ‘Right, can we continue? One more question each now, and we’ll have to move on with the next interview.’
This is it, my last chance. My stomach flips over and over as the group powers through more tedious questions that feel straight out of the press release. At least Clara was asking fun things.
