Scarlett Johansson was bored. She was more bored than she had ever been in her entire life. What she was doing wasn't supposed to be boring, but she was still bored. She was at a very elegant party in one of New York's finest hotels. It was still early in the evening and Scarlett's only hope for a more interesting night seemed to be the drink she was nursing.
Scarlett would rather be outside in the crisp winter evening, but she had promised her agent that she would attend this party. It was a very important party, with a lot of important people from the industry. Unfortunately most of them seemed to be stuffy older men. Scarlett had stated once that she liked older men, but none of the men she had been thinking about were around.
Instead she was stuck here with a fat assistant producer who went on and on about all the movies he had been involved with. Scarlett thought that most of the movies he mentioned were over-hyped and crappy, but she used her skill as an actress to fake interest. The man seemed to be unable to keep his eyes off of Scarlett's chest so he didn't notice that she let her eyes wander the room in search of something a bit more interesting.
She looked out through the windows and into the cold winter evening. It had been 2006 for a few weeks now, but Scarlett didn't think it felt any different from 2005. She really didn't believe that a new year would mean anything different, but she hoped for something new. She had learned that fame and fortune lose some of their appeal this winter and she felt a need for something more. She definitely wanted more than this conversation.
Scarlett had come to this party together with her co-star in the Nanny Diaries Alicia Keys. Scarlett looked over to Alicia and saw that she was stuck in an equally boring conversation. She was talking to one of the more overrated directors in Hollywood. At least he was in Scarlett's opinion. She thought that his only strength was that he was a friend of George Clooney. Scarlett let her thoughts drift away to the hunky actor for a while.
The thoughts of George Clooney eased some of Scarlett's boredom, but they didn't help for long. She again let her eyes scan the room in pursuit of something interesting and this time she was lucky. The party had just started so guests were arriving all the time. Scarlett locked eyes with one of the new arrivals: she was a brunette in a stylish black dress. The girl fired off a warm smile and Scarlett responded in kind. Scarlett had instantly recognised Jena Malone.
Jena had briefly attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan which was a school that Scarlett had gone to as well. They had never really gotten to know each other closely, but they did talk at events and parties like this.
Scarlett immediately realised how beautiful Jena was. The dress was very tight and it showed a generous amount of cleavage. Scarlett felt as though Jena's presence immediately lit up the room. All thoughts of George Clooney quickly evaporated as Scarlett watched Jena make her way through the room. Scarlett knew that she had to be close to Jena right now. Scarlett excused herself from the assistant producer and made her way through the crowd and over to Jena.
Jena had arrived with a group of people who Scarlett didn't know. Scarlett and Jena greeted each other and Jena then went on to introduce the rest of the people in her group: they were Jena's co starts in the play Doubt. Scarlett shook their hands and repeated their names to herself, but deep down she didn't really care. It wasn't like she had anything against them it was just that she was somewhat tired of old people at the moment.
Scarlett was determined to have a good time. After some obligatory small talk with the older actors she managed to get Jena away from the group. Scarlett had finished off her first drink so she swiped a new one and gave one to Jena as well.
"I'm so glad to see you. I was dying from boredom among these people." Scarlett whispered into Jena's ear.
"That bad huh?" Jena whispered back
"Ohhh. Yes. I don't understand how people can be so dull when they work in such a glamorous industry."
"I know what you mean. I really don't like things like this, but I had a hard time saying no to the other cast members." Jena whispered.
"My agent forced me to be here. I have to 'network,' as he says."
Scarlett made citation marks in the air and made it perfectly clear that she didn't like the term. This was too much business talk for Scarlett.
"Look at the bright side. There is free food and liquor." Jena said with a smile.
She emphasised this by picking up an hors d'oevre from a nearby table.
They spent the next few minutes discussing their current projects and colleagues. Jena had just started in the critically acclaimed and very serious play Doubt and Scarlett was back in her home town to film "The Nanny Diaries". They also went on for a while about the latest gossip in Hollywood. Jena wasn't as in to the Hollywood scene as Scarlett was, but she listened intently as Scarlett gave her all the details. It was the same kind of small talk they had shared before, but it was clear that the two young actresses were enjoying each others company.
After a while Scarlett saw Alicia coming over. Apparently she had managed to get away from the pretentious director. Scarlett was glad for her sake. No one deserved to be stuck with that man for too long. Alicia wasn't as good at pretending to be interested as Scarlett and the relief in her face was obvious.
"Glad to see that you managed to break free, Alicia" Scarlett said with a sympathetic smile on her lips.
"Yeah. He was indeed very interesting and not at all pompous." Alicia answered.
She said this in a tone that made it perfectly clear that she meant exactly the opposite of what she said. Alicia and Jena had never met and Scarlett took it upon herself to introduce them. Soon all three girls were chatting happily amongst themselves. The three of them had a very good time before they were interrupted: it was Scarlett's agent who had a list of people that Scarlett just had to talk to.
Scarlett reluctantly followed and spoke to the people she was introduced to. She kept a smile on her face and nodded when she had to, but her thoughts were elsewhere. The people just kept coming and Scarlett felt her boredom increase. It felt like hours as she was led around the party by her agent. She felt like a helpless child being led around and introduced to dull relatives. There were so many remarkably boring people in Hollywood and it seemed as if Scarlett had to talk to all of them tonight.
She kept telling herself that this was something she had to do, but it was no good. One more boring Hollywood person would make her head explode. Scarlett was hoping that her agent would let her talk to someone interesting for once, when she saw that her agent actually led her to doom. She was without a doubt being led towards that balding, scrawny, pretentious director that had tortured Alicia earlier in the evening.
Scarlett felt as though her soul was being sucked into a deep black void of nothingness and despair. It was somewhat of an over dramatization of course, but Scarlett sure as hell didn't feel good about the prospect of talking to this man. He had made the most dreadfully boring movies and he had a tendency to talk about them a lot with a mind numbingly boring voice. Scarlett tried to think about something to say to her agent to avoid talking to the boring director, but her mind had frozen.
Scarlett's ruthless agent led her closer and closer to the director and was just about to introduce the two when a true Hollywood miracle occurred. The fair lady was saved from certain doom in the last possible second. Jena Malone suddenly blocked the road for Scarlett and her agent. With a dazzling smile on her face, she asked the agent if she could borrow Scarlett for a while. Without waiting for an answer she took Scarlett's hand and led her away from the danger and to a quiet corner.
Scarlett followed her instinct and thanked her saviour with a hug. It was a light friendly hug, but Scarlett couldn't help to think that it felt good. She didn't dwell on it though; instead she let her curiosity take charge.
"How did you know that I desperately wanted to get away from him?"
"Well. It was simple really. I remembered your comment from earlier and I saw the look of dread on your face as your agent led you towards him. I didn't think I could let you suffer like that."
"I'm so glad you did. I might actually have lost my soul then and there if you hadn't saved me."
"I could never leave a lady in danger." Jena said theatrically
She also bowed for Scarlett and kissed her on the hand in the manner of an old-fashioned knight. Scarlett couldn't contain her giggles as she observed Jena's antics. A few people around them looked strangely at Jena, but were too polite to comment.
"My agent is going to be so pissed about this." Scarlett said between giggles.
