1.
Sabrina Meadows looked at her naked reflection in the mirror, analysing it critically. She was already forty-something (a fact that she kept under close wraps), but she didn't look a day over thirty, and she knew it. Of course it took a hell of a lot of work to keep up her figure- hell not everyone aged as well as Jane Fonda- a dietician and cook, a personal trainer, microdermabrasion, botox, restalyn injections, a lift here, a tuck there, (not so much that she'd look like Melanie Griffith mind you!) and a good stylist for when she was invited to red carpet events. Although the invites had been coming in dribs and drabs lately and she knew soon they'd dry up all together if she didn't have a hit movie soon, or at least a good supporting actress role in a hit movie. The problem with that was that she hadn't been offered anything like that in a good two years. Sabrina found it annoying that the general public could probably name a good dozen leading men over forty but it was not the case with women. Hollywood use by dates were a double standard and therefore roles for women over forty were hotly contested. The movie business was most certainly a dog-eat-dog world. But it was all Sabrina knew. She had no other skills, no qualifications, nothing to fall back on if she couldn't find work soon. Of course she had her mansion in the Hollywood Hills with a million dollar view but giving it up would be a last resort. She'd rather starve than have to move down out of the hills and rent a place.
"Come on Sab, stop cheering yourself up!" She said out loud with a wry grin at her reflection. She ran a hand over her breasts which were still firm and high, down her flat stomach and stopping at her pubic bone. It was probably almost time for another Brazillian.
She went into her walk in wardrobe and surveyed the clothes for something to wear to her lunchtime meeting with Alex Hammond, one of Hollywood's top directors. His PA had set the meeting up and she'd been tight lipped about what he wanted with her. Sabrina hadn't heard any news of him having a movie in the pipeline-- and if he had been working on a movie she would have heard, everyone would have heard. That was the way the movie business grapevine worked. She pulled a low cut, red, satin dress off a hanger and held it against herself as she looked in the mirror she'd had installed in her wardrobe. No, too sexy for lunch, it was more of a nightime outfit. She tossed it aside (the maid she had come in every morning would look after it- although if the current monetary situation was not addressed soon she might have to cut down drastically on the maid's hours) and then picked out a ocean blue sweater dress but decided that was too casual for meeting with someone of Alex Hammond's calibre. She briefly debated a black, pinstripped suit which would have been perfect if they weren't having lunch in the latest L.A "it restuarant", "The Park." Anyone who was anyone had flocked to the restaurant which described its food as Indian and Italian fusion-- whatever on earth that meant. It was not like she'd be eating much anyway. Eating a lot in public was a big no-no for her, and a cardinal sin for actresses and wannabee actresses. They could probably take away an actresses "SAG" card for that. Finally Sabrina settled for an elegant black dress (every woman worth her salt had a LBD didn't they?) and red strappy sandals with a bit of a heel.
She put the dress on and then attacked her shiny bright red hair with a hairbrush before artfully arranging it so some strands rested on her chest and drew attention to her decollatage. She put on some cream foundation, set it with powder, added two coats of volumising mascara, red lipstick ala Gwen Stefani but toned down a bit and finally dabbed some gloss in the middle of her lips. Back at the peak of her career Sabrina had been a Maybelline spokeswoman, appearing in their magazine ads, on billboards and a television comercial and she'd been given a load of free products. And ever since then she recieved boxes of products frequently.
Back in her bedroom she picked up her purse and keys and left to meet Alex.
*****
"Sabrina! You look younger every time I see you." Alex said, standing up to greet her and Sabrina laughed, flattered.
Walking in to the restaurant she'd been the object of a few admiring looks and she'd held her head up proudly as she sashayed across the room. She heard someone whisper to their companion "Look, isn't that Sabrina Meadows?" and was glad to know that even if she'd been out of the spotlight for awhile people still remembered who she was.
The restaurant was filled with the power brokers of the town-- top agents, directors, a couple of actresses and actors and studio bosses. Occasionally she stopped to greet a familiar face, doing the patented "L.A hello": "George, loved your latest movie!" "Julia you don't look as though you gave birth last month-- what's your secret?" "Brad-- nice to see you." "Kate we must do lunch, give me a call."
"You're not doing so bad yourself Alex. Married life must be suiting you." Sabrina replied, taking a seat. She felt a pang of something go through her and wondered what it was-- lonliness? Jealousy? Longing? Perhaps a combination of the three. She'd been married twice and neither relationship had worked out. The first was as a naive, wide eyed girl who moved from Texas to L.A with the intention of becoming-- surprise, surprise-- a star. Cut off from a family who didn't understand, or respect even, her ambition, finding becoming a big star a lot harder than she thought it would be and only managing, despite her talent, to get paid extras positions, she clung to the first person she met with all the intensity of a drowning person holding on to a lifesaver. They got married just on six months after Sabrina first arrived in town in a registry office. He was also an actor with visions of making it big. Unfortunately he also had a serious drug problem which prevented him from getting much work which meant Sabrina was supporting the two of them. As her career began to take off she realised he could only hold her back and she left him. There was also the fact that she was pretty sure she'd never loved him.
