Three years later…
Rainer, Jordan and I make our way around the back entrance of the Chinese Theater. I can hear the fans gathered outside by the hundreds. We round a corner, still shielded from sight, and I see their faces—they hold up giant signs, wave around headshots.
I remember stepping off this carpet four years ago. Rainer’s hand at my waist, flashes everywhere. At the time it was my first red carpet and I remember sitting in the car, alone, Rainer and Jordan somewhere in traffic around me, and feeling out of my body. Like I was watching all of this transpire from somewhere above, beyond. Maybe even sometime in the future.
But now we’ve been to three different world premieres and we’re getting ready to do our fourth tomorrow. The final Locked movie comes out at midnight. The ride of a lifetime is finally coming to a close. And today, before we say goodbye, we’re doing something I never, ever in a million years thought I would get to do. We’re leaving our hand and footprints at the Chinese Theater after getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“This is by far the craziest thing we’ve done yet,” Rainer says next to me.
“We met the Queen,” Jordan points out.
“I was sick,” Rainer says. It was two years ago. He still hasn’t let it go.
“Hang on, I’ve never heard this story,” Jordan says, kidding. Rainer punches him lightly on the shoulder and they play-wrestle for a second before Tawny comes over and shushes them.
“You guys ready?”
“We’re at your continued service.”
She gives Jordan a pointed look. “I’ll miss you, too,” she says.
Tawny is a lot, it’s true, she’s made me crazy more times than I can count over these last years, but I realize, suddenly, standing here behind the barricade, that I’m going to miss her. Truly miss her. She’s kept us safe. She’s been our media couch, our annoying big sister, and our friend. She’s fought for us, for our images and truth, and I’m suddenly overcome with gratitude. She’s the studio’s publicist, so once we’re done with Locked, she’s done with us.
“We will,” I say. “Miss you.”
She glances down at her clipboard, but I can see her ears tinge pink.
“What did I miss?” Sandy comes up behind us, Wyatt at her side. They look a little disheveled and Rainer leans against the partition, crossing his arms.
They’re together, but they won’t tell us, at least not outright. Wyatt is still adamant about his no work and dating rule. Even if he’s been breaking it for the last four years.
“You guys are seriously worse liars than the three of us,” Rainer says. “Just tell us already.”
Sandy adjusts her red top. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says. “But it’s time for us to move.”
Wyatt pushes past us and then he’s striding up to the microphone on the stage they’ve erected outside. It’s a beautiful day—the sun is shining, the temperature is warm with just a slight breeze. Sandy leads us out and the moment the crowds see us they go wild. At first the noise is scary, I’m not sure it will ever stop evoking just a little bit of terror, but that fear quickly gives way to excitement. I see their faces—shining, smiling, and we wave back. Someone yells “I love you!” and Rainer screams back. “We love you!”
Wyatt clears his throat at the microphone. He’s wearing a Patti Smith shirt—the ultimate signal of important.
“Hey guys,” he says, pointing at us. He looks out at the fans. “It’s amazing to be up here introducing three people I love very much.” There are more screams. Wyatt puts his finger over his lips. “But before I bring them up I wanted to give you a little inside scoop about these three, if you wouldn’t mind.”
The crowds go wild. Wyatt tucks some curls behind his ears and laughs. “Shocking, they want info! Well I had the pleasure of being the very first director on the Locked films. I’ve been followed by directors who are no doubt far more talented than I am.” He gestures to the side of the stage, to where Alfonso and Katherine Haymick, our director on the last two films, stand side by side. “But I was there at the beginning, and the beginning is what I want to talk to you about today. The first day on set I remember thinking I wasn’t getting paid enough.” He holds up his hands. “Hang on, hang on, listen, these guys were such newbies. Yeah, Rain and Wilder had done some stuff, but Paige was plucked straight out of high school and we were on this giant machine of a set. I didn’t think we’d pull it off.” He looks down at us and I swear, I see something close to a tear in his eye. “But I have had the supreme privilege of watching these three grow up not just as actors, but as people. I’ve gotten to work with them on other projects, and I know they are going to have long careers.” The crowd roars. Wyatt nods. “But before I bring them up here, and you’re being patient, I know, I want to introduce one other person. I think you’ll want to meet her. These three might have made August and Noah and Ed live but there is a woman who we have to thank first. Because without her, there would be no Locked.”
I look around the audience. Could he…is she…
“Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to the writer behind this world. The reason we have all been brought together today. The writer and creator of Locked. Parker Witter!”
“No way,” Rainer whispers next to me.
Jordan shifts from foot to foot.
And then I see her. A woman in the front row. She’s wearing jeans, a white button-down and ballet flats. Her brunette hair falls around her face. She walks up the steps and then gives Wyatt an embrace.
“Thank you, Wyatt,” she says. “That was quite an introduction.” She looks over at us and waves. I think we’re too stupefied to respond, which makes her laugh.
We’ve never met her, not once in all these years. But I always felt like she was around, like she was looking over us, somehow. Seeing her rapport with Wyatt, now, maybe she was.
“I haven’t been very visible over the years,” she says. “You’ll forgive the cast’s momentary pause. Don’t worry, you guys, I’m not here to announce a fourth book!”
People start screaming, but Parker motions for them to quiet down.
“I know, I know, some of you would like that. But we’re not here today to talk about August, Ed and Noah. We’re here to talk about Paige, Jordan and Rainer.” Parker turns to us and takes off her glasses. “I’m not sure I ever told you guys the story of how you were cast.”
I think back to that first audition in Portland. Meeting Rainer. Singing in the Rain.
“I saw the recording of these two,” Parker gestures at Rainer and me. “It was in the back room of this theater in Oregon. Do you remember?”
Rainer looks at me. We both nod. How could we ever forget?
“There was this moment when you two were reading together. It was the scene where they first get to the island and Noah is trying to save August. It was just perfect. It was beautiful. And I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to tell you how grateful I am that you brought such incredible life to these characters.” She looks back over the crowds. She holds her palm up to shield from the sun. “You know as a writer we live in these worlds of our own making. It can be quite lonely. We sit at a computer and we create something out of nothing. It’s just us and our imagination. Locked was mine for so long and then it wasn’t, and I think for a long time I struggled with that, with how to let it go. But I want to tell you all today how much it has meant to me that you now share this story with me. You have made this world live and breathe and expand and for that, I am forever grateful. So without further ado I’d like to present to you the stars of Locked. Paige Townsen, Rainer Devon, and Jordan Wilder.”
We file onto the stage and Parker hugs each of us. “I didn’t know you saw that tape,” I say when I reach her.
She leans over me and whispers into my ear. “Who do you think said it had to be you?”
I stare at her as she turns, hugs Jordan, and walks off the stage. In the beginning I wrestled with feeling like I didn’t belong, like I had been miscast. I thought I didn’t have what it would take to do August justice. But it was always supposed to unfold like this. We were always supposed to end up here.
“This way, please.”
The master of ceremonies leads us in front of the podium where there is a square of liquid cement. We get down on our knees and they hand us pen-sticks. We’re supposed to sign our names, then we’ll put our feet in, and then our hands, and then the cement will dry, and the block will join the thousands of other stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
I pick up the pen. Rainer has settled down next to me on one side, Jordan on the other. I glance at him and see his smile. His gaze still makes me feel illuminated—spotlighted in a way the brightest flashbulbs don’t. He winks at me.
The cameras are close in on us. “Look up!” they call. “One more, all three!”
We sign our names, and then hold our hands up. We’re wearing goofy grins and when I sink my fingers down into the wet liquid and someone comes around and presses each of our palms in firmly, I can’t help but laugh. I see Wyatt and Sandy to the side. Josh Horwart, our journalist turned friend, is there. Cassandra and Jake stand together near my parents and Annabelle, who is probably more excited than anyone for this day. Cassandra has a camera wound around her neck and is snapping wildly. Next to her are Alexis and Britney, who I actually worked with on a film last year. They are smiling at me, their arms around each other. Britney ducks her head onto Alexis’s shoulder. Alexis kisses her temple. No more secrets, not anymore.
I know somewhere in this crowd are Jordan’s mom and sister, and Rainer’s mother, too, who still has a relationship with Rainer’s father, even though he hasn’t spoken to him in over three years.
But the only people that feel real right now are the two beside me. I see our names here, scrolled in cement. I think about this stone being transported somewhere, put in the ground for everyone to see. Our names united forever.
I remember when we did our first press conference for the very first Locked they prepped us with all of these stock answers. We’re a family. This is the greatest opportunity. We’ve learned so much. But the crazy thing is, all of that has proven to be true. We are a family. This has been the greatest opportunity. I have learned everything.
No one will ever really know what it’s like to go through something like this. No one but the three of us. We will be connected forever. When Parker talked about letting this world go I realized that it’s our job now, too. We have to let it go. It is out of our hands. These characters will live on and grow inside the people who read and watch them. They belong to the world now.
We pick our hands up, covered in goop, and we wiggle our fingers in front of us. The cameras flash on us. It won’t be like this soon. Soon, after the final premiere and press tour, our trio will be disassembled. We’ll go on to do other things, make other movies. We won’t come back to these characters. We won’t see each other every day. We won’t be a part of this thing that has tethered us together. And yet---
And yet there is a whole new reality, now. One that isn’t scripted. That even Parker doesn’t know the ending of. Because it hasn’t been written yet.
“Smile!” A photographer calls, and I do. I drop my hands and for the briefest moment, before we wash off the dirt and sign autographs and pose with fans…I feel Jordan’s finger. It loops through mine—a reminder of so many things past future and present.
And then we look into the lights. The three of us. And finally, I exhale.