Fear, Lust, and Vanity

"Yes," Scarlett smiled at him, extending her hand. The driver beamed at her and shook it.

"I loved you in that film," David said. "It will be an honor to drive you. And you, Ms..." He turned to Rachel, raising an eyebrow.

"Rachel McAdams," Rachel said, extending her own hand to the Asian. "You may remember me from such films as..."

"Mean Girls!" David completed, his expression saying he should have recognized her. "And The Notebook. You've changed your hair again. My wife and daughter are big fans of yours. It's good to meet you in person."

"Thank you," Rachel said, nodding and shaking his hand.

"Come on," Keira tapped her on the shoulder, winking at Scarlett. "Let's get to the hotel." She slid into the backseat, Rachel following. Scarlett nodded at David, then got in beside them. The driver bowed again, shut the door, then got back behind the wheel.

"This is a comfortable car," Rachel told Keira, leaning back on the seat as she fastened her seat belt. Scarlett was about to put on her own when a gesture from Keira stopped her.

"David's a very safe driver," the British actress told her companions. "You won't need seat belts."

"I'll wear it anyway," Rachel declared, holding up a hand. "It's safe." She looked back and forth at the beautiful woman on either side of her, features slightly flushed. Keira smiled at Scarlett and inched closer to Rachel as David started heading out of the parking lot. Scarlett got the idea and moved closer to Rachel herself.

"This script," Rachel said, raising one hand to the back of her neck and rubbing it as she spoke. "Is it long?"

"Not that long," Keira replied. "Do you like the car? It's new. They've barely started selling this model. I got one of the first through some connections my agent has with the company, and I think it's great."

"It's nice," Rachel nodded, looking down at her lap as David exited the studio grounds. "Not as nice as my Corvette, but nice."

"I've even got the music they use in their commercials," Keira said with a laugh. "You'd like it. David, put it on." The driver nodded and flipped a switch on the car's radio. A throbbing beat immediately started humming through the car, drums beating heavily in time with the tires on the ground.

Good music, Scarlett thought. I would love to dance to this. Rachel seems to like it too. She's smiling, even through the blushing and looking away. Scarlett grinned, once again realizing something she had thought about during the shoot but was unable to believe. Rachel is turned on by Keira and me, she realized. Just as I was turned on by her and Keira, and Keira by her and me. We all denied it, yet it was there. Here it is again. Does she know it? Is she trying to push it away, as I was? What if she knew there was no need?

"Good music," she told Keira, and Rachel nodded. Keira smiled at them and leaned closer. Rachel, still looking uncomfortable, turned away. She was surprised to find Scarlett smiling on her other side, also leaning close.

"Uh," Rachel gasped, looking back and forth at them. "Is there something... wait." She pointed past Scarlett out the car's left window. "Do you know those guys?"

Scarlett turned and gasped, quickly pulling away from Keira and Rachel as a camera flash went off in her eyes. The light was blinding, even though the photographer couldn't be getting much of a good picture through the car's tinted windows. Scarlett blinked and shook her head, staring at the photographer- a man sitting tandem behind the pilot of a white Kawasaki motorcycle. She didn't recognize either of them, but she knew what they were.

"There's another!" Keira yelled, also pulling back from Rachel, who gasped, and pointed out the left window at another Kawsaki bike, this one blue, with another man on the back aiming a camera. "David, how many of them are there?" Keira asked.

"Just those four, Ms. Knightley," the driver replied, grimacing as he pulled forward out of the photographer's viewfinder. "Wait, there's a green Chevrolet Cobalt just behind us. I think they were following us to the studio earlier."

"And that taxi too!" Rachel turned around, pointing at a yellow Ford Crown Victoria pulling in close to them from the left. "Trust me," she told the other girls. "The passenger in the back seat followed me here today. The paparazzi here have nothing on those in Canada. I've had to study hard to learn all their tricks."

"David," Keira ordered her driver, pulling back to the far right of the car and buckling her seat belt, "lose them."

"Yes," Scarlett agreed, grimacing as memories of her Disneyland paparazzi accident a few years ago flashed through her brain. If these guys got the wrong shot of her, Keira, and Rachel... No, best not think about that. Do not think about it! She moved to the far left side of the car and strapped on her own belt.

"Yes, ma'am," David replied, speeding up suddenly and changing lanes. The music on the radio's beat deepened as he did so. Scarlett looked at her companions. Keira looked pensive, yet trusting. Rachel's eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily. Scarlett wondered if she'd had bad experiences with paparazzi photographers too.

She turned and looked out the back window, seeing the two Kawasakis pulling up close to each other and moving to follow. The taxi Rachel had noted was just behind them, and the Cobalt was to its left. David increased his speed and changed lanes again, the paparazzi drivers all matching him. I wonder if he's any good at evasion, thought Scarlett. Michael, her own driver, was ex-Special Forces and had driven through the war-torn cities of Iraq and Afghanistan before she hired him. He knew all about dodging tail cars and evading land mines and craters from roadside bombs. David didn't look like a former commando, but Scarlett knew some parts of Asia were known for their dangerous streets. Could he get them away? Scarlett wondered. Would they end up in another accident, maybe one like Diana's? No, she couldn't think about that. It could not happen. Not after a day that had been so good.

"We have another!" David called, looking back over his shoulder at them. "That red Nissan Maxima two cars behind the cab. He's tricky. Took me a moment to spot him."

"You can beat him, David," Keira said with a calm smile. "I don't care how long it takes. Lose them all."

"Yes ma'am," David nodded, bending forward over the wheel.

"Can he really shake them?" Rachel asked with a titter. "I hate these people- in Toronto they're always after me! LA too. What is with them? Don't they have lives? Don't they have jobs?"

"Tailing people like us is their job, Rachel," Scarlett sighed. "That's the problem."

The music thrummed heavily again as David pulled into a hard right turn, a move the paparazzi had to scramble to follow. Scarlett gasped as she saw the taxi nearly collide with the Cobalt, both drivers pulling away at the last instant. "Hang on!" David yelled, turning hard to the left and whipping around a number of angrily honking cars. Again the paparazzi scrambled to chase after him, several of them briefly cut off and dodging other possible collisions. Scarlett looked back towards the Nissan and saw it pulling over to the side of the road. Good, she thought. Maybe one of these people at least has the sense to give up.

The others weren't so smart, all staying on David's tail by some miracle as he turned another corner and zipped through a yellow light. Cymbals clashed on the radio as the paparazzi followed, the motorcycles weaving in and out of the cross traffic and the Cobalt driver flooring it and then slamming on his brakes with a screech as he narrowly avoided hitting another vehicle. A loud crunch from behind sickened Scarlett and she looked back to see that the cab had smashed into two other taxis that had been moving with the green light. The drivers were all hopping out to yell at each other, and the paparazzi passenger was getting out too, screaming angrily and slamming his fist into the side of his taxi. "One down!" Keira whooped with joy.

"They're still coming," Rachel gasped, looking back over her shoulder as one of the motorcycles pulled closer. The man on the back leaned forward over the pilot, adjusting his lens and clicking several shots. "They're not wearing helmets. Be careful!"

"You heard her, David," Keira laughed. "Try not to kill them."

David nodded and increased his speed again, making a left turn and then turning left again. The Cobalt and the motorbikes followed, the passengers on the latter two vehicles hanging on for dear life as the music on the radio thrummed its beat. Scarlett looked back, gasping and laughing as she noticed that the passenger on the white motorcycle had dropped his camera and was bemoaning the fact rather loudly. Then she grimaced as he pulled another one out of the bike's saddlebag.

"Hold on!" David called out again, jumping a curb and turning right into an alley as the music built to a crescendo. Rachel gasped and Scarlett looked down at her hands. The knuckles were clenched and white, the Canadian actress's teeth chattering as David weaved around trash cans, dumpsters, a pair of startled shabby-looking pedestrians, and a garbage truck whose uniformed hopper jumped into a dumpster to get out of their way. The paparazzi dodged the same obstacles, again scrambling to follow. On impulse, Scarlett reached out and took one of Rachel's hands in hers. The other girl looked back at her and seemed to calm noticeably, her beautiful smile Scarlett's thanks.

"They're remarkably tenacious," Keira commented, then whooped as the blue motorcycle overcorrected trying to follow David as he turned into another alley and tipped over, both its riders flying off and hitting the ground. "I hope they're insured!"

"They had better be!" Scarlett agreed with a chuckle. Behind them the Cobalt nearly clipped the other motorcycle in the rear. The bike's passenger turned and shook his fist at the driver of the Cobalt. The pilot was leaning over the handlebars as he zipped forward, carefully staying on David's tail. David honked his horn loudly, the music on the radio again hitting a crescendo as he pulled out of the alley and back onto the streets of Manhattan. Two cars honked loudly as David swerved around them both, several people jumping aside as he briefly strayed close to the sidewalk. "Look out!" Scarlett shouted as David veered towards a bus. Rachel gasped and choked back a scream.

"Don't worry," Keira told them. "My driver knows what he's doing."

Does he? Scarlett wondered as the Cobalt and the bike followed them, the latter nearly tipping over as its pilot struggled to stay behind their car. David pulled in front of the bus, then up alongside a delivery truck, effectively cutting off both paparazzi vehicles' approach vectors. Keira grinned and rolled down her window, then stuck out her upraised middle finger.

"Picture this!" she shouted at the paparazzi, laughing at Scarlett and Rachel's shocked expressions. "What? In England this is how we deal with such fools!"

"Um, Keira..." Scarlett stammered, pointing out the left window towards the sidewalk. Both her companions turned to look. The white motorcycle had pulled onto the sidewalk and its passenger was snapping another photo as he rode alongside them. The pilot was meanwhile weaving back and forth around benches, trees, and angry pedestrians, seemingly uncaring of all obstacles in his way.

"Damn them," Keira cursed, rolling up the window and looking back over her shoulder. The bus blocked their rear, the delivery truck their right side. The driver of the Cobalt was flashing her an odd gesture with both middle and pinkie fingers extended as he turned a corner and headed away from them. "Oh, Chinese and American rude fingers," Keira smirked as the motorcycle passenger flashed his camera at them once again. "How original. David, execute maneuver KCK-26."

"Yes, Ms. Knightley," David replied, slowing down suddenly. The bus driver behind them honked, but David ignored him and kept on the brakes. The motorcycle's pilot, unprepared for the sudden change in speed of his quarry, flew right by them and across a one way to the left intersection. David smiled and turned left into the intersection, heading down the new street and resuming his earlier velocity as the grateful bus driver sped on.

"Nice work," Keira told him. "I'll have to up your benefits." David flashed her a smile of thanks.

"Hang on," he then said once again. Scarlett felt Rachel's hand shaking as he executed another sudden blinding hard right. She was getting excited, Scarlett realized- they both were. The feeling was inescapable, as intense as the feelings she'd had in the dressing room earlier. She could only hope they were flowing through her hand into Rachel, that somehow the shared passion could calm inside them both. She felt her heart hammer as the car turned again, and then again. Rachel's fingers moved around hers, both their hands shaking. Finally David pulled over to the curb and stopped, the music ending as he let out a long breath.

Scarlett looked back and smiled as she saw no one following them. She then felt a clench on her fingers and turned to Rachel, who was squeezing her hand tightly. "Are they gone?" the Canadian beauty asked Scarlett, her face flushed with excitement and sweat.

"I think so, Ms. McAdams," replied David. "I don't see any more of them. Let's hope they don't come back." "You're an excellent driver, David," Scarlett praised him, letting out several breaths as she felt her own heart quiet. She had some experience with car chases- she'd filmed a pretty intense one in The Island- but the real thing was definitely not like the movies. "Where did Keira find you?"

"David used to drive for Italian diplomats in Taipei, Taiwan," Keira answered, grinning. Of all of them, she seemed the only one who was still calm, who had remained calm throughout the whole escapade. "A good friend of my father's, Frank Martin, recommended him. Apparently the traffic over there makes London and LA look like Austin, Texas."

"You ought to be in NASCAR," Rachel said to David, smiling and squeezing Scarlett's hand.

"Oh, I would never let them steal him," Keira chuckled. "David's the best driver I've ever met. If you couldn't tell, this isn't the first time he's helped me get away from paparazzi. He's also a trained bodyguard, and an excellent sparring partner. The greatest thing about him, though- I can do anything I want to in my car when he's with me, and he'll never take his eyes off the road." She unfastened her seat belt, then reached over and took Rachel's other hand.

"Umm..." Rachel gasped out, looking down at the other two actresses' hands on hers. She turned her eyes to David, but the driver was looking away, adjusting the radio and putting on some new song by the pop band Weezer. "What's the deal with my brain? Why am I so obviously insane?" Humming along with the music, David increased the volume and then pulled back into traffic, slowly heading down the street. Scarlett looked at Rachel as the song continued its lament of lost love, wondering at the Canadian beauty's expression. Rachel was still excited, but coming down from her high. Should we raise it again? Scarlett wondered. Can we? Of course we can, she chuckled to herself, looking into the eyes of the other actress sitting with them. Keira has a plan.

"You missed out on a lot of fun, by the way," Keira told Rachel as the singer on the radio gasped out one long note over and over. Rachel remained silent, not removing her hands from Keira and Scarlett's. I wonder what she's thinking, mused Scarlett. Rachel still looked flushed and excited, breathing deeply and then letting it out. What could be going through her head?

"She means the shoot," Scarlett said, trying to break down the Canadian actress's ice.

"Oh, right," Rachel grinned, pulling her hands back and laughing. "I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about just now, too. You've both been in a lot more intense things than I have. I haven't seen that much action since Shotgun Love Dolls!"

"It's definitely more exciting than almost anything in Pirates or King Arthur," agreed Keira. "Or your films, right, Scarlett?"

"Yeah," Scarlett laughed along. "No stuntmen in real life."

"Except for the driver," Rachel squeezed their hands and chuckled. "That was... it was intense."

"You drove one of these in Red Eye, right?" Scarlett asked her.

"It was a Jeep Grand Cherokee," Rachel said. "I think this car might have been a better choice though." She grinned and bit back a laugh. "So," she then said, looking back and forth at them, "did the picture come out alright? I'm so sorry I backed out of it."

"It was great," Keira answered, sighing. "Tom Ford had to take your place, though, and I don't think he's going to look too good on the cover next to Scarlett and me."

"What?" Rachel raised her eyebrows. "That man actually got in the picture? I thought directors couldn't do that."

"That's what he said," Scarlett replied. "Annie convinced him we needed a third. Personally, I would have rather it just been me and Keira. That look Tom wore in the picture is going to haunt my dreams."

"I'm so sorry," Rachel sighed, looking down at her hands and then back and forth at each of them. "I just couldn't do it. I was so eager at first, and then I found out what was going on and I was so upset. Then I calmed down and thought, okay, fine, go ahead, what the heck. You've posed nude before. But then I got so nervous..."

"We were nervous too," Keira cut in, laughing. "Weren't we, Scarlett?"

"Yeah," Scarlett grinned, catching on to the game. She smiled as the radio singer went into a solo. "I've been nervous every time I've done one of these things, and there've been several."

"How do you deal with it?" Rachel asked her, looking back and forth at Keira. "I've never been naked on camera. I mean, sure, I've done love scenes, but..."

"It's easy, Rachel," said Keira. "You just have to concentrate, put yourself in another place. You shouldn't be afraid, you've dealt with sex in a few of your movies."

"Yeah, I guess," Rachel shrugged. "But this was just different for some reason. I don't know why."

"Was it us?" Scarlett asked her with a smile. "We have never worked together before."

"No," Rachel shook her head. "You two have been great, especially with this car situation I'm in and everything. Thank you. It wasn't you, it was more that jerk Tom Ford and my ex-publicist, and..."

"Well, you've been around naked women before, right?" Keira asked her. "You used to be a skater."

"That was just as a kid," Rachel replied. "I stopped doing that when I was 13."

"Well, what about your movies, then?" asked Keira. "You've acted with so many other stars."

"I've always changed behind screens in the dressing rooms," Rachel answered, again looking back and forth at them.

"I don't even look at my fellow stars much off camera. Besides, I'm in a serious relationship right now, with Ryan Gosling. I have no reason to look at anybody else."

Keira looked at Scarlett and smiled. Both had caught the blush on Rachel's face as she'd said this. She hadn't made any claims of not being attracted to women either, Scarlett noted. Things were nicely shaping up.

"Ryan Gosling," Keira nodded. "He's English, like me. I've seen a few of his films."

"We were born at the same hospital in Toronto," Rachel smiled. "His family moved over there though. Then we met and made Notebook, and well, it was just an instant click. Something like you have with Josh Hartnett, right?" she asked Scarlett.

"Maybe," Scarlett answered, once again improvising. "Josh is apart from me a lot though, and sometimes I find myself thinking about seeing other people."