And now it was drawing to a halt at the head of the queue and the door was being opened. Lily took a deep breath to quell the butterflies and smoothed down the skirt of her favourite red dress to ensure she wasn't about to flash her knickers to the world.
A dazzle of flashbulbs went off and she blinked, then blinked again as Eddie intertwined his fingers with hers. The photographers were calling out his name, even as a female organiser with a clipboard was shepherding them towards the press pen.
‘You wait here with me for a minute,' the organiser murmured, resting her hand on Lily's forearm. ‘Let them get their shots of Eddie.'
Eddie had to stand in front of a giant backdrop featuring logos of the film and various companies advertising the event. He was wearing a gorgeously cut dark blue suit and cream shirt, and his hair was slicked back from his tanned face. Lily had never seen him looking so smart and so much like a film star; watching him now was making her stomach go a bit squiggly, if she was honest.
After a minute or two, he beckoned for her to join him, and the female organiser moved across to lead her over.
‘What's your name, love?' one of the photographers called out.
Lily shook her head. ‘It's OK, I'm no one.'
‘Come on, tell us who you are,' said another man.
The organiser gave her a distracted nod. ‘It's OK, you can tell them.'
Giving her permission. Imagine that.
‘My name's Patsy,' said Lily, just for fun. And it was fun, because the photographers instantly began calling out: ‘This way, Patsy!'
‘Over here, Patsy!'
‘Patsy, give us a smile!'
Out of the corner of her mouth Lily said to Eddie, ‘This is the craziest thing.'
His arm was around her waist, his hip brushing against hers. ‘Enjoying having your photo taken?'
‘Oh yes. Although I do know I'm going to end up getting cropped out of ninety-nine per cent of them.'
He tilted his head closer to hers and murmured, ‘I'm not sure I'm going to be able to remember to keep calling you Patsy.'
Lily grinned at him. ‘Don't worry, I'll change it in a minute. Can you hear all those girls over there screaming your name?'
‘I can now you've said it. We'll have to go along the carpet in a minute.'
‘Right.' The officious organiser checked her stopwatch and signalled that it was indeed time for them to move on. ‘All done here.'
The next arrivals were emerging from their limos, ready to take their place in front of the backdrop.
As the slow journey along the red carpet began, the flashes from the professional photographers' elaborate cameras became interspersed with those from the overexcited fans' mobile phones. Lily hung back while Eddie chatted to those behind the barriers and allowed himself to be photographed with them.
‘Will you sign me here?' A big girl in a plunging T-shirt handed him a black felt-tip pen and patted the area above the low-cut top. She gazed at Eddie adoringly as he scrawled an autograph across her chest. When he'd finished, she said, ‘I'm going to get that done as a tattoo tomorrow. Oh my God, I just love you so much!'
‘I don't think you should have it tattooed there.' Lily couldn't help herself; she had to say it. As a signature, it wasn't even legible, for heaven's sake.
‘Who asked you?' The overweight girl shot her an insolent stare. ‘I don't give a toss what you think.'
Eddie had moved on to have a selfie taken with a squealing group. Lily noticed that the overweight girl's jacket pocket was moving. She pointed. ‘What have you got in there?'
The girl stiffened. ‘My mouse. What's it to you? I can bring my mouse with me if I want.'
Honestly, so defensive. ‘I didn't say you couldn't. What's his name?'
‘Snowball.'
Lily smiled. ‘I used to have a mouse when I was younger.'
‘What was yours called?'
‘William.'
‘That's a stupid name for a mouse.'
‘I know. I don't know what I was thinking. Can I have a look at Snowball?'
‘No.' The girl shook her head, then leaned across the barrier and lowered her voice. ‘I don't want people to see him and start screaming. I might get kicked out.'
‘Good point.' Lily nodded sympathetically. ‘I once took William along to our school nativity play and got sent off the stage.'
The girl managed a faint smile. ‘Are you Eddie's girlfriend?'
‘No, I'm not.'
‘Are you an actress?'
‘No.' Lily hesitated; Eddie was waiting for her, ready to move on to the next group. ‘Listen, don't get his name tattooed on your chest. It'll be there for the rest of your life.'
The girl's expression changed. ‘Oh don't start that again. I want it to be there for the rest of my life.'
‘But when you have a boyfriend, he might not like seeing someone else's name on his girlfriend's chest.'
The girl shrugged. ‘I'm never going to get a boyfriend anyway. Boys don't fancy me.'
‘Come along, you need to catch up with Eddie.' Steering Lily firmly on, the organiser whispered, ‘We need to keep going. Thought I'd come and rescue you.'
‘She wants to have Eddie's signature tattooed on her chest. I was trying to persuade her not to.'
‘Ah well, not our problem.' The organiser was more concerned with keeping everyone moving to make way for Mira Knowles, the star of the show.
It was hard not to keep turning round and stealing glances at Mira Knowles, although being on the red carpet presumably meant being too cool to do so. In her mid-thirties, Mira had been acting in films since childhood and was proper Hollywood royalty. Tonight, with her hair in an intricate dark chignon and wearing a stunning full-length dress covered in tiny iridescent pearls, she radiated ice-queen glamour. Having waved to the fans but not stopped to speak to them, she was now being interviewed by a TV crew.
‘And what's your name?'
‘Sorry?' Lily belatedly realised someone was addressing her. ‘Oh, I'm no one, I'm just here with Eddie.'
The male journalist was holding a microphone. ‘You must have a name, though!'
‘I'm Coral. But I'm not his girlfriend,' said Lily.
‘And who are you wearing?'
‘This? It's vintage. Dior, I think.' Could she be sued for telling such an outrageous lie? Whoops, and now the girl with him was photographing her. Hurriedly Lily said, ‘Actually it's not Dior. It's New Look.'
‘Oh dear.' The young journalist sniggered. ‘You really are no one.'
Lily shrugged and said, ‘I told you.'
‘Don't be so rude.' The photographer rolled her eyes at the journalist. ‘Nothing wrong with a bit of New Look.'
‘So, Coral, do you wish you were Eddie's girlfriend? Bet you do,' said the journalist.
‘I don't,' said Lily. ‘He snores.'
OK, shouldn't have said that either. Embarrassed, Lily looked away and found herself glancing over again at Mira Knowles. The next moment she noticed something tiny and determined making its way at top speed across the red carpet in the direction of-
‘AAAAARRRGH!' If the shriek was ear-splitting, the leap into the air that accompanied it was frankly impressive. Mira Knowles screamed again as she began hopping around in terror. With every hop, the likelihood of her spearing the mouse with a stiletto increased.
And somehow, no one else had spotted the cause of the kerfuffle.
Lily, only three or four metres away, launched herself in some kind of rugby-tackle dive and with her arms stretched out in front of her managed to grab the petrified mouse in the nick of time. She snatched it from beneath Mira's lethal high heels and rolled sideways, clutching Snowball to her chest.
‘Urgh! Has it gone? Has it really gone? Oh my God, that was so disgusting!' Mira shuddered with revulsion, then let out another high-pitched scream as one of the security guards hauled Lily to her feet a bit too vigorously and for a moment she lost her balance, stumbling towards the actress with the mouse clasped in her hands.
OK, that wouldn't be clever, tipping Snowball headlong into Mira Knowles's fabulous cleavage. Balance regained, Lily said, ‘It's fine, I'll get him away from you.' She turned, searched the crowds behind the barrier and saw the girl with Eddie's autograph scrawled across her chest.
The girl was pale with anguish as Lily handed Snowball over to her, though not before the mouse had done a little wee in her hand. Well, it had been a stressful experience for him, almost getting skewered by a Jimmy Choo.
‘He didn't get hurt. Luckily.' Lily gave Snowball's tiny head a stroke and shot the girl a meaningful look.