It was a cloudy morning in
She wasn’t one to make excuses,
but it
The only comfort she had was that
Justin was going to be there. It was
their big day, as Richard had announced to the crew the day before. The first kiss, the sex scene, and some other
romantic moments were going to be filmed that day. Of course, this just added to her
nerves. She wasn’t one to be shy and considered
herself a professional. But knowing she
was going to have to be topless, in bed with a guy she barely knew, in front of
about twenty other people was not something that made her at ease. She sighed. At least it was Justin.
After the holidays she had flown
out for a meeting and met the director and producer and most of the cast. She found Zooey
bubbly, hilarious and friendly, and they quickly became attached at the hip. Justin was charming and the center of
attention. It was hard to try and find
something negative about him. She had been
skeptical at first and expected him to be another one of those musicians with
the acting bug, searching for more money and fame. But that first meeting had proven to her how
dedicated he was to the project, and though she hadn’t really seen him act yet,
that day had put a good enough impression on her. He had a girlfriend and hadn’t been on set
enough hang out with her or Zooey, but they still
managed to find time to sit in her trailer and gush about hot freakin’ hot he was.
She was excited to get to know him
a little better and hoped he’d keep her smiling and laughing while they had to
do awkward scenes together.
The walk from her car to her
trailer was short because Jason and Olivia had run up to her yelling, “good
morning!”
She laughed as Jase
linked arms with her and Olivia brought a cup of coffee up to her lips. “You guys need to cut back on the
Starbucks. It’s not even good coffee.”
“Child, I only drink RedBull,” the man on her arm said, waving his hand around.
“You ready for us, dahlin?” Olivia
swung her tote bag filled with makeup.
She loved these two. Jason was
perhaps the most flamboyant gay man she had ever met, and Olivia was a genius
at makeup with a dry wit that could have a dead man laughing. They were the perfect odd couple and were her
saviors for the early mornings. They
were hilarious and would blast George Michael and Paula Abdul with her as she
got her hair and makeup done. And they
had grown attached to her. It was the
one thing that kept her smiling and chugging through all the negative comments
the director had passed her way. She
knew she could walk away with a bad attitude and with just one glance at the
pair of them, she’d be smiling again. They
had swept her up and shown her the perks of stardom. She was declared her their new diva in
training and kept her laughing through the long days.
“Damn y’all,” she chuckled and
pulled away from Jason so she could pull out her key. “Let me get into my trailer first.”
She walked up the three small
wooden steps and unlocked the door as Olivia laughed, “Uh oh, she’s going’ diva
on us.”
“I’m so proud.” Jason sniffed and
then sobered up quickly. “Alright
ladies, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go get your clothes from Nicole.”
“You just wanna
go look at Justin some more.” Olivia laughed, shook her head and entered Susan’s
trailer.
“PLEASE let him be
shirtless.” He ran off and Susan laughed
as she entered her small home. It was
cozy with a tiny kitchenette and a small table.
There was a couch and a chair, a TV and stereo, and in the back was a
small room with a single bed and a bathroom. The
sad thing about it was, it was about as nice, if not nicer than her apartment
in
The one thing about it that made
it clearly not a home was the mirror in the far corner with a chair and a
counter. It was covered with makeup and
brushes and clips, none which were hers.
Also, there were four round lights above the mirror. Soon she found herself perched in that chair
with Olivia leaning her tiny body against the counter, a sponge in one hand and
a small bottle in the other. It was
funny that she was a make up girl, and a wonderful one at that, because Susan
had never seen her wear anything more than a bit of lip gloss and some powder.
Olivia walked over and flipped on
the stereo and put in a cd. She came back smiling. “Country for our little
southern belle.”
Susan laughed. “Shiana Twain is
from, like…
“Whatever. Ya know, we could have probably left you alone this morning.”
“What do you mean?” Susan looked
up as Olivia put concealer under her eyes.
“Well, your first scene is the restaurant
one.”
She pulled away and groaned. “Oh god, I have to wear that visor don’t I?”
“Yup. So you could have probably done your own makeup and hair.”
As soon as she finished her
sentence the door busted open and Jason stumbled in, shutting the door with
wide eyes. “OH EM GEE.”
Olivia cocked her head to the side
and narrowed her eyes. “Did you just
speak internet lingo?”
“Shut it O. I bring presents…” He hung her outfit that was wrapped in a
plastic bag on the clothing rack and gagged.
“Uh yuck…” He turned back with
his hands on his hips and a bright smile.
“…and gossip.”
“Ooo gossip.” Susan smiled.
“Did you see his penis?”
“No Olivia!” He stomped over and
turned down the volume all the way on the stereo and made his way to the tiny refrigerator. “But…” He paused for effect and pulled out a
diet coke. She really didn’t see how
these people handled all the caffeine they absorbed. Sure she liked a latte here and there and
adored diet coke, but not at seven in the morning. She was learning it was definitely “
“Justin Timberlake is not gay,” Olivia
laughed.
He sauntered over and stood behind
Susan. He set his can down on the
counter and started to run his hands through her hair. “He’s about as grumpy as
Olivia turned to dig in her bag a
little bag and ended up dumping half of the contents on the counter. “So what’s up his ass?”
“I don’t know.” He said and reached over to grab a
brush. A few moments later he began to
brush Susan’s hair. It felt good and she
almost fell asleep. She probably would
have if his story wasn’t so entertaining.
“But when I walked up Bridget was outside smoking a cigarette and told
me if I valued my privates, of course she used a different term,
that I wouldn’t go in there. And then,
when I knocked on the door and went in, it was dead silent. Like pin drop. He was sitting there, looking oh so good, with a sexy little scowl. No beard.
Gone. Nothing. Clean shaven. Sexy. His little boy-toy shadow person, whatever the
hell his name is, Grace or something…”
“I think its
Trace,” Suze giggled.
“But I could be wrong.
“Well anyway…” He continued. “Gracey Tracey was
asleep on the couch and Nicole looked like she was about to blow her little red
headed top off.”
Susan groaned. Just what she needed. The day that would probably be one of the
toughest and she was going to have to work with an asshole. She knew Richard would somehow find a way to
blame it on her. “Just great…”
“Aww, don’t
worry hon,” said Olivia. “If he’s bitchy to a beautiful girl like you
then he has problems.” With a glance in
the mirror she sighed and hoped that he’d be nice to her, or at least decent.
She didn’t say much while she got
ready. She just listened and laughed as
O and Jase gossiped about the crew and listened to Shania. The longer she sat there, the more her
stomach started to feel like little ants were eating away at her from the
inside out.
By the time she had gotten in her
wardrobe and Jason had pulled her hair back into a “working ponytail” and put
the visor on her, she was ready to throw up.
Olivia had had to go and work on some extras after finishing Susan’s
makeup so it was just her and Jason, who was still going on and on about Justin’s
attitude mixed in with comments about how good looking he was.
She looked at herself in the
mirror. She really did look like she
worked at Mike’s Grill, the fictitious restaurant her character “Valerie”
worked at. It was where her and Justin’s
character were supposed to meet and would be scene of the first sequence they
worked on. She took a deep breath, and
when she let it out she panicked.
“Oh god…”
“What babe?” He said, coming over to rub her shoulders and
look at her through the mirror.
She covered her face with her
hands and moaned, “I just forgot my lines.”
“No you didn’t.” She felt his hands around her wrist and soon
found herself pulled out of the chair and staring at
him. “You are freaking out,” he said
shaking her arms with his hands. “Look,
I’m overreacting about the Justin thing.
You should know this after two weeks. Everyone’s got a bad attitude at seven in the
morning.”
She looked at him seriously, “You
and ‘liv don’t.”
He kept her seriousness, “We’re
not normal.”
“True.” She cracked a smile and it grew even more
when he leaned in to affectionately kiss her forehead. She was thankful she had a friend in Jason. She hadn’t known him that long, but to her
that kind of thing didn’t matter.
“Come on,” he smiled and stuck out
his arm for her to link hers through. “I’ll
walk with ya to set.”
She smiled and slid her arm in the crook of his and followed him out of
her trailer. She had grabbed her script
on her way out and held it in her free hand as they walked through the parking
lot spotted with trailers and tents.
They walked to the studio door where several people were out
smoking.
Studio 4A had been turned into the
inside of a diner. She sighed. She was going to have to suck it up, especially
when she saw Richard standing off to the side with a crease in his forehead,
hand on his hip and his other griping his binder which had the script and notes
and all sorts of things inside of it.
She had learned that look quickly and knew that he shouldn’t be messed
with.
“Well I better go and make sure
every one’s looking like they should. I’ll
see ya in a bit, shug.” He kissed her cheek
and started to walk away.
“Thanks Jase,”
she called out and he turned to wink at her.
She turned on her heel and walked
over to the few chairs that were behind the cameras in the center of the large
hanger-like room. There was a long
folding table behind the chairs with a couple people sitting by it with papers
and other things around them. Another folding table, this one tiny, was beside
the chairs with a mirror and a small lamp and Bridgette was already there with
a few of her touch up supplies.
She plopped down in the folding
chair that said “Valerie”, placed her script in her lap and smiled at the woman
who Susan thought had a few too many piercing.
“Hey Bridge.”
“Hey Susan, how’s it going?”
“Pretty good.” She looked around cautiously
before leaning over and asking, “Word on the street is: we have one that bites
this morning.”
“What?” Susan nodded to the chair beside her with the
name “Daniel” on it. Bridget immediately
smacked down the compact in her hand onto the table. “God, I thought I was gonna
poke him in the eye with mascara.”
“He wears mascara?” Susan laughed.
“Today he does. Oh my god, I’m glad you seem to be in a
decent mood because I really could not deal with two bitches today.” She turned around and plopped in Justin’s
seat.
“Well, I can be damn grumpy, but I
try not to take it out on other people, especially people I don’t know very
well, even more so at work.”
Bridget rolled her eyes and turned
to look at Susan, “Just because his fucking little girlfriend and him broke up.”
“What?”
“Yeah, the Diaz fucked with the
kid. And now he’s gonna
put his wrath on us.”
Susan was a little shocked. From what she had heard, which was all from
second sources, him and Cameron were pretty close. No wonder he was in a bad mood that morning. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. But with that bitch, it’s no telling.”
“You know her?”
“Worked on a
movie with her.” She looked down to pick at the bright red
polish on her fingernails that had been chipped off. “One of those Charlie’s
Angels movies. Man, I think it
was right when her and Mister Stick-up-his-ass started
dating, too. Because see, all she would
do was talking on the fucking phone and get pissed when I’d try and touch up her
nasty ass face.”
Susan’s eyes widened, partly because
of the description of the person she had always heard was rather friendly, and partly
for the extreme animosity that was coming from Bridget’s voice. “Whoa…”
“Yeah, I mean. I’ve heard other people say she was nice,” she
shrugged. “I have some friends that worked
with her and said she was nice, but she was a royal pain to me. And not pretty at all without makeup.”
Susan just nodded and said, “Oh
ok.” She would have loved to pry more,
but didn’t want to have people start to label her as the new gossip queen of
“And ya
know what?” She smacked her hands down on the arms of the chair and looked at
Susan with a pissed off face. “I mean
really, and he’s got this little fucking friend that follows him around and
sleeps on his damn couch and then they get mad at me and Nicole for quietly
talking. I’m sorry,
your call time was seven in the fucking morning. Go to bed the night before at a reasonable time. Don’t go out drinking. I mean dammit, have
some responsibility! You aren’t a child!”
Susan scoffed, not believing her
ears. God, was he really that
unprofessional? She really hoped he wasn’t
throwing his name and fame around to get his way with things. It was already a bad sign that he was letting
a night of drinking take over his day of work. “He’s hung over?”
“Yeah. I mean, what a
moron! Right? I
don’t know. Sorry Suze.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes again. “I got my period this morning, and I’m just
not in the mood to deal with grumpy little bitches who should stick to being in
boybands.”
“Justin…” They both jumped, looked at each other and
then to the man who was walking in front of them towards the studio door. “Good morning!” They both turned and watched as the director
walked over to Justin and gave him a firm handshake. The two men started talking.
“Teacher’s pet.” She sighed and moved her eyes away from
Richard and Justin to the set. “I’ve
never gotten a welcome like that.”
“That’s because you’re real. You don’t kiss ass. He has to.
He’s a sucky actor.” She smiled in response. She knew that Bridget was a bit of a hard
ass. To hear the words “you’re real”
come from her mouth was a definite compliment.
Susan glanced back over her
shoulder and groaned, “Here he comes.”
“Do me a favor,” Bridget said,
leaning over in the chair, about to get up.
“During the kissing scene later today…” She laughed and stood off the
chair. “Bite his fucking tongue off.” With that she walked away, brushing past Justin.
He was close now, looking off to
the side as he came up and sat in his chair beside her. He did look good. He didn’t seem to have a wardrobe that day,
though she was sure someone on set had picked it out for “Daniel” to wear. He was simply wearing jeans and a blue and
yellow striped polo shirt. She did have to admit he looked a lot better without
his beard. He looked younger but also
sexier and not like he had been lost in the woods for a month.
He turned to her and smiled, “Hey
Susan.”
“Hi.” She kept it short and
simple, trying her best not to do anything to annoy him.
“How are you this morning?”
She was taking back by his easy
tone. She was expecting him to come in
there, groan about a headache and bitch at her for breathing. He was civil and a lot different than Bridge
or Jase had made her believe. “Doing alright, you?”
“Pretty good,
pretty good.” He nodded and smiled.
As he was looking out on the set,
she studied his jaw line and for some unknown reason she started to feel a grin
creep up on her face. Before she had the
chance to stop herself, she said, “I see they’ve made you clean up.”
“Ha, yeah.” He chuckled quietly and stretched in his seat. He yawned and looked around, tapping his
rolled up script against his knee. It
was quiet and she turned the other way, not knowing how to continue the
conversation. She wanted to get to know
him, especially since in a few hours she’d be half naked with him, but she didn’t
know how. She was never really good at
meeting new friends and usually had to hope that someone would just open up to
her. Being alone in
“Nice visor.”
She jumped a little and turned to
him. The tapping stopped and he was smiling
at her. It was tired, but it was a smile
none the less. “Yeah, memories of high
school are flooding me in this outfit.”
“Waitress?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “My aunt and
uncle have a little country breakfast and lunch restaurant back home. Well, not
“Where’s home home?”
“
His eyes widened and his smile was
the most genuine she had seen in a long time.
“
“Yeah.” She returned his smile.
“I’m from near
She silently wondered if they had
just bonded since he referred to her as “homegirl”. She had never met anyone so excited to meet
someone from their own state. Sure, they
were from the same place, but
“Oh, ok.”
She looked out and saw that the
crew was starting to vacate the set and make their way behind the cameras or
out of the way. She realized they were
about to start filming. “You ready for
our big day?” she asked.
“I guess.” He glanced at her and then back at the
set. “Are you nervous?”
“Nah,” she lied.
He nodded. “Me neither.”
She bit her lip. After about a minute had passed, she quietly
said, “Ok, I am a little.” She figured
he’d find out the truth sooner or later, and didn’t want him thinking she was a
liar.
He chuckled and passed her a shy
smile, “I am a lot.” She returned his
smile and felt those ants in her stomach scurry away. She felt calm and was ready to start working.
“Justin, Susan!” They both looked up at the call of their
names and saw Richard on the set, waving them over. “Let’s get ready to start.”
Susan widened her eyes and sighed,
pushing herself off of her chair and then catching her script before it slid
off her lap. Justin had already stood up
and was swiftly walking to the set. She
followed him and muttered under her breath, trying to calm her nerves that had swelled
up again when Richard had called her name, “Here goes nothing…”