He cursed himself for checking out
her ass when she rounded the counter to the other side. He and
But they were attractive. They definitely were that. He was thankful Susan was as pretty as she
was. She was more than pretty. She was gorgeous. Even in jeans, a stained shirt and a visor
she looked hot. And she seemed down to
earth, something he had found unusual in LA.
He walked over to the bar and took a seat, leaning his back against the
counter. He watched as Richard talked
with his hands and told all the extras, whose presence he hadn’t realize, where
to go. He glanced over his lines for a
minute and waited for Rich to come tell him what he needed to do.
“Is it real?” He craned his neck
to look over his shoulder. Susan had
already made another friend with one of the extras, an older lady dressed much
in the same manner as her. He noticed
she was good at that, making friends. He
had noticed a lot about her in the ten minutes they had spent together that
morning. There was a plate with a
sandwich and potato chips on it resting on the counter by the silverware cups
on the back bar, and Susan and the woman were looking at it.
“Can I have some?” The lady gave
Susan a look. She just laughed, “What? I
haven’t had breakfast, yet.” He smiled,
but then she turned to look at him. He
quickly looked away, embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her. He felt like an idiot.
“Susan! Place!”
He took one small glance and saw her roll her eyes at the director’s
voice. She made her way over to the
register where an extra was standing in front of with a diner ticket in his
hand. “Ok, everybody, let’s do a run through
with the script real quick and then we will start rolling, all right?”
Justin looked around as someone
yelled “Places” and everyone seemed to go ridged where they were and
freeze. He glanced down at his script
which he had pretty much memorized. There were a lot of notes on it though, notes
that Richard had specifically written or told Justin to work on. He read over them until he heard the yell of
the word “Action” and looked up and over to watch Susan.
Suddenly, an attitude washed over
her and she kept a front of harshness and looked bored with her life. He cracked a smile. She was really good. She picked up a couple
plates of food and walked around the counter to a booth in the corner, plopping
the plates down. Justin did as his
script told him and watched her carefully as she walked back around the counter
again and sighed.
“Excuse me?”
She turned to him surprised.
“I’m ready to order.” She walked over and flipped out a pad and pen
from her small apron around her waist.
She didn’t say anything but raised her eyebrows to him to signal him to
start. Justin laughed a little
nervously. “Um, I’ll just have the club
sandwich and water.” He paused while she pretended to write, “Oh, no mayo.”
With a sigh and a turn she ripped
the order from the tab pad and reached over to hook it into a slot on the turn
rack. She yelled out, “Club no mayo!” He
tapped his fingers against the counter as she walked over, grabbed a cup from
the tall stack beside the soda fountain and then turned to fill it with
water. She didn’t really fill it with
water, little things like that you skipped in the run through. She sauntered back over and set the glass
down. “There you go…”
She turned and he said, “Hey…”
probably a little softer than his character was supposed to, but they didn’t
stop.
“Yeah?” She turned.
He smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Oh god,” She rolled her eyes and
threw up her hands. “I do not have time
to be hit on today.”
“All right! Cut.
Good.” Justin relaxed as Richard
came back on set. “Good job. Right on Susan, just exude that attitude more
and both of you make sure you talk a tad bit louder. Good job everyone.” Justin glanced at his leading lady. He smiled at that thought. She looked cute with a smile on her
face. She was pleased with herself and
should be. She was quiet good. He turned back to Richard who was looking
around the set, “Ok, now we are gonna start rolling. This time do all the actions. Let’s try it without the scripts. Don’t stop where we just stopped just keep on
going. All right? Let’s start this day off good. It’ll be brilliant!”
“Places….” Soon Maxine came scurrying around collecting
all the scripts and then running off stage.
He caught Susan looking at him and smiled. She smiled back and he felt warm all
over. He shook it off, though. She was the first hot girl he had been around
since Cameron. Hell, he didn’t even know
if she had a boyfriend or not. She
probably did. Girls like her didn’t stay
single long. He didn’t need to throw all
his energy into a rebound chick. He
needed to pay attention to his work, so he did.
A few minutes later it was quiet everywhere on the set and he heard
Richard call out. “Quiet set…ok? Mike’s
Diner scene 3 take 1.” There was a pause and then someone counted back from
three and said, “action.”
It was like deja-vu. Everything happened the same way except this
time she sighed and rolled her eyes a bit more.
He waited for his cue and once again said, ‘Hey…”
“Yeah?” She asked him impatiently.
He smiled at her genuinely and
pretended she was a girl at a bar he was trying to meet, “What’s your name?”
“Oh god,” She laughed a little and
shook her head. “I do not have time to
be hit on today.”
“I’m not…” Justin trailed off as she walked away. “…trying
to…” He sighed and rubbed his hand
against his head and glanced at his watch.
“Shit…” He said and then looked
up at Susan again.
“Excuse me?”
“What?” She said.
“Look,” Now it was his turn to
crank up the attitude. “I’m sorry you are having a bad day but damn girl, cut
back on the attitude. You might not be
the only one having a sucky day.” She
just looked at him and he almost wanted to smile. She looked so serious and it was kind of a
silly moment. But he tried his best to
stay as a pissed off Daniel. “Now, can I
get my sandwich to go?”
“Fine,” She grumbled and turned
around to yell, “Make that club to go” to the guys in the kitchen. He watched as she was handed a white bag and
she looked into it and then at him. “You
want your water in a to-go cup?”
“No, I’m ok,” He said. “Can I pay though?”
“Sure.” She responded with a flat
tone.
He slid of his stood and took the
bag from her. They walked together to
the cash register at the end of the bar, and he set his food down as he fished
for the wallet that Nicole had told him to put in his pocket earlier.
“It’s 4.38.” He opened the wallet
and wondered if the twenty there was real or fake. It sure did look real. “I’m sorry, ok?” She sighed.
“I’m not always a bitch.”
“All I wanted was your name.” He smirked handing her the twenty.
She rolled her eyes with a
smile. “It’s Valerie,” she said and
popped open the register.
“I’m Daniel.” He passed her a
flirting smile.
“Well Daniel,” She looked up from the
open register drawer to his face and plastered on a fake and forced smile. “It’s a pleasure meeting you but it looks
like we have no change. Can you write a
check?”
He shook his head. He couldn’t remember that in the script and
looked at her hard, searching for a hint or something. Finally, he slowly said, “What?”
“Sorry sir,” She shrugged.
“There’s no money here. And we don’t
take credit cards, so I’ll need-“
“Cut, cut!” Richard said,
interrupting her. Justin turned to see
him stalking up the set with his hands out and an angry scowl on his face. “What is this? This isn’t in the script.”
“Well how the hell am I supposed
to make change for a twenty out of nothing?” Her voice was defensive.
“Susan!” Richard groaned and ran a hand through his
short blonde hair.
“What!” She laughed sarcastically and rested her hip
on the counter. Justin peeked over and
sure enough there was no money in the slots of the open cash register. It was a small thing, something that she
probably shouldn’t be making a big deal about.
But then again, she should have.
Richard had said from day one he wanted this movie to be a realistic
glimpse of two people falling in love.
And someone paying with a twenty for a sandwich and not getting change
back was not quite realistic. “My script
says, ‘make change and give it back to Daniel’ then I say ‘There you go’ all
shy and tell him to have a good day.”
“Julie!” Rich called out and soon a shy girl that
looked about around his age but was tiny and short and wearing all black was
right by his side, “Why isn’t there
anything in the cash box!?” He asked.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get right on it. Two minutes!”
She ran off the set and Justin couldn’t see where she went because of
all the bright lights. Everything was in
a shadow off the set of the diner.
“Come over here, Susan. I need to talk to you two.”
She hurried around the counter and
approached them, messing with her visor a bit to get it situated on her head
right. She looked at him then she turned
her eyes to Richard. “Did I do ok?”
“Yes, yes. Fine.” He said in a bored tone and then waved
in between them and sighed, “But you two, I’m not feeling anything.”
“What do you mean?” Justin asked.
Susan stared at him and rolled her
eyes. He was starting to figure out why
she had gotten the part of Valerie. She
acted just like her. “Chemistry.”
“Yes!” Richard said, smiling,
trying to encourage them. “You act
either too mad or not mad enough. It was
flawless, but I didn’t feel anything.
There was nothing special about it.”
“Well, we don’t know each other
yet, in real life or in the movie. So
how would we have any chemistry, yet?”
“Susan, little Susan.” He bit his lip and tried to hide his laughter
when Richard put his arm around her shoulders and she turned up her nose. “This is a love at first sight kind of
thing.”
“But its not love at first sight”
She laughed. “I thought she was supposed
to be pissed at the world until the flat tire scene.”
Justin felt Richard tug on his arm
and pull the two of them closer together.
She really was gorgeous. Her lips
were really full and her eyes were this icy light blue. He shook his head. He had to stop staring at her. “Pretend that you are in love with him but
that he cheated on you or something and you are just angry at him.” Richard looked at him. “You already are infatuated with her.”
“But…”
Richard sighed, “I know
Susan. I know that’s not what happens in
the script, but that’s the emotion I need to see, ok?”
“I guess.” She shrugged.
“No ‘I guesses.’ Do it!”
She stumbled forward and he saw that Richard had his hand on her upper
back and was pushing her forward towards him.
“Come on now, he’s an attractive young man.” Before he realized it, she
was right in front of him, looking at Richard like he was crazy. Justin was a little confused as to what was
going on, but didn’t mind it. She
smelled good too. It was light and girly
and nice. “Here...hug, kiss, fall in
love…”
“What?” She asked in disbelief, laughing
uncomfortably.
Before anything else could be
explained he heard the horrible sound of metal screeching against metal. He got chills like nails on a chalkboard and
looked up to see a large pole coming down towards them. He heard a voice say, “Watch out!”
His reflexes came into overdrive
and before he knew what he was doing he had pulled Susan against him and
stepped backwards and out of the way. He
held her close against him as the pole crashed down on the counter. He didn’t know where it came from but
apparently was from part of the set.
It was silent for a moment and
finally Richard said, “fucking ‘ell!” He
let out a nervous chuckle. “What was
that?”
“Oh my god!” Susan said in a quiet whisper against his
chest.
He kept her in his arms and then
realized that her hands were against his shoulders and she was clutching on to
him. “Are you ok?” He looked down at
her.
“I guess,” She glanced up and
gulped. “Are you?”
“That’s the look!” Both of them jerked
to see Richard beaming at them with a look that seemed to have screamed
“eureka.” He felt her pull away and
Richard’s face fell and he whipped around and yelled, his English accent
blaring out, “What the ‘ell is going
on! Is someone trying to kill us with a
bloody pole?”
“That was weird,” Justin muttered,
his hand still on her elbow.
Susan licked her lips and nodded,
staring at where the pole had dented the counter. “I know. Damn.”
Someone called out, “Clear the set
please, we’re going to clean this up.
Clear the set.”
He gave her arm an affectionate
squeeze. “Let’s go sit down.”
They walked together off the set
and towards their chairs. He sat down in
his and she plopped into hers. “That was
interesting.” He chuckled, watching people scurry around the set as Richard
stood off to the side with their producer Margie, both looked unhappy.
“Yeah…” She said distantly. “Do you think I blew up for no reason about
the money?”
“Naw, it would look weird if you
didn’t give me anything back.”
She turned to him and her light
blue eyes pierced into his. “Did I do
ok?” She asked like a little girl. He
tried to read into her. She seemed naïve
and yet some how very experienced, too.
She had common sense and was down to earth, but clearly had no idea what
life and people were like in the world he was use to. She also was a little closed off. Yeah, she was friendly but he could tell in
the few times he had been around her, or seen her with other people, she didn’t
give much of herself away. She always
seemed to be on the outside of things, listening or looking in, but not
participating.
“Yeah, girl you’re really
good.” He smiled at her and she just
sighed and looked down at her lap.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” She looked back up and shrugged. “I’m just not feeling it today. I mean, he tells us to look in love.” She turned and her eyes bore into his and he
felt chill cover his arms. She moved her
hands to her head to remove her visor.
“How do you do that, ya know? I
barely know you.” She let out a deep
breath while she said, “I don’t know.”
“I know what you mean. It’s hard to do.”
They were quiet for a moment, once
again looking out at the set and watching them try and get the pole off the
set. It had fallen from behind the kitchen
area towards the cameras, bending the back wall that separated the fo-kitchen
from the rest of the set and denting the counter.
“God I’m starving,” she said
randomly.
“Want me to go get that club
sandwich?” He gave her a half grin and
she chuckled.
“Ha, yeah I wish.”
“Here’s your scripts.” Justin
watched as the cute little blonde headed girl came up and handed their takes of
papers.
“Thanks Maxine.” Justin smiled and
winked at the girl. She smiled and
walked away.
Susan started to giggle and
finally said, fanning herself, “She so has the hots for you.”
“What?” He asked shocked, rolling
up his script. What was she talking about?
Maxine? She was just handing them
the scripts.
“Did you not see her? She was all blushes and smiles.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Susan nudged him. “You
should go for it. Never know what could happen.” He looked at her, curious as to if she was
serious. She started to laugh and he
found it infectious and started to smile himself. When her stomach made some odd grumbling
noise, they both started to laugh even harder.
“Nice dodging that pole.”
Justin turned around at the
familiar voice and nodded as Trace walked up to them. He still looked tired as shit and Justin felt
bad for keeping the guy out so late the night before. Justin passed him an easy smile, “Hey man, I
see you’re up.”
“Barely. Want your shit?” He dug around in his pockets
and pulled out a small cell phone and his ipod.
“Yeah thanks.” Justin reached over and grabbed the tiny
devices. He slid them into his pocket and then pointed to the woman beside him
with his thumb as Trace made it around the chairs and leaned against Bridget’s
little table. Justin asked, “Hey, you
met Susan?”
“No. Hey I’m Trace.”
Justin watched as she slipped her hand
into his and shook it with a smile.
“Susan, nice to meet you.” She
had tiny hands. He liked girls with
small hands.
Justin shook his head and blinked
at few times before looking at his friend, “How long you staying out here
today.”
“’Til probably about lunch.” He
yawned.
“Aiight.” Justin responded.
Margie walked up to them, sighed
and ran her hands through her head.
“Sorry guys. If you want you can take a break for an hour or so. The set’s damaged and I don’t know what we
are going to do about it, but we’ll call you when we’re ready to start on some
more scenes.”
“Thanks Margie,” Susan said and
stretched her arms.
Justin groaned. He wanted to go ahead and get this day over
with so he could go home. He didn’t want
them to have to add on even more days to the shooting and hoped that re-shoots
wouldn’t be as tedious as they had been for some other projects he worked
on. “Here comes the boredom.” He looked
at Trace and he nodded.
“Boredom?” She asked.
He turned to look at her. “Yeah,
every time we had stuff like this happen on the other movies I’ve worked on
it’s so boring and takes forever. And you pretty much get to sit around for
hours. Which sucks because then you
really have to force the character or whatever.”
Her head cocked to the side
surprisingly, “What movies?”
“Oh, they haven’t been released
yet.”
“Oh ok.” She said and suddenly
became very quiet. He looked over at her and she was curled into herself almost
looking ashamed. He wondered what it
was. What had he said to make her
upset? He hated it. Maybe he was craving for a little female
attention. And maybe he should have
waited a little bit, but being single again sucked. It had been a week since they had gotten in
their huge fight and only a day since she had told him she was moving all her
stuff back into her old place and then going to
He didn’t want to be alone, but he
knew better than to pull some girl down with him only to hurt her and leave her
in the end.
But that didn’t mean that he
didn’t want to get to know Susan and be her friend. “You wanna come back and hang out?” He asked
hopefully.
She shrugged. “I probably should
work on my lines a bit”
“Wanna work together?” He licked
his lips and smiled at her, pouring out the charm, hoping she’d give in.
She did. “Sure.” She returned his smile and then held her
belly. “Can we go to my trailer though? I need breakfast.”
He laughed and nodded.
“’Course.” He pushed himself off his
chair hit Trace in the arm with his script.
He had been sleepily looking off into space. “You coming Trace?”
“Where?”
Justin pointed to Susan with the
roll of paper. “To her trailer to hang
out.”
“Nah…” He smiled.
He looked at his friend a little
weird. Normally trace was all for being
sociable. He knew he was tired, but
still, it had never stopped him before. “Come on it’ll be fun. You can be Richard and boss us around.”
“I think I’m gonna go back to
bed.” He winked at Justin. Justin narrowed his eyes at his friend. What was up with Trace? He was acting weird and if he didn’t know any
better was trying to encourage him to get alone with Susan.
“Ok…” He drug out slowly.
“Come on, my tummy’s achin’!” She
laughed and stood up off her seat “Nice to meet you Trace.”
“You too.” Trace said with a smile
and then nodded to her with widened eyes at Justin as she walked pasted
them. He knew what Trace was
insinuating now and was a little curious as to why he was pushing it. Sure she was attractive, but Trace wasn’t one
to encourage him to go on the rebound.
After Britney he had told him to just fly it single for a while and not
hang out with girls. Then slowly they
made their way into picking up girls and stuff. But he never messed around with
anything serious until Alyssa and even she wasn’t serious. She was like a
therapist and best friend that he happened to sleep with.
Susan wasn’t like that. He didn’t know her and this was work. This was serious, and he couldn’t afford to
get mess up with a girl like her. He
knew through the few times they had talked that she was the type of girl he’d
fall for, and he couldn’t let that happen again.
He had fallen too many times
before and been hurt in the end. And he
knew the next time he wouldn’t be able to get back up.