Chapter 17 Miles
MILES
Illicit kisses and brief touches fill the next few days.
We are always interrupted, and I’m always left wanting more.
Skye is a breath of fresh air. She is passionate, not just when we're kissing but when she talks about things. Even when she’s lamenting feeding those stupid chickens, there is a spark in her eyes.
I’ve gotten so used to glossy people who try to act like magazine cutouts of themselves.
Like an interview is being conducted all the time. But Skye is real.
Finding time to be alone is tricky. Ava insists on coming on my morning runs.
That must’ve been her grand idea that I agreed to in the library when she first arrived.
I don’t ever remember her asking if she could join me.
It’s okay, really. I don’t mind her company, but if she weren’t with me, I might be able to run somewhere and meet Skye.
The evenings are tough, too. Every time we decide to try to sneak into one of our rooms, we are interrupted by one of the many people crawling all over this castle.
Hollywood has thoroughly infested it, except for my assistant Jake who as it turns out isn’t coming.
He called two days ago. On his way to the airport, he was in a car accident.
He broke his leg and will need surgery, but he is lucky to be alive.
I told him I’d hop a plane right back and help take care of him for once, but he wasn’t having any of it.
His sister took some time off to stay with him.
It would be harder to hide my relationship with Skye if Jake were here.
In fact, I know I couldn’t. I’d have to tell him, and that’s not possible.
Skye and I agreed to keep it secret. I wasn’t in love with the idea at first. I’m more the wear my heart on my sleeve kind of guy.
But I gotta admit, it’s kind of hot. Either way, it’s a necessity if I want to keep my role in this production, which, honestly, I’m not even sure about anymore.
Thora is amazing, but I only have a handful of scenes with her.
The bulk of my scenes are with Ty, who’s a constant pain in my ass.
Natalie’s great, but she demands a lot, always asking me to dig deeper, give a little more.
What if I don’t have more to give? What if the performance I’m giving is truly all I have, and it’s not good enough?
We’re in the middle of a scene in the library, and I’m lost in my endless spiral of self-doubt.
“Miles,” Natalie calls out. “It’s your line.”
I shake my head and adjust my kilt. “Right.” I look at Ava. “Aye, sure. I’ve seen Nessie a dozen times. I can show ye, if ye like.”
Ava’s tiny hands fly to my chest. That stage direction is not in the script, and I’m so surprised by it that I stumble back. “Show me. Show me now.”
“Cut,” Natalie yells. “Let’s take a five-minute break. When we come back, we’ll shoot that one again.”
Everyone nods, and I’m wondering if I can find Skye and sneak a kiss before we have to reset the shot.
“Miles.” Natalie beckons me with the crook of her finger, and I have the sinking feeling of being summoned by the queen.
I try to act casual heading over. “What’s up?”
Natalie lowers her voice to a whisper. “On the next take, can you try not to look so repulsed when Ava touches you? You’re supposed to be in love with her.”
“I was just surprised.” Oh man, did I look repulsed? I wasn’t. Ava is very beautiful, objectively. I’m just not attracted to her.
“You looked disgusted and a little terrified.”
I sigh. “On the next take, I’ll look enamored, I swear. I was just caught off guard.”
She nods. “Is everything all right? You seem a little off.”
“Have my performances been okay?”
“Yes, for the most part. You just seem…I don’t know. Distracted.” She lowers her voice even more. “Have I been working everyone too hard?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
She nods, but she’s chewing on the end of her pen, her tell whenever she’s nervous or unsure of something. “I’m giving everyone the weekend off. It’s Halloween.”
I’d kind of forgotten about holidays or days of the week, even. “Right.”
“We should all go blow off some steam. Where can we go?”
Karaoke. But I don’t want to say it out loud. I want it to be just a Skye and me thing.
Elsie comes up behind me with two fresh coffees and hands one to Natalie, then takes a seat in the chair next to her. “Go where?”
Natalie blows on her cup, steam wafting off it in the cold castle. “Somewhere everyone can have a good time.”
“Thistle House has karaoke tonight. Skye told me about it.”
Natalie smiles like a cat with a canary in her sights. “Perfect.” She clears her throat. “Okay, let’s go again.”
I hold in my sigh and walk back to my mark. I wouldn’t have been able to kiss Skye or even hold her hand at the pub anyway, as per our agreement, but I was looking forward to some time away from the rest of the cast.
We shoot the scene ten times, and it takes pretty much the rest of the morning. I’m about to bolt out to find Skye when Minnie booms over the megaphone. “Fifteen-minute break.”
I look at the time, and it’s already a little after noon.
A fifteen-minute break isn’t even long enough to get out of costume, which isn’t so bad.
I’ve come to quite like the feel of the kilt.
I drag myself to the dining room for some coffee.
They’ve taken over the whole thing for a craft service table.
Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a massive array of just about every cookie known to man, all artfully arranged on the dining room table.
I grab a paper cup and fill it from the large carafe of coffee.
Is it even worth going to find Skye to have to leave so soon after?
I decide it is. Of course, it is. It always is. I walk purposefully out the door just as Ty is striding into the room. We collide, and my cup smashes into my chest, hot coffee soaking into my light-gray linen shirt. The pain is sharp, and even worse, there goes my time with Skye.
“Shit.” I’m so frustrated with having to share the same space with this idiot. How was I ever friends with him?
Ty brushes off his shirt, which has maybe three small spots of coffee on it. “Whoa. You have to look where you’re going. Get your head out of the clouds.” He walks toward the table and mutters, “Or out of that redhead’s skirt, rather.”
I whip around on him, rage boiling in my veins. “What did you say?”
“I said you seemed a little unfocused, mate.”
Mate? What was he even doing, talking like he’s English? I know for a fact he’s from Boston. I’ve met his mom. “I am not your mate.”
Ty sighs and runs a hand through his stupidly coiffed hair. “Miles, it was years ago. In the big scheme of things, does it even matter? Just let it go.” Ty turns to the table and grabs a cookie.
Let it go? Let it go? The room goes red. I swing my arm back and am imagining the satisfying smack it will make when it connects with his face, when my arm gets stuck. Elsie has a hold of it behind me.
“Come on, Miles. Let’s get you a new shirt. I’m sure Patty will want to try to get out that stain, too.”
Ty doesn’t even look in our direction. He has no clue how close he just came to getting knocked out.
Elsie leads me to the costume room, which was a sitting room before we took it over. Each footstep away from Ty calms me down, and I realize how close I almost just came to really crossing the line.
We pass Skye in the hall. I reach my fingers toward hers for just a moment and mouth, Karaoke tonight?
She smiles and nods.
Once we step into the sitting room, Elsie looks me dead in the eye and says, “All this shit you have with Ty, you have to ease up. Or if you can’t—put it in a box and take it back out when the film is over.
Hate him all you want after filming.” She throws up her hands.
“Hell, knock his block off, get arrested. I’m sure it will be great press for the premiere. ”
She’s right. I thought I had let it go, as Ty so eloquently put it, years ago, but clearly not. I can’t focus on it right now. “Okay.”
The day flew by, shooting taking up most of it.
After the sun went down, the cast and crew all met out by the vans to head to Thistle House.
Skye said she’d ride her bike and meet me there, so it didn’t look weird with us coming together.
But when I look around at the faces loading into the vans, even Callum is here.
He slaps me on the back. “Miles. Are you going to sing?”
I smile. “Not sure anyone really wants to hear that.”
He laughs. “Ah, it’s all good fun. We’re all crap singers—well, except Skye, and she hasn’t sung at one of these in years. Voice of an angel, that one.”
I’m really hoping she sings tonight. Maybe she will. I’ve asked her a few times in the past week, and she said that she might. Callum gets into the van and takes a seat right next to Thora. I get in, and Ava pats the seat next to her.
The ride is quick, and the energy in the van is palpable.
Thistle House is decked out for the holiday.
Jack-o’-lanterns line the front, ghoulish faces flickering from the candlelight within.
We all head inside, bounding in like excited puppies.
The place is wall to wall packed—everyone’s crowded in with pints in hand, some with masks on.
Paper skeletons hang from the ceiling. Each table has a small carved pumpkin on it; some of the faces are silly, while others are downright frightening.
Karaoke is already in full swing. They moved the tables to set up a small stage.
Someone is on it, belting out and somewhat butchering “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon.
I spot Skye standing by the bar, talking to her friend Kate.
She looks amazing. Tight black jeans and a fitted red and black striped sweater.
Her hair is curled around her face in large, shiny waves.
One stray curl is creeping toward her eye, and I long to brush it behind her ear, for my fingers to linger along her neck.
Skye catches me looking, and I can see the twinkle in her blue eyes from across the room.
She turns to the bartender, then waves for me to come over.
I weave my way through the crowd. The bartender hands her another pint of dark, dark beer, which she hands right to me.
“Happy Halloween,” Kate says.
“Yeah, I’m surprised to see all the jack-o’-lanterns. I didn’t know you all celebrated it here in Scotland.”
They both laugh at this. Skye says, “Are ye kidding me? We practically invented it. Well, the Irish did. They carved turnips to ward off Stingy Jack.”
“Stingy Jack?”
“Aye,” Kate says. “He tricks people into buying him beers and things. Sold his soul to the devil for one last drink, but tricked him so the devil couldn’t collect.”
Skye is nodding enthusiastically. “So, when Jack died, he couldn’t get into heaven, and the devil wouldn’t let him into hell. He roams the earth with his little carved turnip, trying to catch people out.”
“I never knew.”
Skye musses up my hair a bit. “Read a book sometime.”
I laugh. I want to pick her up and toss her over my shoulder, but instead I say, “I’ll read you.”
She sticks her tongue out at me.
Kate raises her beer. “To Stingy Jack.”
We all clink our glasses.
Margie goes up onto the makeshift stage to introduce the next singer. “We have a special treat tonight, lovelies. Please welcome to the stage Skye Ainslie and Kate Donnovan.”
I look at Skye, my heart filled like a party balloon. “What are you two going to sing?”
Kate just shakes her head, pulls sunglasses out of her pocket, and puts them on.
Skye whispers in my ear, so close her lips touch my skin, sending goosebumps down my arms. “You’ll see.”
She pulls a matching pair of sunglasses out of her back pocket, winking at me before her eyes are covered in the mirrored surfaces.
They go on stage, their backs turned dramatically to the crowd, their legs in a wide stance.
I elbow my way through to the front, not about to miss a single moment of this performance.
Kate starts by counting, and after the three, Skye lets out a guttural, “Uh.”
The music kicks in, and I know exactly what song they are singing. I laugh in delight. It’s OutKast's “Hey Ya!”
It was the theme song to my teen football movie, so I know the lyrics like the back of my hand. And apparently, so does Skye. Kate struts around behind her, clapping at all the right moments as Skye belts out the song, emphasizing each “uh” with a little hip shake.
By the time she gets to the chorus, everyone is singing along, “Hey ya!” over and over. Thora and Callum are doing something between a jig and twerking, both their faces rosy with laughter. Skye and Kate are performing synchronized dance moves that they must’ve practiced a thousand times.
Skye belts out the lyrics, and everyone cheers. The crowd is moving like a living, breathing beast. Skye sings out the call and response like a pro. When it’s the fellas' turn, I yell along with everyone else.
And here comes the breakdown. Skye and Kate get down in the crowd and dance lower and lower, inch by inch, while everyone is shaking their Polaroid pictures all over the space in front of the stage. It’s joy personified.
I dance my way closer to Skye, and now we are moving in sync, too. Her eyes are on mine. Kate claps along with the crowd, everyone shouting the lyrics at the top of their lungs.
When the song is over, the crowd cheers. Margie yells from the back, “Give us an encore, Skye!”
She shakes her head, her cheeks flushed from dancing, her eyes alive. I want to grab her and kiss her right here.
The crowd won't be deterred. They all chant, “Skye! Skye! Skye!”
I join in. The look she gives me sends shivers from my head to my toes.
Kate is next to me, chanting it as well. Skye moves away and whispers with Callum.
After a beat, she catches my eye. I give her a wink and continue the chant, relishing the feeling of her name on my lips. “Skye! Skye!”