Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“ Good luck on your first day. Don’t make anyone else look like a sexy tiger, or I’ll get jealous ,” Draven had texted her.
Thea stared at that text, stroking her phone’s screen, as she waited for the production assistant to welcome her onto the set and introduce her to the makeup artist she was assisting for the film. I still can’t believe I’m really here , she thought.
Her phone buzzed, and she smiled at it, assuming it was another inspirational text from Draven. Nope.
“ We’re meeting for dinner or coffee or something. I’m not taking no for an answer ,” Alec texted her.
Deep sigh. “ Alec, I know you want closure, but I’m not ready ,” she messaged. I’m too busy trying to follow my dream and not fall any harder for a drumming bad boy who seems to have a heart of gold.
“ Your parents invited me to Thanksgiving dinner, Thea. They expect us back together in the next few weeks ,” he texted.
Her lungs expelled all of their unused oxygen. Her family invited her cheating ex to Thanksgiving dinner.
She bit the tip of her tongue as anger simmered down her limbs. More people who think they know what is best for me.
“ They are worried about you, babe ,” Alec sent. “ So am I. Where are you staying? Did you find a new job? Please come back home. ”
What would he think if he knew she was staying with and lusting after the drummer from Medusa’s Tears ? Or that she was on a movie set right now , waiting to pursue her dream career?
Switching to the different messaging chain, she texted Draven, “ Thanks, I’m nervous .”
Several seconds later, the drummer replied, “ Maybe you should do some yoga? You know. For the Zen. The peace. In your shorts. I hear yoga in shorts is super peaceful .”
“ You are such a flirt ,” she sent, biting back a smile.
He messaged, “ Two voyeurs, sitting in a tree. W-A-T-C-H-I-N-G .”
She gasped at his words. Did that mean he had seen her watch him masturbate in his room? He had his eyes closed the whole time; he didn’t acknowledge her at all. Had he seen her? When? Before or after his perfectly toned and sculpted body shuddered, and he came all over his stomach and hand?
Great, now her body heated from the illicit memory.
Someone tapped her shoulder, and her head swung up from her phone.
“ Hi! I’m here to escort you to Chanelle. The makeup artist ,” the young woman signed.
“ You are deaf? ” Thea signed back.
“ Yup, there are a couple of us on set. I’ll introduce you during the lunch break .”
And just like that, Thea’s heart soared.
“ Ready? ”
“ Beyond ready .”
* * *
The day flew by—a whirlwind. Thea did the makeup of some of the extras on the set; the true artist did the stars of the movie. When the actors were dismissed to go back to filming, the makeup artist, Chanelle, wrote a note to Thea saying, “ You did great! I’ve never seen a first-time assistant so calm when applying fake blood and eyeliner .”
Thea kept the note in her dress pocket for the rest of the day, grinning to herself.
The entire day, she floated on air, anxiety, and pride. Before she could stop it, a traitor thought drifted through her mind, “ I can’t wait to tell Draven about my day .”
But when she got home, the apartment was empty. When she realized he was out, she swore the space felt colder than usual, but a glance at the thermostat revealed the chill was in her head.
She hugged herself as she walked to the kitchen for a snack. A hot pink cupcake with a fake little pearl on the top sat on the counter.
A Post-it note sat beside it, reading, “ I will be out late for practice tonight. Hope your day was amazing. Don’t eat this cupcake. It’s mine . Unless you break rules when people write things on doors like ‘Don’t come in.’ –Your rule-abiding roommate with a big ole cock, but I don’t need to tell you that (Enjoy this well-earned treat). ”
Oh God, he really had caught her watching him. He must think of me as a horny stalker-groupie now . She groaned at herself as a deep, hot blush claimed her cheeks, even in the privacy of the empty apartment.
I am eating that damn cupcake .
And I will touch myself to the memory of him doing the same .
* * *
“They want me to come in today ?” Draven asked his manager over the phone. Just the day before, Draven had told him to say yes to the semi-nude underwear modeling shoot, so Draven could grab a big payday. He blew out a breath. “They’re not wasting any time, are they?”
Draven laid back on his couch in the silent apartment. Thea had gone to her work early in the morning, and his alarm clock had treacherously not woken him up in time to see her leave.
Marty, his manager, replied, “They’re probably worried if they give you too much time to think about it, you’ll drop out.”
“I’m not dropping out,” Draven grumbled, sinking further into the couch cushions and wishing they would swallow him whole. If you keep me from this photoshoot, I’ll join the dust bunnies, crumbs, and lost, forgotten remotes in your folds, old couch .
“When I originally pitched it to you, you said it was the most demeaning thing you had ever heard, and you would sooner die than pose for it,” his manager reminded him.
“You caught me. I died. I’m a ghost now,” Draven said. “ OoOooOoOHhhH ,” he mimicked a ghost’s wail. “I am doing the shoot.”
“Well, I know Raquel will be excited. She has been begging me to beg you to do this for months.”
“Raquel just wants to see me in my tighty-whities.”
“As does the world,” Marty said smoothly. “That’s why the paycheck is over two million, Drave. That’ll buy Mimi the best care for a while.”
I am stripping and selling images of my body for the health of my grandmother . Perfect. Thanksgiving dinner would be fun this year. Odds were that Geo and Summer would team up with making puns all night, such as “Pass me the buns—Draven, not the buns you showed on that magazine” and “Can I have the breast of the turkey—Draven! Put your pec away!” Brats. They learned it from him.
“When and where?” Draven asked Marty.
“She said she can set everything up at your apartment. You won’t even have to make a trip. The whole crew would get there around five o’clock. Set up. It could all be done by seven thirty.”
“Couldn’t do any earlier?” Draven asked, dreading the idea of Thea arriving home from work only to see him standing in nothing but tight briefs. “Or maybe reschedule to a different day?” One when I know Thea won’t be home .
Marty snorted. “No, Draven, they hired two air brushers to paint your abs with special tanning oil today after you told me yesterday to do everything I could to book it as soon as possible.”
“I don’t want to model so close to dinner time. I get hungry.”
“They will be there at five o’clock, Draven.”
Shit .
If Thea thought Draven was arrogant and shallow before, seeing him photographed in his underwear for money was sure to lose all of her respect. And I can’t handle that .
He sent her a quick text before pressing his face into the couch cushions and groaning.
* * *
“ Can you try not to come back to the apartment before 8PM ?”
Thea stared at the message from Draven and ground her teeth. Why didn’t he want her home? Did he have someone over?
“ You can’t just tell me when I can and can’t be in our apartment ,” she texted back angrily. “ It’s a shared space .”
He, of course, did not respond.
More hours passed before the very last scene was shot, and Thea was dismissed to leave. She had made it to the end of her first makeup job, and her roommate had banished her from the apartment. A quick glance at her phone showed that it was six o’clock. She was supposed to stay out for another two hours? I don’t think so .
Thea’s muscles ached from standing all day, but she cherished the pain. It was surreal to be on a set, in a studio complex full of backgrounds from famous films and TV shows. Sure, the movie business was very much “Hurry up and wait,” but she had soaked in every interaction and experience with unmatched gratitude.
Would working on a set every day make the movie magic fade? Or would every day feel like this?
I need to find another job , she thought as she unlocked the door to their apartment and shuffled inside.
She kicked off her shoes, shook her jacket off, and looked up to see seven strangers in their apartment.
Someone had moved the couch out of the way.
A large white sheet created a backdrop and covered up the TV and drum set in their living room.
And Draven stood. Naked.