9. The Scene
THE SCENE
GRAYSON
M onday was supposed to be our day off from sweepstakes duties while they enjoyed a tour of Golden Star and did whatever else they wanted, but imagine the turmoil of everything when we received a call from Emerson telling us she received a call from Aaliyah saying she stole Alexia’s song to enter and sent in proof.
We had to rework everything.
We already completed the shopping spree, but Emerson would offer for Alexia to go again. We did the day with Noah and me, but we have to redo the interview with StarStruck. Everything else we would change to Alexia doing it and change the website to Alexia’s submitted picture and song title, announcing it was a mistake.
Today is going to be a busy day, especially with the start of shooting the scenes. The winner is supposed to be in this season of RedCreek.
I walk into the kitchen to see Charlie up making pancakes. This isn’t normal for Charlie to be up this early, maybe Shawn and Kenan but not him.
“Man, I thought you’d never wake up,” Charlie says, like he’s been waiting forever. I look at the clock to see it’s only eight a.m. Only an hour till I have to be on set. Hopefully father time will do me a favor and make time go by slowly.
“Oh please, you normally wake up way after me,” I say, and grab an apple out of the basket, taking a seat on a stool. “Plus, four others live here,” I add, pointing out he could have woken them up.
“Yeah, but today Scarlett wanted to see the sunrise, so I woke up early enough to take her, and Shawn is on his early morning workout and Kenan is at Nevea’s,” Charlie informs me.
“It literally feels like I’ve been up for hours,” Charlie drawls out as he spins on the stool.
“I bet,” I say.
“So after filming is over, we are rehearsing,” Charlie says.
“Alright,” I reply.
I think about my day while I gather some eggs from the refrigerator. I wonder what shooting will be like with Alexia today, but then I have that stupid kiss scene with Marina today. Ugh, I hate her more than I dislike this “crush” on Alexia. I’d rather kiss Alexia than Marina.
God, kill me now.
As I’m cooking my eggs, I find myself wondering what it would be like to kiss Alexia. One full day with this girl and I wanna know what it’s like to kiss her.
How soft her lips could be.
How she could taste.
This has to stop. I hate that stupid picture. I should have never looked.
“Hey, Alexia is here for filming and the set tour,” Noah says.
“Don’t worry. Emerson is giving her the tour, we just have to shoot the scenes,” Noah finishes. I sigh in slight relief and get up. I know what’s coming next. It's a kiss scene with Marina. I want to do anything but kiss her, but this is an opportunity. Maybe I can get Alexia out of my head. Now, I’m not going to go off-script and do anything crazy. I have to kiss Marina anyway, but I think kissing another person may be just what I need.
I make my way to the set; that’s my dorm room.
“This is simple. There are no lines, all you need to do is kiss your Daniella,” Garner tells us. I almost threw up at the ‘my Daniella’ part. There’s no way I would ever want this girl to be my anything.
“Action!” Garner yells and a loud beep rings through the air. Marina gives me some sort of seductive look that makes my stomach twist the wrong way. I hate this. I hold her face in my hands as I slowly lean in to kiss her and I try so hard not to back out as I lean in.
Why is this so hard?
I can do this. It’s just a girl.
I just go for it and give Marina a kiss, then the bell rings as Garner yells, “Cut!”
“Not what was in the script, but I think I like this better. It’ll add tension for later,” Emerson says as she walks up beside her dad.
“Well, it’s your TV show, so if that’s what you want,” Garner says, tossing his hands in the air.
“I’ll make the changes. Perfect as always, Gray,” Emerson says.
“Okay, next is Noah and his love interest. To the hallway set,” the director calls out and I make my way to the side where the drinks are, while Marina stomps off the stage.
I could throw up right now.
“What happened out there?” Mr. Hayden asks, concerned. I draw the bottle of water to my lips and take a few gulps before putting it down, breathing heavy.
“I don’t know,” I reply breathlessly.
“You know Emmy told me about the girl that’s been stuck in your head,” Mr. Hayden says, and I glance up at him.
“Of course she did,” I mumble before drinking more water.
“Maybe you should try the scene with said girl and get her input on kissing someone else,” Mr. Hayden suggests.
“I don’t need that,” I reply, a little rougher than I intended.
“You sure about that? Because I’m not the one who can’t simply kiss someone. It’s only a suggestion,” Mr. Hayden says.
“And what if I kiss Alexia and start to actually like her?”
“I say handle that when you get there.” Mr. Hayden pats my shoulder before walking off.
He may be right but liking someone is the last thing I need. Not after what happened with Jazzlyn.
I’ve found a word to describe what I feel for Alexia. Attraction. That’s what I feel, and I hate feeling it.
I look over to the side of the set to see Alexia talking to Emerson. I’m going to take Mr. Hayden’s advice, but not right now. I walk off in the opposite direction to the break room, where the food and comfy couches are.
I go right over and pick a donut out of the box. “Eating food when you have to kiss someone.” I turn around and see Alexia standing in the doorway.
“I don’t wanna kiss her, so I don’t care,” I reply and bite into the donut.
“Figures you don’t,” she says and walks into the room.
“What happened out there?” Alexia asks, looking around the room.
“Nothing,” I tell her.
“Why did you do so bad?” she asks, dragging her hand along the edge of the snack table while looking down at it.
“I very much dislike that girl and honestly, we’ve never practiced that scene. The director wanted it to be raw in emotion,” I explain.
“It definitely was,” Alexia mumbles and I shoot her a glare which she just gives a fake smile back and I roll my eyes and take another bite of my donut. “Then just practice,” Alexia offers. “It can’t be that hard.”
“Go to hell,” I tell her and bite into my donut.
“And leave you here all alone. That would be mean.” Alexia pouts while leaning against the table beside me. Smart ass. She should really lose that attitude of hers.
“Okay genius, what would you do when you haven’t practiced with the person you have to do a scene with?” I ask.
“Why don’t we practice a scene?” she answers. I sit my donut on the table beside me and turn to Alexia.
“Okay let’s practice,” I say, walking over to the table and picking up the script on it, flipping to a page with one of our scenes. “Here are your lines.”
Alexia looks over the lines before sitting the script down. “Got it,” she says. That fast, I wish I could say I'm impressed, but she can do better.
“Why are you avoiding me, Chase?”
“We are playing a dangerous game, Nica.” I step closer to her.
“I’ve been locked in here and you found me! Now you’ve left and I’m alone again.” Alexia has a sad tone in her voice. She is great at acting.
“It’s complicated, Nica. You’ve been gone for a year, and we have no idea how you got here. People are dead! And I have a girlfriend.” I follow the stage directions and turn to the door, but she grabs my wrist.
“Then we solve the mystery,” she says.
God, she’s good at this. How is she good at this? She’s even giving those begging eyes and I’m getting lost in them. I want to kiss her.
Stop it.
“How?” I ask.
“Bring me all the student death reports, and I need the footage from the day I went missing.” There’s supposed to be a pause here before I agree and tell her she has to wait until tonight for me to bring it. Our characters are exes because she went missing, and they still have unresolved emotions, and there is a kiss in this scene.
I turn around in her grasp and walk closer, placing my hand on the side of her face. I lean in, closing my eyes and I can tell I’m close by her breath fanning on my face, but I don’t kiss her, I just stand there for a moment and then lean back.
“I promise I’ll come later,” I say. I wanted to kiss her but if I ever do get another chance, I want it to be special and not acting. Not that I’m going to actually kiss her one day.
“See, you can do it! Remember next time to kiss the person,” Alexia says, coming back to her regular self.
“Are you saying you wanted me to kiss you?” I ask, one to annoy her and two I’m curious about her answer.
“In your dreams,” she replies with a smile and leaves the room.
She’s right, in my dreams.
We started filming scenes with Alexia for Emerson’s TV show. Which doesn’t involve me yet, which means I can leave. So, I’m in my dressing room packing up and making sure I know my lines for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we have to shoot the scene we practiced earlier after Alexia has her StarStruck magazine interview, and we have a flashback scene, which will take a while so that’s all for the day.
As I am walking out of my dressing room, I see Mariana walk into Alexia spilling her smoothie on Alexia’s light green baby tee before walking off with a big grin. I admittedly want to help feeling bad for her. She looks utterly upset about it. I kind of want to laugh because the shape looks like a chicken nugget as I get closer, but I don’t. Scarlett says a girls ' clothes are never a laughing matter.
“Need some help with that?” I ask, approaching her.
“What can you do?” Alexia answers, trying to wipe it off.
“Come on, let's fix it,” I say and grab her hand, which she immediately wiggles her hand out of. I tried. I walk her to my dressing room and turn on the light as I enter. I pick out one of my T-shirts from the duffle bag I keep in here and toss it to her. “You can wear that,” I tell her.
She takes her bookbag off before walking into the restroom.
A minute later she comes out in my shirt. “Thanks,” Alexia says.
“No problem. I can wash that,” I offer.
“It’s fine ,” Alexia says.
“Are you positive?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s fine Grayson,” she says, grabbing a trash bag from the side table and putting her stained shirt inside before compacting the bag and stuffing it in her bookbag.
I take a second to look at her in my shirt. The simple fact she’s in my shirt is just making me sweat. Her body looks amazing in it.
“So does the great Grayson Archer have any plans tonight?” Alexia asks.
“Get my sister from our mom’s,” I answer, clearing my throat. Good thing my jeans are baggy or else she’d see my boner.
“That’s sweet,” Alexia says.
“Oh yeah, being in a car with Kenan, Charlie, and Nevea is totally fun,” I say sarcastically.
“They go with you?” she asks.
“Yeah, they love seeing my mom and we don’t get to go often with everything going on,” I answer and grab my bag to leave, but my phone vibrates in my pocket so I pull it out. “Speaking of Charlie, he's calling me.”
As we start to leave the room, she puts on her red chrome bookbag. Alexia goes to wait outside the room waiting for me as I listen to Charlie ramble. “Charlie, slow down, what do you want?” I stop him.
“I think you should bring Lexi to your moms. By think I said you would bring her, and Bee wants us to play some songs before we leave,” Charlie says.
“You must be joking,” I state flatly.
“I was sucked. Zara talked about when she met and then others wanted to meet the girl that has you all tongue-tied. Pretty please. Please. Please. Please. We will drive ourselves. Please. Please,” Charlie says, starting to beg.
“Fine,” I say. Charlie starts to celebrate on the other side of the phone, and I hang up causing the cheering to stop.
I can’t believe this. I’ve never had a girl meet my mom before but then again, I’ve only ever had one girlfriend. I just never got the guts to let Jazzlyn meet my mom, she never cared to either.
I sigh and walk out of my dressing room door. Alexia turns around to me as soon as I do. “You’ve been invited to come over. The band wants to meet you and you’ll be meeting my mom and sister,” I tell her.
Alexia’s eyes widen and I see the excitement fill her face. Oh lord. I feel the need to say something, but she holds her finger up meaning for me to hold on. She pulls out her phone and types, then waits and replies before putting it up. She reads her phone and slightly jumps up and down before calming herself, which I can tell she’s forcing herself to do. Her giddiness tells me all I need to know. “My mom said I can go,” Alexia says. I knew it.
“You sure you wanna come?” I ask.
“I didn’t text my mom for no reason,” she states.
“What if I try to kill you?” I ask and she gives me a side look.
“I’d murder you first, Popstar,” she replies and walks off in front of me.
Somehow, I keep ending up with her. Thanks a lot Charlie.
We go back to her dressing room, and she grabs her oversized SOUR zip up jacket and comes back out, then we head to the parking lot to my black Mazda. “How many cars do you have?” Alexia asks, randomly.
“Five,” I answer.
“Why does a twenty-one-year-old need all those cars?” she asks, as I open her car door for her. I don’t answer because she gets in and I close the door.
“I like cars,” I tell her as I get in on the driver's side.
“You didn’t have to open the door I could have,” Alexia says while putting on her seatbelt.
“Don’t be an ass. Appreciate the fact that I'm being a gentleman,” I state as I back out of my parking space.
Charlie’s name flashes on my phone as we make it about halfway to my mom’s house. “Gray, I think I’m going crazy or maybe the world is ending,” Charlie says freaking out.
“Charlie, you should calm down,” Alexia says.
“I can't, I just ran out the house,” he says.
“Damn, is the house about to blow up or something?” I say, giving Alexia a strange look. Charlie breathes out heavily.
Another notification flashes across my phone and it’s from Nevea. An image has been sent which is strange, but I have to stop for gas. “Okay, Charlie, I’m about to pull over for gas, hold on,” I tell him as I pull over to the gas station.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Alexia and get out. I insert my card into the machine and continue to get gas. I also open the message from Nevea.
There in front of my face is Nevea. But Nevea with no top on and boobs out. No, I’m not jumping to conclusions it could be for Kenan but considering the message below it says ‘if you want to, I want to.’
I’d say not.
“Holy shit,” I say.
“I don’t know what to do,” Charlie panics. “I got one too.” Charlie is the golden retriever- teddy bear. He hates these problems because he’s not a mean person, but he doesn’t want to start conflict but even I don’t know how to handle this. I’m a dick I’d just block her and move on.
“Tell Scar,” is the first thing I say.
“Yeah duh, but what about Kenan?” Charlie asks. Mhm, I forgot about that.
“Look we will talk about this when I get there just leave it for now,” I tell Charlie and hang up. I finish getting my gas and get back into the car.
The car ride is quiet, and we just listen to music. “Explain this,” she demands, showing me my phone. My heart drops. There is the message from Nevea to me. The same one Charlie got.
“I swear it’s not what you think,” I state. This looks bad.
“You better not be hooking up with your friend's girlfriend,” Alexia scolds me.
“That girl, fuck no! I do not want her. Look Charlie got the same picture, and I have no idea what’s happening, but I plan on finding out,” I tell her and get out of the car, slamming my door.
I’ve already been fucked over by a girl and I don’t want the same to happen to Kenan, even if they have been dating for years.