Chapter 12
Cal
Cal arrived at the studio a good hour earlier than his call sheet demanded. He owed Ezra an explanation about the previous night.
After getting himself fitted into his costume, he headed to the producer’s office.
Ezra seemed to expect him, given the way their secretary sent him straight in.
They barely glanced at him as he took his seat in front of the desk.
There was a stack of scripts on their desk and Ezra was leafing through one of them.
“Don’t you pay people to do that?” Cal asked.
“I sure do. These are the ones those people sent me.” They pursed their lips as they flipped through a few more pages. Then they put the script back on the stack. “Good possibility for Edie. Now.” They folded their hands on the desk. “What’s this about?”
“I’m sorry about last night.”
Ezra’s eyebrows went up. “Oh?”
“I overreacted. I know Monty’s been in hot water with the studio lately. I don’t want to add to that with the scene last night. It wasn’t his fault.”
“Care to tell me what happened?”
“I saw Monty flirting with Morgan. I got worried so I intervened. Morgan informed me afterwards that my intervention wasn’t necessary; he had the situation under control. And it probably would have ended with less drama if I’d trusted him to handle himself.”
“I heard that Monty said some pretty loud stuff to you in response.”
Cal shrugged. “He did. But I can’t really blame him.”
Ezra tapped their desk thoughtfully. “That kid’s been an absolute disaster lately.”
“I know. But to his credit, he stopped his advances when Morgan told him to.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“I owed him that much.”
“You don’t owe him squat, actually. But I’ll allow it. How are you feeling about today?”
“Okay. It’s just dialogue today, which is good.”
“How are the rehearsals going?”
Cal gave them a baleful look. “About as well as I’m sure you’ve heard.”
Ezra chuckled. “Have you met your director yet?”
“Not yet.”
Ezra stood. “Come along. I’ll introduce you.” As they strode out into the hall, Ezra continued their interrogation. “How are you feeling since our last conversation? Still the same?”
“Still tired, yes.”
“Tired in the same ways?”
Cal thought back to their earlier conversation: Tired of everything.
Tired of the movies I’m doing, tired of the roles I’m playing, tired of myself.
He opened his mouth to say that he was, but his mind went unexpectedly to the thought of Morgan’s expression upon seeing his glamor shot.
He thought of Morgan’s toothy smile at reporters, the way the young man had looked at the spread at the Pink Peacock like he’d never seen so much food.
He thought of Morgan’s earnest encouragement, his hand grasping Cal’s during dance rehearsals, his hand on Cal’s bicep.
He thought about all the things he was looking forward to seeing Morgan experience for the first time.
He realized he had been thinking all of this in silence. Ezra wasn’t looking at him, but there was a definite expression of amusement on their face as they walked.
“No,” Cal said at last. “I guess not.”
“I’m glad.”
Ezra didn’t ask what soundstage they needed to go to, leading the way easily to the right one.
As Cal stepped inside, he gave a cursory glance over the set.
They always felt the same these days. The equipment was being tested and the familiar sound of the lights being clicked on and off amidst the sound of technicians and designers shouting across the space washed over him.
This movie wasn’t so unlike all the others, really.
It was still the same routine, just with music.
“Ezra! Good to see you this fine morning!” someone boomed across the soundstage.
Cal turned to see a plump person in their forties striding toward them. They were balding, with a ring of white blond hair around the top of their head. They had a handsome face, with dark brown eyes, pink cheeks, and a cheerful expression.
“And my star! Lovely to work with you at last, Mr. Campbell.”
“Cal,” Ezra said, “this is Clarence King. One of the finest musical directors we have at Powell.”
“Aw, shucks, Ezra,” the director said, waving a hand. “You’re too kind, really.”
Cal stuck his hand out. “Pleasure to meet you…is it Mr. King? Mx.? Miss?”
King beamed. “Call me anything you like, honey. I’m not particular.
I find gender stuff pretty bogus, myself.
Just call me King or Clarence, or Director Extraordinaire if you’re feeling real inspired,” they added with a wink.
“Glad to see you’re the punctual type. Always love that.
I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. Do you have your lines worked out for the scene already?
I’ll have a script girl run them over with you before we start. ”
Cal blinked at the barrage of chatter. He didn’t need a script girl, but he didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot with his new director either, so he agreed.
King gestured for the script girl and then hurried off. Ezra clapped Cal on the shoulder with an unnecessary reminder to show Morgan around when he arrived before exiting the building.
The script girl was a somber and pretty Black woman named Ruth, who wore Harlequin style glasses and a wide-legged purple satin jumpsuit. She ran through the entire scene with Cal, gently but firmly correcting him any time he strayed from the script.
“Any advice on working with this director?” Cal asked when they were done.
“They’re very particular. So don’t go off script and know all of your cues. I’m one of the best script people at Powell so I’ll be ready to walk you through your scenes every day.”
“Thanks, but I hope I won’t need that too much. I’ve been doing this for a while.”
“I’ve always found that the most veteran of stars tend to be the sloppiest.”
“Is that so?” Cal asked, amused.
“It is,” she said primly. “Except Mr. Burke, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Ah, Mr. Morgan!”
Cal turned his head at the director’s exclamation.
Morgan was being led over to them by King and looking around the soundstage with interest. Cal swiftly joined them.
His co-star had clearly been to the costume, hair, and makeup departments already.
His dark eyelashes were bolder with mascara, his lips slightly darker, and his already smooth skin made even smoother with the application of makeup.
His hair had been pomaded into submission and his suit fit him perfectly.
Cal took a moment to eye the look appreciatively.
Morgan was, to put it bluntly, adorable.
When he saw Cal, his expression lit up and something lifted in Cal’s chest.
“I’m glad you made it to the soundstage in one piece,” he said, by way of greeting.
Morgan chuckled. “I did have to ask for directions. A couple of times.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Cal assured him. “And I see that you made a few stops along the way. Well done. I was prepared to escort you around when you got here.”
Morgan looked down at his costume and ran a hand over it. “Yes, well, I’ve learned not to keep Josue waiting.”
Cal glanced up to see their director watching them. King beamed when their eyes met. “Glad to see my stars are already getting along. You two look just lovely together. And if this chemistry translates onto the screen, then this whole thing will be a piece of cake!”
“I’m glad to hear you say so,” Cal said cautiously.
King clapped their hands together. “Right. Why don’t you two run your lines again with Ruth while we get everything set up?”
Morgan nodded vaguely but his eyes remained glued to the set. “It’s gorgeous,” he murmured.
Cal took in the set with a more observant eye than he had before. “Yeah, it is. It took ‘em forever to figure out how to film white. Now practically every set is white just because they can.”
“The sofas look comfortable.”
“Set pieces are never comfortable. Don’t be fooled.”
Morgan chuckled. “Noted. They’re pretty anyway.”
“They are that.”
Morgan looked up at him. “You don’t sound too impressed.”
“They pretty much all look the same at this point.”
“Oh, I see. That’s a shame.” Morgan tore his gaze away from the set and started walking to where Ruth was waiting for them.
“Why a shame?”
“I expect a lot of work and artistry goes into that stuff. It’s too bad the luster fades after a while.”
Cal paused and took another look at the set. He knew Morgan’s guess was right: the sets took a ton of work to put together. How long had it been since he admired the designs he worked in?
As they ran through their lines with Ruth, Cal was once again impressed by Morgan’s professional attitude. He had all of his lines down—better than Cal did, to be honest—and was clearly doing his best to act his way through them rather than simply recite them.
When King called them onto the set to go over the scene, Cal tried to imagine what the experience looked like through Morgan’s eyes.
The young man listened carefully to their director, never hesitating to ask questions or double check instructions.
As such, they were a little slower to start than Cal was accustomed to, but he didn’t mind.
They took up their places, ready to film the scene where the two characters meet.
Morgan was told to stand in the center of the room, with Cal waiting off to the side, prepared for his cue to enter.
He felt his chest warm with his magic and he coaxed it out to the other man, doing what he’d promised Ezra he’d do, what he’d done countless times on other sets.
With all the excitement around the dance lessons and rehearsals, he’d almost forgotten how exhausting it was to constantly keep an eye out for everyone else’s nerves and tempers.
This was his role, more than anything else he did on screen; he was the one who kept everyone calm and collected, no matter how irritable a director got, or how much a cameraman fought with a light tech, or how anxious a co-star became, Cal was always ready with his magic to smooth everything over.
He met Morgan’s gaze from across the set and gave what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
Morgan responded with a bright grin and Cal felt something zing through his magic like a tennis ball whipping over the net.
He felt some of the tension leave his shoulders and some of the tightness loosened from his jaw.
It was rare when someone inadvertently reflected his own magic back at him; it usually happened when they didn’t need it and the magic boomeranged in response.
Morgan, despite being brand new to Hollywood, was cool as a cucumber under the hot lights, had all of his lines memorized, and was ready to get to work.
Moreover, he was smiling at Cal like he was happy to be there.
For the first time in a long time, Cal felt something stir in his chest at the thought of doing a movie with this man: excitement.
“Lights!” King shouted from their stance by the camera. “Camera! Action!”